Why Medicine?

"I want to become a doctor so I could help people"

This statement is probably the most overused and over abused anyone applying to a medical school to use. So I wondered, what could I tell the admissions committee that will make my application stand out. It is true that I want to be a doctor to be of service to others, but as I was making my admissions essay a few weeks ago, I found myself dumbfounded. There must be other (or at least one other) reasons for me to choose this path.

I'm not a genius, I'm no "scientific achievement" awardee, but here I am on the verge of making a decision that will change my (and other people's) lives.

I was consulting a very good doctor-friend, Dra. J.E.B. (our college physician) as I was writing my essay, and sent her this paragraph:

Hippocrates once said and I quote: “Medicine, of all the arts, is the most noble”. Ever since I was a child, I knew what I want to become in the future, a doctor. To connect with people when they're most vulnerable. I loved the idea of being a doctor more during college where we have had actual encounters with life itself and diseases that affect it. I was even blessed enough to have rotated in a depressed community during one of our public health exposures and have seen how our country badly needs doctors. The recent brain drain has severely devastated the health status of our countrymen, and I know I can do something

I was expecting she'd say, "Ganda (beautiful)"... but instead... she said.. "I know you can do better" She questioned my motives, my background... was it really college (nursing) experiences that made me decide on becoming a doctor? Was it really the brain drain? She told me to take my time and reflect on the reason why I really want to become a physician.

Time has never been on my side. I lost my mother when I was a year old after a fatal hemorrhage due to an aneurysm. Since then, I have been taken cared of by my grandparents and have seen how they too suffered from numerous illnesses. I also recall my childhood friend who’s blind. My sympathy intensified when I realized that had his disease been diagnosed earlier, he would have retained his vision. Being such an intimate witness to the struggle of life and death left me with a deep sense of human fragility and the desire to learn more about life. I am mentally prepared, persistent and have developed the compassion and commitment to medicine that will drive me through the years to come. I look forward to my future with great anticipation to studying this noble art

I never expected that this casual paragraph, this certain exchange of thoughts with Dra. B. was able to dig deep into my subconscious, the reason behind my choice of medicine as a career. I was and still am..a witness to life's struggle. I may haven't seen how my mother suffered from her disease, but have surely seen how my grandparents fell ill, and as their condition got worse over time. How my father, who is our only pillar in our family, too, was diagnosed with diabetes. On a personal note, I myself have been a patient several times to date. Low birth weight, asthmatic, hypospadic, typhoid, scoliotic... and I say these with a hint of humor.

Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams said: "Always live in awe of the glorius mechanism of the human body, let that be the focus of your studies and not a quest for grades which will give you no idea what kind of doctor you will become"

Like I alluded to before, it does not take a vascular surgeon to help someone, so why am I still pursuing medicine? What am I seeking to accomplish? It’s easy for me to say that I want to help people or serve my fellow man, but then never specify how I’m going to do it. It’s hard to reflect objectively when you are in the midst of the trials of the work. But in this moment of clarity, I’m able to remember some important things. I remember that I still feel like a hero when I fix simple problems. I remember I enjoy the awe that children show to the hospital staff. I can still remember how a simple chat with a patient in severe pain could ease his/her suffering without medications, I remember how much I love being part of a team of committed health team members working for the same goal.

This is a pretty long entry for an initial post. Hopefully, its readers (if there are any) will still accompany me on my journey of becoming a doctor.

cast my burden on the Lord and He will sustain me -- Psalm 55:22

Mackyroni