A letter from Dad on July 17th, 2015

Dear FutureCJ, Spoiler alert about the data in this message: considering your professional career as a medical doctor, specifically as an orthopedic surgeon. You're 15 now, and more than a decade ago I had you in mind, as I often do, during a discussion with my co-worker Tad Kennedy. That conversation motivated me to write you when you are at an age when you are growing out of being a kid and into an adult, and should consider what career you are called to perform. There's no doubt that the path of growing from child to teen to adult is uncomfortable: expect there to be discomfort as your grow - discomfort won't **** you - so keep moving forward. That's something about life that's important to keep in mind as you approach the age of driving automobiles: we are focused on moving forward, with some reflection on what is behind us. A few months ago Tad went through a pretty major knee surgery from an accident that occurred while playing basketball. Another guy rammed his knee accidently into Tad's knee as Tad drove into the lane to shoot. His ACL and patellar tendon were in need of repair and/or replacement, so he ended up needing to have an orthopedic surgeon perform surgery. Orthopedics, also spelled Orthopaedics, is the medical specialty concerned with a correction of deformities or functional impairments of the skeletal system, especially the extremities & the spine, as well associated structures, like muscles and ligaments. As Tad went through the process of approaching how he could best heal from his injury and the subsequent surgery, he & I discussed the paths he could have taken and what has happened to him. He discussed how there were 3 options available to him for his knee tendon replacement surgery: A) use a cadaver (dead person's) tendon, B) use an artificial tendon C) use his own grafted tendon, either from his hamstring or his patellar, to replace the torn ACL. A was a legitimate possibility because some people donate their bodies to science after they die, and scientific discoveries sometimes come from experiments done on people. Medical science is now at a time and place where the harvesting of these body pieces is a routine and safe process. B was not really an option at this time because the artificial tendons that have been used in recent years were either rejected by the body or wore away and needed replacement. So for Tad, option C seemed the best possibility, but this required the doctor to either 1) take a piece of his hamstring, which would need to also be rehabilitated, or 2) carve off some of his patellar tendon and little balls of bone from each end of the patellar tendon, so that the attachment of that tendon to where his ACL had been was more smooth. He chose option C and the patellar tendon graft. I wonder what your state of mind is about the surgery after reading the previous description. Does the thought of doing surgery excite you or make your stomach turn? Do you think the ability to perform surgery is really interesting that you want to learn more about it, or something so gross and repulsive that you know you never want to do that? Come tell me about your reaction to that surgery description, please. Let's discuss if you want to go down the road to being a medical doctor, because there are many kinds of doctors and there is always a great need for doctors. If you are interested in possibly learning more about what it takes to become a doctor, know that the training for doctors is pretty long, complex and intense, but don't be discouraged. Becoming a doctor is something which at your age, thankfully, you don't have to jump right into. Let's talk. I've researched a good deal and found that lots of people have joint injuries - in fact most people at some point in their life have to see a doctor about a joint problem - and some of them have joint replacements and surgeries. I want to discuss with you the possibility that you may be interested in a career like an orthopedic surgeon. They enjoy what they do, they aren't pressured into tedious, monotonous work, their work environment is pleasant, and they get paid an awful lot for their time, training and education. Generically, that sentence seems like something anyone would want to do for a career. I want to help you finding your calling so you can exercise your God-given gifts, and be happy in life. I would like to help direct you to some (both monetarily and enjoyment-wise) profitable job that you choose to perform before you HAVE TO get some job that pays some money because we all need money to live. We all need money in order to live in a house, feed ourselves, and have fun items, but I doubt anyone grew up aspiring to be a janitor or having dreams of loading boxes into UPS shipping trucks. So, I want to discuss what careers you may have in mind, and remind you that when you were 2, "Doctor" was the first career you said you wanted to be when you grew up. In my desire to give you a good life, I will make mistakes - we all do. How we recover and learn from those mistakes is the true character of a person. I'd like you to talk with me about a career in the medical field and also, if at this time you don't think you want to be a doctor, discuss what industry you think you would like to enter and would be profitable in performing. Life is divided into three terms - that which was, that which is present & that which will be in the future. Learn from the past so you can profit by the present, and learn from the present, to live better in the future. All my love, in Christ, ~Dad