Challenge

It's one thing to look darn cool to solve a intellectually challenging case like Sherlock Holmes, and quite another to meet a mysterious patient when you have only half day to sort out the riddle.

When my registrar told me the story of a young chap who had dizzy spell and blackout after climbing four flights, I knew this is tricky. I quickly brought my students to see him, only to find my patient having a seizure in front of us.

This is a good example to tell my students tests don't make a diagnosis - thinking does. After an hour or so, we were pretty sure where the problem is: blood vessels in his lungs got stuck with blood clots. Let me put it this way: If you saw this condition in a 19-year-old, it'd be as rare as having traffic jam in countryside. Oh, my goodness. I knew I didn't have time to figure out why; I'd promised to take half day off to meet my daughter at her school. I looked at my watch.

Still. The urgent and important issue was sizing up the option of open surgery or delivering medicine to dissolve the clots (thrombolysis). After that had been ironed out, I headed for my daughter's school where they are celebrating the important role that fathers play in raising children. I know, because I have a daughter. As the school principal felicitously put it, "While the traditional father's role is different to that of a mother, it is no less important in the growth and development of a child."

Few things are more rewarding than healing as a doctor and teaching as a father. Fortunately, I can be both.