Where in the World am I?

A question not only asked of my friends, family and acquaintances, but of myself as well. I decided to start this blog for a number of reasons.
#1 So all of my dear friends and family can keep track of my whereabouts since I have been in 8 cities and 6 states in the last 3 weeks and that list will only continue to grow.
#2 So I can have a place to post my latest accomplishments, upcoming activities. There's a lot coming up. BIG decisions to be made. Residency interview time is now and I will soon have to decide where in this great big U.S. of A. I will choose to plant my rear end and make my mark on the world as I begin my 30 something years.
#3 They say its good to write, that it's therapeutic. I figure I'll save a few hundred bucks on shrink bills this way.

Feel free to respond to anything I write, inquire about whatever comes to mind, give your two cents worth or just say hi.

So here it goes...Let the therapy begin.

For those who haven't been updated on my life in quite some time or for those who are wondering in by chance, I am a 29 soon to be 30 year old medical student due to graduate in May 2005 from and school in NY. I have decided to go into Family Medicine for my specialty. There is a humanistic quality and some sort of societal duty that draw me to this area of medicine. Some say, "oh, your gonna be a doctor so you can make the big bucks?" Let's clear one thing up from the start...I haven't chosen to enter medicine for the prestige, the monetary reimbursement or the desire to be $250,000 in debt when I am finished. I have chosen the wonderful specialty of Family Medicine because that is where I am needed. That is where I feel I am at home. I would much rather spend a long day in the office caring for a young mother who delivered 19 years ago whose baby I delivered last week and whose grandmother I see in the nursing home on Wednesday mornings to manage her diabetes. Followed by a drug addict, who just needs to know that someone is in his corner as he tries to kick the habit and move on in life. I look forward to the friday nights away from home because I am spending time at the local high school football game ready to jump into action should a player be hurt on the field or a saturday morning in the local boxing gym covering as ringside physician for a group of 8-18 year olds that have nothing else they think they can be proud of until they step into that ring. I am not going to mind the 3am page because my 25year old single father patient doesn't know what to do when his 3 year old son (also my patient), has a temp of 104. I'm not going to mind when Mr. Jones walks into my office at closing time feeling like his life can't go on. Why? Why would I choose such a busy life, a life filled with relationships built on trust, trust that my patients have chosen to have in me to insure that they are well, to educated them on the ways to stay well, to listen when it hurts in their bellies and in their hearts? Why would I chose to live such a filled life? Because it is just that...Filled with the reward of knowing that I am making a difference in at least on person's life and maybe an entire family's life. I may not change the world or even change my community, but making a positive change in that one person's life will mean the world to me and my patient. This is why I don't need the glamour of the money making plastic surgeon, the hours of the Benz driving dermatologist. I just need to be in my world, in my patients world, where they need me, where they want me and where I can be me.

I think this is it for now...I will continue to write more and update you all on where I am and where I am coming from in the coming months. I hope to post at least twice a week if not more.

I look forward to your comments and words of wisdom. Peace be in your hearts.

Dr. T