III. Pediatrics
When you hear pediatrics, you might think of teddy bears and happy faces, bubbly doctors and children with lollipops...maybe. In reality, it is not so happy. Office based pediatrics consists of a lot of runny noses, sore throats, well child checks and the occassional complex kiddo with really severe issues. Inpatient pediatrics is exhausting. The background of most children's hospitals is colorful and kid friendly, full of people who are there to try to help children get through a hospital stay. Regardless of this, it still pales when the reality of very sick children becomes the focus.
With the advent of miraculous life saving measures that have arisen over the last few decades, more and more kids are surviving with incredibly dire diagnoses. Fifty years ago, the majority of the children we see would not have likely survived. Chromasomal anomalies, childhood illnesses, birth trauma, and accidental/intentional injuries basically top the list of why children are admitted to the Children's Hospitals. This is not always a happy place. Many times this is a place of quiet acceptance and resignation to the inevitable, regardless of how much Science an offer. The value of life is not an absolute. The overlying question is what is life? Is it simply breathing with a heartbeat, or does it need to include the other things that make our human experience unique? Should living include knowing your loved ones and being able to interact with them in a meaningful way? What is a meaningful way? Is it a prehistoric reflexive grasp of a finger, or a knowing smile or light in a child's eyes? There is not a good answer to any of these questions, but they are questions we are forced to try to answer nearly daily.
YOU ARE READING
Confessions of an Intern
Non-FictionThese are musings of mine, told as I grow through residency. I hope to share a little insight into the making of a doctor, one who still cannot believe she's been blessed with this responsibility.
