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| Bill and I after my first solo |
About four months ago I met an amazing 92 year man. Since my
days as Chief of Urology at the VA Hospital in Connecticut I always ask the
same question to men of a certain age. "What did you do in the war?"
Which war is always understood based on their age. He replied, "I flew
B-17 bombers in the Battle of the Bulge." I excitedly told him that I was
learning to fly to which he responded, "Are you a natural?" I said
that I didn't know. Today I soloed for the first time. It was incredible and
exhilarating. Learning to fly has also been the hardest thing that I have done
this side of forty. I was not a natural. Learning to consistently land well
took many hours of practice. The intellectual study, physical control and
mental focus was immense. It's hard to learn to do something very difficult in
your fifties. So often we're just coasting at this point. Yes, I can do
difficult surgeries, but I developed those skills in my twenties and thirties.
We can still learn new and difficult skills later in life, but you must pay the
price and not give in to the momentary disappointments and self doubt. Today I
celebrate the opportunity to fly and learn and see the world from a completely
new point of view. We are only truly old when we stop learning.
I've always wanted to fly but never really considered it an
option given all of the other responsibilities that took priority for my time.
Then two years ago Barbie gave me a gift of an introductory flying lesson. I
was immediately hooked. However, at that time, patients with heart transplants
could not get a regular pilot's license. That has now changed but certain
chemotherapy drugs also limit ones access to such a goal. Then for Valentine's
day I got Barbie an introductory flight lesson. It was so fun to see her
pre-flight the Cessna 172 and the take off with the instructor. Soon, to her
delight, she was in control of the plane; banking and turning, as we flew over
our house. This reignited my desire to fly. It turns out that to fly a
light-sport plane a medical exam is not needed. All that is required is a valid
driver's license.
I began my training in June with California Sport Aviation
in Lodi, California, which is a 55 mile drive from Lincoln. My flight
instructor is Bill Bardin. We spent many, many hours flying over the Sacramento
valley, learning maneuvers and landing. He is a good instructor, but he wants
perfection as he feels responsible for the ultimate safety of the pilot and the
plane. Many times he would pull back on the throttle and say, "Your engine
just quit, what are you going to do now?" And I would scan the earth for a
suitable landing area and execute a low approach, (as if I were going to land). I often felt like a medical student again being grilled by the professor.
I don't know if any pilot ever gets their instructor's voice out of their head. In
a way, I hope not.
It seems that all of the really difficult things in life
that we learn require a good (and patient) mentor. I was fortunate to find
Bill. I was also very lucky in that we never cancelled a lesson for weather or
equipment issues. I now feel confident to continue learning on my own. I spent
a year during my fellowship with Dr Clayman learning how to do a laparoscopic
nephrectomy. But it was only when, at Yale a year later, that I did my first
case as the attending that I really felt like the surgeon. This is how I feel
today.
You can do anything that you really put your mind to. The
sky's the limit.
