Physician Shadowing

I went on my first Physician Shadowing yesterday.

IT. WAS. AWESOME!!!

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT IT!!!

I was super happy about doing it, and now I'm 100% sure I want to be a doctor. It was a FABULOUS experience and I'm super excited to do it again!!! My uncle saw that I was sooo happy and excited that he asked the dermatologist if I could shadow him next Tuesday. I'll be doing two shadowing experiences total by the end of next week, and I couldn't be happier!!! I was already looking forward to another one, but I didn't think it'd be this soon. I'm so happy I could cry!!!

Anyway, here's a detailed description of my day as I recollect it. :)

I got there at around two, and I went straight to Dr. Stewart's office. The first patient was a little boy who had an ear infection. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING IN THE WORLD!!! Not that the kid was in pain, but the fact that the doctor let me look into his ears. I saw what a healthy ear looks like, and what an infected ear looks like. It was AMAZING. It was the coolest thing about my day there. I can't wait to take anatomy!!!

Then came a lady that was super nice and had allergies. Then an older dad with a four month old baby; the baby was the cutest baby I have ever seen; he was so cute it made me want kids, that's how cute this little one was!!! Thankfully, he was perfectly healthy. They were worried he might have an ear infection, but he was perfectly fine. He also had a kid come in for a scout exam; I stepped out because of the hernia check that was part of the exam. He also saw a mother and two kids for the same reason; I stepped outside again for the hernia check. Not interested in that... too personal for a pre-med student.

He also saw a lady with a heart condition, an older woman for diarrhea, and two little kids who HATED the doctor's office!!! The doctor said the little five year old boy was the worst one he's had in all of his career. He screamed like a banshee and cried for the longest time. He was terrified about the scale, the thing to look into the ears, and especially of the little wooden thing that you put inside the mouth to hold down the tongue and inspect the throat. Oh hell, he LOST it when he saw it. The doctor didn't do it at first, but he was worried he might've had strep, so he tried to collect a sample for a strep test. This kid fought for fifteen minutes before the doctor gave up; he fought so hard that he got splinters on his tongue for biting down on the wooden stick and cotton swabs. The doctor decided that he would check his sister and get the test for the two-three year old girl and assume they both had the same thing. The little girl did everything, but did fight a little bit with the stick and cotton swabs, but it was over so quickly that she didn't really cry for longer than thirty seconds. Thankfully, the test came back negative.

The third patient he saw was an eighty-three year old man that was coughing a lot. He was there for about two hours so they could do some chest x-rays and a bunch of tests to figure out what was wrong with him. The doctor showed me the x-rays and taught me what each thing was so I could learn about it. It was amazing; I saw how thick the aorta was and I'm still amazed by its size!!! The x-ray didn't tell us anything though, so he had to do some more tests to check his lungs. Turns out he had COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It was sad, since the man already had heart problems, migraines, and diabetes, but it was a good thing that they found out what he had so they could treat him and stop the progression of the disease. When he went to get a sample of the medicine for him, he explained to me what the medicine did and how it worked.

Dr. Stewart also showed me a report that came in while I was shadowing him. It was of, I think, one of his patients who had just been declared brain dead. I was able to read the report and see what one looks like, which was cool, but I was saddened by the fate of the patient. It may sound a little twisted, but I was glad to see how sad the doctor was over the news; it shows me that he truly cared about his patient, and that he wished there was something he could've done for him. I liked being able to see that a doctor cares about their patients outside of getting their money.

When I left, I thanked him  profusely and told him what an amazing experience it had been. I also told him that I wasn't sure if being a doctor was right for me, but that I KNEW this is what I wanted to do after shadowing him. He told me that's exactly what happened to him too; he knew he loved it after he shadowed a family practitioner. He also told me to come back any time and to just give him a call to see when I could come next. I'm sure I will ask him if I can come back soon; I'm way too excited to let too much time pass!!! If it was up to me, I'd do one every week, but I know I need to take it easy. I left at around five fifteen. I'm excited about the future, and I really can't wait until I start learning about all this in the next few semesters!!!

It was an AMAZING opportunity. I can't wait to be a doctor myself and be able to help patients with everything I can; I want to help people live better and healthier lives!!! I'm super excited about this all, and I want to get it all done soon so I can be the best neurosurgeon in the world!!!

If that's what I still want to do after med-school.

Love,
Andrea~!

Beautiful Life

Life has been pretty good to me lately.

My husband texted me not too long ago to let me know we were moving to Stonehenge.

I guess it's an apartment complex in Taylorsville.

The reason? They get faster internet.

Oh, Steven...

I love you, but sometimes, you're just weird...

Anyway, I've been working on my pre-med preparations. I've found a hospice to volunteer at and I have made one appointment with a doctor, thanks to my Uncle Rob, for Tuesday that will allow me to shadow him for a few hours. I continue doing my volunteer work for the shelter while I train for the hospice work so I can still get my hours in, but I'm taking Sundays and Wednesdays off so I'm not too overwhelmed once school starts. I hope to be able to volunteer at least eight hours a week total; five at the shelter and should be about two or three with whatever hospice patient I go visit. Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous and scared.

I thought the concept of hospice was to just go visit elderly people, but it turns out it's people of any age... who have six months or less to live. I'm extremely saddened by this; I don't want to get attached to someone who is going to die in less than six months. It would hurt terribly to lose them... however, I do need to get comfortable around death, since I will have to deal with it once I'm a doctor. Especially since I will be, hopefully, performing brain surgery on my patients; there's a very high risk of malpractice, and although I don't wish to lose anyone on the operating table, things happen, and I will have to be prepared. Still, it doesn't make me feel any better knowing the person I help will die soon.

The one thing that keeps me calm is knowing that I will be keeping them company and hopefully brightening their day a little better. I hope to learn a lot from them, and maybe even get over my fear of dying. I hope that, somehow, they can help me figure out whether or not there's something on the other side. I think that may be my biggest fear; not existing any more. I hope that, somehow, they will shed some light on their thoughts and perhaps put me more at ease with it, and maybe, just maybe, I will figure out that there is some place our soul goes, and that we don't just stop existing.

Anyway, too depressing.

It's been a good day, and I'm excited as to what the future holds. I'm really looking forward to doing all the great things life has in store for me. I do hope I can become a GREAT doctor that can help a lot of patients; I'm sick of seeing people suffer, and I WANT to end that kind of suffering to the best of my ability, especially when it comes to the most delicate and complicated part of our body, the brain.

Life just couldn't get any better.

I just wish I could make peace with a few things from my past so I could thoroughly enjoy my time on this earth. The past keeps creeping its ugly head back and biting me when I least expect it. That IS life though, so I supposed I will just have to learn how to deal with it and move on. If the Goddess allows me to fix my errors, then I will, but until then, there's no reason to worry about a past that I can't change.

Oh! I adopted a kitten out yesterday!

I'm a little sad because I wanted her to go with her brother, but I'm sure he can benefit from being on his own. I am kinda nervous that mama cat is gonna miss her babies once my other kitten gets adopted though, so we'll see what happens. The foster mum said that it shouldn't be a problem, but it still worries me. I worry too much about everything!!!

I need to go back to yoga and learn to relax!!!

Love,
Andrea~!