Interviewing a Surgical Gynecologist: Dr. Butler
- Cayla Younger, Parisa Yazdani, Bridget Chen
- Jul 2, 2021
- 9 min read
Interview
Introduction:
Hi I’m Dr. Butler and I’m a gynecologic oncologist and also euro gynecologist at Mayo Clinic Arizona.
What made you want to become a gynecologist?
I became passionate about gynecology after my surgical rotation. I was very interested in performing surgery and the hands-on approach to helping patients. And then I came upon my gynecology rotation where I was introduced to the amazing strength that female patients share with their providers. Women patients are tremendously dedicated to the wellness of their entire family and themselves and they are very strong and capable individuals so as a physician provider, it’s a joy to be a part of their team and help them to focus on the wellness of their entire family and themselves and their commitment to their family and their own health is a beautiful thing.
2. Do you have a favorite part about your job?
My favorite part about my job is the relationships that I have with my patients and the connection and the opportunity and the gift to help people. So when I come to work everyday I feel like I’m not at work when with patients and that’s because I’m driven to help people and my years and years of education is put to the use when I show up at work and get to know people and share knowledge, share skill, share surgical expertise and helping them, so that- it’s actually the best job in the world because I go to work and I’m doing what I love and I’m helping people and I get paid for it.
3. Are there any downsides to your job?
I would say the biggest downside is that it is time intensive and it takes me away from my favorite people on earth, which are my family. But I feel that it is very well balanced because I’m doing great things when I’m not with my family. But it is difficult day-to-day being away from my family. I work more hours than my husband, we employ our nanny 48 hours a week, when I am at home I’m 100% devoted to my family, which makes it a little difficult for me to have time for myself, but because I work a little bit more than the average person that’s my priority. So I commit to my career and I commit to my family, which leaves little time for some of the other things that probably should be more of a priority such as exercise, such as a hobby, but that’s what’s important to me and I think that I- my husband values what I do and he respects my gift in helping my patients, and my children also see, and I share with them too, y’know what I’m doing when I’m away and they see my commitment to other individuals, helping other people, and I think that they find value in that and appreciate the time that I have with them.
4. How do you deal with the stress of all of that balance and dealing with time at work?
It’s a gift that I am able to juggle that. It’s a tremendous amount of stress. I don’t think I realize that when I was in medical school, or even in residency, but the amount of trust that your patients have in you and the complex surgical interventions that I undertake is a huge amount of stress and sometimes it’s hard to sleep the night before a big surgery because you’re going through different steps or different what-ifs and you want to be prepared and- I have my life and my career are very faith based. I know that my strength is beyond my human hands and my human being, and I trust my faith that I have these talents only to help other people and that- I don’t know I think it somehow helps me through that stress. I know that it does because I don’t- it’s a tremendous amount of stress to worry about, to have someone else’s life in your hands, is a lot of stress. And I know that I do my best and make difficult choices, y’know minute-by-minute choices, you have to be prepared and constantly educated and knowledgeable and committed to every piece of information about your patient. And then you just do your best and hope for the best and… I’m not sure how it all comes together actually; I think it’s quite miraculous.
5. How do you think your career has shaped your personality?
I don’t know if that’s actually happened. I would not say that my personality has changed actually because of my career. I’ve learned a lot over the years about how to communicate with people, and how to improve communication. That’s always I think an ongoing process, but I don’t think it’s changed anything about my personality. I think having children has changed my personality. But I can’t say that my career has. Children inspire you to have a level of patience that is very intense and they also introduce you to a type of love and a type of commitment to another person of value for their life that’s very profound and that’s different from between a surgeon and a patient actually; that relationship between a parent and a child is much more vulnerable and just having caution and ensuring safety for your child is very different. So that has definitely changed my personality, but I don’t think my career has.
6. Do you think having children has changed your approach to thinking about your career?
That’s a tough one. So I intentionally waited until very late to have children. I was 37 in my first pregnancy and that is because I have always been very professionally driven. And also I value having control over my schedule. And so I intentionally delayed having children because I wanted all of my ‘it’ to be the right time; I wanted my career to be solidified, I wanted to have a solidified marriage, although I didn’t require marriage, I ended up getting married which is a lovely thing but I all along as well knew that I wanted to have children and I was prepared to actually have children without being married when the time came that it was good for my schedule, and by that I mean I knew I wanted to be in a place in my education, in my career, such that if I wanted to be with my children I could just be with my children and not be during education and college and medical school and training it’s much more difficult I think to have that control over being with your family and being in control of your schedule, which I have more of that now than ever. I think it would’ve been really difficult to focus on my career and my education in a setting of having children at a younger age, so I love that I waited, but I think different things are right for different individuals. Many people go through medical school with children; I’m not sure how they do that. I think that would be incredibly hard. I think medical school is easier than residency, is easier than fellowship, and then is easier than being in private practice. I think faith has a lot to do with it again. I think there is a predestined plan for all of us and then we just make the best of it.
