Information technology would have offered an endless supply of projects to utilize mathematical thinking in a computer-intense lifestyle. I could have worked from home. I’d have better hours. My responsibilities would be different since lives wouldn’t be hanging in the balance. Plus, the corporate ladder is always fun to scale up.

So why medicine? Here’s my *abbreviated* explanation:

We’re living in an information era filled to the brim with emphasizing technology – improving it, utilizing it, applying it in fields we never thought possible. Consequently, I don’t have to “give up” technology to be a physician as it goes hand-in-hand with the future of medicine. Those with a firm understanding of technological do’s and don’t have a substantial edge in adapting to new medical procedures, treatments, etc. Coupled with a business background, I see myself designing the software and instrumentation, marketing it, and then implementing it in the operating room in a “bench to bedside” approach to neurological therapy. This would be the ideal unification of everything I enjoy doing – an opportunity that only medicine, not IT nor business, could provide.

Finally, there are countless others who would gladly take my spot at Baylor Med and in the Texas Medical Center without any “plan B” like IT. For their sake as well as the health of my future patients, I’m humbled by this privilege and intend to make the most of it.

I’m beginning to think otherwise.

I’ve started becoming familiar with a few of my classmates’ interests and life experiences outside of medicine, and I’m just blown away. A part of me thinks that I have nothing to contribute to this class in terms of useful skills. Another part of me hopes that my real talents have not been realized yet. The latter is definitely some wishful thinking.

The truth is, I’m at home in the operating room. No distractions. No competition. No having to listen to other people whine about professors, lectures, and medical school. Just me, the surgeon, the patient, and the clinical team. It’s almost as if the events which follow are pre-ordained every time. A laminectomy? I know exactly how it’ll play out minute to minute. A supraorbital keyhole craniotomy? I can already visualize the potential complications associated with the region.

I hope that flying under the radar is something I should be doing at this point, but I know it’s not conducive to landing a spot in neurosurgery. At the same time, I don’t intend on filling my CV with superfluous lists of achievements in place of meaningful experiences.

If there were only a way to quantify my ability to be efficient… to showcase what I’ve done by assimilating business with technology… to verbalize what I intend to do for microsurgery… then maybe I wouldn’t feel so inadequate. I’d feel like I have a tangible accomplishment (and a niche associated with it).

Oh well, in the end, I’m still lucky to have the priceless friendship of many of my classmates… many of whom have a right to be arrogant but opt for humility instead.

• From January to the end of July, I did pretty much nothing. In fact, the most difficult decisions I had each day were:
  • What am I going to eat?
  • What video game(s) should I play?
  • How many times will I go to the gym?
  • How late will I wake up the next morning?

Talk about a life of leisure! I did enjoy some time in Hawaii with the family, but for the most part, I relished the freedom to do nothing.

• Since August, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know my amazing classmates at Baylor Med, some astounding physicians around the community, and aspiring pre-med students.
• I made a killing in the stock market with Ford and Apple. Probably the only time I’ll ever invest in an American auto company, because I sure as heck won’t be buying any of their vehicles.
• Stuck to my New Year’s resolution from last year by not eating at Taco Bell (lame, but I still stuck to it).
• Improved my cardiovascular system to match that of a Spartan, but lost it once school started. This has, therefore, become my resolution for 2010: achieve a body fat percentage of less than 10%.

As far as blogging goes, I wrote 236 posts (counting this one) in 2009. That’s an average of one post every 36 hours (most likely because I had so much free time from January to July). Now that school is in full swing, more of my posts will be about my experiences in medical school… and not much else.

2010 will be an incredibly challenging but rewarding time as I’ll be working to complete the last 12 months of pre-clinicals. Really looking forward to it!

Hope everyone has a fantastic start to the new year!

Many of my classmates finally had the opportunity to go back home and visit their family/friends, but as a commuter from home, that’s a daily occurrence for me. Probably why winter breaks seem to be more focused on “doing what I always do when I have free time” rather than warm, fuzzy moments with the family.

I just love seeing everyone so cheery this time of the year.

I unexpectedly received an accolade for “being famous… on the Internet” yesterday evening which consisted of a miniature trophy and two Warheads. *Sighs*, the pleasure of burning my taste buds into oblivion…. and they say we’re in a recession. I was really embarrassed considering that the other contenders were the class president who got to interview celebrities at the Oscar’s, a male classmate’s model portfolio, and an extremely creative colleague’s YouTube channel. Suddenly I feel ridiculously a.) unsocial, b.) unattractive, and c.) uncreative.

Now let me tell you about Houston snow. We get this fabulous form of precipitation about once a year, and most years, it’s not even legit (the snowflakes melt as soon as they hit the ground). This was the case yesterday until around 4:00 PM when the temperature finally approached freezing. Car hoods and rooftops were painted white-ish. As far as the actual snowflakes go… imagine ugly little white pellets of mush. Yeah, that’s Houston snow.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed seeing the snow for most of the later morning and early afternoon. I sat in histology staring outside the window wishing I could go run around the medical center taking in the icy cold air and stomping across frozen grass. It’s a rare event in Houston, and I hope everyone made the most of it.

