Have scalpel Have scalpel, will travel

will travel

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Bronc busting and bull riding are bone-jarring pursuits, which is why Dr. Chris Miller follows the rodeo circuit.

r. Chris Miller operates in two different worlds --- literally.

One world is the sterile confines of the operating room in the Kansas Orthopaedic Center in Wichita.

Each weekday, Miller is there, surrounded by a team of anesthesiologists and nurses, repairing some athletes torn this or broken that.

He works in the vast light-green colored room, under bright white halogen lamps, with trays of stainless steel surgical tools and other advanced medical instruments used to diagnose and treat his patients.

Only after Miller leaves the sanitary sur-

roundings of the surgery center at week's end does he get to enter his second world --- the dusty environment of the rodeo arena.

Each weekend, Miller is there alone, somewhere, in a small Kansas or Oklahoma town, repairing some cowboy's torn this or broken that.

He works in a makeshift office, the cramped conditions of his renovated horse trailer, usually parked near the bucking chutes or the cattle pens, under the hot sun, with nothing more than a small canvas medical bag containing a few supplies.

He must go to the cowboys and cowgirls on the rodeo circuit because they usually won't come to him.

"A lot of my patients wouldn't necessarily go to the doctor if I wasn't here," Miller said. He said most cowboys and cowgirls ride injured and are superstitious about visiting a doctor.

Saturdays and Sundays, he trades in his light-blue medical scrubs for a cowboy hat, blue jeans and boots, and travels to one of more than 200 rodeo performances a year, 32 of which are high school rodeos.

Despite driving thousands of miles a year and working 70 to 80 hours a week between his full-time medical practice and his rodeo performances, Miller never charges a fee for working at a high school rodeo. He volunteers his time and only accepts free food from the rodeo's concession stand as payment.

"The money to pay me is better used for scholarships or to cover production costs," Miller said.

Miller said that the relationships he has made with many of the rodeo athletes and their families is the best compensation for his time spent at the rodeos. He knows almost all the competitors on a first-name basis. They know him simply as "Doc."

"I see the same kids every weekend, " Miller said. "These people have become my extended families."

Miller is in his fourth year on the rodeo circuit, his fifth year as a sports medicine orthopedist.

Miller, 37, a Wichita native, completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas. He originally thought about becoming a lawyer, but by his own admission, "I did well in chemistry and poorly in political science."

He graduated from the KU School of Medicine in 1988 and completed his residency at the Medical College of Georgia in 1993 where he became interested in sports medicine.

Miller was recruited by the Kansas Orthopaedic Center in 1995 to spearhead their high school sports outreach program. He said he enjoys working with athletes because of their work ethic. "They're driven, they're focused, they're motivated to get well and to stay well and to get better," he said.

Miller said it is satisfying to take an injured athlete and help him to return to the playing field. "When my skills are successful," he said, "then I can help an athlete become successful with their skills."

He works with injured athletes from all sports including: football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, track, softball and skiing.

But, Miller admits being partial to rodeo because of the intense personal relationships with the riders and their families. "Looking forward to rodeo on the weekends is what gets me through the week," he said.

Sue Wilson of Strong City, the mother of Emmett, 17, who was having his left anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed by Miller at the Kansas Orthopaedic Center, said, "The kids really love him. Everbody loves him." She laughed and added, "I'd marry Doc if I didn't already have a husband."

Miller believes his favorable bedside manner comes from being friendly, open and honest with his patients, who in return, believe in him and trust him.

He has even gone so far as to allow patients and their families to stay with him in his northern Sedgwick County home so he can assist them in their post-operative rehabilitation.

"There is nothing more satisfying than taking care of someone you strongly care about in a situational crisis," Miller said.

He added, "Understanding people on such a personal level makes me a better physician."

Miller is not only committed to being a better physician, but he is also committed to providing superior service at the Kansas Orthopaedic Center.

Recently, the center was selected as the official sports medicine provider for the college rodeo finals to be held in Casper, Wyo., in June 2000, in part because of Miller's success in his high school sports outreach program.

He would also like to see the center's sports outreach program expand to cover even more college, semi-pro and professional rodeo circuits.

Miller can only dream about the future so long before reality sets in and he's back in the Kansas Orthopaedic Center's surgical center to repair Emmett Wilson's left medial meniscus and reconstruct his left anterior cruciate ligament. Wilson, a high school rodeo rider, injured his knee while playing football for Chase County High School earlier in the season.

Miller visits with Emmett and his parents, making small talk with them, joking with them and reassuring them.

"I respect Doc," Emmett Wilson said after Miller leaves his bedside.

As Miller goes to scrub up for the two-hour procedure, he prepares himself mentally. "I always get nervous on these kinds of operations, because they're my friends," he said. "You want everything to be perfect and this isn't always a perfect business."

Moments later, Wilson is sedated and wheeled into one of the vast, light-green colored operating rooms. As always, Miller is there.

Under the bright white halogen lamps, Miller sits on a stool in front of Emmett's knee and reaches for a scalpel from one of the trays of stainless steel surgical tools.

"Just like in wood shop," he said to the team of anesthesiologists and nurses who surround him.

One of the nurses tunes in a country music station on the radio, and as Miller begins to cut into the cowboy's knee, Doc's two worlds finally come together.

Story and photographs by SCOTT D. WEAVER/The Capital-Journal

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s e c t i o n

Sunday, December 5, 1999

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.