Another day of related rates, but today I’m actually listening in calculus, after missing the past two classes, I was a couple 100 theories behind already. After a few minutes of derivatives we got off topic and Mrs.K started discussing why she was gone Friday. Her father-in-law’s artery was swelling on Thursday night and had to have an emergency surgery Friday. One of the doctors involved in the process was Dr.H, father of ‘R’, a student in our class. Mrs.K started commenting on how nice and sincere Dr.H was throughout the whole process. Later she stated how doctors/surgeons have a job which is priceless. ” A salary doesn’t pay for it, nothing does. It is amazing how they can open another human’s chest, go through hours of surgical processes, and two weeks later that man is walking around again.” When I heard this it greatly inspired me once more that I didn’t care about the hours of studying or years of struggle it would take to accomplish my goal, because once I got there I can save lives, help families, and bring happiness back into many people.

Another great video by him: Anaesthetists Hymn

Watched it three times already and it still hasn’t bored me. The singer makes a great song on ‘Careless Surgeons’. Some of the stuff is just so very true, and a statement at the end just brings back the old and gold statement on medicine - “It is a calling, if your not so sure or if your doing it for the money….just don’t go into it. However that is my personal opinion. Anyway great video, worth the watch.

Money & Medicine is one thing that is constantly put together. I hear other students always telling me that they are entering the medical field for the financial factor, and inside I just think about the big mistake they are making. So today as I was reading a few blogs I came across the information below at Mad About Medicine, it isn’t factual data, but personally, it just seems so very true. Most of the public doesn’t consider the different costs a doctor has to go through before he can take his check home and buy a new Rolls Royce *sarcasm*. Becoming a specialized doctor itself is extremely costly itself, in addition to that the insurance, taxes, etc also add up. If one doesn’t have pure passion to medicine..I think its better to just stay out. Anyway now to the table:
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A few postulates about the public:

1. The public has absolutely no clue how much their own doctor gets paid
2. The public has no clue how much the average doctor gets paid
3. The public has no clue how much even the wealthiest doctors make.

A few postulates about doctors:

1. Doctors have no clue how much the doctor across town is making ( or how much their patients make for their jobs)
2. Doctors have no clue what their services are actually worth in a free market
3. Doctors have no clue what their worth is as compared to other professions

But wait, there’s more…

1. The public thinks that doctors are grossly overpaid.
2. Doctors think they are grossly underpaid.

Now let’s look at cost:

1. The public has no idea how much it costs to support and run a medical office
2. The public has no idea of the cost of training a doctor
3. The public has no idea of the amount of time their own doctor spends treating patients

Of course, the other side:

1. Doctors are not the most savvy businessmen and have no idea how to efficiently run a service company *
2. Doctors think the world owes them forever for the financial and personal sacrifice they made to go to medical school
3. Doctors think that they are entitled to a huge amount of money for every service they do with the patient.

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Now the doctors not being businessmen thing…I disagree with that when it comes to me personally. Lets see if business techniques can be mixed in with medicine, will find out in around 10 years.

I feel so releived to know that Lakshmi’s operation has gone successful. I posted about it just recently here. Lakshmi was suffering from a parasitic twin that was attached to her from birth, giving her four arms and four legs along with numerous other problems including spinal problems. Just a matter of minutes ago the operation ended and Lakshmi has come out successful. Thirty surgeons spent around 27 hours in gifting her with a normal life.

Once again it is stories like this that push me towards the medical field. I hope the best for Lakshmi’s future and hope her condition remains stable. To me this is just one of the many miracles that medicine has brought forth. The various doctors, surgeons, etc… that performed on the young girl are probably angels to the parents of Lakshmi now…it is truly a wonderful job.

Just recently I decided to take a college day to The University of Mississippi. It has one of the best pharmacy schools in the United States and is also recognized for many other areas. The part of it that interested me was the Honors College, ranked in the top 3 honors colleges in the states by Reader’s Digest. Well here it is, my trip to Ole Miss and the things I learned there, the people I met, and the places I saw.

