Personal Narrative: A Career In Medicine

Medicine was not a field I originally considered. When I was young I hated doctors. The cold stethoscope, needles, and sterile atmosphere were enough to make a child cry. I, however, was deathly terrified, not of the doctor himself, but of passing out. Every time I even talked about medical experiences, I became faint. This began when I was young and no one could explain why. That was until I was 13 years old, lying on the paper covered bed and feeling faint, waiting for my doctor. When he walked in, he asked what was the matter. As I explained, his look of confusion turned to understanding. “Vasovagal syncope” he called it, rather large words for a preteen like myself. He explained how the vagus nerve triggers the blood pressure and heart rate to malfunction. My “trigger” happened to be anything medical related, which seemed to rule out any associated careers. …show more content…
I decided to job shadow my aunt, a physician's assistant. I quickly fell in love with the experience. The hospital wasn’t just a place where doctors fixed people. Instead, they talked to them and made them feel loved. One patient told us all about his adventures as a young man. Another, about how he wished he could stop abusing drugs. The last was an elderly lady nearing the end of life. She advised to live life to it’s fullest. I then had a chance to meet a colleague of my aunt dealing with the same condition as me. It was very empowering to see someone in the medical field coping with vasovagal syncope. Nearly every person that I met that day was concerned with bettering someone else’s life, my own