Doctors

Last week, we had a speaker who is a medical doctor at a local hospital. Our assignment is to discuss the values our speakers talk about each week, but all I could think about last week was my own experience in a hospital, especially since the man mentioned he performs minor surgeries, such as gallbladder removals. I wanted so badly to raise my hand like a kindergartener and say, "Oh! I had that done just last April!" I remember my happy little visits, and I must say, I don't think I could ever be anything in medicine. I know it must take a lot of patience to go into that field. You must really want to help people to go that far for them. And you definitely have to be people person. I'm fairly certain if I walked up to a stranger with a scalpel and asked of I could slice them open, the answer would be a no. You have to have a personality with a confidence that your patients can feel and trust. My first surgeon ad to much confidence, though. After my gallbladder was removed, I was back in the ER two days later because of pain and dehydration, and no one took me very seriously until they did a CT scan and found a severe issue with my small intestine. A doctor or surgeon not only needs to be trustworthy, but trusting of his or her patients as well. And I know some people complain about minor things, and others like me don't complain about pain enough, so it's not easy to know how severe a case is. When I was transferred to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, my surgeon was calm and honest, and I trusted him immediately. Every doctor I dealt with was straightforward, and I liked that about them. I know it can't be easy for them, seeing so many people, answering all the questions with patients and families hinged on their every word. Hence the patience and trust. I don't remember the exact values our class speaker mentioned, but these two I know from my own experience.