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MEDICAL FAMILIES

Life With a Doctor Parent: Unexpected Benefits and Challenges

What it was like growing up as a doctor’s daughter in 1970s and 80s England

Gill McCulloch
The Memoirist
Published in
9 min readAug 25, 2024

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This is a black-and-white photo of the author, Gill McCulloch, taken by her father, Doctor Ken Warden, in 1969. Gill is dressed as Doctor Foster for a school play and is carrying her father’s medical bag and a black umbrella.
A photo of the author, Gill McCulloch, taken by her father, Doctor Ken Warden, in 1969. Gill is dressed as Doctor Foster for a school play and is carrying her father’s medical bag.

Mum removed the thermometer from my mouth, and her eyes widened in horror.

107 °F!

Without a word, she fled the room. A minute later, Dad appeared, holding the thermometer. He glanced at me, shook the instrument a few times, and instructed me to put it back under my tongue. Then he stood looking out of my bedroom window, hands clasped behind his back, waiting patiently.

Two minutes later, when he checked, my temperature was down to a more reasonable 102 °F.

“What happened with the thermometer?” Dad asked.

“Nothing. I just washed it with soap and warm water to kill the germs”, I said.

“Hmm — that water must have been quite warm,” he replied, his eyes crinkling.

Younger me didn’t know that mercury thermometers would remain at the level of the last temperature they’d reached. My father taught me to shake the thermometer to make the mercury return to its base level.

If he’d been momentarily worried about me, he didn’t let it show. Throughout my entire childhood, I…

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The Memoirist
The Memoirist

Published in The Memoirist

We exclusively publish memoirs: The creative stories unpacked from the nostalgic hope chests of our lives.

Gill McCulloch
Gill McCulloch

Written by Gill McCulloch

I write about first aid, subjects that move me deeply and situations that make me laugh. Founder, Safe + Sound First Aid Training Ltd. gillnmcculloch@gmail.com

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