Moments that make everything worth it

[FirefighterDoc]

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I'm not talking about getting your first acceptance.

Im talking about that moment that reaffirms everything your doing, an epiphany if you must. That moment that you realize "wow, this is why I want to be a doctor."

I had one of those moments today.

I'll start with saying i'm a Chicago bears fan. I wore my Jay Cutler jersey to work as an ER tech and immediately regretted that decision when they lost today. The majority of my shift was spent lamenting over the tragedy of a game the bears played. As my shift was wrapping up and i was grudgingly finishing stocking i heard some yelling coming from a pt's room. One of the nurses was yelling for help. On my way over i grabbed our doc and we came to find a rather old man lying there coding.

Cut to 5 minutes later, the room is filled with 3 nurses, 2 techs, a crash cart, ultrasound machine, ekg machine and a vent ( of courses he just so happened to be in our smallest ER room ). I had been doing compressions, we had shocked him a few times and our doc tubed him. We also pushed a bunch of drugs. This was my third time actually performing compressions, despite being an EMT for 3 years. The first two times ended up being lost causes and I wasn't feeling so optimistic about my third at this point .

As I continued compressions, I happened to look down at my Bears jersey and noticed a few other nurses in the room wearing bears apparel as well. At that moment, no one cared that the Bears just blew their shot at the superbowl or lost the NFC championship to their biggest rivals. Everyone's mind was on keeping this man alive. Odly enough i thought of an article i had just read yesterday at work doing Con Ed at the fire dept. It talked about how most people don't do compressions deep or fast enough. They mentioned the best pace was 100 beats per minute and odly enough suggested pushing to the songs " Staying Alive" or " Another One Bites the Dust" ( both with a 100 bpm beat)

Even though I was confident with my initial compressions,I decided to try it and opt for the more optimistic song. As i was singing this song to myself, I just fell into a zone. Long story short, we surprisingly brought him back to being stable andthe cardiologist agreed to take him to cath lab. I felt sorry for breaking his ribs, but as he left, I knew i helped save his life.

By this time it was about 45 min after my shift had ended. Believe it or night my night got even better. As I was leaving i heard some commotion coming from another room. It turns our a woman was going into labor. Even though I was off the clock i became a runner for everyone in the room getting supplies and calling people. I was rewarded with witnessing the delivery of a beautiful boy.

As i finally walked out of the ER tonight I couldnt stop thinking to myself, " Wow, THAT is why I want to be a doctor!"


For anyone who actually managed to get through all that please share your positive experiences through this process.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

I'm not talking about getting your first acceptance.

Im talking about that moment that reaffirms everything your doing, an epiphany if you must. That moment that you realize "wow, this is why I want to be a doctor."

That moment will come to me when I'm standing in line for the first time at a bank with a fat pay check, when I drive out of the Lexus dealership with a slick ride, pull up to the drive-way of my massive house, and sit down to eat dinner with my trophy wife and girlfriend. 😎

 

[StudyShy]

Every once in a while, there is something that I learn in one of my courses that helps me understand something better in when I'm in the hospital setting. It's a very instant reward for going to school. These are true Eureka moments.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

I'm not talking about getting your first acceptance.

Im talking about that moment that reaffirms everything your doing, an epiphany if you must. That moment that you realize "wow, this is why I want to be a doctor."

I had one of those moments today.

I'll start with saying i'm a Chicago bears fan. I wore my Jay Cutler jersey to work as an ER tech and immediately regretted that decision when they lost today. The majority of my shift was spent lamenting over the tragedy of a game the bears played. As my shift was wrapping up and i was grudgingly finishing stocking i heard some yelling coming from a pt's room. One of the nurses was yelling for help. On my way over i grabbed our doc and we came to find a rather old man lying there coding.

Cut to 5 minutes later, the room is filled with 3 nurses, 2 techs, a crash cart, ultrasound machine, ekg machine and a vent ( of courses he just so happened to be in our smallest ER room ). I had been doing compressions, we had shocked him a few times and our doc tubed him. We also pushed a bunch of drugs. This was my third time actually performing compressions, despite being an EMT for 3 years. The first two times ended up being lost causes and I wasn't feeling so optimistic about my third at this point .

As I continued compressions, I happened to look down at my Bears jersey and noticed a few other nurses in the room wearing bears apparel as well. At that moment, no one cared that the Bears just blew their shot at the superbowl or lost the NFC championship to their biggest rivals. Everyone's mind was on keeping this man alive. Odly enough i thought of an article i had just read yesterday at work doing Con Ed at the fire dept. It talked about how most people don't do compressions deep or fast enough. They mentioned the best pace was 100 beats per minute and odly enough suggested pushing to the songs " Staying Alive" or " Another One Bites the Dust" ( both with a 100 bpm beat)

Even though I was confident with my initial compressions,I decided to try it and opt for the more optimistic song. As i was singing this song to myself, I just fell into a zone. Long story short, we surprisingly brought him back to being stable andthe cardiologist agreed to take him to cath lab. I felt sorry for breaking his ribs, but as he left, I knew i helped save his life.

