.: How To Save A Life

Our City. Beacon Park.

Not many fortnights are as dramatic as the last two weeks have been. At least, for us they aren't!

I finally finished Medical School - I passed my final examinations and am now getting ready to join Ben in the land of people with degrees.

University of Birmingham Medical School

My degree has taught me a lot. I've learned about physiology, anatomy (loosely - I studied at Birmingham after all!), pharmacology, counselling, communication and many more things. Studying Medicine is a lifelong pursuit and even then you wouldn't be able to cover everything.

But aside from what my degree has given me knowledge-wise; I'm grateful beyond anything for the way that the degree has changed me. I'm in no way completely there yet - I'm going to be a Doctor in August but I'll be right at the start of my career and have a steep learning curve ahead of me. I'm not totally confident in my abilities - which is appropriate as I'm at the beginning of a new road. If I thought I knew everything I would be a danger and a menace!

However, this week gave me an opportunity, in a way I never expected, to see the changes that have taken place in myself.

1) I'm confident in hospitals
Maybe some people who study medicine have this as a course of nature. But I didn't. Hospitals were big, scary places before I did this degree. They were full of things I didn't understand and was suspicious of. I now know what things I should still feel suspicious of and which I can let off the hook!

2) I do not run from a crisis
I'm not sure I was ever really the kind of person who would run from a crisis - but I might try and side-step it. You can't do that as a Medical Student or as a Doctor. You have to have a go. Even if that just means doing all you can competently do and then calling for help.

3) I'm capable of being objective and practical
In my strangest nightmares I would not have imagined what happened this week. But I was able to take a deep breath, think, and determine the things I needed to do when I needed to do them. I've practiced my ABC(DE)s and I was surprised to find that when it was needed, it came to the fore. I worried, but I didn't fall to pieces. I even managed to appear calm.

I'm excited about moving into my career. Because it's a career that demands much but has incredible rewards. My favourite thing is the impact doctors have on people. I've seen this in both good ways and bad ways. I've seen patients look utterly despondent when a doctor has failed to engage with them when talking about their concerns BUT I've also seen patients who have finally understood something because of the cleverly communicated words of a kind doctor.

I really want to keep on becoming and I have no doubt that this is a career through which I can gain a lot of personal growth.

For now, I'm going to enjoy what I've achieved so far and especially value the family I have around me who are so very, very precious.