A Surgeon Fascination

Since working at Children’s Hospital, I’ve developed a crush, a fascination, and an insatiable curiosity on surgeons. (I say surgeons because from working with them, they’ve turned me snobby towards things like primary care physicians. Doctor ain't a doctor till there's scalpels involved.) I find their work fascinating and I am convinced that they lead not only interesting lives, but totally messed up lives. A person cannot cut open another being, mess around with the insides, and stitch them back up, without being totally messed up in the head. And to have as much power as a surgeon can have, to know that you’ve given someone a new nose or a new heart, that must make them think they’re substituting God to a degree, so no wonder the egos.

However messed up they may be, there is also admiration in my crush, because of how worthy their job is. How important. How respectable. While so many of us slave away at barely meaningful jobs never knowing what contribution we’re making to this world, a surgeon sees the difference he makes on a daily and personal basis.

And perhaps the fascination and wonder exists because they are something I’ll never be and can never be. Biology escapes me and the sight of a needle brings me to tears. So I will sit back and continue to admire for now, until Jeremy’s a bit older, and then I’ll do my best to make a surgeon out of him. Do you think it's too soon to introduce him to a scalpel? How bout we start with a stethoscope?