John D. Kelly IV, MD

The phrase “Be quick but don’t hurry” was coined by venerated basketball coach John Wooden and is applicable to all aspects of life and orthopedic surgery.

We are all called to make innumerable decisions every day, especially in surgery. Trouble is, many of us decide courses of actions in haste or amidst fear, fatigue or brain fog.

I recently returned from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Denver.

I have been blessed to have spent my entire career in academic medicine.

I have found the hard way that an essential component of attaining a more fulfilling and peaceful life is to prioritize that which is truly important and execute around those priorities first.

There is much written about the virtue of compassion, which literally means “to suffer together.” A more practical definition would be sympathetic awareness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

The burnout pandemic rages on with no appreciable signs of relenting. Insurance hassles, reimbursement decline, compliance labyrinths and the omnipresent documentation loads all tend to sap the lifeblood of orthopedic surgeons.

The world lost one of the most influential figures in orthopedics on Dec. 15. Joseph S. Torg, MD, regarded by many as the father of modern sports medicine, succumbed to chronic illness with his family present. He was 88 years old.

Just a few weeks ago, my identical twin brother, Mike, lost his nearly 5-year battle with cancer. My brother was my hero, and he faced the suffering of a terminal illness with extraordinary grit and positivity.

As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on, most of us have felt the emotional effects of social distancing, the demands of mask wear, incessant hand washing and the omnipresent fear of contracting the illness or, worse yet, transmitting it to a friend or loved one.