ACEP Fellow Ed Descallar lives and works near Jacksonville, Florida. He’s married to his high school sweetheart and they have two children, Elliot (3) and Shephard (2) (see above photo). In honor of Father’s Day, ACEP Now sat down to talk to him about how becoming a dad has changed his perspective at home and at work.

Q: How have you changed since becoming a dad?

Dr. Descallar: I‘ve become a total softie since I‘ve become a dad. I‘ve probably become a lot more goofy, too, just because the kids are so crazy and they love the goofy side of me. Having kids definitely made me a more empathetic physician, especially to when I‘m taking care of kids. Back in the day when it was just me and my wife, it felt it a little more difficult to connect with the parent of a sick kid. Now, when you see a kid in the ER, you relate a lot of their problems or their concerns to what you would feel like as a parent. 

My kids have enriched my life in the way that they‘ve made me realize that there is more to life than lot of the superficial things that I used to value, like my hobbies. I still love to hang out with my friends or go play a round of golf. But at the end of the day, I feel like my children really reframed my perspective and my priorities. I think that‘s made me a better person. 

The only thing that really surprised me about fatherhood is how attached you could become to these human beings. And I always thought that having more than one kid, your love would kind of be divided. But, you just have more love to give to these little humans, and it‘s kind of indescribable.