Short story of my life

When I finished high school, Dad asked me about my plans.

I said, “I want to be a veterinarian.”

He said, “Why not be a real doctor?”

“I said, ‘OK’.” I went to college and medical school.

After my internship, I joined the Army medical corps. I served in the South Pacific as a general medical officer and a dermatologist and as an anesthetist with the 58th Evac Hospital. When I returned home, I knew I wanted more medical training. The experience as an anesthetist had been so interesting that I applied for a residency in anesthesiology. I was accepted at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, probably the best residency program in the States.

When Dad asked me what I was going to do now that I was home from the army, I said I was going to be an anesthesiologist. He said, “You ought to be a heart doctor and take care of people.” I said I would.

I canceled the residency in anesthesiology, took residencies in chest and medicine, and eventually became an internist.

Now, about fifteen years after I’ve retired from the practice of medicine, I’ve been thinking: What would my life have been as a veterinarian? What would my life have been if I had become an anesthesiologist?

Interesting questions.