Today's Featured Biography

 
Mitchel Wong M.D.

THE ENCHANTED JOURNEY
Mitchel Wong, MD
One of my earliest images is a picture of us in elementary school posing for our class picture taken about 60 years ago. The girls are in their well ironed dresses and the boys with their hair neatly combed. Everyone has an angelic innocent smile with no hint of what the future holds. There’s Bill, Terry, Jane, Rosemary, Patsy, Jack and Jill; some are still here, some have departed prematurely. Mitchel, son of a grocery man, is starting out on life’s journey with no benchmarks or goals. The only thing he knows is that he doesn’t like school, but does enjoy recess. At Travis Heights elementary the playground is adjacent to a creek. We could play beside it, but not in the creek(until after school).
Fast forward through junior high at Fulmore and high school at Travis. The most impressionable event was when I was nearly killed in an armed robbery at my dad’s grocery store. The robbers beat me with a pistol and left me for dead. I spent 6 weeks in Brackenridge hospital recovering. When I returned to school, my homeroom teacher, Irene Randerson, helped me catch up with my lessons so I did not loose any school time. Other than this life threatening episode, Travis was 4 years of pure enjoyment. During that time I worked at Hyden’s Grocery for Elmer Hyden, Wanda’s father.. I worked year round and was able to clock up to 70 hours a week in the summer.($0.50 X 70=$35.00)
Willie Curry taught me how to cut meat. By the time I finished Travis, I was a “butcher”. Was the grocery business my future? One evening after work, I was exhausted nearly asleep when my father asked the question that would change the course of the rest of my life. The room was dark and there was just the two of us. He gave me a choice of working in the grocery business or going to school. I knew the grocery business meant long hours of hard work, so I told him I wanted to try school. Fortunately the University of Texas was in Austin and tuition was $25 a semester, something I could afford. At UT I tried VERY HARD! There would be no second chances.

What should I major in At UT? My uncle, Peter Wong was a physician. Since I did not have a strong desire to do anything specifically except not work in a grocery store, I majored in premedical studies graduating in three years, cum laude. The most momentous event that occurred at UT was when I met my future wife, Rose during freshman orientation. Little did I know this would be a partnership lasting the rest of my life.
Baylor Medical School was an enjoyable challenge. During those four years, Rose and I married and had three of our four sons. Was I destined to practice family medicine or surgery? This quest was answered one afternoon when one of my professors asked me to assist him in surgery with an eye operation. After that experience, the next phase of my life was defined….I decided to be an ophthalmologist.
One year internship, one year of fellowship and three years as a resident in ophthalmology prepared me to start practice. Should I stay in Houston where we were established or should I return to Austin where we had absolutely no medical or business connections? Rose and our four sons decided to move to Austin to begin our life’s adventure in July, 1969. To start a practiced, I needed a loan. My former employer, Elmer Hyden, was owner of Travis Bank and Trust. He loaned me the necessary startup money on a handshake, no questions asked. The connection between the grocery business and a medical practice had been completed.
Practicing ophthalmology has been one of the most personally satisfying journeys of a lifetime. My basic philosophy was and is to offer my patients the most advanced technology and personal eyecare available. With today’s technology utilizing laser vision correction, it is possible to help my patients see better than they previously thought possible. With advanced intraocular implants it is possible to correct patient’s vision for both distance and near making them virtually independent from glasses or contacts into their senior years. Practicing ophthalmology with my son Shannon, and utilizing the highest levels of ophthalmic technology has been and is very personally satisfying.
Another aspect of my life involves being closed to nature and the hill country. Our family has been involved in ranching in Travis county for over 25 years. We breed certified black angus cattle. To breed and raise premium seed stock requires a scientific background in genetics and animal husbandry. This fits well into my scientific background, and being a retired butcher doesn’t hurt. I guess this makes me a connoisseur of good beef.
From Travis Heights Elementary school to The Austin Eye Clinic, from a kid with holes in his blue jeans living on Kennwood Avenue to a cattle rancher in Travis county, from a butcher at Hyden’s grocery store to an eye surgeon with the ability to change and improve people’s vision, starting as a South Austin kid and marrying a girl from the other side of the world is not probable, but it happened. It has been an enchanted journey so far. What adventures does the future hold? I guess some people are truly blessed….. Thanks are to God.

Mitchel Wong, M.D.

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