The Surgeon and The Chef

I know I used this picture in my very first post but I just love it.

I'm sure when you saw the subject on this post you thought, oh a surgeon who moonlights as a chef?! Now my husband can cook a few things (though 99% of the time I am the one cooking the food around here) but he is not a chef.
A few weeks back we had rented a movie called Burnt. I personally liked that movie, though it didn't get great reviews on the tomato meter. Then the following week we ended up watching a documentary on a two Michelin star chef trying to obtain his third star. It was while we were watching these two movies that I began to see a lot of similarities between chefs and surgeons and the environments in which they work and live. During the documentary I told my husband that it looked like the life of a chef was very similar to his. The chef is the responsible party for the entire kitchen and how the food is turned out. Just like the surgeon is the responsible party in the operating room. That being said though, the chef and the surgeon are only as successful as the staff they work with. Each member in the kitchen plays an integral role in the success of the restaurant. From the cooking line down to the dish washer and garbage remover. Like wise the operating room is only successful with the competence and diligence of the anesthesia personal, nurses, techs all the way through to environmental services.
The hours of the chef are like the hours of the surgeon. The chef in the documentary was putting in 12-16 hour days, EVERY day. The surgeons hours very similar.
The chef was discussing how it took a toll on his family. His commitment to his work brought struggles to his marriage and ultimately led to an unfortunate dissolution of it. When we first moved for my husbands fellowship it was a pretty big struggle. I remember in the first few months calling a friend of mine whose husband was now an attending to talk about what was going on. She told me that fellowship put a huge strain on their marriage but if you can weather that you can weather just about anything. The hours are ridiculous. The commitment is hard to understand sometimes. But in order to move to the next level it must be done.
The training of a chef also appears to be very similar to the surgeon. The demanding mentors, the pressure to not mess up, the occasional hazing. All difficult to navigate but ultimately the process by which they make sure you are good enough to make the cut.   
The chef discussed personal sacrifice. Time with his children. Time with his friends. Time for himself. I have seen this first hand in the surgeons life as well. People have commented to me about how my husbands hours may get better once he is done with training, to which I respond "have you met my husband?" All joking aside though there is a personality characteristic to these driven career choices. There is no clocking out at the end of the day or shift. Work is always in the forefront of their mind. Always pushing to the next level of achievement. Not taking no for an answer. It is something to be admired but also something that causes difficulty in their life and the lives of those around them. I have a whole different perspective now watching that documentary of the chef's life and I can't help but wonder what further damage my waistline would've seen had my husband pursued a career as a driven chef instead of a surgeon. At the end of the day though I must admit I am pretty proud that his "cutting" skills help to add longevity and quality to some little child's life, instead of adding to my waistline.