The sky is the limit

At times, you wonder where you will get in life.  As a child, I dreamt of the all the places that I could go, all the people meet, and all the money I could make.  As I got older, those dreams changed over time, but they always stayed large.  I, like a lot of kids, had dreams of being an astronaut, a pilot or a volcanologist.  I never recall wanting to be a doctor though.

The interesting part of being a doctor, is that depending on the culture and society you live in, it is a fairly highly respected profession.  Sure, that respect is going downhill in recent years, but people listen to what 'the doctor' says.

So what made me want to be a doctor?  To be a 100% honest, it was a few things.  None of them grand, or altruistic.  I wanted to people to listen when I talk, and I wanted them to do what I say.  Not everyone of course, just those who had ignored me in the past.

Now when I dream, it is all about medicine, and where that will take me and my family.  It seems for even poor doctors, the sky is limit there.

Still colder

It gets colder and colder.

The weather, the empathy.

I know which one is worse.

Crazy things

I really am enjoying my psych knowledge at the moment.  The problem is, I'm not sure I will enjoy psych patients.  I had a patient the other day, who was rude, abusive, and generally very unpleasant.  I'm pretty sure there was a solid underlying psychiatric illness, but I just can't shake the feeling that somehow I've done something wrong by not having empathy for that person.  I was annoyed.

A lot of people in my family are crazy.  Diagnose-abley crazy.  I have a lot of time for them, and I think I can see where they are coming from a lot better than others in my family who are not so gifted.  Why then, am I not feeling it at the moment for crazy patients?

I guess we shall see.

Finished up

So I finished my rotation in OBGYN today.  It wasn't exactly the most wonderful experience I could have had.  A friend of mine told me that midwives were colloquially referred to as 'madwives', and frankly, I can't really argue with that.  Childbirth is a special time in a woman's life.  She is bringing a special little person into the world who wasn't there before.  It is simply, amazing.

Cue the midwife.  Who basically takes over the whole experience, and decides on things that aren't really discussed with the woman beforehand.  Midwife doesn't like artificial rupture of membranes --> tells the mum it is bad for her --> mum tells the doctors she doesn't think it's a good idea.

That is a general theme which continues throughout the whole labour.  Midwives make decisions, because they know better.  Even if they don't.

As a student on an obstetric ward, you are supposed to actively find births.  I have struggled with this.  Bringing muffins, doing scut and being generally nice doesn't get you births.  Being a midwife students gets you births.  Being a medical students means you are an 'interloper'.

Originally, OBGYN was on my list of favoured medical specialties.  I would love to be part of the special experience of bringing babies into the world.

I am unwilling to deal with the crap that's involved however.