Last Tuesday night our guest speaker was Dr. Wesley Desselle (I honestly have no idea how that's spelled, so, if I'm wrong, please inform me), who now works as a general surgeon. He said he used to be a trauma surgeon, so I can understand why he decided to just be a general surgeon instead.
He said that he had been inspired to become a doctor after he had seven surgeries to repair his leg so it would not be amputated after he was hit by a car. He wanted to do for someone else what had been done for him.
Dr. Wesley mentioned several things necessary in a practioner of medicine: experience (through which one learns), diligence, creativity, mentorship, and trust. I can certainly see how trust is the most important quality there needs to be between the patient and the doctor. The patient must trust that the doctor will fix him. For his part, the doctor must not betray that trust. I can see how immense of a responsibility that would be: I don't think I could do that myself. Which is why I am glad that there are people who can do that.
I would mention here that I am grateful to the hospital workers from the time when I went to the emergency room with a concussion, but as I (understandably) don't remember much of anything of that night, I will not.
Dr. Wesley also stressed the value of mentorship. (By the way, the word mentor comes from an old guy, Mentor, in Greek mythology who advised Telemmachus, Odysseus's son, as he set out looking for his father. At one point, Athena disguised herself as Mentor to give advice to Telemmachus. Yes, I'm a nerd. I do believe some of the wallpaper in Andrew Jackson's Hermitage depicts Telemmachus's search for Odysseus... Don't ask me why. I think it was Mrs. Jackson's idea...)
Anyway, Dr. Wesley described an ideal mentor as a friend, a helper, a teacher, someone who is there for the student every step of the way. He also pointed out that there are mentors not even in the medical field- saying that Nick Saban had been the mentor of Jimbo Fisher (Florida State), Derek Dooley (Tennessee), and Will Muschamp (Florida). (And if I've got any of that wrong, you SEC nuts correct me.) He also pointed out Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was a creative way to keep a bunch of college kids' attention, I thought. (By the way, did anyone see the article in the paper several days back calling Saban and Muschamp Master and Padawan? That was rather amusing.)
Dr. Wesley also said that medicine is a actually a social science, not just a scientific practice. English, philosophy, and ethics mean just as much in the medical field as they do elsewhere. He said that if he had not become a surgeon, he would have wanted to be an English teacher. That, I think, shows an ideal balance. All knowledge is connected. Neither is it ever wasted. Even if someone gets his degree and goes on to work in a completely different field, that knowledge is never wasted. One simply never knows if and when one will need that knowledge. It's all part of the Grand Design... Divine Providence. (Yes... and now I'm going to have that song 'Through Heaven's Eyes' in my head for the rest of the day...)
In Pace Christi,
Elyse
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