What I love about my job...

Someone asked me this week what it is I love about my job. You’d think it would be easy to answer that question, however, it wasn’t. My first thought was “do I really love my job?” I guess my answer is yes and no. Some days yes, some days no. Some days are just awful and make me wonder what I’m still doing here; days with tough cases, having to send patients away because its too busy, hearing that a child died, questioning decisions I’ve made etc. In summary, when I feel like I don’t know what I am doing or when I have reached my limit, I get frustrated and feel bad. It’s those days that make me feel like I’m not good at what I do and make me wonder if I want to stay. However, more often I do enjoy working here and I love it.

This week has been particularly good and I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I had a number of very interesting cases this week and I was able to get good follow-up information on patients I referred to Emergency (thanks to Andy- a doctor from the UK helping out at Emergency). But what I liked most was that a number of patients showed up this week that I already know. And I realized that’s what I love- I love getting to know my patients and being able to build a relationship with my patients. I like it that the parents trust me to take care of their children. I love seeing the children when they're better with smiles on their faces.

Take 5 year old Elizabeth for example. I first treated her little brother in August. Then in September Elizabeth came to the clinic with her mom. She was very sweet. I treated her and she left again. Then in October she showed up again. She had fallen down a week earlier and hurt her arm. When I saw her she had a very swollen and painful left arm. It was pretty obvious that she had a fracture so I sent her on to Emergency Surgical Center. Two days ago she came back to the clinic to say thanks and show me her cast. She was more than happy to pose for a picture. And her little brother got quite excited about the camera as well, as did mom! It’s moments like this that make it worth it.