Good thing, too
A random memory: after having the CAT scan and MRI, we eventually ended up talking to the neurosurgeon, Dr. Elliot Min. He outlined what had happened and his recommended solution: removal of the damaged disc and fusion of C5-6 and C6-7.
In other words, major surgery. On my neck. Where there are lots of important things like nerves and blood vessels and so much more.
We expressed some concerns about all that, and wondered about perhaps just waiting for the swelling to go down instead. He (calmly) reassured us that surgery was the way to go, and not something we wanted to postpone.
“It’s what I do.”
Seriously, it’s what he does. He had two similar surgeries scheduled, and I was to be the third. His work is exactly what I was in need of: “a specific interest in minimally invasive spine surgery”.
As I type this four weeks after surgery, I’m very happy to report that, indeed, it appears to be exactly what I needed and appears to have thoroughly succeeded.
But that phrase caught my attention.
“It’s what I do.”
You see, it’s a phrase I use myself. Particularly when it comes to various aspects of technology, it is, indeed, what I do.
I think the reason that phrase spoke to me is that I often use it when people are surprised or impressed by what they see as some feat of technical wizardry. Not to minimize the skills or knowledge needed, but to me, it’s just what I do.
A great example happened just yesterday when I revamped the email infrastructure used by a couple of my domains†, which I use to provide email services to select friends. Email is complex, often frustrating, and deserves the description as “a maze of twisty little passages, all alike“. Nonetheless, the switch over went off without a hitch.
It’s what I do.
Some may see it as a feat of technical wizardry, I suppose. To me? It’s just an example of what I do. Complicated, frustrating at times, but ultimately understandable and solvable.
I don’t mean to imply in any way that wrangling an email configuration is anywhere near as impressive or even as important as spinal surgery. My point is simply that we all have skills we might take for granted, or abilities that are just part of who we are. Skills that others might appreciate.
So hearing that same phrase from the surgeon about to cut into my neck was oddly reassuring. I know there’s no basis for that reassurance based on that phrase, of course. Anyone can say it, whether it’s justified or not. But it resonated anyway. (And yes, research happened to reassure ourselves further that Dr. Min was the right man for the job.)
We all have those things that we do. Sometimes they’re big and notable, and they even kind of define us (spinal surgery for Dr. Min, email infrastructure for me, I suppose). Sometimes, though, they’re simply quiet skills that we use frequently without thinking, and without realizing that they set us apart from others.
It’s what you do.
† For the terminally curious: switched from self-hosted on my own server to using FastMail as the provider.