next? “I had learned that my favorite classmate “Abdominal surgery, chest surgery, head surgery. been in a car crash and damaged her liver: “Her
at Leon High School was divorced. So in 1976 I get the impression that that’s just what it was liver had lots of lacerations. My partner and I
I came down to talk to her.” He stayed, and like back in the day. They didn’t have such worked on her. Every time we’d pack the wound
they were married. For the next 21 years, he segregated subspecialties. It’s an interesting slice with sponges and pull them out, she’d start
practiced at Tallahassee Memorial – before of history to have him in the class, and I think bleeding like mad. I said, ‘I’m going to go sit
making the post-retirement leap to the College the students appreciate that. They know that it’s down and think about this.’ And I looked up on
of Medicine’s anatomy lab. not like that anymore. the wall, and there was this corset that they have
Eric Laywell, the lab’s director, marvels at
Cavanagh’s energy and dedication.
“We have practical exams down in the lab,
“No matter what you’re doing, he has a clinical for broken ribs. And so I said, ‘OK, we’re going
story that he can tell about that part of the body.” to pull all of the packing and all of the sponges
Here’s one of the stories: “One day when I
and they’re pretty intense,” says Laywell, an was practicing in Portsmouth, I had to do an
associate professor. “It takes all day because the epidural hematoma in an 8-year-old girl who
out, sew her up real fast and put the corset on
her.’ And it worked.”
There’s also a story about how he became a
students have to go through in separate groups. had fallen down some concrete stairs. We had surgeon in the first place: “My father was an
Dr. Cavanagh sits there the entire time, in that neurosurgeons on call, but I couldn’t find them obstetrician-gynecologist. He was out every
cold anatomy lab. He’s there more than I am. Saturday at noon. She was getting worse. So I night – so I did NOT want to be an obstetrician!
He loves to be there. called my medical school neurosurgeon. Got his I didn’t like surgery, either, because the surgeons
nurse. She said, ‘He’s on vacation – but I’ll give were so arrogant. So I decided to be an academic
committee – and does great interviews. He’s you his number.’ So I called him up. He said, gynecologist. I was accepted by this group in
incredibly sharp.” ‘OK, you’re going to have to do it. Why don’t you Boston. They told me that I had to take two
go get ready, put the patient to sleep, call me up years of surgery and then do the gynecology.
and we’ll go through it together?’ The nurse held While I was taking surgery, this professor – who
“He also still interviews for the admissions
When asked, Cavanagh politely declined to
divulge his age to FSU MED.
the phone. It took 30 or 40 minutes, and it was was really humanistic, and I liked him a lot –
speculation about that every year. Somewhere successful. If I hadn’t reached the neurosurgeon on came down and became chief of the service. I
between 80 and 100, that’s all I can say!” the phone, I would’ve done the surgery by myself. said, ‘Well, you know, this isn’t so bad after all.’
I think I could’ve done it. I had two months of So I stuck it out and stayed in surgery.
When Laywell calls Cavanagh “old-school,”
he means it as a compliment.
“He’s done everything,” Laywell says.
neurosurgery when I was an intern.”
Then there’s the story about a woman who’d
“I think if I had it to do over again, I’d
probably become a family physician.”
James Cavanagh says he’s the young resident on the right in this old photo taken in the Dartmouth ICU.
“I don’t know his age,” Laywell says. “There’s
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