Eric Topol

had this mass in your brain, a brain tumor, a brain stem tumor.

So obviously that's a delicate operation to undergo.

So the first thing was getting a diagnosis, and then the next thing was getting the right surgeon to work on your brain to resect this.

So how did you figure out who was the right person?

Because there's only a few thousand of these operations done every year, as I understand it.

Yeah.

Well, I know there had to be a tough rehab and so glad that you recovered well.

And I guess you still don't have hearing in that one ear, right?

That's right.

Yeah.

But otherwise you're walking well and doing, you know, you've completely recovered from what could have been a very disastrous type of, not just the tumor itself, but also the way it would be operated on.

13 hours is a long time to be in the operating room as a patient.

Yeah.

Yeah, wow.

Now, the reason I wanted to delve into this from your past is because

I get a call or email or whatever, a contact every week, at least one, is can you help me find the right doctor for such and such?

And this has been going on throughout my career.

I mean, when I was back 20 years ago at Cleveland Clinic, the people on the board, I wrote about it in one of my books.

Why did you become a trustee on the board?

And he said, so I could get access to the right doctor.