I absolutely love doctoring. I've said it before, and I will probably say it again and again. Helping someone deal with sickness is really rewarding. The challenge is, that we can always do more. We can always improve the science, we can always improve our communication, we can always improve the delivery of care, the cost of care, the equality of care. Frankly, these last 8 weeks I've been really overwhelmed by how much more can be done. How much we have left to do. Medicine has gone a long ways by many measures, but all I can see is how far the road ahead is for us in terms of delivering really high quality care. I feel like I'm this little newborn baby in the middle of a rainforest trying to find my home that is 10,000 miles away. It is that intimidating of a challenge! I've found this state of frustration to be not very conducive to anything, and so I've been trying to develop the personal mantra of "Do what you can, when you can, with what you have." Still-very difficult!
I see how it is so easy for a doctor to make their work all-consuming. But for me, the value of relaxation, the outdoors, reading, family, and friends is priceless. For me personally, and also for me as a doctor. It reminds me of why I think medicine is such an amazing profession. I get to help out family and friends. They may not be my family and friends, but they are to someone, and I always try to approach a situation by thinking "what would I want if this was my child, or my mom". I find it much easier and much more fun to deliver medicine in this way.
I'm working on some solutions, in my spare time. Maybe one of these days I will share them with you on the blog! In the meantime, here is a quote that continues to energize me:
“Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not?
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