I was always interested in medical related things when I was very young(7 or 8 yrs. old)...I remember checking out the Mayo Clinic medical guide at the library on a regular basis(I know, weird, right?). I didn't acutally have the confidence to actually consider a career in medicine until I experienced some rather unique experiences over the last 10 years. It wasn't the injuries themselves that got me interested in pursuing medicine, it was the relationships that I formed with the physicians and nurses during recovery that solidified my decision. I am going to list my "unique" injuries below...my mom swears that I really do have 9 lives(at least started out with 9, there aren't that many now!)
When I was 8, I ended up in a coma for 2 weeks with a rather grim prognosis. My mom had sent my brother and I with our neighbors to go fishing one morning when her best friend died. Well, unbeknownst to my mom or neighbors, I had been running a fever that morning. I also suffered from febrile seizures as a child(had seizures from high fevers). While my neighbors were putting the worm on my hook(had their backs turned to me). I seizured and fell face first into the lake from the shore. They didn't hear me fall in and turned around about 2 minutes later. Suffice to say, I was unconscious and began to seizure again. Once in the hospital, I had slipped into a coma and doctors told my parents that things didn't look very good. 10 days later, I woke up from my coma asking about a pony(funny thing is that my dad had whispered in my ear that if I woke up he would buy me the pony I always wanted
). I was supposed to be paralyzed the rest of my life and was thought to have sustained brain injury(we're still not always sure about that lol). I walked out of the hospital 2 weeks later completely healthy after some much appreciated care from the doctors and nurses.
When I was 16, I contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis(flesh eating bacteria) in my right arm. To this day, we aren't sure where I contracted it, but we suspect it was from a small wire I bumped into at a horse show in Michigan. The doctor's told my mom if we had gone to the hospital 12 hours later than we had, that they would have amputated my arm from the shoulder(this is when I was relieved to be left handed!). I went in for surgery where they did a fasciotomy on my forearm(top and bottom) and my hand. Spent about 2 weeks in the hospital for that incident and went through months of rehab to regain use of my fingers and to build up the muscles surrounding the ones that had to be removed surgically. I now have a 9 inch scar on both the top and bottom of my arm and two 3 inch scars side by side on the top of my hand. I am happy to live with the scars since my arm was saved, and am always open to explain to people where they came from.
My 3rd injury came last October where I was kicked in the lower abdomen by a young horse I was working. I ended up in the hospital for a month and underwent 8 surgeries to reverse the damage sustained from the kick. This injury has been the most significant event that has shaped my plans to go into medicine. During my month stay, I was taken care of by an amazing surgical resident who went above and beyond what she had to. The first night that I went in for surgery occured at about 3 am. My mom had gone back to the hotel to sleep and resident called her to tell her about the surgery. While waiting in pre-op, this resident came and sat next to my bed and talked to me for over an hour until my mom arrived. Knowing how incredibly busy surgery residents are, the fact that she stayed with me was amazing. She also checked on me every night regardless of how swamped she was(she would peek her head in and ask how I was). She then talked to me about pursuing medicine and offering to let me shadow her once I had recovered and gave me her cell number in case I ever needed anything. She is now one of my best friends and an amazing mentor. I would be ecstatic if I could develop the same bedside manner and caring nature that she has.
I know this turned into a long post, but the care that I received from all of these events is largely responsible for my desire to pursue medical school.
