Tom Sega sits down with Dr. Mike King, a cardiothoracic surgeon, on this week’s episode of Duluth Pack’s Podcast; Leader of the Pack. If you are not aware, a cardiothoracic surgeon specializes in surgical procedures of the heart, lungs, esophagus, and other organs in the chest. Dr. King shares his story about where he grew up and why he was so interested in the medical field at such a young age.   

Dr. Mike King’s Background  

Dr. King starts the conversation by talking about his background and his time growing up and attending school in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King mentions that he felt a calling to go into the medical field at some capacity when he was seven years of age. At the time, he says it felt like such a distant and unattainable goal because of growing up in a ‘poor and dysfunctional’ family. Dr. King talks about the importance of self-esteem in grade school and mentions that his version of self-esteem was studying and getting good grades throughout school. He was never an athlete but instead took pride in reading textbooks and achieving good grades. In his time leading up to his high school graduation, Dr. King recalls that he received a letter from the U.S Government saying he needed to complete a physical to be eligible for the Vietnam draft. During his physical, he asked the recruiter what the chances are that he doesn’t have to go to Vietnam, and the recruiter told him that if he had a student exemption, he would be deemed ineligible. Following Dr. King’s high school graduation on a Friday, he was back in the classroom taking college summer classes the following Monday.  

Education  

Dr. King goes on to say, “I knew I needed to study hard and work hard, so I went straight through three years and got two majors, in chemistry and biology with a minor in English, intending to apply to medical school.” However, due to the far cheaper in-state tuition, Dr. King stated that he knew he needed to stay closer to home, so he decided to go to the University of Tennessee and attend the campus located in Memphis, Dr. King’s hometown. After finishing his degree, he attempted to apply for medical school, but he applied just a few days too late to be accepted, so Dr. King needed to find a job and take a year off of school. During this time, Dr. King got a job at a hospital being a ‘janitor of surgery’ where he helped clean and prepare the hospital rooms as well as make sure all lighting was ideal for the doctors performing the operations. While at this hospital, he was approached by one of the doctors who asked Dr. King, “What do you plan on doing after you graduate medical school?” Dr. King said he was interested in pursuing a career in general surgery. This response genuinely upset the doctor, and he strongly recommended that Dr. King rethink his plans and become a cardiothoracic surgeon instead. Dr. King asks this same doctor where he believes he should do his residency. The doctor replied, “If you want to do heart surgery, which you should, there is only one place to go – Minnesota.” Tom then asks Dr. King, “How many years do all the schooling and residency add up to?” Dr. King says that after the three years of college, then medical school, residency, and working in general surgery before advancing to cardiothoracic, it all adds up to about 16 years.  

A career in Cardiothoracic Surgery  

Dr. King says that he spent ten years working in the legendary Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon. Dr. King mentions that the Mayo Clinic was not performing any heart transplants at this time. This is when he was contacted by a doctor working out of Minneapolis who had a group of doctors working specifically on heart transplants and an artificial heart program. Dr. King was interested in this opportunity because he wanted to be involved in transplants surgeries and saw this as an excellent opportunity to get started with transplants. He practiced in that group for about 15 years before joining North Memorial Hospital. Dr. King talks about the degree of difficulty of these operations and humbly mentions that heart transplant surgeries aren’t ‘that difficult’ to complete. The more difficult procedures can be bypass procedures working with microscopic and fragile tissue and organs.   

Surgery Prep & Procedures  

Dr. King goes on to talk about the two different teams working on a surgery. The process begins with the harvesting team. This team of experts retrieves the organ(s) to be transplanted into the recipient patient. The next step includes the team of doctors who surgically put the heart into the recipient. Tom asks about how the timing and scheduling of these operations work, to which Dr. King replies that it was just a matter of who was available. The team of doctors would attempt to divide the job based on who is available at any given time. He mentions times when he would be on the harvesting team procuring the organs for operation, and he also mentions other times when he was the surgeon placing the heart into the recipient. Dr. King notes that he has completed over 7,000 open heart surgeries, which is obviously a tremendous amount of experience. Dr. King shares about the conversations he has with patients before any given operation and he starts by explaining to the patient that there is roughly 1-2% risk on any given procedure. He feels a responsibility to care for his patients physically, emotionally, and spiritually and wants to ensure that if they go through with the procedure, they are willing to accept the risk that this could be their last day on earth. Dr. King says that when he feels the time is right, he likes to ask patients about their faith and how comfortable they are with the risks of going through with the procedure because he wants to holistically care for his patients and look at it from their point of view.  

This was a tremendous educational conversation with a brilliant and experienced cardiothoracic surgeon. It is unbelievable for many of us to think about the work and dedication it takes to complete 16 years of schooling and over 7,000 open-heart surgeries. Thank you to Dr. Mike King for sharing your story and wisdom with us, it was fascinating to hear about all the experiences you have had in your career, and best of luck going forward.