Editor’s Note: Joyful moments experienced during training and in practice.
I attended medical school at a prestigious medical institution. During one of our lectures, a medical specialist showed us a film of patients who were afflicted with a commonly recognized crippling disorder. Also shown was a film that featured some of the same patients after they had been treated with a drug developed at our institution. The improvements were dramatic. The third in the series of films showed patients who had later experienced the complications of prolonged use of the same drug. These effects were strikingly debilitating and often required orthopedic intervention.
Later, years into practice in another part of the country, I recognized a woman with an accent seemingly from the region I had trained in. In fact, her last name was the same as one of the developers of the drug mentioned above. When appropriate, I asked her if there was a connection. Yes, her father was one of the co-developers of the once-considered “wonder drug”. I took care of her and joyously closed the loop between my education and my clinical practice.
This story goes on. I took care of an African American man in my clinic and offered him a single dose of the previously mentioned medication. This was done to treat his significant pain and to temporize while other treatments were used in conjunction. He bluntly refused and told me that his father had worked in the research lab where the wonder drug was developed and tested. Although he participated in the effort, his father went uncredited for his work. Another loop closed. Both stories demonstrate the benefit of having time to converse with patients in the office. We learn from them just as they learn from us.
These loops became a circle. I met my future husband on the first day of my orthopedic residency. As part of the introduction of orthopedic residents, some stood in an atrium and the others on a balcony above. I was down below and looked up to see an attractive man who caught my eye. Later we attended a welcome dinner at the orthopedic chairman’s home. We “met over pie” and I fell in love.
We worked together on several challenging mandatory first year resident rotations, and were sometimes paired up to complete tasks and do patient handoffs. We met in July and were engaged by February. I gave birth to our first child during the first few months of my post-residency private practice position. Our second child was born a year later. Another loop joyfully closes!