““My job is quite stressful which requires a high level of difficulty. Sometimes I have to work over 100 hours a week. So, when I have free time, I will spend it to indulge in my passion for mountaineering. My boss always warns me: ‘Don’t stay away too long, or people might think you’ve quit,” Dr Ngo Hai Son, MA, 38, told VietNamNet.

Son works for the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery - Plastic Surgery – Aesthetics at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital in Hanoi.

“I believe that a person can sustain multiple passions. As long as you are determined and have a clear strategy, you can excel in what you desire,” he said.

Each time he faces a plastic surgery case that seems simple at first glance but proves difficult upon execution, Dr. Son realizes that building resilience in the operating room enhances the challenges of his mountaineering passion, and vice versa.

Son believes that he was destined to work as a doctor. Perhaps, it was the encouragement by biology teacher in his general school time that guided him toward a medical career, though his parents advised him against it, warning that he would have to work hard.

After completing his general medicine training, Son chose the field of plastic surgery.

“I enjoy my work, especially in gender reassignment and transgender surgeries. Seeing patients living authentically and becoming truly themselves brings me immense joy and motivates me daily,” Son said.

Working at the largest surgical hospital in northern Vietnam provides doctors with a diverse environment but immense pressure. On average, doctors work 80 hours per week, sometimes more than 100 hours, with shifts lasting up to 36 consecutive hours.

“One of the surgeries that I conducted for 16 consecutive hours involved reattaching four fingers with sutures too fine to see with the naked eye. That surgery required five different assistant teams. Some of them, when coming back to that operation after a full day exclaimed, 'Is Dr Son still here' ?’” the surgeon recalled.

Son specializes in transgender procedures. Some surgeries appear straightforward but are incredibly complex, such as penile or vaginal reconstruction.

A man who had severed his own penis into three pieces was operated on by Son, who stood for 12 consecutive hours to reconnect it. Son said the surgery was extremely challenging, with only two or three similar cases recorded worldwide.

Another case involved a woman born without a vagina. She underwent vaginal surgery with an older method. She married and had a child through surrogacy. However, the reconstructed vagina could not fulfill sexual functions, leading to the breakdown of her marriage.

When learning that Viet Duc Friendship Hospital was performing vaginal reconstruction using a segment of the intestine - the most advanced technique available - she returned from abroad to Vietnam, hoping to achieve completeness and a happier life.

In another case, a person living in the body of a female, yearning to have a male form, wanted to become a man. After seeking Son’s expertise and undergoing chest and genital reconstruction, the patient couldn’t hide his emotion when looking in the mirror and saw the physique he had long desired.

In medicine, Son calls himself a lucky man, because his patients all are safe, including those in serious condition.

Passion to climb

Over the years, Son has not only gained recognition in the field of gender reassignment surgery but also earned fame in the mountaineering community with remarkable achievements: the first Vietnamese to successfully climb Ama Dablam (6,812 meters in Nepal), the highest technical peak in the Himalayas, and the first Vietnamese to inspire young people by conquering K2 (8,611 meters in Pakistan), the world’s second-highest mountain, far more difficult than Mount Everest.

His longest expedition was the 50-day climb of K2, the mountain that only over 1,000 people have successfully conquered so far.

To conquer K2, mistakes are not tolerated, because one error could be fatal. 

Mountaineering is the most adventurous and expensive pursuit. Each day on the mountain, surrounded by rocks and ice, costs climbers approximately VND20 million.

For instance, during the K2 expedition, Son spent about $45,000 (nearly VND1.2 billion). His future goal is to conquer all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters worldwide.

Phuong Thuy