Perhaps no place is lonelier on Christmas Day than the 68-bed cardiac unit on the eighth floor at Southwest Portland’s Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

The patients, ranging from teenagers to octogenarians, are on 8W and 8E because of a heart attack, heart surgery or heart failure. All are aware their lives are fragile. These thoughts, say experienced nurses on the floor, often lead to moments of self-reflection, doubt and a measure of fear.

It gets worse on Dec. 25.

Then, about 10 a.m., a group of musicians appears in a patient’s doorway. Playing the guitar and leading the group is Dr. Gary Ott, a cardiac surgeon. For the past 15 years, Ott and his family have come to the hospital on Christmas morning to play music, sing and talk with the patients. They bring with them a perfect icebreaker: Appa, the family’s Golden Retriever who is a certified therapy dog.

They will all be back this Christmas.

“The magic of Christmas appears,” said Brittany Ostby, one of the floor’s registered nurses. “It’s a different kind of healing.”

The people who come to the eighth floor throughout the year are used to seeing Ott, a well-regarded surgeon, in scrubs. Playing music on Christmas allows Ott to bring something to his patients other than what he calls the pain of surgery.

“I hope to bring a moment of simple joy,” he said. “And through the presence of myself and my family, display God’s love."

***

A surgeon’s life is mystery and mystique. While the title, talent and ability to fix what is wrong is clear, the sacrifices required of the profession remain hidden.

Many days Ott leaves home at 6 a.m. He returns 14 hours later. Then there are emergencies, on-call shifts and weekend rounds that bring him back to the hospital, where he spends more time than he does at his home. His work causes him to miss many family events. Married for 35 years, he and his wife had to cut short their honeymoon because he was needed in the operating room.

“When I was little, I asked my dad why people got sick on Christmas,” said Hannah Lu, his 26-year-old daughter. “I wanted him to be home with us. He told me that people get sick and someone has to take care of them.”

His wife, Cheryl Ott, often took their children to the hospital when they were young so they could visit their father while he was working. After Ott missed several Christmas celebrations at home, he suggested she bring the kids to the hospital so they could see him for a while on Christmas Day.

“We’re Christians,” Cheryl Ott said. “We feel we’re called to display God’s love to people however and whenever we can. That’s how it began. We’d go to the hospital and talk with the patients on the floor.

"We found it meaningful.”

When the kids started learning to play musical instruments, Ott and his wife thought it would be fun to play Christmas carols for cardiac patients. Ott, a skilled guitar player who played in a rock band in college, formed the family group, selected the the music — traditional carols including “Joy to the World,” "O, Come All Ye Faithful” and “Jingle Bells” — and they showed up at the hospital.

“We’ve never stopped doing it,” Cheryl Ott said. “I have to be honest, there were times I would rather have stayed home in my pajamas. But my kids loved it and made sure we went.”

Hannah Lu, who played flute, said she was nervous those first few years.

“My dad made us memorize everything,” she said. “I was the one playing the melody, so if I messed up it was really obvious.”

Watching her father with patients all these years has given her a deeper appreciation of the man.

“They see him as their surgeon,” she said. “I see how much he cares for them, and how they care for him.”

Lu said she’s caught up in the Christmas spirit when the patients, nurses and other staff members join in singing with her family.

***

The children have grown and scattered.

Lu and her husband live in Cleveland, where her husband is in medical school. The youngest, Nathan, lives in Philadelphia where he, too, is in medical school. Jordan, the oldest and married, lives in Seattle. But for Christmas, they all return to Portland.

“The spouses are now part of the group,” Lu said. "My husband plays violin, and my sister-in-law sings.”

Her father treasures the days before Christmas when the family gathers to practice the songs they will perform.

“We prepare for the patients,” he said. “When you give to people, you get so much back.”

***

As a surgeon, Ott feels privileged to be involved in a person’s life when they are at their most vulnerable.

“Something goes wrong with the heart,” he said. “We try and fix it to restore a person to good health. I am almost 60, and it never ceases to be a miracle.”

On Christmas Day, emotions run high on 8W and 8E. Patients worry about outcomes and the future. They miss being in their home, or with their families. When they hear the music and see the surgeon and his family, many begin to cry.

In some years, Ott learns that one of those patients has died, a reality of what it means to be a patient on the eighth floor at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

“I hope the songs we played were a connection, for however brief a moment, to something bigger,” he said. “Healing the body, when you think about it, is truly temporary. Touching the soul, in whatever way, is permanent.”

---Tom Hallman Jr.; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr

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