The One Question

I have been informed that I need to write more frequently so I'm trying. I am adjusting to life as an intern. I am learning that I need to learn A LOT. Everytime my pager goes off, my heart stops and restarts going about twice as fast and as hard as before. I've decided that the baby will have to have a strong drum beat in its nightly lullabye to be able to sleep because that will be what it has been used to for its last 3 months in my belly.

Along with the pager terror as I like to call it has been the emotional turmoil of dealing with patients as they are at the end of their life and trying to be there for families. One family in particular struck a chord in my heart. The patient had been admitted when I was on call waking me in the very early hours of the morning. I was surprisingly in an okay mood when I came in to talk to both the patient and family. I gathered my information to write my note and get my orders ready. As I was leaving the room, a family member pointed at my belly and said, "What's that? Is it what I think it is?" I told them that I was expecting and was due in October and how it was a significant surprise, but I am now excited about it. They laughed and said, "Aren't they all surprises?" The family then apologized for waking me up- I told them, no need to apologize, this is my job:)

I ended up taking care of the patient for a while and it was a blessing to visit with the family. Everyday, the family member would ask me, "How are you doing with your condition?" With honest concern in their eyes and tone of voice. It was really nice to be asked the one question, "How are you doing?" I told them I was good, but I wanted to know how they were doing.
I didn't really stop to think about it until now, but with most patients the first question I ask is, "How are you doing?" So when the question was asked of me, I realized how much of a blessing it was to have someone care about my well being.

My way of adjusting to intern life means taking in the daily blessings and truly being thankful for them because the hard stuff will always be there . . .