SF Chronicle: Doctor finds higher calling when death knocks (awesome story)

[Mooka]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/02/BA8MUSL28.DTL

Doctor finds higher calling when death knocks

(05-04) 04:00 PDT Northern Tanzania --

Dr. Frank Artress looked down at his fingers. His nail beds were turning blue. He was running out of oxygen near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

A cardiac anesthesiologist, Artress knew the signs of high altitude pulmonary edema. He knew there was a 75 percent chance that he would perish on Africa's highest peak.

Artress led his wife to a rock, and they sat together above the clouds. Then it hit him. He wasn't afraid to die; he was ashamed. He had lived only for himself - practicing medicine in a Modesto hospital, traveling with his wife, purchasing luxury vacation homes and collecting art. He felt as if he had nothing to show for his 50 years. He felt as if his life had been a waste.

In that moment, Artress and his wife realized they were living for the wrong reasons. In that moment, everything changed.

Some people dream of giving up the trappings of success and starting life anew, with a purpose, with a social conscience. For Artress and his wife, the idea suddenly seemed real.

That day on Mount Kilimanjaro would lead the Modesto doctor and his wife to leave their comfortable life in California to become bush doctors, dedicated to easing the heartbreak of Africa.

Just thought I'd share, this is my favorite exerp from the story:

On his first day, a patient with a neck abscess the size of a baseball came in. The resident doctor handed Artress a scalpel.

"I am an anesthesiologist. I don't do this," Artress protested.

"You do now."

:yikes: