It's an honour...

Yesterday I had a really wonderful experience in the afternoon that confirmed that this is the right profession for me. I was privileged to have a young women with an eating disorder share her story with me. It took over an hour as she told me about her periods of starving herself, binge eating for days/weeks/months, hating herself so much she attempted suicide, being hospitalized and how she snuck around the rules there, sometimes fueled by tips from her roommates – other eating disorder patients. She shed lots of tears (though amazingly I managed to control mine) and I was awestruck at her struggle to control the disorder that has overshadowed the last two years of her life. It was the first time I’ve had that much time with a patient, with them focused on telling me their story rather than their own doctor while I happen to be in the room. (Her physician she sees for her eating disorder was there but had heard her story before.) I was saddened by the anger with which she was treated by some people (e.g. one who forced her to eat the meal delivered to her room after an enormous binge in the hospital cafeteria while she cried in physical pain) and heartened by her main advice for me which echoes that of a long ago physician who said: The best way to care for a patient is to care for the patient. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing or where I’ll end up yet, but I sure want more of those moments. Moments when you’re completely absorbed in listening to someone share their deeply personal and usually painful experience in the belief that you may be able to help them in some way. What an honour. Wow. Medicine is awesome.