At one time or another, most neurosurgeons have been encouraged to seek appropriate balance in their lives. Advised to prioritize time among the often competing demands of profession, family, and spiritual and physical well-being, most of us may honor the idea more in the breach than in the observance. One may well wonder what the pioneers of neurosurgery did to relax in their spare time.
There is little if any information on how premodern surgeons “balanced” their lives. Besides, that sort or question would have been irrelevant. For all but a privileged very few, the concept of leisure time or of doing something besides struggling for existence is mostly a product of modern society. And the idea of biographies or memoirs dealing with the personal life of a subject is an even newer development. We can only speculate as to whether Galen wrestled or if Ambroise Pare played court tennis. However, given the youth of our specialty, we do know what our more recent forebears did for enjoyment.
Outdoor activity was and remains an important part of neurosurgeons’ leisure time. To some extent and unsurprisingly, the specifics reflect the individual’s time and place. Hunting and fishing were favorites of Norman Dott of Scotland and Eustace Semmes of Tennessee. Ball-based sports are frequently noted in the literature, especially tennis and golf. Victor Horsley enjoyed both sports, only two decades or so after the invention of “lawn” tennis. Many readers no doubt have seen the photo of Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy, racquets in hand on a tennis court at the Jekyll Island resort. Cushing, who had a tennis court at his home in Brookline, was a starting member of the Yale baseball team and an agile gymnast. Dandy played baseball and golf while in college at the University of Missouri.
Not all extracurricular pursuits by neurosurgeons involve sports. In particular, music has also been a regular theme. Fedor Krause and Gosta Norlen took great pleasure in playing the piano, while Gerard Guiot went a step further. He rebuilt an antique organ that he played expertly. And of course, many prominent neurosurgeons have had various nonmedical scholarly interests as a significant part of their lives.
If we are to function well as neurosurgeons we have to find some space for activities that provide the right balance in our lives. The precedents lie in the generations before us.
Michael Schulder, MD, is professor and vice chair in the Department of Neurological Surgery at New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
What Have You Been Doing (Philately) for Fun?
A conventional train of thought might lead one to the conclusion that today’s neurosurgeons mainly occupy their leisure time with tennis, golf or other genteel sports. However, neither of the top two interests selected by neurosurgeons in the AANS census involved sports, genteel or otherwise, and one wasn’t even invented when Cushing first resected a tumor.
The far-and-away top two interests encompass the contemporary and the ancient: computers and music (although the use of a computer to play virtual golf or the latest Philip Glass symphony cannot be ruled out, and its capacity for multipurpose use may well account for the “computers” top ranking).
The Special Interest portion of the AANS census offers a window into what AANS members today are doing in their spare time. The 89 selections offered in no particular order on the online census form reflect wide-ranging interests: various kinds of collecting (books, wine, numismatics [coins], antiques, philately [stamps], and cars); architecture; marine navigation; weather satellites; arts (music, painting, performing arts/film/dance, poetry, photography, and literature/mythology); ornithology; economics; machines/tools/inventions; wilderness living; and juggling. (Yes, all of the aforementioned avocations were selected at least once).
In addition to computers and music, the “neurosurgical top 10” list of interests is composed of sports (golf, fishing, sailing/boating, and the related category of sports/medicine), and arts (art and photography). Rounding out the list are flying (a sport?) and philosophy.
Whatever path to rest and relaxation is taken, the importance of seeking out ways to revitalize and gain fresh perspective remains current for neurosurgeons.