Passing specialty exams was an exciting time
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It was the morning of Dec. 5, 1967, and I was in the middle of specialty board exams in X-ray or radiology. I had just finished my exam in physics with Dr. Edith Quimby who, at the time, I thought was a witch in disguise. After finishing, I had to wait until 12:30 p.m. to report back for the remainder of the exam.
I went outside to walk around and get a cup of coffee to pass the time. The more I walked around, the more I thought I had totally fouled up that physics exam. Terror set in for a couple of hours, and then I began to get my confidence back. The time finally arrived to report back for the afternoon session. There were to be eight 50-minute sessions. One was in nuclear medicine, two were in radiation therapy, and five were divided between bone, cardiology, gastrointestinal, genitourinary and neuro-radiology.
My first session was a winner. It was on bone, one of the most difficult diagnostic areas. The examiner was a peach of a fellow, Gerald Dodd, M.D., from MD Anderson. He was so nice and, somehow, the cases he showed me I knew by heart. That positive experience set me up for the entire afternoon. Before I knew it I was down to the last examiner.
The exam being over, the three of us in the military from Europe, were sitting around having a beer with other friends who had been examined. The board met at the end of each day to determine who had passed and who failed. But the official results were not to be announced until two weeks after the exam. The chief of the Walter Reed training program, Col. Hamilton, came by and we bought him a drink and pummeled him with questions about who had passed or failed. He couldn't give an individual name but was good enough to tell us that all those from the military from Europe had passed. Halleluiah! That was the word we were waiting for, as we were all ready for a long trip to our assignments in Europe. I was going to stay that night with our friends, but there was a little problem. By the time we finished celebrating, the good news was that the parking garage was closed! I finally found a responsible person and a $20 bill got him to open it for me to get the car on the road.
I flew to New Jersey the next day, Dec. 6, and got to McQuire AFB at Fort Dix. I had a scheduled military flight at 10 p.m. I was there early and had time to spare, but suddenly, heard my name being paged. A transportation person said that if I quickly changed into my military uniform I could leave much earlier on a special flight. It turned out that Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer the Supreme Allied Commander NATO was in New York giving a speech and was about to return to headquarters in Belgium. He had space for us peons behind his spacious quarters in what I think was a C-130. Our quarters consisted of bucket seats with lots of blankets as it was very cold inside. There were few windows so we never knew where we were. We boarded at the appointed time, maybe 8 p.m. And then we sat and sat. The general finally showed at midnight. It turned out he had decided to do a little Christmas shopping for his wife before he returned. What a miserable flight it was. No eats or drinks. And the general was just a stone's throw away with all the comforts of home. "Rank has its privileges," is an old military term.
We had to land in Belgium to let him off and then flew on, dog tired, to Frankfurt. As we arrived at customs, the group from the plane we were scheduled to take were just finishing passing through customs. They were hours ahead of us. It was on to a very happy reunion with family in Stuttgart.
The news that we had passed officially arrived after two weeks. The rumor was, that if you failed, the announcement in the mail would be with a thick envelope which would contain your re-examination instructions. My announcement that I had passed was on a thin postcard saying only "I am pleased to inform you that at its last meeting, The American Board of Radiology voted to grant you its certificate in Radiology". Those were sweet, sweet words.
So closed an important chapter in my life and studies. I could officially use the designation "DABR" or Diplomat of the American Board of Radiology.
This column is a research project of Dr. Peter B. Riesz. Contact Riesz at pbriesz@suddenlink.net or 361-575-4600.
