Matthew Siljander, MD
Surgeon. Writer. Father.
Orthopedic surgeon. Engineer. Founder of Lampway. Dad of four.
Walking the neighborhood. Dictating into a phone. That is where most of the writing starts.
Engineering came first. Construction job sites in college, then a vinyl siding plant in Michigan. The instincts running underneath everything I have built since are the same ones from those floors. Find the problem. Fix the problem. Stop when something feels off and investigate after.
Then medicine. Orthopedic surgery training and practice for over 10 years. Left at 5 AM. Home after the kids were asleep. Brita preheated the car in the Michigan cold and drove leftovers to the hospital when I could not get out for dinner. The schedule was brutal. I loved the work.
A medical diagnosis closed the OR sooner than I planned. I am on a new pathway as an orthopedic surgeon. Still helping people. But in different ways outside the operating room.
More time to write. More time to build. Good Thing Monday goes out every week. The memoir is drafted and in editing now. Lampway is the long build. A guided walk through the Bible, now in private beta on the App Store and Google Play.
The writing is for anyone building a life, leading people, or living in the gap between what they planned and what happened. You can lose what you planned and gain more after the loss. Go make things better from right where you are. That is what the writing and the building are for.
Good Thing Monday
A short piece each Monday. Find the good. Carry it through the week.
Where to find me
A guided walk through the Bible. One Waymark a week. On your own, with family, or with a group. I could not find it, so I made it.
A novel of 1903. Middle-grade historical fiction. Out 2026.
Good Thing Monday posts here first.
Photos from the walks. Family in some of them.
Lampway private beta
Lampway is in private beta, rolling out now on the App Store and Google Play. Leave your email and the pathway that fits how you hope to use it. I send invites by pathway as spots open. No credit card during the beta.
The Good Thing Is
Memoir. All twenty-four chapters drafted. In editing now.
Build everything. Lose everything. Now what. This book was never about me. It's about you. A few passages, while it gets finished.
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Chapter 1. Go Make Things Better.
Competition day. All these fancy contraptions tossed off the roof. A few small parachutes worked. Most didn't. Kids rushed to their contraptions when they hit the ground, eager to see if the egg broke.
Then this cloth bag full of nobody knew what was tossed from the roof.
People were like, what is that.
I didn't rush to the bag to find out. I already knew.
Egg survived.
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Chapter 13. I Smile.
There is a field down from our house. My four kids and I would go out there and run football drills. Not really a game. Drills. Everyone strapped on their flags. The point was for them to try to pull mine. I would start down the field, say go, then run and spin and twist away while they all chased me.
This was tiring. Not just from an aerobic standpoint. I began to get stiff. It was harder to run and move and twist. In between every rep, I would pause and crouch down with my hand on the football.
My son Weston was three years old. Every single time I crouched down, he would come running up and tap my hand on the football and say play hard Isi.
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Chapter 16. The Last Day.
I almost never ran the music in my room. That day I ran all of it. Called the songs when I wanted them. Fight Song. Shotgun. And the one I needed us to end on. Good Riddance. Time of Your Life.
I asked Ryan to do the karaoke. He laughed me off. I asked again. The room got on him until he gave it up. A few bars. Red-faced. Dragged into it. By the chorus nobody needed him. I'd scrubbed out by then, hood still on. We belted it out at the top of our lungs. The anesthesiologist. Ashley. Pat. Ryan. Me. Every voice in the room. A goodbye song, and not one of them knew it was one.
I don't know how I didn't cry.
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Chapter 24. The Good Thing Is.
When you close it, sit quietly, whatever that looks like for you. Think about your life and where you're at. What feels important to you. Your goals, short term and long term. Then fast forward to the end of your life and think back to those goals. Were they the most important ones. Are they what matter to you most. Then think about the blessings in your life. Keep those close. Focus on those goals.
Tomorrow there's a sprinkler to fix.
The good thing is, this is just the beginning.
Agents & publishers
The memoir is The Good Thing Is. All twenty-four chapters drafted, in editing now. If you want pages, send a note.
City Boy came out in 2026. A middle-grade historical novel set in 1903. Good Thing Monday goes out every week on LinkedIn and Substack. Lampway is in private beta on the App Store and Google Play.
msiljander@zenoone.comSpeaking
Hospitals. Surgeon groups. Faith communities. The diagnosis-forced turn, the writing, Lampway, the work of carrying a hard thing without pretending it is not one. If your group would benefit from hearing any of it, send a note.
msiljander@zenoone.comReader letters
If something I have written has reached you, write back. I read every one. I do not always answer fast. I always read.
msiljander@zenoone.com