Too Excited To Be A Doctor!

I bought an ophthalmoscope-otoscope set very early on in my medical career -- in fact, when I was still in medical school. Even bought it brand new, at full price. I probably bought it at about the same time I bought my first stetoscope and an aneroid blood pressure monitor. I was very excited about learning how to use them. You see, being a doctor was my lifelong dream, and buying acquiring these equipment make me feel more like one!

Later though, when I underwent training to become an ophthalmologist, I had to buy another ophthalmoscope set, one which is rechargeable and comes with a retinoscope which I needed in order to do objective refraction, unlike my older set which was purely battery operated. I no longer have use for an otoscope, except maybe for looking into my son's ear when I suspect him of having an ear infection. Looking back, I could have probably just bought a second hand one for my first set, and sold it later on, and bought my brand new ophthalmoscope-retinoscope set when I was already set to be an ophthalmologist. But, my friends who are now in pediatrics, and of course, otorhinolaryngology use their otoscopes regularly and very rarely use their ophthalmoscopes.

The lesson here for medical students and doctors in training: Don't buy everything yet. Borrow first if you haven't decided on which course to take before wasting your parents' money.

This (busy) week in summary

This has been a busy, busy week! We have started Ethan (finally!) on toddler school and he seems to be enjoying himself there. He's still not quite a good student, since he's always late -- he's used to waking up at around 8:00, has a loooonnnnggg breakfast and a bath before leaving for school, which starts at 8:30. Good thing the school is just in the neighborhood. We jittery parents try to accompany him every single day. That's on top on our clinic schedule! Whew! School is tiring even for parents! It's worth it, though. I'll blog more about this later.

So please excuse me if I've been a little remiss with responses, tags and bloghops. I've taken to doing these when my boys are asleep -- but by then I'm also quite sleepy so I don't do much na.

In the meantime, if you're interested in what doctor bloggers have to say, we just had a blog carnival of Pinoy MD bloggers here. My contribution is here. The others are pretty good reads. I've only read some of them (since there are a lot), but they've all been proven to be very personal and very human.

I've also gotten to meet Jan and we had quite a chat. She bought some stuff from me (Thanks!) It is always nice to see other n@wies because most of time, you feel that it's not the first time you've met even if it is.

When Doctor becomes Mommy

Hmmm....what to write?

First of all, I'd like to give you a backgrounder on myself. I'm a doctor, an ophthalmologist to be precise, whose whole life BB (before baby) has been focused on my training and career. Being a doctor is not something you accomplish in a single day. You don't just wake up one day, saying..."Yes, I want to be doctor!" and become one the next day. It takes years and years of singleminded ambition. It takes a lot of patience, sleep deprivation, studies, no holidays (forced, without pay). After which, people think you're already rich just because you have the letters M and D affixed after your name when in fact you're swimming in debt (or your parents supported you all the way).

Did I ever regret my decision? No! Coz being a doctor is something that I really, really wanted. It's my passion, my calling, my vocation.

Now, after the seemingly endless years in the quest to attach the 2 aforementioned capital letters after my name, I got married. Then had a child a year later. Late by conventional standards, at 35. Suddenly, my priorities had to change. Now there's someone who's my new priority. Someone who comes ahead of my career. That means I have to cut back on my clinic hours. My little precious comes first. My baby's mom-- that's who I am, first and foremost.

But can I give my career up? No. Because it's who I am. Now, how to balance being a mom and having an active medical career? I'm working on it....and I hope I get the balance right.