The Good (the bad and the ugly) in Healthcare Today
Can you really off the cuff answer what is good in healthcare today? I can now: Doctor’s Kids. As I sit here on yet another flight, this time coming back to USA from visiting my kiddos in Philippines, I ponder what to write about next. Blogging has been a good release and therapeutic tool I must say. Having the opportunity and a forum on Authentic Medicineto share thoughts, ideas, feelings, concepts etc. is incredible for me. I may be a newbie MD, but am not new to healthcare after having been an RN for 15 years then a Psych NP for 8 years. I am well aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly in healthcare today. We are inundated with the bad and ugly daily, and quit honestly it is nauseating and sometimes brings us down. I’ve even seen it even get ugly between physicians. I guess sometimes it brings out the worst in us as people. But as I reflect on my recent visit overseas, I am reminded of how wonderful it is to live in the USA and how great (despite the negatives) the country and healthcare system is. In my quest to become an MD, it became all encompassing, but in the last 3 weeks, I am reminded of what is really important in life. Though being an MD is a huge part of my identity and became my sole focus during med school, it doesn’t define me as a whole person (anymore outside med school). I am reminded of that now. First and foremost, I am a father, a daddy, a papa etc., a role I am ever more emboldened in now that MD school is done. This is “the good.” As opposed to the bad and ugly in healthcare today: Our kids, Doctor’s kids. For me, they were with me on the whole journey through the Army, ‘retirement’ from the Army, starting and going through medical school. Their sacrifice is unparalleled. For me, in the last year I turned 50, celebrated 19 years sobriety, graduated medical school, passed USMLE Steps (first attempt), and my kids turned 8, 11, and 17 respectively. Yes, I’m blessed. But my promise to my kiddos was that these blessings were not just mine, that if they supported me through medical school and made the sacrifice too, that these blessings will transcend me onto them and beyond them. They came through. Having been told they were proud of me for accomplishing something very few people do and are capable of (let alone starting med school in my 40s) meant the world. They are now officially Doctor’s kids. I’m so proud of them. This is the good stuff. Let the journey continue…………..
