MARCH 28, 2023 – Today I had a medical encounter that bolstered my faith in the future.
The occasion was a six-month check-up with Dr. Arndt, my pulmonologist, which went swimmingly (my transplant workup a year ago had revealed a lingering lung issue arising from a cat allergy, channeling me to the pulmonology section for evaluation and monitoring). He’s top flight: smart, experienced, with an easy going personality and solid sense of humor. Ahead of my appointment, however, the proficient, cheerful nurse who took my blood pressure, pulse and oxygen measurements informed me that I’d first meet the resident assigned to Dr. Arndt. I was asked if that would be okay, and of course I replied in the affirmative.
A minute later, in walks said resident, “Dr. Nick.” He looked young—not that I was expecting some old codger, but when you reach 68, more people start looking a lot younger. At any rate, his handshake, self-confidence, countenance filled with intelligence and above all, his quick ability to establish rapport with a geezer, revealed immediately that he was a seasoned first-stringer on the varsity team.
After med school he’d joined the Navy, not “to see the world” but ultimately to serve as the sole flight surgeon on the obscure Navy air base in the desert sands of California where the Blue Angels performance aviators train. This impressed me, and I wanted to ask a million questions, but being patient-focused, he genuinely wanted to know something of my story. And he listened attentively to my ramblings. By his responses I readily knew that he was sincerely interested in what I had to say.
As a physician, Dr. Nick [I’m remiss for not having captured his last name] has already “arrived.” He’s an excellent listener, has easy recall to a wealth of knowledge, and just as critical, his communication skills, commitment to his work, true dedication to his patients’ well-being, and high regard for his colleagues were extraordinary.
When Dr. Arndt joined us, I said, “Gee, here I thought this was the Harvard/Yale of medical care, and then, in meeting this outstanding resident, I realize this is the Oxford/Cambridge.” They both chuckled, and only now do I understand how polite they were in the face of my odd geezerly, if not narrowly snobbish, comparison. I mean, after all, I was in the care system of another medical education center—the University of Minnesota, for crying out loud—and the reference to the two most emblematic institutions of the Ivy League was simply gauche. I know little about Harvard and Yale medical facilities except that they have famous names. I know everything that I need to know about HealthPartners Oncology and the U of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Care Center (much interaction exists between the two, and in fact, Dr. Nick’s residency is technically with HealthPartners) and the research that goes on in both organizations: for treatment of my disease, they’re the best in the world.
As to my reference to Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the implication that they’re somehow superior to Harvard and Yale (and the University of Minnesota), perhaps I can buy some dispensation by way of my age and commensurately outdated standards. When I was a kid, the gold standard was the Cadillac, and the platinum standard was the Rolls Royce. You never said, “That [whatever] is the Mercedes [or Lamborghini] of [the whole class of whatevers].” Long ago I dispensed with the Cadillac/Rolls comparisons, but when it comes to education institutions, I guess I’m still stuck on Harvard and Yale, as “Cadillacs”; Oxford and Cambridge, as “Rolls Royces.”
Today’s docs were too kind to wince at my anachronistic, if not eccentrically offensive, references to the “Cads” and “Rolls” of higher learning. The bottom line is that in my book (both hardcopy and digital), Drs. Arndt and “Nick” and the institutions in which they serve represent the platinum standard of BMT medical care, for which I have the deepest respect and gratitude.
Both will be practicing for years to come—Dr. Nick, no doubt the longest. He’s not only an exemplary physician; he’s reason for optimism about our nation’s future.
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© 2023 by Eric Nilsson
