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At 72 Now, I Review My Life Of Adventure.

Started by Solitary, March 30, 2014, 11:16:58 AM

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Solitary

HOW I BECAME A SURGEON

It all happened circumstantially due to economics and certain childhood experiences. As a child, curiosity, inventiveness, and a thirst for knowledge were my playmates; I was always seeking answers for whatever puzzled me. Also ,there was always on my mind a constant challenge to perform something new. Frequently I deviated from conformity, doing things my own way and thinking as an individual; a “freethinker”, if you will, unbiased to all dogma. My formal schooling consisted of completing the eighth grade in Joliet ,Illinois and the first year of high school at Joliet Central High School in and seek my fortune in the Windy City.

Coming from a family of nine children I was indoctrinated at an early age to the facts of birth and death. There was also a daily struggle for survival since my parents came from relative poverty and were among the early 20 th Century immigrants from Central Europe. They always had a vegetable garden and there were an assortment of chickens, ducks, geese and also a cow. I must add that it was my mother who was the Rock of Gibraltar keeping the family supplied with food and clothing while my father, a brick layer and stone mason, worked long and hard hours to supply the money for these necessities. My thirst for knowledge probably came primarily from my father who had a personal library of books on all subjects imaginable and who was self-educated. This was exceptional for a man of such lowly employment and means. It was,therefore, from the first grade until I left home that I received my so-called internship for becoming a surgeon.

Now, this may sound confusing but it is true, and I will clarify this as I continue. I learned a great deal at home about life and its creation, as do most children who live with animals. Through necessity, chopping off the heads of chickens and geese was a regular activity and not for the squeamish. Also there was the butchering of cattle and pigs. All in its raw state. I also witnessed human tragedy when I viewed the body of a railroad switchman who had been run over by a train and was cut in half. It was a horrible sight that I never forgot. Later in my teens through a childish prank several of us boys visited the county morgue and this taught us a great deal about death not playing favorites.

At the age of nine or ten,around the year 1952, I witnessed an operation by four doctors on my brother,Bob, for acute appendicitis. It was a gruesome sight as I watched it from a nearby doorway. With the nearest hospital over twenty miles away a trip there wasimpossible and so the operation was performed on the dining room table with only thelight from one light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The four doctors’ names were Major, McGregor, Bannon and Stockdale. Of these, Dr.Bannon was the chief surgeon and he travelled all the way from the town of Frankfort which was over 20 miles distant.

I digress a bit now to provide some personal details about these doctors. Doctor Stockdale was well liked in Joliet and also maintained a farm. There he raised bees and it was he who recommended that Bob eat honey to regain his strength following the operation. Later he also approved Bob's request for ice cream, but that’s another story I’ll describe later.Dr.Major eventually moved to Chicago, as many other residents did as the city went down hill, and he practiced medicine there for many years. Dr.McGregor was also well respected in the community. Some years later he repaired my brother Bill's dislocated elbow. Dr. McGregor also had an extensive medical library and much to my delight heoccasionally allowed me to peruse his books. This served me well later when I decided to become a surgeon.
Enough for today. Solitary


There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

wolf39us

A biography from a respected poster -- excellent read!

Mermaid

Quote from: Solitary on March 30, 2014, 11:16:58 AM

At the age of nine or ten,around the year 1952, I witnessed an operation by four doctors on my brother,Bob, for acute appendicitis. It was a gruesome sight as I watched it from a nearby doorway. With the nearest hospital over twenty miles away a trip there wasimpossible and so the operation was performed on the dining room table with only thelight from one light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

Wow. WOW. I take it Bob did ok? That is crazy interesting. How did they knock him out? Ether?
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Gawdzilla Sama

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

AllPurposeAtheist

Solitary, you're a doc? I didn't know that. Hey doc, it hurts when I laugh.. :lol:
Now I'll be thinking of dumb doc jokes all day. :think:
I'm not good at dealing with other people's pain so I opted out of the medical field. I majored in radiology once upon a time till I had to go watch some kid get twisted around to take pictures of his broken up body. That was enough for me.
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

AllPurposeAtheist

Quote from: Solitary on March 30, 2014, 05:04:38 PM
Now I'll be thinking of dumb doc jokes all day. :think:
I'm not good at dealing with other people's pain so I opted out of the medical field. I majored in radiology once upon a time till I had to go watch some kid get twisted around to take pictures of his broken up body. That was enough for me.


I was a misuse, but I kept rubbing people the wrong way.  Solitary
and a miduse is? I know the term, but having a tough time with the context here.. :think:
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

leo

Quote from: wolf39us on March 30, 2014, 11:24:44 AM
A biography from a respected poster -- excellent read!
I second this. Very Impressive bio.
Religion is Bullshit  . The winner of the last person to post wins thread .

PickelledEggs

Nice bio, Solitary! :-)

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aitm

wtf? when the next installment? DON"T FUCK WITH ME!
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

stromboli

"And there I was, coming home on the bus after my car broke down, still wearing my dirty scrubs. Then this illiterate clown started cracking jokes about my apparel. People laughed. Enraged, I clenched my jaw and stuck my hand in my pocket. I felt the handle of a scalpel I had forgotten in the madhouse of that last hour. Careully I felt, and realized there was a blade in it. Murderous rage overwhelmed me. Slowly I turned......"

AllPurposeAtheist

You couldn't be reading a tad to much into it could you?
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

stromboli


AllPurposeAtheist

All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

slush33

Solitary. Sounds like we had similar childhoods in the 40s and 50s with poverty and farm animals. I never made it to surgery but escaped after my sophomore year to the USN. I look forward to the rest of your story.

Green Bottle

Very interestin Solitary, when the next instalment.... :popcorn:

Quote from: stromboli on April 01, 2014, 01:20:47 AM
Sorry. Went all "Dexter" there.
:axe: :axe: :axe:
God doesnt exist, but if he did id tell him to ''Fuck Off''