At The Waldorf Center for Plastic Surgery Dr. Waldorf and I, as well as the rest of the staff, dearly miss seeing our patients on a daily basis and wanted to have an opportunity to connect with everyone, if only virtually. We are amidst an unprecedented time in history where we, too, are doing our best to keep our patients, ourselves and our families safe and unaffected from the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

We are providing options for virtual interaction in follow up as well as consultations from both Dr. Waldorf and I. Our mission continues to be the same, provide the best possible care for our patients every day. While we are all trying to adjust to this new normal, we also realize nothing is normal. That being said, we are all trying to use humor to help us get through this.

As one of our nurses put it most succinctly last week, “Well, things are about to get really natural and we are all about to learn each other’s real hair color.” Behind the scenes, you will find that we are right there with you; watching our roots grow out and dearly missing our hairstylists; having the remnants of our nail polish peel  or chip off and being reminded of how hard it can be to paint with your left hand and luckily viewed from a distance of 6 feet away, the errors are passable; wondering what the point of using makeup is and focusing on our skincare regimen, maybe a bit too much (I applied too much Retin A, and gave myself an aggressive chemical peel); spending a great deal more time in sweatpants than is typical.

We are all cherishing any interactions with people as we see them from six feet away either walking their dogs or picking up groceries. Earle, my dog, paws are sore from walking her so frequently.

Sticking to our exercise regimens has required some creativity and we all are spending time exercising (often clumsily) using novel equipment (hello soup cans) and being guided by Instagram feeds from our favorite gyms far more than usual. Yesterday I tried a Dance Cardio class and odds are my daughter will have that burned in her brain for all time as an epic fail.

Meditation has become something that everyone has time for and patience has become something that is essential to coming out of this as whole as we globally can manage.

We are committed to getting through this together, and will continue to be here for all of our patient’s. And until we can be closer than 6 feet apart, we will stay in touch virtually. Feel free to stay in touch with us as well, trust us, we miss you.

Be Kind to yourself and others,

Dr. Rachel Streu