Caught You Smiling at Me
“Ah caught you smiling at me,
That’s the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.Ah all the good times we had,
I sang love songs so glad
Always smiling, never sad, so fine.”- Led Zeppelin, “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”
I’m filled with giddy excitement at the moment. I have just solidified my upcoming vacation plans. For the latter half of May, I will be first attending my good friend Sayeh’s, and her wife Lula’s wedding in Maryland. The next day, I will be flying out of the country with my partner Micah to Barcelona, Spain. We will be spending 11 wonderful nights in Barcelona, Nice, France, and possibly another city or two. I feel incredibly accomplished in my life right now that I can finally afford the vacation I’ve always wanted. Expect more silly, happy details to follow.
In other news, I had a great day at the clinic today. As I have mentioned before, the very COOLEST thing about out-patient medicine is that I actually get to follow up with my patients. I treated a patient last week who was obese and had an elevated blood pressure. I counseled her on how to reduce her sodium intake, improve her diet, get more exercise, and lose weight. I had no idea if she was actually listening. But today I found out that she most definitely was. She had lost 3 pounds since I saw her, and her blood pressure was within the normal range.
I can’t possibly explain how satisfying and gratifying it was to hear her say, “thank you for your advice doctor, I’m now taking better care of myself.”
I feel like my entire life, undergrad, pre-med, med school, and intern experiences were leading up to my patient interaction today. The breadth of knowledge that I’ve engulfed…the sacrifices I’ve made…the sweat I’ve poured…all seemed to have led up to this moment.
While I don’t expect the majority of my patients to get better…or that I may have helped them in some small way…having helped this one patient get better and hopefully experience a better life makes every blood droplet, sweat droplet, and tear droplet all worthwhile.
Sorry for all the cheese, but I’m brimming with joy right now.
Time to eat dinner and then do my reading and “homework” for tomorrow.
That’s the way it should be.
Photos: Taken on my walks to the hospital.