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Sally was excited to see her uncle again. Uncle Patrick was a medical student and he had been away at school in London, England, for five years. She remembered him when she last saw him. She had only been seven years old, but Uncle Patrick had played dollies with her, and he had given her bubble gum. Sally was an only child, and she had loved the attention. She had loved the chance to play, too, even though he had come to visit her parents. How eager she was to see him again!

Her mom was beside herself with joy. Uncle Patrick was her youngest brother and her favorite. They were very close and talked on the phone often. A big homecoming party was planned for the weekend.

They waited at the airport and finally Uncle Patrick walked up to them with open arms. He gave Sally and her parents a big hug. He slipped Sally a pack of bubble gum and pinched her freckled cheek. She wasn't a little girl anymore: she was twelve now. If he didn't watch out, she might grow to be as tall as her uncle! She was getting to be a little lady, he said, as he put his arm around her. He handed her a CD: the latest out from London of her favorite singing group.

Uncle Patrick told all them about London and the sights around his town. He told Sally all about the museums, the art galleries, the shops, and the outdoor cafes. He told her about the fog, the homes, and the medical school. He told her about the outlying rural areas and the downtown London events. He loved traveling around Europe and living in England, but he was glad to settle down "back home" and start practicing medicine. He was going to be a resident at a teaching hospital.

Sally was fascinated. She wanted to know all about it and sat in the back of the van with him. Was he going to be a pediatrician and work with children? Was he going to be a plastic surgeon and fix people's scars? Was he going to be an orthopaedist and fix broken bones? It all sounded so important! And think of all the money he would make!

Patrick shook his head and roared with laughter. He swore he would make enough money to keep buying Sally CDs, but he told her that there was such a thing as student loans. He was going to be paying those back for many, many years to come.

Sally wanted to know what kind of doctor Uncle Patrick was going to be, and when he told her he was going to be a surgeon, she was very disappointed. She didn't like his choice and suggested he try something else, but Uncle Patrick only laughed. This made Sally all the more serious in her argument. A surgeon cuts into people. A surgeon cuts things out. A surgeon's work is very bloody, she informed him.

Uncle Patrick agreed. It could get quite bloody, he said, but a skilled surgeon has to cut into a person to get to the problem. A surgeon has to cut something out before a person can really be healed.

He told Sally about a man who had had a heart attack when he was only 33. His father had had a serious heart attack too and died at the age of forty. This man was frightened: he didn't want to die at an early age. Uncle Patrick was on the team to observe the surgery, and they found that a blood vessel was constricted. It was corrected with surgery. The surgery was bloody, it was long, and it had to be done exactly right. When the man woke up from surgery, he was told his heart had been repaired and he could expect to live a long time. The man was so grateful for the surgery!

Uncle Patrick told Sally about the little girl whose hand was lost in a grain auger in the outskirts of London. She was only three years old. Friends had found the hand and they were able to reattach it. Patrick had watched the reattachment and had been there for two of the follow--up surgeries. It was an ugly surgery when the hand was attached. The little girl would have to have lots of physical therapy, but the hand should work well enough not to call attention to itself.

Uncle Patrick had watched the plastic surgeon do a fine job of making the scars much smaller on the little girl's hand. He had pulled the jagged edges into a long, thin line, and it appeared as a crease in her arm instead of an ugly cut. The little girl would probably not remember the accident, and her arm should heal enough to have only small lines on it.

Such delicate, meticulous work was what Uncle Patrick wanted to do. He loved the idea of being able to repair things and give people a chance for a healthier life. He wanted to help people get better. But first he would have to cut into them and cut things out. His cuts would heal them, he assured her.