The People vs. Adrian Thorne

ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF
3,000 subscribers deep, and there are still a lot of people who don’t know who I am. There’s been a lot going on leading up to and since we reached this incredible milestone—by my standards of course—and a lot has happened and lot of new faces have shown up. And while some of you have been here since the beginning, others are just now joining us.

So allow me to reintroduce myself.

1. My claim to fame? My IQ is supposedly somewhere near Isaac Newton’s.
2. I’ve been writing stories ever since I learned how to write.
3. People say I “write like a girl” because my penmanship is immaculate. (And between you and I because I feel like I can say this in here but not out there because you’d get it—I write better than most girls)
4. I graduated college at 19.
5. And if you knew my real name, you’d probably call me Dr. Adrian Thorne.

I’ve had what most people would call an illustrious career.

In college, my work-study job was at a middle school. And somehow, I ended up teaching 7th grade English and Language Arts—and it was during that time that I wrote and published my first three novels.

But for some reason, that wasn’t enough.

So I went to grad school.

I enrolled in a dual-degree program and earned both an MD and an MBA. It was a five-year program, and when it was over, I entered what’s called an integrated dual surgical residency. That took eight years to complete. And because I have a tendency to push things as far as they can go, I added a two-year fellowship on top of that.

By the time I was 30, I was a double board-certified cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon. One of the few who has successfully repaired multiple rapid-onset aortic dissections.

But here’s the thing about being a surgeon—it becomes your life.

It takes a level of dedication and commitment that doesn’t leave much room for anything else and it requires a level of patience that is uncommon to man in common hours. And then COVID happened. And I watched entirely too many people die, and for the first time in my life as a physician, I felt… well… useless.

Being a surgeon means you get to save lives. But you don’t save them all. And I had my share of losses.

It’s a thankless job and it taught me many things. I loved it—but somewhere along the way, I also became a very lonely person. My life was medicine. There was even a year where I was essentially homeless—not technically, but close enough. I worked so much and traveled so often that I lived out of hotels and on-call rooms. I worked at two different hospitals on two different coasts. I still hold medical licenses in eight US States—including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which is arguably the hardest place to obtain a medical license.

Eventually, I realized I wanted more out of life.

So while I still hold surgical privileges at two prominent hospitals and maintain my medical licenses, I decided to put my other degree to use. I stepped out of medicine and into the world of finance—and suddenly, I was going home at 5 p.m.

Which, if you’ve ever worked 18-hour shifts, feels insane.

Eight-hour days. Actual PTO. A life outside of work.

I started to live again. I traveled the world. I prayed with monks in quiet mountain temples. I got lost in side streets in Lisbon and didn’t rush to find my way back. I skied in the Alps. I explored tombs and catacombs in Egypt and Cambodia. I backpacked across Europe (well I took trains because Europe is huge). I sat nude on beaches with black and pink sand. I took long, aimless walks through cities I didn’t know, letting them unfold around me. I spent quiet mornings in unfamiliar cafés with nothing to do but exist. For a brief stint, I even lived in Rome, Italy. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

And somewhere along the way, it gave me something back I didn’t realize I’d lost.

Writing.

I’d always wanted to experiment with erotica, so I decided to give it a shot.

And what I found was simple:

I was good at it.

And then I found Substack—and, with it, some of the best people I know. So when you read stories that are medically accurate—well, now you know why. But when you read stories about human connection and emotion and stories that evoke emotions you didn’t know you even possessed—it’s because I take the whole of my life experiences and infuse them into these stories.

I loved saving lives, but without even realizing it, I needed to save my own. And the truth is, I love my life now.

And you know what else I love—doing projects around the house, and keeping up with my aquarium, and being the guy that mows his lawn on Saturday mornings, and siting on the couch watching mindless hours of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the 847th time while eating my Strawberry Cheesecake Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Would I ever go back to practicing medicine? I don’t know. But for now, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be—here with you, all 3,000 of you.

I love you, all.
—R.

or should I say
R. Adrian Thorne, MD, Ph.D