Rick Womer wrote: > I haven't chimed in yet, largely because my chosen > occupation has kept me really busy lately (there are > 570-odd unread PDML messages in my mailbox, too!). > > I'm a physician, specifically a pediatrician, and > still more specifically a pediatric oncologist. Yeah, > I know, what a drag--a friend and colleague said that > when she told people her specialty at cocktail parties > it was "like dropping a turd in the punchbowl."
I can understand that... > I really like what I do, though. I -never- have a > boring day, we can cure most of our patients, and even > when cure is out of reach we can make things better > for them and their families. And, the thrill of > getting Christmas cards and baby pictures from > grown-up kids I treated 5 or 10 or 20 years ago is > wonderful. Brings a smile to my face... I know the feeling! > From the time I was in high school, I wanted to be an > academic physician--patient care, teaching, and > research--and that is exactly what I'm doing. So I > consider myself very, very fortunate, in that way and > many others. > > Cheers, > > Rick When in the Navy, as a Sr. corpsman, (6 yr. in grade) I worked on the oncology wards, adults at one time, pediatrics another time. In pediatrics, we had hydrocephalics (is that bad word?) and other sad maladies... The kids killed me! Taking care of terminal CA patients was bad enough, if they were adults. Taking care of the little patients was absolutely heart rending! Thinking of some of them today brings tears to my eyes... I just couldn't do that for a living. I'm a bit too much of a softy! I ended up training to be a Surgical Nurse, and loved it. Orthopedic and thoracic teams... Since it was Korean War time, we got some of the worst of the patients from the field, but overall, we did very well. Saved all we could, and then some! keith whaley -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
