DR ANNABELLE STABLER
PORTIA LARGE:
Standout St Hilda’s memories?
ANNABELLE STABLER: I started as a five-year-old St Hilda’s girl just before modern technology really hit. I vividly remember being taken up to the Senior Library to see new computers. Unafraid of breaking things with trial and error, we quickly learnt how to load them up and play Math Attack. St Hilda’s ensured we were ready for the tech revolution. In the classrooms of the Whitby building, with its fluorescent green carpet, we learnt history. The ideals of the Renaissance were not lost upon us, and we were determined to be the female equivalent of Renaissance men. Happy memories of being busy with opportunities to get involved.
PL: What pathway did you take to get to where you are today?
AS: I remember driving with my mother up the motorway to move into Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland (UQ). We came up over the hill, where you get that first glimpse of the Brisbane highrises. I remember drawing breath and realising the familiarity of my school days was behind me. It looked like a big, slightly scary, world. I loved my days at university. I lived on-campus for three years and made lifelong friends. I moved back to the Gold Coast and completed my internship at the old Gold Coast Hospital. It takes a long time to train as an Orthopaedic Surgeon, but it is good fun. I spent nine years at university and another eleven before I completed my Junior Doctor and Orthopaedic training. I married, becoming a step-mum to two little girls, and had a year off for maternity leave following the birth of each of our baby boys. Throughout university and training as a Junior Doctor, I had lots of opportunities to travel for work and fun. I now work in public and private practice as an Orthopaedic Surgeon doing Paediatric Orthopaedics and some Adult Upper Limb Surgery.
PL: When did you decide what you wanted to do post-school?
AS: At four, I was given a set of my father’s shiny bone osteotomes and chisels, a big mallet, and a block of wood to play with. I remember Mum being cross that Dad, a hand surgeon, had thought it was a safe activity. I still have all of my fingers and decided to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon though without much understanding of what that meant. I often accompanied Dad on early morning rounds. The ED Doctor and the Registrar sent me to ‘get a history’ (have a chat with a lovely elderly lady called ‘Mabel’). Mabel had a broken wrist and, due to her age, the plan was not to try to straighten it. It was her dominant hand and she was terrified she would not be able to knit teddy bears and baby clothes. I remember the discussion amongst the team and being indulgently asked what I thought. I was afraid to speak. Mabel wanted it straight because knitting was very important, so I said that’s why we should fix it. I was allowed to apply traction and vividly remember the feel of the bone go ‘click, click’, as the fracture uncrumpled. I also remember being amazed Mabel said she felt no pain due to the anaesthetic block. She told me to pull very hard so it went “nice and straight”. I was delighted to see it straight again on the x-ray and got the bug for fixing bones. But what I remember most is Mable telling me to never be afraid to speak up and give an opinion if I think it will help. She made me promise to become a surgeon and to listen and care for people. She went back to knitting and I sometimes saw her teddy bears in the foyer. Now I’m grown up, I truly understand the rare privilege it is to be able to use the skills I have been so generously taught, to get people back to what they love to do. It’s for Mabel and the countless others that I’m now a surgeon.
PL: Typical work day?
AS: I usually get up 5am, have breakfast with my boys if they’re up, deal with homework emergencies, and feed our two kittens and our Labrador. If feeling motivated, I will run or cycle earlier. I dash straight off to work or drop the dog at puppy kindy, whilst my husband mostly does the before school care run. I do early morning ward rounds, sometimes in more than one hospital, and then meetings, and operating or seeing clinic patients. There’s paperwork, teaching for our Juniors, and more meetings inbetween. If I am not oncall, I’ll get home 6pm to 7pm, in time to help with the dinner, shower, stories, and bed chaos with our boys. Then, there is time to watch some TV with my husband, and usually more paperwork or looking up some articles or books before bed.
PL:
AS: Not to be in such a rush. The twists and turns along the path are what make the journey worthwhile. It is important to do something fun every day and challenge yourself and keep saying “yes” to things that look hard. In my career, the best advice was to go and find my people and then do what they do. It wasn’t until I was a mother I really understood you can’t be great at everything, and be all things to all people, at the same time. Overall, you are usually doing a much better job than you think. No experience is ever wasted - it all adds up to make you better at all facets of your life.