Finally back from Italy!

Welcome from New York City! I am finally back from Italy and in the United States. However, I am delayed in getting back to Columbus, Ohio making it necessary to inconvienience the 3 patients who were scheduled for surgery today. Yesterday our flight from Pisa, Italy was delayed several hours because of the volcanic plume from the volcano in Iceland. Then to avoid the plume we were routed up over Norway and down over Canada to get to New York. Therefore the time of the flight was 14 hours instead of the expected 9 hours and 50 minutes. On top of that as we were about to land we were told the flaps on our plane were not working and they called out the fire trucks and ambulances "just in case". We landed safely with our family but missed all connecting flights and spent the night in hotel rooms. We should be leaving for the JFK Airport in a couple of hours. Traveling with the family including three kids 5 years, 3 years and 10 months is a challenge especially when all three kids lost their lunch on the landing. We all smelled great getting off the plane! Actually the kids were amazing during the entire vacation and all 12 of us had a great time in Italy.


We ahd a great time exploring Florence, visiting the beautiful mideavil city of Seina and even taking a day trip to the coast at the Cinque Terre. The food was great and always interesting. We stayed at a vineyard outside of Florence and also visited another family vineyard in the Chianti region were we had a wonderful meal with their family.

Returning to the USA today I find one very striking difference. The rate of obesity is much higher in our country. In fact, despite the wonderful food in Italy I saw only one person out of the thousands of people I saw there that would have met criteria for bariatric surgery and at breakfast this morning at our Hampton Inn I noticed at least 6 of the 30 or so people at breakfast would meet criteria for bariatric surgery. I am afraid all of the gains we have made in heart and cancer care will be lost as the obesity epidemic continues to increase the suffering Americans are experiencing from obesity related medical problems.
I return committed to care for as many people suffering from the effects of obesityt as want to be helped by means of bariatric surgery.

While reading the USA Today this morning I read a quote that is true not only for business but for my patients as well. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook said "When the would is moving and changing so fast, the worst risk is to do nothing". We have enjoyed our vacation but it is time for me to get busy helping those that want to be helped from this devastating problem.

Message from Venice

After arriving in Pisa, Italy we met our American friend, Jessica, who lives in Pisa. We had a great day reconnecting and walking through the countryside with Jessica. Dinner that night at one of her favorite restaurants topped off a wonderful day.

Yesterday we traveled by train and arrived in Venice in the afternoon. Although we lived in Italy for a couple of years many years ago, this is our first visit to this amazing city. We were on a student’s salary when I studied in Italy and could not afford the train ticket to Venuce back then. Just walking through the narrow streets to S. Marco’s Cathedral and enjoying the sights and sounds makes my shoulders drop and helps me remember how much I love this country and it’s people. We have forgotten more of the language than we remember but it is wonderful to speak Italian again even if embarrassingly little.

Dinner with my stunning wife, Beth, at a restaurant in St. Marco’s square with the music from the orchestra playing nearby was a wonderful celebration of our 36 years together. It is an honor to be loved and carted for by such an amazing woman. Sleep was not easy with the sounds of the boats motoring along the Grand Canal under our window. The boisterous passersby did not help but certainly added to the ambience.

Well, we have finished breakfast and it is on to exploring the city. Our gondola should be waiting! I will post again when I have the time.

I am convinced our second honeymoon is even better than the first. The picture is of the hospital in Venice!

Dr. Myers Returns to Italy

Ciao! From Italy. Returning to Italy is another grand adventure for us. Thirty six years ago my wife, Beth, and I traveled to Italy. We had been married only six months and at 21 years old neither of us knew just what we were in for. All we really knew was we were off to Perugia, Italy to learn Italian before I was to start medical school in that country. We were courageous, confident and much more naïve than either of us realized. Why not start medical school like a normal person in the US, my native land you ask?

Although I grew up in Ohio, I had gone out of state to the college of my choice in Springfield, Missouri and completed my bachelors degree at Evangel College in three years. Going to this college was one of the best decisions I ever made because I met the love of my life and she agreed to marry me, We had returned to Ohio where I had been a PhD candidate at Ohio State University in Physiological Chemistry but what I really wanted to do is to go to medical school to become a doctor. At that time there were too many of ” baby boomers” like me trying to go to medical school and not enough positions available. In fact I noticed that nearly everyone else in my PhD program also wanted to go the medical school and were not getting in!

Beth found out I could start medical school in Europe and we selected Italy. We proceeded to Perugia, Italy to begin language school I told myself “How hard could it be to learn Italian? Even little children learned Italian and since I survived organic chemistry I should be able to learn a new language”. Oh boy! What I should have known is that the skill set needed to learn a language is very different than the skill set necessary to learn the sciences. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Beth passed her language exam and I received a certificate of attendance!

Still I was able to begin medical school at the University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy in the fall despite my language challenge. Of course all the courses were in Italian and the exams were oral exams. This was indeed a challenge but I still did well. After completing the first 2 years in Italy I took the board exam in the US and was able to transfer to the University of Cincinnati for my last 2 years of medical school. I was privileged to be elected into the medical honor society and gradusted with my MD fron the U of Cincinnati in 1980.

Now as I sit on this Delta flight next to my precious bride of 36 years to return to Italy I have much to reflect on and much to be thankful for. Beth says the first week of this vacation is a second honeymoon to enjoy together before our adult children and grandchildren will arrive. This is a trip of a lifetime. The first week we will travel to Venice and on to visit some Italian friends from many years ago who now live in the mountains of northern Italy. After we meet the rest of our family a week later we will be taking over and possibly overwhelming a bed and breakfast in a vineyard 20 minutes outside of Florence. It should be fun and more than a little crazy with 11 of us. Like my 3 year old granddaughter Maddie would say ,” Granpa Steve, that’s im-pwessive. Get ready Maddie, there is much to be impressed about in Italy and it might be a little crazy too!