By this time it was about 45 min after my shift had ended. Believe it or night my night got even better. As I was leaving i heard some commotion coming from another room. It turns our a woman was going into labor. Even though I was off the clock i became a runner for everyone in the room getting supplies and calling people. I was rewarded with witnessing the delivery of a beautiful boy.

As i finally walked out of the ER tonight I couldnt stop thinking to myself, " Wow, THAT is why I want to be a doctor!"


For anyone who actually managed to get through all that please share your positive experiences through this process.

cool story, bro.

😉

 

[Cleavername]

That moment will come to me when I'm standing in line for the first time at a bank with a fat pay check, when I drive out of the Lexus dealership with a slick ride, pull up to the drive-way of my massive house, and sit down to eat dinner with my trophy wife and girlfriend. 😎

only lexus i will buy is the is series, ie, is 350. other wise i am buying german, either volkswagen or bmw, may be mercedez if i feel the need to intrude other peoples personal space with mah enormous and oversized car.

 

[crixx]

I'm not talking about getting your first acceptance.

Im talking about that moment that reaffirms everything your doing, an epiphany if you must. That moment that you realize "wow, this is why I want to be a doctor."

I had one of those moments today.

I'll start with saying i'm a Chicago bears fan.

I stopped reading when I saw this.

 

[tabascosauce]

 

[goldenwest]

👍

 

[azerkail]

op's is a cooler story lolol.

i just remember this one time i was a tech in los angeles and there was this code on the 7th floor. at the time they knew i was a student, so the pharmacist and attending were like 'go go go!' so i got to ride the crash cart (we have absurdly big crash carts) and it looked like the patient was going into a pretty bad seizure. the worst part was he had to only be a couple years older than me, not even 24. everyone is pushing meds to calm him down and i asked how i could help, and he's like "hold his hand". yes, at first i was like 'no homo' but then i grabbed his hand and he sort of clenched and then he simmered down. it was probably all that keppra or haldol or something, but maybe iunno, i like to think it was because of me.

because apparently i have girly hands or something. xD

 

[mmmcdowe]

Watching my patient cry out of joy when I told her that we managed to save her kidneys and she wasn't going to need dialysis after all.

 

[mauberley]

Watching my patient cry out of joy when I told her that we managed to save her kidneys and she wasn't going to need dialysis after all.

I think I saw this in a Star Trek movie. 😉

 

[rafflecopter]

I was volunteering in the ER one day and an old lady came in with s.o.b and chest pain. She looked pretty nervous sitting there all alone so I came in to talk with her and give her some company. At first, I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked her why she was at the hospital today. She proceeded to tell me the following (true story): "As a child I always dreamt of moving to America. My father was a factory worker whose month's worth of wages would have hardly bought a tank of gas here. My mother stayed at home to care for us, as was our countries' custom. But I dreamed of more. One evening my father came home after a particularly exhausting 15 hour shift and plopped into our families' only chair. He turned to me and said, "You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.” I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought, “Nah, forget it. Yo, holmes to Bel-Air!” I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabbie, “Yo holmes smell ya later!” Looked at my kingdom I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air."

 

[RogueUnicorn]

I was volunteering in the ER one day and an old lady came in with s.o.b and chest pain. She looked pretty nervous sitting there all alone so I came in to talk with her and give her some company. At first, I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked her why she was at the hospital today. She proceeded to tell me the following (true story): "As a child I always dreamt of moving to America. My father was a factory worker whose month's worth of wages would have hardly bought a tank of gas here. My mother stayed at home to care for us, as was our countries' custom. But I dreamed of more. One evening my father came home after a particularly exhausting 15 hour shift and plopped into our families' only chair. He turned to me and said, "You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.” I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought, “Nah, forget it. Yo, holmes to Bel-Air!” I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabbie, “Yo holmes smell ya later!” Looked at my kingdom I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air."

story-topped:

i used to work in the ER of a large urban hospital. things were going pretty good, but one day about 3 months in it all got blown to hell. i remember the day pretty well. it was about 10pm on a monday night and a guy was being flown in on a medevac chopper, call-ahead report for gunshot wound. trauma team's on standby, and the resident running the team that night (never liked him to start with) is already rubbin me the wrong way, making bets with the interns on who's going to get to the slug first. well the patient gets in, we rush him off while the paramedics are yelling their report at us as we shoot down the hallway. story's pretty gnarly, some sort of drug deal gone wrong. the patient's a junkie, and it's obvious. he starts screaming and resisting, flailing about. I get a shot of haldol ready along with a vial of morphine, ready to go and look to the resident for the verbal order. The punk doctor says NO! I stare at him incredulously and say "Mike, the haldol and pain meds are good to go, I'm ready to inject." To which he says "What part of no don't you understand?" Again the incredulous look on my part. He goes "I'm not going to be a part of helping a junkie get his fix." I can't believe it, but I shut up and hold the patient down. He starts trying to get an IV in, but obviously it's hard as hell since the patient's flailing his arms all over the place. Frustrated, he takes it out on, saying "What kind of stupid untrained monkey do you have to be to not even hold down an arm?!" At this point I'm up to my elbows in this patient's blood, probably contagious with god knows how many diseases, and I've just had it. I can't take it anymore, so I walk out and call a cab. when it came near the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything i can say this cab is rare, but i thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel Air. I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and i yelled to the cabyo homes smell ya later. I looked at my kingdom I was finally there to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air

 

[goldenwest]

5/10 - Poor delivery 👎

 

[rafflecopter]

story-topped:

5/10 - Poor delivery 👎

You guys are right. I got sick of writing about 1/4th of the way through 😛

 

[AsianPersuasion]

Making direct contact with the patients eyes and knowing that what you do is appreciated even if words aren't spoken.

