A SECOND OPINION
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Perspective by MARY BARRY , MD
It ’ s been a dismal birding season for the most part . Classically , bird migration in Louisville begins two weeks before Derby and ends two weeks afterward . A creature of habit , I failed to take into account global warming and missed my chance to go south to Bernheim very early in April to hear and see flocks of wood-warblers . On local outings , we ’ ve all been frustrated by the already-full canopy of leaves : we see a lot of parts of birds , stretching our necks backwards endlessly only to catch a glimpse of a wing . It ’ s yet another reminder of the ancient lesson : how do we learn things ? – the hard way .
That ’ s also how we lose people : the very hard way . This will be the eighth straight week that I have attended wakes and funerals . It ’ s consoling to meet and hug old friends and colleagues , but so disheartening to lose local giants of surgical teaching : Dr . Gordon Tobin and Dr . Leonard Weiner , and that ever-wry , always solidly dependable , always kind Dr . Steve Nettleton of Anatomy .
As a freshman medical student in August 1980 , I was exceedingly grateful just to pass his course ( at the first cadaver lab , the future surgeon on the team immediately took the scalpel out of my hand and took over , thus saving all of us from failing ). I did not realize till I became a grown-up doctor how much research he did , and how many students he took under his wing to shepherd into med school admission when the regular channels had failed them , or teaching careers of their own .
I learned only later how closely he worked with surgeons ’ ongoing research projects . He taught us embryology too , famously waving a length of black hose around to demonstrate the origins of the gut . I can see him in my mind ’ s eye up onstage , flailing away , barely suppressing his own laughter . But he taught us well : he won the Golden Apple teaching award from the freshman class 11 separate times . It was never even close .
He was very much the scientific editor , for many years contributing , editing and eventually taking over as Editor-in-Chief of the Biotechnic and Histochemistry publication , and he remained chief for the next 40 years . I remember telling him that he was the only medical person ( besides Dr . Elizabeth Amin ) that I would ever consult for a point of English language usage .
Then , in April we lost Dr . David Nightingale , the longtime cardiovascular / thoracic surgeon . He defined stalwart , walking with Dr . Henry Sadlo miles and miles and miles until his late 90s . He also defined for me the reality-based , considerate and careful refusal to give in to a frightened patient for no gain : he would not , under any circumstances , operate when it would not help . Until around the year 2000 , every single one of my lung cancer patients ( many World War II , Korean and Vietnam vets , smokers to a man ) died within a year of diagnosis unless they had a single lesion / no nodes / tumor serendipitously found on a chest X-ray done for preopsomething-else , or positive PPD test follow-up . He did operate on those few , and most of them did very well .
As an attending at Norton taking ER call , I ’ d get beeped by Dr . Jon Miller in the ER . “ Got a guy down here , pneumo , UofL on diversion . Dr . Nightingale knows about him , come on down .” And I would breathe a sigh of relief that the cavalry was on the way . He and Henry had many adventures together , and he kept his joie de vivre to the very end .
It ’ s also the time of year for graduations . My first great-niece , a Navy kid , will head this summer to enroll at the University of Dublin . While in Singapore as a child , her Navy dad flew all over the south Pacific as the Navy liaison to every island government there was , keeping them sweet on the side of democracy . I got to see the whole family in June this year , for the change of command ceremony as her Captain father was relieved at our shared base in Rota , Spain , to come stateside for his next tour . She once attended the world ’ s top-ranked kindergarten in Singapore , long a British bastion with typical British top-notch schooling for the elite . She ’ s been a world traveler her whole life and we cannot wait to see the art and architecture she will soon design ( despite the significant distraction of Irish pubs and comedy clubs , and suitors with Irish
20 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE OPINION