Not too long ago I had another session of the medical observation/volunteer course I'm taking. I'm not proud of much in my life, but this course if definitely one of the few things I am proud of. It's not something I have to do for school or anything, it's actually something that kind of happened half through me wanting it to and half by accident. In the course, I get to follow an emergency room doctor during his day and I accompany him while he cares for patients and help out wherever I can. A lot of the patients he treats speak French so it can be a little tough following what's going on all the time but at the same time, there are enough native English speaking patients for me to still learn. So what have I learned from the course? Hrmmmm.... well for one where the sternocleidomastoid is : ) but seriously it's been really informative. So far, I've sat in on about 5 ultrasounds, seen a bunch of x-rays, seen how to care for minor injuries and serious illnesses, got to see a patient get gout removed, a woman's finger get stitched back together, the Parkinsons like effects of taking the wrong medicine for schizophrenia and a lot more stuff that would be tough to explain. I actually learned something interesting about myself when I saw the woman come in with an arterial cut in her index finger... Turns out I'm a fainter

But the most important thing that the course has taught me is probably that medicine can be a really rewarding job. My favorite times during my sessions are when the doctor gets to tell the patient that they're going to be alright and then the patient smiles and you can see the relief in their eyes. Like one time a girl came in with a first trimester bleed during pregnancy, and we (more like he, I didn't do too much here) ran an ultrasound to check on the baby. The girl actually wasn't much older than I am and she seemed really worried for the baby, but when she saw that everything was fine and dandy and the baby was healthy she looked really relieved. Moved? probably not, we didn't cure her of cancer or anything but I'm pretty sure we made her week. Sadly, I only have one more session scheduled before I'm done and I can put this on my resume (and maybe an application to med school) but I'm hoping to be able to do some other related things when I'm done. I was looking around for volunteer positions and I found out that the Douglas mental hospital is always looking for volunteers to help spend time with the mentally handicapped. I think when I'm done with the course at hand I'll apply there. Maybe I'll get some first hand experience in what it's like to try to make a difference in a somewhat clinical setting.

In the meantime I get to study hard and keep the grades up. Turns out they don't just let people walk into med school off the streets. Damn! there goes plan A haha. I don't know though, I think as long as I'm passionate about my studies, and generally have a desire to make the world better, one patient at a time, I think it'll all work out in the end. Here's hoping.