In your previous life...

Surgeons are interesting people. I hate the word "interesting" because it is so very vague and nondescriptive but what can I say, I'm a hypocrit and like using bad words. Anyway, I say this because everything that the administrators and other doctors tell me about medicine and medical school and how to be a good doctor is nearly always the very opposite of what surgeons say. Weird, isn't it?

One phrase I've heard over and over again in my anatomy lectures (taught by ex-surgeons) is this phrase, "In your previous life..." As if to say, once you've entered the medical profession, whatever happened so far in your life isn't really your life anymore. It's like this running theme in class.

It's odd because, well, every single medical school administrator, dean, vice-dean, student, doctor, etc etc, anywhere in the United States (at least 99% of them) will tell you that you should continue doing what you love to do in medical school and that becoming a physician doesn't mean you need to give up whatever you once enjoyed. Clearly, this is not the case for surgeons...

On the other hand, I guess it's a useful phrase and an accurate comparison because a lot of the lay medically-related terminology aren't accurate or don't apply anymore. For example, today, we learned that the "arm" as normal people will call it, is actually the "upper limb." The arm in anatomy is actually only the upper part of the arm. Another example: the terms, "ruptured disc" and "torn disc," are actually technically, "herniated discs."

I like to think that going to medical school is simply a step in my career path. Certainly, it's like opening the doors to a wonderous museum in which you MUST MEMORIZE EVERYTHING IN THE MUSEUM and that revolutionizes the way you think about the human body, health, and healthcare, but still... just a step. Like getting a promotion. Or getting a masters. Or something.

I haven't entired ruled out surgery (particularly because I have yet to experience it), but it doesn't look promising for me...

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What I'm studying: coracoid process