I met the surgeon general - he offered me a cigarette.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was a smoker for about 20 years.
Prior to my call to the Twelve, I served as a medical doctor and surgeon.
My father was this famous heart surgeon, a wonderful man... but there was something about me that drove him crazy.
My doctor asked me if I smoked, and I said only when I'm working, golfing, or drinking. Then I realized the only time I don't smoke is when I'm home. I didn't even realize I'd become a smoker.
I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places.
I was a heart surgeon before I came to Congress, and I've worked many holidays on behalf of my patients.
I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for.
My dad was a surgeon in Egypt. He was a general surgeon. As a little boy I always admired what he was doing, and I wanted to do surgery.
When I told my doctor I couldn't afford an operation, he offered to touch-up my X-rays.
Even in the nineties, when it was mad and there were photographers all around the house, it never occurred to me to send someone else out to get cigarettes. It took me five minutes - went for a walk, gave a wave, went back inside.