dr. kirkland was my mentor. it was a brutal six weeks of very little sleep and hard work.ut when you finished it, you felt like you were going through marine boot camp, you are proud of what you did. when i finished, dr. kirkland put his arm around my shoulder and said that you ought to consider doing this. from that moment on, even though my stepfather was a general surgeon and we always talk about me doing that, after that, i was cardiac all the way. >> win was the first time -- when was the first time you open the chest and where was it? >> it takes a long time to be a surgeon and it takes even longer to be a heart surgeon. it is not like you wake up one day into a heart operation. you have someone training new. from the time that i was in alabama as an intern, i did parts of park operations -- park operations -- heart operations. in cardiac surgery, you would do one part. over time, you would have done a whole operation, but never the whole operation yourself. it was only when i went to houston tx to train in cardiac surgery with another very notable, famous man. it wa

dr. kirkland was my mentor, it was a brutal six weeks, very little sleep and hard work. but when you finished it, you felt like you had been through marine boot camp. and i remember that dr. kirkland had put his arm around my shoulder, and said, you should consider doing this. and from that moment on, and even though my stepfather was a foot surgeon, after that i was cardiac all the way. >> when was the first time that you opened the chest, and where was it? when was it? you are on your own, you are your boss. >> it takes a long time to be a surgeon, and orit takes longer be a heart surgeon. i don't wake up one day and do it, you do parts it of. and from the time in alabama as an intern, i did parts of heart operations. there is thousands of different steps in any operation. and in cardiac surgery you would do one part. and then over time you would have done a whole operation, but never the whole operation yourself. and so it was only when i went to houston, texas, to train in cardiac surgery with another notable famous man named denton coolie, it was there after half o

dr. kirkland was my mentor. a brutal six weeks of very little sleep and hard work but when you finished it, you felt like you had been through marine boot camp and were very proud. when i finish that, dr. kirkland put his arm around my shoulder and said," you should consider doing this." from that moment on, even though my stepfather was a general surgeon and we have always talked about doing that, after that, i was cardiac all the way. host: when was the first time you did an actual heart operation were you opened the chest and what was it and where was it? you were the boss. guest: it takes a long time to be a surgeon and it takes longer to be a heart surgeon for i. you do parts of it with a mentor or someone who is training you. from the time that i was at alabama, as an intern i did parts of our operations. -- heart operations. there are thousands of different steps in any operations and in cardiac surgery, you do one part and over time, you would have done a whole operation but never the whole operation you