Today was an exceptionally dull birthday spent mostly driving around Houston. Around 11 AM, I embarked on a journey to one of the family businesses to resolve a networking issue with one of the computers. The trip was a success, though it took 90 miles of driving and roughly three hours. Then this evening, my dad (who had just flown in this morning) was notified at the last minute that he needed to fly out to Baton Rouge. After another 100 miles (round trip) and two hours of driving, I’m sitting here writing this post.

I guess it could’ve been worse. I’m looking forward to getting back to school for block 2 – cardiology, respiratory, and renal (CRR). Could a 22 year old sound more nerdy?

One day, my class was having a contest requiring us to write a certain kind of composition which had many similarities to an Informative Classificatory, or a compare and contrast composition. When my teacher, Mrs. Schell, assigned it, everyone moaned because we had not done a composition in a very long time. It had to be about why our school is the best in the world. I went home and started right away.

One reason my school is the best in the world is because of our mascot. It is a red tailed hawk which was adopted on April 26, 1996 and it is flying in New Mexico right now. Something really mysterious is that when we go outside, we see hawks soaring over our school, but that only happens once in a while.

A second reason my school is the best in the world is because of the Student Council. We had a pickle sale to make money in order for us to adopt our hawk. We also have fund raisers so we can buy more things for our school, and we can decide what kind of fund raisers we want to have.

The third and most important reason that my school is the best in the world is because of our wonderful teachers. They prepare us for unbelievable tests, and they explain everything perfectly. They are always there if you need any help. There are tons of other things to say about Jeanette Hayes Elementary’s awesome teachers.

After I was done, I took my composition to school and gave it to my teacher. The next day my teacher, Mrs. Schell, told me I won the contest and my paper was sent to the Katy ISD Administration Building. So I went home, told my parents, and we went to see it displayed on the wall.

I don’t know about you, but I laughed for several minutes after reading this… especially the paragraph about the hawk. For all those people who have had me revise their essays in the past, this is your chance to have your revenge. You could write a whole follow-up essay containing the grammatical mistakes, content repetition, etc. found in this essay. How the years fly by!

Humans are indeed a unique species in that we have the ability to condition and recondition ourselves. Our response to any given stimulus is influenced primarily by four “endowments that make us uniquely human” (70).

• Self-awareness
  • Thinking about your very thought process
• Imagination
  • Creating in our minds
• Conscience
  • Having an inherent idea of right and wrong
• Independent will
  • Acting on our own self-awareness

Dr. Covey makes repeated references to the “social mirror”, or the perception of ourselves which is dictated by outsiders. If left unchecked, these perceptions (known as paradigms) will impede the strengthening of our proactive lifestyles and possibly force us towards reactive responses. Whereas proactive people take the initiative to choose how to respond to certain stimuli, reactive individuals are highly influenced by their environments and other outside factors.

According to Dr. Covey, one of the best ways to examine the our self-awareness is by thinking about all the things which concern us, and among them, those which we actually have an influence over. Being proactive empowers people to expand their “circle of influence” and better deal with direct control, indirect control, and no control problems.

There are some people who interpret “proactive” to be mean pushy, aggressive, or insensitive; but that isn’t the case at all. Proactive people aren’t pushy. They’re smart, they’re value driven, they read reality, and they know what’s needed.

I think naturally, I tend to be pretty proactive about all parts of my life; however, I’m also guilty of the “If only I had…” syndrome. The problem isn’t out there; therefore, I have to address it within me. Maintaining the “inside-out” way of thinking is a must.

The introduction offers a comparison between the Character Ethic and Personality Ethic. The former, which has unfortunately been pushed to the backseat in our modern society, focuses on principles inherent to all humans – honesty, integrity, intelligence, etc. The latter dwells mainly on how we adjust our personas to become exactly what society needs us to be. We change ourselves to be liked by others… to assimilate… or just to feel different.

Next, the author teaches us to live from the inside-out. As responsible individuals, it becomes a necessity to focus on how we can change ourselves rather than projecting the source of our problems on others.

Finally, Dr. Covey describes the P/PC (production/production capacity) ratio using the classic story of the goose that laid one golden egg per day. The greedy farmer wanted more golden eggs (P) faster, so he kills the goose in the hope of finding many eggs inside of it. He finds nothing. Now, not only has he eliminated his production capacity (PC), the goose, but entirely doomed his production (P). This lesson outlines the importance of nourishing your source (PC) to ensure a stable (P). One must also understand the delicate balance between the two factors.

For example, most students get an education (PC) to ultimately have a secure, well-paying job (P); however, if the student spends his/her entire life in education earning degree after degree without applying it to a career, (in other words, PC >> P), their maximum potential will never be attained. Likewise in the golden egg story where P >> PC, the demise of the goose (PC) ultimately leads to the demise of the golden egg supply (P).

Mahatma Ghandi once said:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

As individuals aspiring to achieve the highest level of success, we have to find it within ourselves to create change. Whether it’s in marriage, friendship, or business relationships, we have to focus on the Character Ethic, harnessing the principles of integrity, honesty, etc. to drive us onto the proper path.

“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”

Truth be told, the more I examine the field of medicine, the less the aforementioned quote holds true. Medicine has become tainted with the pursuit of prestige and wealth, taking away from its initial roots in genuinely caring for another’s well being.