Life's Persistent Questions

Question: What would you do if you can't be a ____(you current job)?

I love being a doctor, more specifically an anesthesiologist. I think my work is important. I feel it is a mixture of science, experience and art. Yes, other people make more money with far less school/training. Other have more freedom with their time and less responsibility. But truth be told, being a doctor is a power trip--I see you at your weakest moments, I put needles and tubes into your body, and I put you to sleep, relieve the pain, wipe the memory, not to mention controlling the working of your heart and lungs. I have seen things that cannot be unseen and done things that laymen would not understand. Do I feel superior to a banker or a lawyer, what do you think? I don't think I could have handled such responsibilities when I was 22 years old, and I still question my worthiness 10 years later.

Just a few days ago, I would not have traded anesthesia for anything else in medicine. But I've changed my mind. Had I seen it first hand in med school, I may well have chosen pediatric surgery as a career instead. Working with children, infants and newborns are surprisingly rewarding and satisfying. I don't even like kids most of the time, but I can't help but get a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach at the end of the cases when their tonsils are out, their chemo catheters are removed, or their obstructed intestines are fixed. And the same pediatric surgeon did all of the cases: whether it was an ex lap or a thorascopic resection. I can't imagine the length of his training, but be able to fix something in a child and improving his or her quality of life and time that by the life expectancy, it is goddamn awesome. So count me jealous.

posted by hedgehog @ 1:08 AM