Rediscovered Joy of Medicine

Blaring David Crowder Band’s “No One Like you” like it was Summer 2005 as I cruised down Holcombe St, I felt the peace of God spreading throughout my soul.  I had just watched the labor and delivery of a patient who I met earlier this week.  I didn’t do much to help.  I was just a PA student who cracked a few jokes to try to make things easier for the mother.  However, I could hear God in the peace that transcends understanding that this was exactly where I should be.  This was exactly what I should do.

In this moment of being there to help the mother deliver, I rediscovered my “reverence for life.”  The pages of Schweitzer’s own masterpiece came alive before my eyes as I saw a mother overwhelmed with joy at the delivery of her baby.  Even I shed a tear myself.  It was emotionally moving to see how joyful the mother was about her child entering the world.  I rediscovered the childhood passion for medicine like jumping out of bed to see a patient with a gun shot wound with Dr. Morgan.

The joy of this mother was enough to crack even an old curmudgeon like myself, who has had his share of ups and downs in life.  I thank God that I saw this joy as it made every all-nighter down the pathway worth it.  Here it was 3:37 in the morning and this joy was enough to send chills down the spirit and wake up these old bones.  It was enough for me to ride the spirit throughout the day.  It made it all worth it.  All the stress, anxiety, all nighters, etc.  It even made my own Job moment of losing med school and switching to PA school worth it.  It made me forget about malpractice and ICD Codes and remember at my roots why I went into medicine.  

Maybe I am guilty of chasing these emotional highs, but I think these are really what life is about.