7. Has your gender impacted your career in the medical field?
I think that women are definitely faced with sexual advances that men probably don’t experience as often. I have definitely experienced those throughout my training, but I don’t think it’s a large component. I mean statistically women physicians make less money, statistically they are treated differently; that hasn’t played largely into my career frankly. I have never let it bother me much frankly. I would rather be treated as an individual, I would rather no one give me anything just because I’m female, in fact I think that’s shameful. I don't want to help someone make a quota. I would prefer to be viewed based on merit. I do believe there are hurdles to work through. I think that if anything they are overrepresented in my more recent years out of education. I found it much more disturbing how other women treat women. I think we don’t talk enough about how very hurtful women can be to other women who have boundaries to individuals … and make good choices as ourselves as women and take that extra step because of those barriers, always advocate for other women.
8. Is there an impactful patient experience that you can share?
a. One of them that is fresh on my mind and would be valuable for you young ladies. Today I had a phone conversation with the husband of one of my patients who just passed away this week. She was 42 years old and her name was cary. I met her 6 years ago. 6 years ago they had just gotten married; she was in her mid 30s and hadn’t had kids yet. They had their wedding at Disney. So, I met her in the emergency room, and she had stage four ovarian cancer...and she had to have extensive surgery. They weren’t able to have children. She also had some complications related to her surgery, and then she lived for six years. She ultimately had many surgeries, traveled many times from another state to visit me to have surgery at Mayo Clinic. She was such an amazing fighter. She was a volunteer for the American Cancer Society and gave numerous public speeches in order to educate women about ovary cancer and wellness. She loved life and her husband. And today he messaged me and said we lost her….. And to hear him say how thankful he was for all the hope that we had given Cary for 6 years. It was a beautiful thing to know her and to help her and to have that relationship with her family. Actually 3 years ago, my family and I went to Disney and met with her, building a relationship. Those kinds of things are tremendously valuable, to be a part of someone’s life like that...a blessing.
9. Do you think you form a lot of close connections with your patients?
a. Oh yeah absolutely. Absolutely. Endless gifts, patients have written books about their cancer experience and then given them to me, poems from husbands of patients. Huge beautiful relationships and that’s a benefit of gynecology that I saw early on actually, so there are many specialties of medicine that do not have a patient connection so personal. I noticed in general surgery for example, you come in, you get your appendix out, you leave, you never see them again. In gynecology there’s this beautiful opportunity to have this long relationship with a woman, whether you deliver her baby and then she sees you 15 years later for her hysterectomy and every other year for her annual exam. There’s this longevity and this beauty in having these long relationships with women that is definitely not available in all of the surgical specialties in general. One of my patients was dying of ovarian cancer and she was about 70 years old. Her daughter was about to get married. However, my patient took a turn for the worst and her death was inevitable. Her daughter told me “please keep my mother alive so that I can get married” And we were able to do that. Kept her on some extra medications to extend her life. And we actually had a wedding, planned an entire wedding in the hospital’s cancer center. We had flowers, a photographer… we had people fly in from New York for her wedding. Her mother then passed away a few weeks later. Not every specialty gets to have that.
10. What challenges have you had to face due to the pandemic?
a. The pandemic made it a challenge to seek medical care and I think we’re seeing some of the strained effects of that. Some women weren’t able to come to the doctor and put that something off. And now it's more progressed than when they would have sought medical care. I’m very proud that Mayo Clinic has kept their doors open for urgent issues. Cancer surgery has never stopped… a priority even through covid. Patient uncertainty, discomfort with getting out. It’s very busy right now because people feel more comfortable getting out due to the vaccine. Covid took a lot of lives. Covid was very detrimental to many people and had many bad outcomes. Anything to prevent it in the future with vaccinations and being cautious to prevent it from spreading. Covid taught me to reconsider things and become closer to my family...we didn’t need all the outings, we really just spent time together. The opportunity to be stuck at home, when things started to slow home, with my family was a huge gift.
11. Thank you so much for your time and for answering all of these questions. Just as a final question, do you have any tips to anyone who would be interested in a career path in gynecology or surgery in general?
a. Stay focused. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you can and can’t do. Use your hunger for helping other people and acquiring knowledge as fuel to make you more valuable to your future patient. It is a wonderful career. Set your own limits, set your own rules. Be strong and it’s a long road but it’s worth every second. If it’s meant to be then your strength will get you there. But there’s ups and downs and I think if you persevere you succeed.
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