 

[Gunneria]

realizing that ME, the doctor, and not the guidos are the way out for a better life for the guidettes in south beach and seaside heights

 

[Malice]

That moment will come to me when I'm standing in line for the first time at a bank with a fat pay check, when I drive out of the Lexus dealership with a slick ride, pull up to the drive-way of my massive house, and sit down to eat dinner with my trophy wife and girlfriend. 😎

Oh thank you for bringing me back. I was horrified by the initial story - he stayed late and didn't even pick up overtime fees. I nearly coded myself when I read that.

 

[Bayonetwork]

I have had many working as an EMT, medical mission trip to India, working as a home health aide for a quadriplegic, working in a group development center, shadowing, somehow getting an A in a class I was certain of a B, many unusual but totally necessary doors that opened at perfect moments, support of family and friends, establishing contacts with med school personnel out of nowhere...basically the entire momentum and flow of things that has led inexplicably to my current position on this journey of which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Actually looking back I cant even think of one thing that has really stood out in opposition but maybe that because I have a very intense post workout high going on right now.

 

[Danlee07]

i never aim or expect anyone to say thank you at all, but the best moments are when people are truly grateful and honest. they've only happened a handful of times in my lifetime..

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Making direct contact with the patients eyes and knowing that what you do is appreciated even if words aren't spoken.

Why did I picture you giving someone a rectal exam when you said this.

only lexus i will buy is the is series, ie, is 350. other wise i am buying german, either volkswagen or bmw, may be mercedez if i feel the need to intrude other peoples personal space with mah enormous and oversized car.

I like some BMWs, but mercedes are just ugly to me.

 

[loveoforganic]

The fact that it takes someone nearly dying to take your mind off how much the bear's suck actually isn't surprising at all.

Sorry, saints fan 🙁

 

[Danlee07]

Why did I picture you giving someone a rectal exam when you said this.




I like some BMWs, but mercedes are just ugly to me.

i'm just gonna skip the BMWs/mercedes/lexus -- too many of em. i'm even starting to see too many range rovers and 7 series bmws.

 

[FirefighterDoc]

The fact that it takes someone nearly dying to take your mind off how much the bear's suck actually isn't surprising at all.

Sorry, saints fan 🙁

Touche

 

[Geneticist]

i'm just gonna skip the BMWs/mercedes/lexus -- too many of em. i'm even starting to see too many range rovers and 7 series bmws.

I'm gettin' me a new Audi. Awww yeeeaaahhhh

 

[essaywhuman]

Good story. Everyone who I've had code has stayed dead so far.

I guess the most rewarding medical experience I've had was a TBI call. This particular individual had taken a severe blow to the back of the head and was seizing by the time we got on scene. We gave the pt and initial dose of midazolam, backboarded and hauled ass to meet the air-ambulance.

In the ambulance the pt switched between periods of unconsciousness and apnea, seizures, and periods of time when he would wake up and start fighting us moaning and mumbling while he did. One of the crazier things I've seen.

Our transport time to even meet a helicopter is the better part of an hour, so we had this pt for awhile. I remember during one the periods in which he woke up, he sat up abruptly grabbed my hand and looked me straight in the eye with a look of sheer terror. He was soon unconscious again, but I remember feeling terrible looking in his eyes knowing how poor his prognosis likely was.

We heard from the helicopter as they were nearing the hospital that our pt "was circling the drain;" confirming what I already knew.

Two weeks later, thinking he had died, we got feedback from the flight crew that the pt had actually walked out of the hospital that day with only minimal disability and that our efforts on the ground had likely made all the difference.

I know that we were just one small part of that great outcome, but the feeling of accomplishment was tremendous. A lot of work went into that one "save."

If I can do that as a doctor, all of this will be well worth it.

Sorry this was incredibly long...I didn't intend that.

 

[BeachBlondie]

I knew I would HIGHLY consider surgery, for sure, after my first OR shadowing.

I was fascinated and enthralled.

 

[Etzio]

That moment will come to me when I'm standing in line for the first time at a bank with a fat pay check, when I drive out of the Lexus dealership with a slick ride, pull up to the drive-way of my massive house, and sit down to eat dinner with my trophy wife and girlfriend. 😎

Instead of Lexus ill go with BMW or Porsche or Ferrari 👍

 

[FIREitUP]

story-topped:

disagree respectfully. I liked raffle's better because the pretense of the whole story is the prospect of America, and they finally are able to drastically change their circumstances by moving to one of the most affluent areas in america.