Dr. Mayo's Boy: A Century of American Medicine

By Rob Tenery and Rob Tenery MD

Book Overview

Dr. Mayo's Boy traces the medical experiences of three generations of Texas physicians in small town Waxahachie and big city Dallas. Dr. Mayo's Boy explores how physicians have viewed their commitment... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934812242
• ISBN13: 9781934812242
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Brown Books Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Three generations of doctors offer three complex pictures of how American medicine has evolved

Three generations of doctors offer three complex pictures of how American medicine has evolved. "Dr. Mayo's Boy: A Century of American Medicine" is the biography of a man whose father and grandfather took on the practice of healing, and how that has shaped his life into becoming a doctor of his own. Reflecting broadly on his grandfather and father's times, he blends their stories in with his own, offering a vivid picture to how medicine has greatly changed, and how much it has stayed the same. "Dr. Mayo's Boy" is a must for anyone who studies the history of modern medicine.

Three generations of healing

Dr. Mayo's Boy: A Century of American Medicine traces the changes in medicine over three generations of health care providers. More than that, it lovingly documents the changes in "small town" Waxahachie (no longer a small town) Texas. Dr. W.C. Tenery, his son, Dr. Mayo Tenery and the author Dr. Rob Tenery have provided medical care for the citizens of Waxahachie over the past three generations. The arrival of W.C. heralded the beginnings of change for the town and its citizens. Not only did he provide care regardless of color, he spearheaded the building of a facility that provided better care for the town's black citizens. Back then, there was plenty of room for "characters" such as the nurse anesthetist who sometimes made the doctors wait till she had finished her other errands. The town knew their doctors and the hospital staff was more than just a name to the physicians. There is a priceless story about the reading of Dr. W.C.'s will. Dr. Mayo joined his father in continuing care for the town, but began to recognize the inevitable changes in medicine....many in the area of administration and governance. Both Dr. Tenerys provided a wide spectrum of care for the entire town. Towards the end of Dr. Mayo's practice more and more practitioners and specialists opened practices. When Dr. Rob was deciding which field to enter, the regulations and demands of the practice weighed as heavily as the actual practice. The first two Dr. Tenerys practiced general medicine and surgery, while the third Dr. Tenery chose a specialty. As medical practices became more specialized, marketed and sophisticated, Tenery noticed the trend towards the loss of the personal touch his father and grandfather had stressed....and which Tenery continues to both teach and strive for in his own practice. Dr. Mayo's Boy is a look at the evolution of medicine and the demands shouldered by physicians and their families. More than that, it is an affectionate look at growing up in small town Texas. My only complaint is it ended too soon; I would have loved to read more.

Great story

I loved this book. As a nurse of 31 years, having worked at W.C. Tenery hospital, with Dr. Mayo. I couldn't help but love this story. The Tenery's, Dr. W.C. and Mayo were great doctors, as is their son/grandson...Rob. I was fortunate enough to have been a patient of all three. The compassion these men showed their patients is well documented in this book. I would say this is an excellent read, for anyone. This true story, made me wish for a time long ago, when all Dr.'s had to be concerned with, was a patients health. Sinecerely; Nancy Beckham Phillips R.N.

Medicine As A Calling

DR. MAYO'S BOY should be among the required readings for anyone practicing or planning to practice medicine whether as physician, nurse, or in any of the countess associated roles. For that matter anyone engaged in the classic professions - doctor, lawyer, accountant, teacher - and other occupations calling for personal interaction - sales, military, parent, and many others - will benefit from the perspective Dr. Rob Tenery provides. I have the benefit of knowing all three generations of Tenery physicians portrayed. The author was my school classmate from kindergarten through high school. Dr. Mayo Tenery, his father, led a youth group of which I was a member and was an important influence on my life. The author's grandfather, Dr. W.C. Tenery, moved about Waxahachie, Texas as an iconic figure ushering modern medicine into that somewhat insular community only a few decades after Reconstruction. While my personal knowledge aids this review, DR. MAYO'S BOY stands on its own as an important and revealing story of social, professional, and economic change, both positive and negative. Its pages speak to dilemmas faced by all conscientious persons whether dressed in the finest white collar suits or the dirtiest blue collar jeans. The two hundred or so pages flow through vignettes telling the story of three doctors whose combined practices span roughly one hundred years from the early twentieth century to the contemporary initial decade of the twenty-first. It's an easy and engrossing read; so smooth you'll find it difficult to put down as one scene leads to another. While the author divided the book into three parts, I found it split into two, for me quite distinct, sections mid-way through the volume in the midst of Part Two. The first section paints a nostalgic, enlightening, and profound look into the trials of the early to mid-twentieth century country surgeon - all three generations Tenery are surgeons. Within this space and time Dr. Tenery recounts his relationship with his father, Mayo, and with his grandfather, W.C. He grows to see the older men valuing patients as individuals who require much more than the help available from the, from today's view, very limited scientific resources available to medicine. He quickly learns the severe limits of a doctor's medical tools, and, knowing those limits, comes to value the development of a caring attitude transcending technical knowledge. Along the way he watches his two mentors negotiate difficulties yet unresolved today: racial prejudice, abortion, money. In the midst of poll taxes, segregated schools, and "whites only" facilities these two doctors quietly cared for all regardless of class or race ultimately sundering the hospital's color barrier. All of this rides in the subtext of less than adequate sleep, often diminished income, and all too little time spent with family. In the second section Dr. Tenery reflects on changes from the frontier medicine of his grandfather, W.C., through the

A great book about the reality of 100 years of American Surgery

This book provides the reader insight into a doctor's passion for his work that keeps young people wanting to pick medicine as a career. Simply and respectfully told from the point of view of an insider who grew up seeing his father and grandfather exhausted but fulfilled, Dr. Tenery lets the public in on what it is like to be actually living the life of a small town surgeon. The real story of segregation in America and what a difference two highly trained and dedicated men quietly made to the lives of their fellow black citizens is told with loving respect. Dr. Tenery then brings the reader into 21st Century medicine with its miracles and dilemmas. Dr. Mayo's Boy is sure to take its place alongside other great American social narratives.