My dad is a pediatric neurosurgeon, so I have sort of "shadowed" him my entire life. It is a great field of medicine with many positive and negatives (like all specialties). It is a long road of education, after med school he did a year fellowship, and then I think a six year residency. He originally did adults and children, but is now so busy with kids he rarely does adults. He is VERY busy, and has long days at work. Here is what a typical week is like for him:
Monday: leaves the house by 6:30 am, makes rounds, has meetings in the a.m. and then is in the OR by 8 or 9:00. Does 5 to 6 cases (sometimes more and sometimes less), and then comes home whenever he is done.
Tuesday: his office day. Out by 6:30, makes rounds, and then sees about 80 to 100 patients a day!
Wednesday: same as Monday
Thursday: same as Tuesday
Friday: Catch up day, usually does more surgeries, or takes the day for a long weekend.
Traumas and other emergency surgeries fall in sometime during the week, often in the middle of the night.
He spends A LOT of time working and thank God he has a wonderful wife (my mom, former nurse) who understands him and his career. I was born after he was finished with his residency but I know he was away from my siblings a lot when they were little and he was going through his residency.
It is a tough to get through in order to be a neurosurgeon, but it is an extremely rewarding career. He gets up everyday for work knowing he loves what he does. Of course he is frustrated with typical medical issues like insurance, and hospital administrator bulls**t, but in his opinion, the positives outweigh the negatives by far.
Bottom line is that he has enabled thousands of children to lead healthy lives and grow up to have families of their own. Yes, he has not been able to save every child, and that is very sad, but knowing he has helped many others survive makes him (and me)feel good!
I haven't decided what field of medicine I want to enter yet, but I do know what special skills and dedication it takes to be a neurosurgeon and will take that into account in my decision!
I hope this helps!
