When A Patient Said...

Outside of all the frustrations involved in being a Medical student in a GMC, what I really like about this profession, is the respect that certain patients give Doctors. Yes, times have changed. Today, Doctors are no longer considered Gods. Thanks to Mr. Amir Khan and his celebrated coverage of this field, we have managed to unearth some of the evils that are present all around us. That does diminish the nobleness of this field.
Having said that though, the smile on a patient's face after having gotten cured, is the greatest gift a doctor can ever get. Any doctor will vouch for this. And any doctor will tell you, that he strives to attain this very prize.
Yesterday, I took the case of an 86-yr old man. He has undergone a Below-Knee amputation, is not very oriented to his surroundings at times, suffers from Diabetes, has lost quite a bit of weight and overall is very weak. Yet, the smile on his face was evident. The happiness he had got after having undergone that surgery to remove his gangrenous foot, was shining on his face immensely.

"If I can have a sip of water from your hand, my life will be blessed."

As I normally do for all patients, I asked him how he was feeling now. Initially he was a little disoriented. he thought I was one of his relatives. When his daughter told him that I was a doctor, he took hold of my hand and thanked me for having gotten rid of his pain. He said, " If  I can have just a sip of water from your hand, my life will be blessed." Imagine this. An 85-yr old bed-ridden man, older than my grandfather, telling me (young enough to be his granddaughter, or even great-granddaughter) that his life would be blessed if I gave him some water! It should've been the other way round.
It is moments like this that make me realise that I want to do this so much. Yes, final year is horrible, the college sucks quite a bit, the profession is demanding, it is a long obstacle-laden journey. But, during this wonderful journey, there are going to be such moments...when somebody says something...somebody does something...it leaves such an impact. I know that those words are going to echo in my life for a long time. Those words were not meant for me. They were meant for the doctors who actually treated him. But, in a way, they were meant for me, as a doctor. Over the past months, I've struggled to find reasons to want to do all this, to want to still be in this field after my Internship get over in 2014. I've struggled to find love among all my subjects, desire to excel in them and the determination to do the hard work required. I've questioned my intentions a lot of times. When I heard those words though, I knew exactly why I liked this field; why I had taken it up.
I may not recommend the field with 100% gusto. But, I do know that there is a reason why I got into it. When I get into that real world (with the Designation of 'Doctor'), I know exactly what I'm going to strive for. It is that smile and that hope that somewhere some patient of mine will be satisfied enough to say the same thing to another Medical student and show him the light to the path that he was looking for :-)

A Test in Medicine and a Test in English

This Medicine posting hasn't yet shown its true colours. I still haven't been able to decide whether being posted in the Kadam Unit is a boon or a curse. We have finished with one week of posting now. In this past one week, we have managed to take cases related to all four systems - CVS, RS, CNS, GIT. I think the CVS case was well-taken. We managed to finish the entire case that day. An achievement, actually. I presented the RS case to Kadam Sir yesterday. I was pretty freaked out about the whole thing, but the Indian trait of impunctuality helped calm my nerves down. It got too much in the end, because I had to wait a whole 2 hours before he came. However, Kadam Sir is Kadam Sir. His teaching is just way too awesome to crib much about :-) And, it is a real morale booster to be able to present a case to him and not have to hear him criticise you.
The patient I had, was very testing. But, the moment I put myself into his shoes, I could understand why. A 60 year old sick gentleman doesn't want people coming and poking him all the time. Especially after 2 weeks of having been through the same thing. I'm sorry sir for all the trouble I gave you. I do hope I do good for the pains that you and I both endured during past two days.
The whole case isn't complete yet. We only finished till General Examination of the patient. The moment Kadam Sir said,"I think we'll stop now. We'll continue on tuesday", I was a little disappointed. Keeping the patient in SGH till Tuesday is going to be quite a task. He will again have to be convinced to come to another ward, have people examine him...I'm already feeling sorry for both of us.
Yesterday was Gudi Padva, the beginning of the New Year according to the Hindu Calendar. I had a good day actually. The case went fine. I mananged to go and meet my grandparents for a few hours. It is such a beautiful feeling to have them pamper you, even for just those few hours. You can just forget that you've grown up, and go back to those sweet memories of childhood:-)
My TOEFL score came yesterday. I don't think I'd written in my previous posts that I was going to take the Test. I did. I want to keep my options open for my USMLE preparation. Taking the TOEFL and applying for Electives is the first step. My score is 118/120. Isn't that AWESOME?? I know there's no use flaunting my score, but I feel incredibly proud of myself. I'd given myself 3 weeks to study. I only managed like a week of studying. But, that week, being me, I studied only for the TOEFL. People say there's no need to really study for it. I believe, though, that you need to prepare for everything properly. It doesn't matter whether the test is small or big. I couldn't prepare as much as I would have liked to. So that score is a pleasant surprise.
The score means that my school did a good job of teaching me English. The score also indicates that I'm not as pathetic in the language as I think I am. Just because I don't write as much as I used to, in school, I haven't lost my flair completely. It is a boost of confidence really. I am really proud of my English skills. In past few years, since I joined Med School, I haven't been able to use my skills as much as I want to. That made me feel really inadequate, you know. After all, language is my strength.
The TOEFL has proved that I'm not as bad as I think :-) My Mom was on top of the world. Simply, because I told her 2 days before the Test, that I was taking the test, and she didn't really know whether I'd even studied properly or not. I love doing such things. Seeing that smile on my parents' faces, gives me satisfaction and a great night's sleep. What else can a Daughter want??:-)