Surgeon's Story (eBook)

From a Kid in a Cyprus Village to Top Surgeon in New York

George C. Christoudias MD (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020 | 1. Auflage
400 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-0734-9 (ISBN)

Infos

This is a story of a top surgeon in the New York Metropolitan area. He came from humble beginnings, but with solid foundations in decency, honesty and love of humanity. He learned how to work hard for everything we wanted to achieve. He was shocked by his father's premature death from colon cancer. This traumatic experience inspired him to study Medicine in Athens Greece, and specialize in General and Cancer Surgery at King's County Hospital, SUNY-DMC in Brooklyn NY. The tough times of endless hours of work, coupled with the inspirational results of the Surgical practice in Brooklyn are described in layman's terms. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery upon completion of his training, but established his own private practice in Bergen County in 1979, where he practiced until his retirement on January 1st 2016. Multiple, inspiring life threatening medical conditions, representing a variety of surgical problems, were treated successfully and are described in layman's terms. The private life of the surgeon is also described, from the childhood years to his retirement and beyond.

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This is a story of a surgeon, starting from his birth in an idyllic village of Cyprus, to his studying Medicine and becoming a top Surgeon in the New York Metropolitan area. He performed over 15,000 operations, during his 45 years of work. A variety of inspiring, life threatening medical problems, treated by surgical intervention, are described in layman's terms. The private life of the surgeon is also described, as it intermingled with the demanding practice of surgery.

Textauszug

Part 2: My Journey into Medicine

My College Years and Medical School

Pre-Medical Classes

I realized that the decision about my future was sealed with my father’s death. Between the mismanagement of his condition by the doctors in Cyprus, and my own uselessness to answer his call for help, I knew I had to become a doctor and be of service to humanity. I knew I could not save the world, but I also knew I could definitely save some people and all of the thoughts I had about going into business evaporated into thin air. I knew what I wanted to do in life, and I knew that, no matter what, I was going to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor. I had two choices for medical school—England or the Athens University Medical School. I wrote letters to several English medical schools about entrance requirements and learned that I needed to pass the GCE (General Certificate of Education) and all of the required subjects.

The GCE I could take in Cyprus by joining a special program at the English School in Nicosia. The two-year program was tailored to high school graduates that wanted to study in the UK. The less expensive way was to first meet the GCE requirements in Cyprus and then head to medical school in the UK.

I applied and enrolled in the English program and took the necessary subjects needed for medical school. It was an interesting experience studying advanced level biology, chemistry and physics. I had always loved physics when studying at the Pancyprian Gymnasium but did not care much about biology and chemistry. But when I studied those subjects at the English school, I came to love chemistry and biology in addition to physics. I had realized later that the earlier chemistry and biology teacher was not qualified, and we never got deep into the science. At the English school, I discovered that both chemistry and biology were interesting and intriguing.

In biology, one of the first things we did was dissect a Squamus Acanthias—a dogfish—and identify the different parts of its anatomy. The fish was preserved in formaldehyde, which was irritating to the nose and the eyes. Squamus Acanthias was different from other fish, because it has a skeleton of just cartilage and no bones. Further, it did not lay eggs, but gave birth to live offspring. It is a small fish, about 12 inches long, and readily available in the central Nicosia fish market.

Like our father earlier, Costas was going to the central market every day to buy fresh vegetables and meats for the family super store. I asked him to buy a few dogfish so I could dissect them at home; he got me plenty. One of the fish seemed kind of fat, so I opened it up. I found two pouches filled with baby dogfish. I stopped dissecting and brought it to school the next day. It was then preserved in formalin so it could be displayed in the lab for future classes. One day after finishing classes, I decided to dissect another dogfish at home. I gathered a fresh dogfish along with a board, some pins and my biology book with the squamous acanthias anatomy and brought everything to my bedroom. I placed the dogfish on the board and secured it with the pins like we did in the lab. I then turned to the book’s dissection information and opened the fish with a scalpel. It was like being in love!

Before I could go further with the dissection, I heard Costas calling me. “George, I need some help!” The store had gotten busy and he needed an extra hand. I left everything in place and closed the bedroom door behind me. I stayed in the store for a couple of hours until it slowed down again and then headed back to my project of dissecting. As I reached the bedroom, I was surprised to see the door open; I knew I had closed it. I went inside and saw the board and the biology book but instead of the fish, there were three cats licking their lips! John had been curious about what I was doing in the bedroom and went in my room to check it out. He saw the opened fish and left but did not bother to close the door behind him. He inadvertently treated with a feast, three of our seven cats (we also had four dogs).

