Is there a doctor in the house?

[Gamma1214]

We could put this up for a vote or ask a psychiatrist if there is a hidden meaning to our methods.

This comment in another thread got me thinking... I'm unsure if we have a psychiatrist on the forum but, at times, I think we could use one.

I know that we have teachers, assorted medical professionals, building contractors, at least one lawyer and a couple of college professors (active or retired)... Any Psychiatrists? What do (did?) you do for a living?

Personally, I spent decades in the automotive service industry, I've worked cutting timber and bartending, done time in retail management, commercial pesticide application and territory sales. I've also worked part-time as a farrier for the past 25 years and I'm really looking forward to retirement in just a few more years. About the only thing I haven't done is to actually use my college degree... Oh well, it was a lot of fun getting it.

 

[yknpdlr]

I, myself, am not a medical professional, unless you count SAR wilderness first aid training. But most of my paddling partners tend to be in the medical field by chance. I have paddling partners who are heavily medically trained, all of the following list, with some combination of most of them all at the same time in a Voyageur canoe on the Yukon.

Pathologist
Cardiologist
Operating room coordinator
Combat ER Medic
Physical Therapist
Hospice technician

 

[stevet]

Wow, quite the crew!

 

[Jmharrick]

I’m an engineer. During the first two years after COVID, I worked in real estate and as a general contractor flipping homes because my local office closed down, and I didn’t feel like taking what the company offered me and moving the family to Houston, Tx during a pandemic. I learned a lot of useful skills flipping houses.

 

[Alan Gage]

Fixed cars: Got tired of that.
Moved to the front office and learned to write service and run the shop: Got tired of that.
Bought the shop: Waiting to get tired of that.

Alan

 

[Rippy]

Machinist 25 years, electric motor technician 25 years. Now retired. My FB profile lists my education as having graduated from the School Of Hard Knocks. Lately I have realised that I haven't graduated yet. Dave

 

[kahel]

mhmmm - no doctor but - I've worked long time in hospital as a Trauma surgery assistant.
After 15 years I change to be a IT system administrator for round about 10 years.
Now I'm retired and enjoying life.

regards
Michael

 

[ppine]

No doctors on our trips, but seed collectors, firefighters, electricians, hospital administrators, graphic artists, botanists, environmental scientists, psychologists, house flippers., message therapists, surveyors, loggers and carpenters.

I had one podiatrist, an old friend. He wanted to run everything and had little knowledge. He was a disaster.

 

[jdeerfoot]

I have traveled on a number of Canadian canoe trips with several physicians. It is always comforting to have one along especially when we are using a chainsaw hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital.

I graduated from high school at 17 and wanted to join the navy but my mother would not sign for me. She made me go to college, I flunked out at 18 and joined the navy. After my hitch I returned to college with my .65 gpa. Several years later I graduated with a cumulative gpa of 2.85 (those bad grades early on haunted me since they continued to be included in my overall gpa). Started work in vocational rehabilitation and had to talk my way into grad school on probation due to my insufficient undergrad gpa (according to the University of Wisconsin). Earned an MS in Ed. Rehab. Counseling Psychology. Worked in the field for 34 years and retired at 59 from the State of Wisconsin - what a HAPPY day that was. The wife and I have been enjoying retirement for nearly 18 years. I am very thankful to be part of 3 different groups who love to trip in Canada. I hope to be able to continue to participate in trips until I am 80, in four years.

 

[pblanc]

Retired general and peripheral vascular surgeon. Would I choose that career again? No.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Back in the mid nineties, two surgeons joined our canoe club in Vancouver. Their goal was to develop enough paddling skills to go on extended river trips in northern Canada. Kathleen and I shared our experiences with them regarding appropriate gear, and mentioned that we always took a fairly extensive first aid kit.

“What do you include in your first aid kit?” they asked.

“Well, you’re doctors. You would know better than us.”

“No, we’re surgeons. We don’t know first aid.”

We gave them our list.

 

[yknpdlr]

Near the end of Viet Nam era college student with a low draft lottery number (76) and thankfully an educational deferment good until graduation with a BS in astrophysics.

While in college I had a low paying job working with my professor and NASA on softrware development for the Viking Mars lander, and also operated a mass spectrometer analyzing the composition and age of the returning Apollo moon rocks, specifically a famous one that was dubbed the "Genesis Rock".

With military ground pounder draft still a threat and poor economy expected upon graduation, so signed up to Air Force OTS for flight school. Ended up as a flight navigator on a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker, with duty on Cold War era Strategic Alert responsible to refuel long haul B-52 bombers carrying nukes, for almost nine years. Advanced to senior check flight instructor navigator. Air Force paid for my EE Master’s degree at Syracuse U. Upon leaving active service, remained in the AF Reserves and became a civilian electro-optics engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Worked sequential major programs in radar computer systems, large optics (ground and space advanced telescope systems research), Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, aka "Star Wars"), photonics (micro electro-optics), and cyber defense+. Air Force paid for a second masters in Industrial Management Engineering from RPI. Was offered, but declined specialized PhD program of study before retirement. Retired with both full AF reserve (Lt Col) and AF civilian (full Col equivalent rank) pensions.

President of local SAR team, NYSDEC certified SAR crew boss & instructor. Worked 5 years part time as Subject Matter Expert for state Division of Homeland Security, teaching advanced land navigation techniques to Law Enforcement, Fire, SAR teams, and other state agencies.

