A Beautiful Thing

On a personal note: This doctor has not practiced medicine since 1993. When he came north, he locked the M.D. in a box and forgot about him. Flying in Alaska, he did not admit to the title and claimed to be just an air taxi pilot. Flying was his first love anyway.

When I volunteered to work medical clinics in the South Pacific and later Asia, I did not know what to expect. Would I be too rusty? Would I remember or be too rough?

I sat down at the table with only my stethoscope. “We’ll start slow," I told my interpreter. The first case was a Reiter’s Syndrome. That wasn’t hard. About half way through the first case, this complete stranger jumps out of his box and takes over, starts telling everybody what to do. Where did he come from? Just as well that he did because I was nervous and needed help, but he remembered everything! The next case was an older diabetic with congestive heart failure, dyspnea, edema and ascites. So it went, until the last patient --- looking for more. Then, he jumped back in his box, as suddenly as he had emerged, a complete personality change. I wondered what had happened --- was amazed and cranked for a couple of hours after. --- This I can do.