As to the question how I became a doctor? The usual way. At least for white guys 40 years ago. I studied my ass off. 6 or 7 hours a day out side of classes I never missed where I heard lectures for which I had prepared by taking notes on the covered chapters in advance. I discovered that if I put an hour of preparation, sometimes two, into each lecture beforehand and as much again afterwards I could prepare for exams with just 6 or 7 hours of review and in doing so make an “A” on every exam. So that is how I got my undergraduate degree.
How I got into med school was by doing research on the dopaminergic transmission system while working part time as an orderly in a hospital as well as placing in the top ten in my class of 1600 taking two semesters Organic Chenistry. I also did very well in Physics and Biology. Two semesters each.
Upon reaching Med School I was dismayed to discover my secret was not unknown to my classmates who had all gotten there by the same process. Unfortunately there were not enough hours in the day to excel amongst my peers by this process and so I finished the first two years of Med Scool only near the top and not at the top of my class. Even so, the previous six years of sleeping as little as possible to maximize my study time was good preparation for the final two years of Med School during which I got to stay awake every third night doing everything the interns asked of me. Learning how to stay awake for forty hours every other day took two years but it was an absolute preparation for the internship and years of residency that followed. Along the way, I took the first part of the Boards. Which was the second all day exam with 800 questions, the first being the MCAT or med school admissions exam, which I smoked, by the way.
So, in answer to your question, that is how I became a doctor. Of course, one cannot be licensed until you have completed an internship and passing a second Board Exam which again is an all day, 800 question exam. But wait, there’s more! One cannot be paid by insurance without having a Board Specialty and so I spent another five years during which I discovered that learning how to function well while staying awake and working constantly as efficiently as possible for forty hours every other day was much needed preparation for Residency Trining because I not infrequently got to stay awake and on my feet for forty hours every day.
I wish I could say that in spite of the long hours we were treated well by the faculty that evaluated our every action and word. Unfortunately, that was not the case. But again, God was looking out for me because between my second and third year of med school I had the opportunity to attend the US Army’s jump school at Ft Benning. The constant harassment of the Black Hats we endured there was good preparation for the treatment I received from the faculty during the subsequent decade in Residency Training.
It was a good thing I was so busy during these years in Residency Training because it left me little time to be concerned about the fact my wife and children were living in the “wrong part of town” and my wife and kids were living on chicken neck soup. My wife was a miracle. She could feed herself and the kids on 29 cents per meal.
So, in answer to your question, that, is how I became a doctor. It only took a couple of decades and I got to do the whole thing indoors and wore white clothing that was even laundered for me and wash my hands slightly less than a total neurotic. I have had my arms covered in blood from a patient with AIDS on more than one occaision so you might imagine hand washing would be a frequent benefit to such a cushy job. Generally speaking I have been able to deal with patients and families who are experiencing one of the worst days of their lives with empathy and have been treated well but I have seen colleagues threatened and attacked for just doing their job. I even had a lawyer tell me someone like me needed folks like him to “look over our shoulder” to make sure we did the job properly, and he must be right because there are so many of them making a living at it.
So it has been a wonderful experience and I have such a wealth of memories and have learned so much that I would not change a thing. Not a minute. I have delivered 75 babies in my three years of primary care residency and in my 6 years of neurosurgery residency I have clipped aneurysms, done carotid endarterectomy, many brain tumors, learned how to hit a 1 mm target through a one cm. hole in the head, and many more great things to do.
I am sure that this reply is now so long you nor anyone else will read it but this is the short answer to your question, how did I become a doctor. I wasted decades learning very ingesting things and the rest of the time I rode my Harley.
My cousin’s sister in law recently died of the human version of mad cow disease.
The doctors were paid a bundle to tell her she’ll die within four months and they can’t do a DAM thing about it.
They’re so out of touch most doctors think homelessness cayuses brain injury and not vice versa.
Tens of thousands of soldiers are not getting SSDI because 1 tesla machine can’t pick up tears in vast swaths of cells, so the docs say they’re faking.
They then have no money, the soldiers, and no hope. Which leads to horrific suicide rates among them.
Yeah, you guys are doing a bang up job.
Well, dammit! I just completed a lengthy message to you, Dr. wastoute and dammit, dammit, somehow it vanished. Not certain which damn key I mistakenly hit. Sheeeesh.
I want you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your very interesting and very entertaining account of your journey into the medical profession. I must take issue with you when you state that you don’t think you’re a good doctor because you’re not rich. I have some experience in that aspect, given that I’m a very bereaved widow of a very prominent doctor who was not “doctor rich.” LOL. It would be a fallacy and an injustice to measure his goodness or his acumen, knowledge, high-profile patients or his successes by his material wealth or bank accounts. Those things mattered little to him. Yes, he loved his Porsche-Carrera (did I spell that correctly?) but that was about “it.” LOL.
Mine NEVER played gold either and he always started his day by going to Mass before going to his office. Of course hospital rounds were earlier.
Blessings!
P.S. Good thing *you* calmed down Staten Island!
You might think about attending a nice Mass today, yourself.
God bless you for doing it!!!
Mrs. AV