Why be a vascular surgeon?
He will provide encouragement to help the patient stop smoking and commiserate when a sibling dies from a heart attack. The mentor might relate how she felt when she saved the leg of a soldier injured by a land mine or how she was amazed by the 80-year-old ballroom dancer who danced a few weeks after a below knee amputation.
Mentors will also describe getting to know a patient’s daily routine so they can informatively advise a patient whether it is worth having a procedure to improve quality of life. Or the thrill we get when that patient thanks us for relieving the claudication that prevented gainful employment. We are relieved when a longstanding patient wakes up neurologically intact from an endarterectomy.
However, we are filled with remorse when we inform a family that they have lost their loved one who died from a ruptured aneurysm. Of course, our failures may be devastating but they reinforce our humility when we acknowledge that we have been defeated by a disease that resisted our every effort.
The mentor may also share that “Every Xmas you will collect cards thanking you for saving a life or, out of the blue, receive a carton of fruit from the orchard of a farmer who finally was able to walk amongst her crop. You will pass tissues to the sobbing husband whose wife always accompanied him to his yearly physical, but who recently passed from incurable cancer. You will listen to stories from veterans of past wars. You will see pictures of patients’ children and you will remark how they have grown through the years. A patient will make you look admiringly at their latest puppy or prize-winning pig. You will be given stock advice by a millionaire and you will pay for a taxi for the indigent to get home from your office. You may keep patients waiting while you hear intriguing gossip or wonder just how you can stop the little old lady rambling on about lost loves. You will be charmed by the 98-year-old who makes sure that she has her hair and makeup done prior to coming to see you, and how her face lights up when you pronounce her more beautiful than ever.
“Dear student, the technical aspects of vascular surgery are indeed demanding and exciting. We are invigorated by the knowledge that our expertise saved a life or limb, prevented a stroke or provided the nephrotic with a working fistula. Even the more simple cosmetic procedures give us pleasure. If you still need inspiration to embark on a vascular surgical career I encourage you to read the Presidential address Dr. Bruce J. Brener gave to the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery in March 1996. His eloquent portrayal of the vascular surgical experience is unmatched (Amer J Surg, 1996; 172:97-9). However, it is our daily and often lifelong interaction with our wonderful patients that so intimately reinforces our humanity and makes this profession so uniquely satisfying.”