John showed up shortly after and told me he found what I was doing very interesting. I was a little upset that I had to start all over again with a new fish, but I seriously could not get really angry with John. I yelled at him for what he did, but he just laughed. I decided laughing was better than yelling so I laughed along with him!

This incident was like the times he would call all the dogs and cats and then throw a piece of meat in the middle to see them battle it out. Or when he poured black pepper on the cat’s nose, causing it to sneeze repeatedly while trying to push the pepper off his nose with his paws.

Another time he gave one of our cats a hot piece of meat he pulled from a skewer, right off the fire. The poor cat was grabbing the meat, and then dropping it, over and over again, realizing it was too hot. Meanwhile, “Captain Trouble” was entertained, laughing his head off. Despite this, captain trouble actually loved our cats and dogs and treated them like family.

There was a big void in our lives with our father gone, but strangely enough I always felt he was next to me, teaching me his lessons: “always do what is right”; “treat people with respect”; “always wear a smile”; “fight for your rights”; “you can do and be anything you want in life if you are willing to work hard for it”; and “be kind to the needy.” My father and I shared a special bond, which at times was resented by my siblings. I loved him so much! That bond lasted through my life and it will go on until my death.

Life went on, and the family continued its course. In 1962 Stavros took on the Mattar’s Camp Hotel in the Troodos Mountains to run as another business. The 100-bed camp hotel was only open from June through September and always had 100 percent occupancy in August. It was the highest hotel in Cyprus at about 6,000 feet, where people from the low valleys could find a cool refuge and escape from the scourging heat of the Cyprus summer. The top of the mountain is 6,404 feet, and gets covered with snow every winter, making it accessible to skiers and snowboarders.

I went to the hotel every weekend and delivered food and supplies from the store and helped out with whatever was needed. The next year at Stavros’s request, I ran the hotel. He added a nightclub with a live band, but the expenses ended up being too high and the operation period too short for profitability. Overall, the entire hotel enterprise was not profitable for Stavros and he just about broke even. At the end of the season he asked me to join him in his business endeavors, which included real estate, a travel agency and an import export enterprise. I declined. I knew my path to the future was already decided, having been influenced by our father’s terrible experience and suffering. I was going to be a doctor.

When our father was alive, he bought a building lot in the same area of Nicosia where we lived, to build a house for Anastasia. Providing a house by the parents to every daughter as a dowry, was traditional in Cyprus. My father had already built a house for Irene before she got married. He intended to build a house for Anastasia, and give the youngest, Dora, the original Nicosia home. In 1962 our mother sold an olive grove she had in Karavas for 2,000 Cyprus pounds, which was used to build a house for Anastasia. Stavros asked me to give him $300 Cyprus pounds from the bank account my father had opened for me. He said he needed it to finish Anastasia’s house so I did not question his intentions. After giving him the amount he asked me for, I was left with an account balance of 300 pounds.

Medical School

The time came in September of 1963 to make a decision about where I was going to study. I passed my GCE exams, but the expenses were too high to study in the UK. I decided to go to Athens University Medical School, which was significantly less expensive. Additionally, the University of Athens gave preferential treatment to non-Greek citizens from abroad, allowing them to enroll in the school of their choice without taking the entrance exams. The only requirements were to be a graduate of a high school that was approved by the Greek Ministry of Education. I was a graduate of the Pancyprian Gymnasium High School, which had the Greek Ministry of Education approval, so I qualified.

I made an arrangement with the Bank of Cyprus to remit 30 pounds a month while I studied. I got all my documents in order, packed my suitcase, and bought a boat ticket to Piraeus for 7 Cyprus pounds (about $20), for the 36-hour “on deck” trip. Stavros and our mother drove me to the ferry Pegasus in Limassol, and we said our goodbyes. As I embarked for Greece on the boat’s deck, I at first felt a little dizzy and nauseous, even before the boat took off. It was my first trip out of Cyprus and the first time I was on a big boat. My high school had organized a trip to Greece in the summer of 1960 when my father was sick, but traveling wasn’t a consideration for me at the time.

I eventually got over the dizziness and nausea and started feeling like a happy sailor, enjoying every moment of the cool September breeze of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. When the ferry arrived in Piraeus, I took the train to Athens to see my high school friends Stelios, Nicos and George. They welcomed me and showed me the medical...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.4.2020
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-0734-8 / 1098307348
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-0734-9 / 9781098307349