Revisiting the Past

I just returned from Boston where I helped my Dad celebrate his 89th birthday. My Mom is doing amazingly well considering what she has been through this past year in terms of her health.
At the party, attended by many cousins that my kids never even knew that I had, my Dad relived his early years growing up in Charlestown, MA and how he went to Tufts and Tufts Medical School. He then was an Intern in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital in NYC. Upon his arrival he was told that he had to work nights and sleep during the day...in NYC....in July...without air conditioning! My Mom promptly headed to New Hampshire where her parents had a lake house! My poor Dad lost 25 pounds in a month and thought about bailing out of medicine altogether. But he ultimately decided it was Bellevue that was the problem so he switched to General Surgery at University of Minnesota. Upon his arrival in Minneapolis he asked about time off....he was told that he would have from 1-5 pm off the last Sunday of every month. Otherwise he was expected to be available. Needless to say this is a far cry from the 80 hour workweek now mandated by law for medical trainees in the United States.....

My Dad has loved being a physician and could never imagine any other profession. I guess that I am the same way. Perhaps I lack the imagination to see myself in another job, but I don't think so. I appreciate the trust that patients (usually) place in me and of course, I love celebrating their triumphs and am saddened by our failures. Earlier this week I had several patients with unfortunate outcomes but then today a patient came by to introduce me to her 8 month old daughter (who I last saw as a blastocyst) and another patient emailed me happy news right from her LDR room in the hospital! As my son contemplates a career in medicine I have emphasized to him that he needs to carefully consider his choice. I think that the best physicians regard medicine as a calling rather than a career. Perhaps that is why my Dad always emphasizes that he is "Doctor Gordon" ....because that title is at the heart of his identity and the focus of his reminiscences when he revisits the past...