Picture this: a five year old little girl sitting on her father’s lap eyes wide open in excitement as
she watches TV. To her left her mother is squirming in disgust as she and her father sit with their
jaws hanging down to the ground. This little girl was me; my favorite show to watch was
Trauma: Life in the ER. I was always astonished and amazed by the gory, bloody details of this
show and the medicine that was attached. Ever since then, medicine has always been something I
have been interested in.
I always had my head in medicine from childhood, and even until now, though not always in an
educational way. I have had more than my fair share of visit to the ER for reasons ranging from
sprained ankles, cut open hands and heads, to dislocated shoulders. It was only when I reached
college and learned that some of my friends had never been back to the hospital since they were
born, that I realized I might be a little accident prone. