One self-performed cataract surgery was enough for ophthalmology to draw him in for good. It is like magic: a few movements with the surgical instruments and the man sees again. Real magic, like in fairy tales for children, which Piotr Fryczkowski writes (and illustrates!) After working hours in the clinic and in the operating room.

Piotr Fryczkowskihe is not ashamed to say that medicine is his great passion and he talks about it with passion. I will remember that during one of the first interviews I had with him, he told me that in wet macular degeneration (AMD), blood vessels overgrow as a result of slow blood flow under the retina. Then they behave just like the roots of a tree which lift the pavement slabs. Few doctors can explain the essence of the disease in such a vivid way. This is an amazing gift. Unique ability to talk about very serious things in a simple way, without fear of being ridiculous or ordinary. In order for the patient to understand everything, not to be afraid, to know that his problem is also important for the doctor.

On a new road

After graduating from the Medical Academy in Warsaw in 1993, Piotr Fryczkowski worked at the hospital in Wołomin and at the Clinical Ophthalmology Hospital in Praga, Warsaw under the supervision of prof. Jerzy Szaflik. In 2006 he defended his doctoral dissertation.

A doctor must never say: I already know everything, because medicine is developing very dynamically. I try to develop with her.

Since 2004 he has been running the "Retina" ophthalmology clinic in Żoliborz, and four years ago he founded the "Retina" Ophthalmology Hospital in Bemowo. - I am still learning, traveling around the world to learn about new diagnostic methods and treatments. A doctor is never allowed to say: I know everything, because medicine is developing very dynamically. I try to develop with her - says Dr. Fryczkowski. Eleven years ago he left a well-known eye clinic to start working on his own.

- Leaving my job safe, I realized it was a risky decision, but believed I knew what my patients needed. My assumptions proved successful in practice, and with time patients ceased to fit into a small office in Żoliborz. There was no other way out. Doctor Piotr took a loan andopened a large eye hospital. - Now I can help much more effectively. I arrange my work in such a way that I have time for each patient, so that I can explain exactly what is wrong with his eyesight. How can I help him, and how can he help himself - he explains.

Faithfulness to tradition

There were many doctors in Piotr Fryczkowski's family. Mum is a pediatrician, pulmonologist and allergist, recently deceased dad was a professor of ophthalmology, uncle - a professor of urology. - My mother most often used her uncle, prof. Józef Wacław Grott, a world authority in the field of diabetes, pancreatic and liver diseases - he says. - He graduated from medicine in Oxford and Kraków. He was the first to discover the healing properties of the Busko-Zdrój climate. He was always ready to help patients. He paid no attention to office hours. A sick person has to be helped when he or she comes up with his problem. I am trying to follow this principle. For me, the patient is always someone most important.

Working on your own allows you to put this idea into practice every day. - I try to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy in my hospital and I manage to make sure that no more than a few hours from the first visit, additional tests and diagnosis are made, and that patients do not wait long for a possible surgery. This is especially important in ophthalmology, where the majority of patients are elderly. For them, arranging a visit to the doctor is often a great trip. Since opening his own office, he has managed to carry out over 9,000. operation. - I like my job very much - he admits. - But often after a day of classes, when I close the hospital door behind me, I am exhausted, and not only physically.

I don't sit on the couch

After a day's work, someone else might fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV, but not him. First: no TV, second: he has a dog and third: he has Nordic walking poles. After work, he goes to the nearest forest to move around a bit. - I cover a distance of about 10 km each time - he says. - To my own and Pulpet's joy. We go home and eat dinner: Pulpet and meat cats, me with my wife and daughter - vegetarian. We have not eaten meat for 19 years. Why? I wouldn't be able to eat our lesser brothers anymore. And she writes fairy tales on weekends. He has already published a story about Mr. Tapeusz, who is a tapir. There are two nations in Mr.Tapeusz's world - tapirs and lions, who conduct constant disputes and wars with each other. A fairy tale about a girl who experiences extraordinary adventures, meeting a three-headed knight and dogs - animals with more paws than dogs known to us, is also waiting for publication. He paints illustrations himself for the fairy tales. He hanged reproductions of some of his works in the hospital.Colorful and full of fantasy, they appeal to both adults and children. The heroes of fairy tales have their prototypes in animals, which are not lacking in the house of Anna and Piotr Fryczkowski. Equal members of the household are two cats - Bródka and Tosia, called Ninja, who usually sits on the refrigerator. Another resident is Pulpet, a dog that failed to become a dachshund. - Our animals come from the countryside - explains Dr. Fryczkowski - When they were small, life did not caress them. But now they can do whatever they want. They give rhythm to our lives and are a source of constant joy. It is hard for me to imagine a home without animals. In the countryside, during the holidays, we have even more of them, we feed a whole group of foreign cats and dogs there.

He admits that he has always been fascinated by their mystery in cats. "It's a world we don't have access to, unless the cat allows us to," he says. - Tosia is an introvert, she is always in the same room as us, but she is independent. The goatee, on the other hand, is immediately loaded on the knees, and so are the guests, and you can't get off there. The admiration for the personality of cats was the reason for writing a fairy tale about Mr. Kocisław, which leads children to secret places. Places only visited by cats. - On the other hand, living with dogs is much easier - admits the doctor. - Dogs can't lie. You can see immediately if he is happy or if he is afraid of something. Whether he wants to play or he prefers to be left alone. And he accepts everything that fate will bring him - a shortened walk because it is raining, a new rug in the bathroom, cat insults.

Not only fairy tales

Apart from fairy tales for children, doctor Fryczkowski published the first Polish textbook "Eye ultrasound". - Working on it was a completely different challenge than writing fairy tales, but also brought a lot of fun - she says. Now, with a cat Bródka on her lap and Pulpet at her feet, she is working on another ophthalmological book, and during the breaks she writes further stories about the very confusing fate of tapirs.

According to an expertdr Piotr Fryczkowski

About yourself

  • As a child, I wanted to be…

I wanted to help people. Seriously. Ask my mom.

  • My three favorite books are …

"Lord of the Rings" Tolkien, "The Mysterious Island" Verne and comics about Usagi Yojimbo, the samurai rabbit invented by Stan Sakai. There, truth and good always prevail. And in a nice style.

  • I thought for the first time about medicine as a professional career …

In high school, folding the broken paw of the neighbors' dog.

  • My mentors, guides during my studies and during the first years of work were …

I remember best the anatomy professor who asked: "Mr. Fryczkowski, do you really want to wear boots? If not, get to work." I took it and that's how I stayed.

  • The most important thing for a doctor is …

Have an ego as small as a hamster and the perseverance of a hamster to have the strength to stab all day.

  • A good doctor should…

Always keep your hands clean. And the ability to empathize.

  • After work, most willingly …

I would turn off my phone and do other things. Do you think it is possible?

  • In life I try to be…

Good.

  • I don't tolerate at work …

Stupidity and ill will.

  • If I hadn't become a doctor, I would have been…

An artist. I even applied for directing to Łódź.

  • I am happy when …

Patients do not wait in line and I can be alone with myself. If I am still waiting for a chicory casserole with sheep cheese and rice.

monthly "Zdrowie"

Category:

Eye diseases and vision disorders