One Step At A Time

So, lately I've been reading pre-med & current medical students blogs ad nauseum! I was SO enthused about jumping on my own medical school journey that I wanted to know anything & EVERYTHING I could about the process & also get to experience a little bit of it vicariously through them. All of this reading has lead to me constantly thinking about: MCATs, med school applications, matriculation, gross anatomy, Step exams, final exams, residency matching, potential fellowship programs etc etc...over and over again in that order constantly every night before I go to sleep. It's to the point where I cannot go to sleep for hours!!!
Last night I was obssessing over administering anesthesia for the first time. Trying to imagine the process: Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Hypnotic, Paralytic, etc.
Then today I realized why people say: "Take it one step/day at a time." I never understood it before because my logic was: How is one to be properly prepared to reach one's goals if one does not have a detailed trajectory mapped out as to know what to expect &  what action to take at each stepping stone?!?!? The answer is simple: One mustn't obssess over tomorrow because all we have ever & will ever have is THIS present moment. So concentrate on this step, this day, this present moment & excell in it. As long as we are always focused on excelling in the present moment, we will always excell.
I think this is a great lesson to be learned by many students on the Doctor track from the blogs I've been reading.
Sidenote: I just played tennis with a friend because I'm trying to lose weight and because I love tennis. Long story-short..he kicked my ass...BAD! I guess I'm a little rusty. Just took a hot shower to soothe my latissimi dorsi....now it's sleep time. Bonus: I don't have to be at work until 2:30pm! :))))

Trauma Rush.

"I knew today was going to be a challenge two Pediatric open heart cases back-to-back), but what I didn't know was that I was supposed to be carrying the Pediatric Trauma and Pediatric Arrest pagers today too. You want to know an wholly unpleasant way to find out that fact? Be working in the OR, getting your patient settled before going on bypass, when a nurse wanders in, thrusting the pagers towards you. "Dr. Au, one of the anesthesia secretaries said you're supposed to be holding these pagers today, and that one of them just went off." Whee! I don't know why someone who is actually working in the OR is somehow also supposed to be available to field the arrest and trauma pages (this just builds in a critical delay--I had to page my attending to handle my patient on the table while I grabbed the arrest bag and went running down to the ER to attend to a patient who, for the sake of anonymity, I will call Stabby McKnife) but hey, things can't always make sense, can they? That would make things too easy."

This is from Dr. Au, a board-certified Anesthesiologist in Atlanta, GA. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reason why I wanted to become a Doctor, and more specifically, an Anesthesiologist. The excitement, the rush, the fact that you are actually saving people's lives every day. Think about it. As an Anesthesiologist, it's your job to breathe, circulate, and maintain homeostasis for that patient...basically keeping them alive while the surgeon performs a procedure that ordinarily would kill them. The meticulous attention to detail. The quick recall memory one must master (In case your patient's blood pressure begins to spike and you must administer drugs to keep them stable but also remember all the drugs you have already administered and deciphering which drug will not affect the others adversely.) Ahhhh!

Yes people, I want to save lives every day. The road I will embark on to get there will be treacherous. This is why I started this blog. To maintain a journal of my experiences along the way. It will be a long journey in fact. I am in the midst of completing my undergrad, so we're starting at the very beginning! Are you ready? :)