Happy Doctor’s Day! Say Thanks to Your Favorite Physician
By VERNON McDONALD
I can close my eyes and still see the sign on the highway like it was yesterday: KYLE, POP 880.
I don’t know how many of those 880 good folks were doctors, but I could probably count them on one hand.
That was decades ago. What a difference I see now. Kyle is home to Seton Medical Center Hays, a state-of-the-art facility that recently played a large part in my life.
About a year and a half ago, I was having recurring abdominal and lower back pain. I was told that it was likely a kidney stone, but the treatment regimen didn’t solve the problem. My wife Dolores and I went to Dr. Mark Stewart, a Seton Hays vascular surgeon. After an examination, he came to a very different conclusion.
Kidney stones were not the problem. I was suffering from a leaking aorta in my heart, and Dr. Stewart emphatically insisted that he needed to operate immediately, meaning that very evening.
The operation took several hours. When I came to and asked what he did, he said he had to move most of my organs out to get to the aorta, but the leak was fixed successfully. I told him that I sure hoped he put them back in the right order. Glad he laughed.
I’ve lived in San Marcos off and on – mostly on – since the Truman Administration. To think that first-class medical care is now just minutes from my door is nothing short of incredible. For the kind of problem I faced and procedure I had – well, it used to mean traveling outside Hays County. Now folks in San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, all over Hays County, have not just Seton, but a wide array of other reputable medical institutions, medical specialists, surgeons and health-care experts easily available right at home.
I write all this because March 30 is Doctor’s Day. I want to encourage all readers to take a moment and thank your favorite physician. I’m glad they’re here – and that more of them are here in Hays County, making it an even better place to live and work. I certainly want to thank Dr. Stewart and all the others at Seton Hays for the fine and noble work they do.
Vernon McDonald is the retired men’s basketball coach (1961-1977) at what was now Texas State University. He also was point guard for the Bobcats basketball team, graduating in 1952.
