My Odyssey with Donna (ePub)

The first six chapters of this book are autobiographical. The first chapter describes a tragedy that occurred to the family of the author when he was fifteen years old. In the subsequent chapters, he describes his roots, early childhood, experiences during the World War II, and how he started a career in medicine at a very young age. In the seventh chapter, he poignantly describes how he met his future partner for life. For the rest of the book, he describes the journey they took together, starting with their training at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila where they met, their five-year participation in the US State Department Exchange Visitor Program for further training, and their return to their homeland with an intent to serve the country of their birth. Finding themselves to seem like foreigners in their home country, they decided to return to America, where they were able to achieve a level of success in life that they never thought possible, even in their wildest dreams. The author, encouraged and supported by his loving wife, went on to become a leading advocate of intraocular lens implantation during cataract operations in Massachusetts, despite vigorous opposition from leading Boston ophthalmologists. His reputation as a young ophthalmologist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston led to his recruitment to practice his specialty in a small rural city, Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he was given a much-coveted deferment from serving in Vietnam. While achieving prominence in ophthalmological circles in Massachusetts, he never forgot his home country. He periodically visited his old alma mater to share his knowledge and experience with his younger colleagues.