Hi doctormom4- Congrats to you too! I think any goal is a great goal! It is really nice to talk with a mom who has already done all this. I am blown away that you have done it with 4! I think that deserves a congrats too! Hahaha! I hope that your recent work days have been only days you can build on, one's that make you a better person and doctor in the end. I am so envious you are already a doctor and living the life I can only imagine right now. Any words of advice? Happy new years!

Inspired!!

This is my first post to this forum, and I'm encouraged! I'm late 20s, married with two children and considering Med school. I've been slightly obsessed with being a PA for the past two years, but I'm beginning to think I'd get bored assisting and observing the same surgeries hundreds of times and never being able to do it myself.

My husband is a little annoyed that I'm changing my mind too fast. There's a considerable difference in the time/financial commitment in med school vs. PA school, but in the long run, I think I'd be happier.

I joined to ask question like "is it doable?" and "am I crazy for doing this?" and then I saw so many other driven and talented moms in the same boat. I love that I'm not alone. If you all can do it, I can too.

Thank you!

DocOct, I am so happy you are joinging us here! Welcome! Yes you can do it! I think people look at us and say we ARE crazy! But your heart wants what it wants! Do it! Be proud you are so driven! And when your in doubt, come here! We will all band together and give each other support! We have to- because I think dreams like these are not always easy for some people to understand.

So, I am just starting another semester. I am taking Genetics and another math. I was looking at the genetics class lecture notes posted for my class, and am a little scared. Hopefully if I get lost my tutor can find me! Ha! Not feeling as "ready" this semester. I know it is so nice to have a long winter break, but I feel like it breaks my momentum. And its really funny, I nest. I try to get everything in perfect order before the new semester begins. So funny. Anyways, I hope I will feel more comfortable soon, there is no time to waste.
And on a really happy note, my husband just landed a much better job in sales. He is selling for a really cool company that makes 3D MRI, CAT, etc images. They are really cool. Maybe I will be using them one day!
Till next time!

Wow, its been a long time since I have written. Lots has happened. I ended up taking off this last semester, a huge mess in scheduling and financial aid. BUT, It ended up the best thing because I was back and forth to California to see my dad before he died. It was a sudden thing and I thank god I was not in school at the time because it hit me hard. The first couple times I went into the ICU at work it was a little bit much. Seeing families in the position I had just found my own self in was heart wrenching. Things happen for a reason, and it was his time to go. I hold faith in that.

On another note, my daughter will be starting preschool this fall! I will also be done watching my little niece..... tear. I will have ALL of Tuesdays to study!!!!! Really all you mommies know that rocks! I will spend my lovely Tuesdays in the library and the lab. I love it! The next best thing would be spending all my time in the OR. Speaking of that, I am shadowing two physicians from work next week. One in the OR, and one hospitalist on the night shift. I am so excited! I love shadowing. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me focused. I have so far to go, its the only thing fun to do for now.

Hello all! So I shadowed one of the hospitalists from the hospital where I work and it was a great experience! Getting the chance to see what it is really like to go into a patients room, talk with the patient and watch what the doctor does with that information. I couldn't help but ask him the annoying questions.....where did you go to school?...how many schools did you apply to?......what was medical school like? The whole shift, about 6:30 pm to 2:30 am, was a good introduction into what one could expect in a night shift. There were a couple of interesting cases. But all in all it was fun. The night went by fast.....but of course I wasn't working. It actually made me rethink my dreams of the OR. Maybe I would be more content in a hospitalist's role. The variety was nice. The pace was definitely nice. As the night went on, I found myself asking the same questions in my head that I have had on repeat forever "Why do you want to be a doctor?" and "what would make you a good doctor?"
It seems to me that these would be easy questions to answer. In no way am I questioning if I want it, but I feel like I really need to be able to answer those.
So, as I walked around that hospital in the dead of night I examined what it was that I liked. I like that you get to be the one who walks into the room, asks all the questions, examines the patient and goes on to figure out a solution, if there is one. I want to be the person in the room who studied books and information for hundreds of hours and knows the answer to the problem. I want to have the ability to fix a person. I know that that wont happen all the time. But, I know I would have the knowledge to make people better. I want the knowledge to make people heal, to give them relief.
Unfortunately this all doesn't seem to be enough or the right answer to me. Maybe the truth is that there is no right answer. Everyone has there own reasons. I guess all I need to know is that I know how much I want it. I have been researching what to expect in medical school, what I should be doing to prepare to try to get in. I have read numerous places that you really need to know more about medicine and what you want to do in it, before you even get there. Medicine seems mysterious. I wonder at what point it becomes mundane. I hope that I will always feel energized when walking into a patients room to do what I so badly will have worked to do. I just wish wanting was enough to make it happen!

So my favorite time in the hospital is 2 am. The night nurses are great, you can get things done. It sounds like you love that.

I love practicing medicine, I love what I do. I don't think think I could be happy doing anyting else. But I get fed up with the politics and the finances and legality of medicine. My patients drive me crazy sometimes (or a lot of the time). My job personally is pretty messed up as the academic center I am at, not to mention my division, is a mess. I have been a hospitalist in the past, and it is ok, but you do get burnt out as the ER does on people that don't take care of themselves. You don't get any "well patient" visits or clinic.

But don't let people that are burnt out talk you out of this. If medicine is for you, then it is for you, and nothing else will make you happy. On the other hand, and this doens't sound like you, people that want to be a "doctor" but dont understand the obligations, are not happy. It is not just a job, it will effect every aspect of your life. You are never free of these human beings that you are trying to help, despite call schedules, ball practice etc. My husband, who is also a doc, likes to say "If you don't want to work, get the hell out of medicine." And I think this is true. But for those of us who are also the moms of these precious individuals, it is double the work. Because as a doctor and a mom, you can't ever do a half-ass job for either your patients or your kids. So go for it, but don't ignore the sacrifice that it is.

And if not, I know a lot of very happy PA's that make huge impacts on many people on a daily basis, and do make their own decisions.

My best wishes and have fun!!

I am intrigued by what goes on in the human body. When I see a code or an intubated patient in the ICU, a million questions a running through my mind. I wonder ..."what is causing that? what are they giving them? what is that medication doing for them?" A million bags are hanging, each doing there own little part in keeping them alive. I think I have a special place in my heart for the sickest of patients. Not only for what is happening, but for what I wish I could do for them. I am waiting patiently through this process to be able to be a part of it all.

In the mean time........I sit here. Watching all the physicians doing what they love. Wishing I was already in their shoes. I know the sacrifices to come, I know the exhaustion to come, I know the what I have to do.