Lessons learned

“We are not makers of history, we are made by it…”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Owen Hardy Wangensteen was born in 1898. He chose the career of medicine, and for several decades was the Chief of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. I learnt a lot from Wangensteen. His history of surgery was published in 1975. I found a copy of this book whilst in high school and became obsessed with becoming a surgeon (lesson 1). This same book I proudly displayed to one of my consultants, when I was a junior surgical trainee. He thanked for the book and tucked it under his arm. i never saw the book again.(lesson 2). Wangensteen published extensively about the importance of lymph node involvement in breast cancer. In an era before systemic therapies and modern radiotherapy, he advocated for opening the chest to remove mediastinal nodes in breast cancer patients (lesson 3). His most important contribution to surgery was the pioneering of suction nasogastric tubes for the conservative management of bowel obstructions. This was instantly practice changing and life saving. It also meant passing a lot of NG tubes as a junior member of surgical teams (lesson 4). #neverlookagifthorseinthemouth #letsmakelemonade