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Only a few hours away from leaving and I still haven’t printed any maps, ironed any clothes, and spark spark WAM the electricity goes out. This was one of the many times in my life where I regretted my habit of doing things at the last minute. With the electricity back in the morning, I hit MapQuest, print what I need, take a shower, iron my clothes, jump in the car, call my friend and we take off for Ole Miss. The ride to Ole Miss lasted hours and was full of interesting sights to see, including a few fields of cows and even a gas station every now and then! I started to wonder where I was going to end up at, the further and further we got the closer it seemed we got to the end of civilization. Finally after long hours of nothingness I was met with a Ole Miss entrance and minutes after I was there. The campus itself was like a mini-city of younger people. More accustomed to seeing smaller private universities, the campus of Ole Miss was extravagant. It was clean, lively, full of young individuals and occasionally I’d spot what looked like a professor carrying a bundle of books. I headed towards the visitors center and they directed us to the proper building, Martindale (it was basically the center of everything for anyone visiting). From there I learned that the honors tour had already begun 2 hours ago, so we decided to schedule our own mini tours with different guides. The first thing I noticed on arriving was that the staff was extremely kind and worked to fit their schedule into mine. We arrived at 10:00am and by 10:45am our tours and timings were all set. Our first tour or Information session was set at 1 P.M giving us around 2 hours to check the campus out. (By us I mean to a friend and I, I’ll refer to her as ‘H’ from now on). We walked around campus for around 45 minutes when I found ‘L’ a old high school friend of mine. He canceled a few of his meetings and took us to the honors college. As soon as I entered I saw a computer lab with very new desktops each paired with huge 21’ monitors, and free, unlimited printing, hehe. He introduced me to one of the biology professors. I was starting to get the ‘I want to be a surgeon’ feeling again after talking to the professor and seeing the resources available in the labs. Another thing I found interesting were the study rooms, some were as big as a corporate conference rooms, enough to seat 16 people and some as small as a personal lavatory. L explained that some students liked to study in larger areas and some in small confined areas which explained the many different study rooms…mm…yea. After seeing the honors college and different labs and classrooms for chemistry and biochemistry I headed back to Matindale for the info session. The session went by quickly as the recruiter, who explained that he wasn’t fat but instead just had a lot of ‘Love’, entertained us while answering hundreds of questions bye of course me. Finally after the presentation I met the much talked about ‘DSG’, just by looking at him I could tell he was one of those…enlightened people…he was the Dumbledore of Ole Miss, and yea so what If I did read Harry Potter. He introduced us to some of the top students in the college, each of them inspired me more. The rest of the story is pretty straight forward, tours after tours, meetings after meetings, and the ride back home which was full of adventure including me falling asleep almost the whole way back.

Basically at the end of the day, I am glad that I went to visit the college. I met a variety of people that gave me that final nudge to pursue my dreams of a surgeon. What inspires me at many time is listening to people who are higher then me and smarter then me. It inspires me to beat them and become better at what they are best at.

Oh yea I also went to see Saw IV, and being able to stand the gore in their without any problem assures me, surgery is the thing for me.

Med School here I come.

Just today I was watching the news and across the bottom I read about a surgery taking place in India composed of a team of 30 doctors. The surgery will be approximately 40 hours long and the patient is and her condition is what left me with a feeling I can’t describe. It is taking place on a 2-year-old girl, Lakshmi, born with two extra arms and legs. Lakshmi was born with a parasitic twin that stopped developing while in the mothers womb. Her parents kept her hidden after a circus crew saw her as a money-making opportunity and offered to buy her…I regret we have people like that on this planet.

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“A team of 30 doctors was removing the extra limbs and organs, surgery that if successful would give her a good chance to live past adolescence. They have already separated the fused spines and the next step will be to remove the extra limbs and the rest of the “parasite,” said Dr. Sharan Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation.
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I really hope Lakshmi’s surgery goes well and the results bring her a pleasant future, and a life without any regret