A Resident's Life

I wonder in retrospect if I had made right choices.If being a doctor and pushing through residency was right.A medical student starting at fourth year has already an inkling of the life ahead if she continues her profession.She will be on 24- hourduty in the hospital every two to three days depending on how many are there in the group.During those days, he/she becomes in charge of all admitted patients' history, laboratory, wound dressing, progress reports, vital signs monitoring and even reporting their cases during grand rounds. That would be their life till they got themselves to residency.During this time, she has chosen what field they want to specialize.In my case,I chose obstetrics and gynecology because in my observation, the obgyns got the bulk of patients who can also pay them dearly. As a resident, there are times when you cannot go out with your friends and relatives when they have gathering.You can't also see relatives who are sick...although,in my case, however,I have to be on leave when my only child got cancer. You can't get pregnant or get wed on your first year because you got the bulk of work to do.You really have to postpone your plans till your senior year.
Many journals already have been written on a life of obgyn residents. But none has said that doctors like us are in a way masochist.We have sleepless nights...Worried may we are about the wrinkles and the eyebags, but we are up alert to assist our patients.Mediocrity and errors has no room in dealing with life in your hand.No one ever wonder if we have skipped meals just to attend to the sick who continuously come to the emergency room.Even if deep inside us, we are in excruciating pain, we are in front our patients and trying to ease their woes.
Medicine is a vocation.We are overworked, but underpaid.It is not the professional fee that matters in this world but the way you touch one's life is a dear undertaking.