State licensed wilderness guide and 30-year BSA National Camping School High Adventure guide instructor. President of local lake cottage land owner’s association. 30-year canoe racer locally in the Adirondacks and the 5X on Yukon River.

 

[GeoBoy]

Parents move us from a new house in the suburbs, in the lat 50’s, to an old farm. I was 8 yrs. old, became responsible for feeding and cleaning, pitching manure, tilling the fields, planting crops, harvesting, snow plowing, plumbing, electrical, carpenter, etc., my dad kept his suit & tie job, during my 20 years there. Met my future wife and discovered that there was something other than work 24/365. A gentleman who owned a motor sports shop injured himself in the spring busy season, so he hired me with a 6 weeks guarantee and then like my work and kept me on. I them became an auto mechanic because they made 50% more money than a small engine mechanic. I bought our first home, needed a lawn mower, stopped at a shop that I use to work part time in the winter on snowmobiles and the owner hired me on as a salesman for diesel tractors and other equipment. Then became a manufacturer representative for outdoor power equipment, finally a sales representative for a large material handling dealer where I really found my groove, eventually became the branch manager and finally retired.

 

[clemency]

Got my first paying gig doing archaeology in 1985 while I was still in gradual school. Still doing it today, staring retirement in the face. Not a very useful skill, but fun at parties.

 

[JohnSand]

I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist. I'm a retired cop and dealt with all of their patients on a more immediate basis.

 

[Simuliumvenustum]

I am a non-medical doctor with an MS & PhD in medical and aquatic entomology. As one may surmise from my avatar and screen name, I am a black fly kind of guy, although I have also dabbled in mosquitoes and other aquatic insects. Despite a nearly 50-year obsession with black flies, I remain fascinated by these incredible creatures. I have worked on pretty much every aspect of their biology, including larval population control, larval and adult behavior and ecology, blood-feeding behavior, genetics, and vector ecology. I also spent 30+ years working as an aquatic biologist, mostly on trout (which are also way cool), for a state wildlife agency.

 

[Boatman53]

I was a tree climber before I got my forestry degree then worked at a title company drawing maps till a better job came along, then land surveying in Idaho for the BLM prior to a timber sale, then a surveyor for a small town in Idaho, after that I was a draftsman for an engineering firm (we drew everything by hand). Through all of that I was building canoes and Adirondack guide boats and thing were getting out of hand so I took a job at a boatyard on the east end of Long Island, that (working for others) lasted four years and I started my own shop and spent the next thirty years doing woodworking on boats and building when I could. Became a bit of a jack of all trades as one in the boating field must.
The last thing my shop produced was a road legal replica of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You might say I went out with a bang.

Now in Maine I have queue of wooden canoes to fix up and other projects I want to do.
Jim

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

As most of you know, I am a prostitu . . . er, lawyer, who used to teach as well as ply my trade.

Back in the 80's and 90's, an ER doctor named Phyllis used to paddle with my whitewater club occasionally. On one trip on a little-paddled section of the Hudson River, one of the canoeists cut his leg and was bleeding. Dr. Phyllis's immediate professional response was: "EWW!".

As the trip leader, I tried to reassure the group that if Dr. Phyllis killed anyone via malpractice on the trip, I would sue her on behalf of the deceased's estate at a discounted rate of $200 per hour. This seemed to calm all fears and to raise confidence, so we were able to continue our trip with happy endorphins.

Coincidentally but absolutely true, Dr. Phyllis used to proudly state that her last name in some language meant prostitute.

 

[yknpdlr]

Well, I've got one for you. One day after a hard backcountry uphill mountain bike ride, I developed a mini -stroke while quietly picking blue berries. Was then diagnosed with a PFO, allowing blood clots to pass the wrong way insead of getting filteered out by the lungs. PFO is a hole between upper heart chambers that normally closes with a flap at birth, but in 26% of the population it does not. It only sometimes manifests when you reach a senior age after exercising hard. Turns out my paddling partner cardiologiqst and ER coordinator (a married family couple) work for a cardiac surgeon who specializes in a his new method of surgically closing the PFO using a probe through the ribs without needing to crack open your chest, like the more primitive older methods do. So, thanks to my paddling partners and friendly surgeon, I was put on a fast track appointment and surgery to the fix and a quick recovery. I was back training and paddling again within 6 weeks instead of 6 months. I went back to the Yukon race with both of them the very next season. Thankfully neither the pathologist nor the Hospice worker or combat medic was ever needed for their services.

 

[snapper]

My first "real" paid job was with the Boy Scouts when I was 16. I worked on waterfronts and then eventually became the interim Asst. Director of Adirondack canoe trips. That wet my whistle enough that I knew I was going to pursue a career that would allow me to work outdoors. I was fortunate enough to work in the SUNY system at 3 colleges for 45 years; working my way up from being a dorm director all the way to becoming the director of an outdoor program. Along the way I also taught a variety of outdoor pursuits classes and led numerous leadership training workshops with student groups at our college's College Camp. It was a good run.

Now, in retirement, I've taken a seasonal interpreter's position with the Farmers' Museum. I work in the Bump Tavern most days but can also spell the blacksmith if needed. I also split a lot of firewood for the folks in the farmhouse. My days are now spent interacting with the public, telling stories, playing my banjo on the porch and carving spoons and/or whimmy diddles (a primitive toy). It's a great way to spend a few days each week and keeps me out of my wife's hair.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper