Scalpel over Starcaster
by DONN CHATHAM , MD
Taking a look at one ’ s career using the retrospectroscope may beg the question : “ What might I have done differently ?” If I had not become a physician , what then ? Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up , and one may hear cowboy , astronaut , movie star , president or zookeeper … and many other worthy occupations .
For us doctors , the white coat ceremony marks the end of “ non-physician life ” – life as we knew it is over . One is now a real “ doctor .” But what if …?
As the son of a small-town family doctor I was well-acquainted with the rigors and demands of primary care medicine , cradle to grave care . But medicine as a career was not actually on my radar . Having a musically accomplished mother ( music composer and church organist for 55 years ), she would corral me into music lessons . I wanted to play the drums or maybe guitar but came home from school one day to find a cello in the living room . My mother feared I might emulate Elvis Presley and Elvis did not play the cello !
Weekly lessons and playing in the Louisville Youth Orchestra soon followed . While I do appreciate classical orchestral music and the magic symphony that is created when disparate players each with their special instrument become one , I gradually opted out .
College studies focused on psychology and art , major and minor respectively . I was always curious as to “ Why do people do the things they do ?” Plus I always was “ drawn ” to drawing and sketching . Maybe I could become an artist , putting paint to canvas or chiseling out unique sculptures from wood or stone , each an inspired masterpiece . But I did not personally know any self-sufficient successful artists and visions of the prototypical starving artist were not appealing . I did know some photographers . Maybe photography as art might compliment my other renderings and I often found the faces of people intriguing .
College graduation was followed by a position with Kentucky state government in a fledgling drug abuse prevention program . But I saw no long-term pathway there with my lowly BA degree , and many of my co-workers felt micromanaged by upper-level professionals . I wanted to be an “ upper-level professional ” so it was
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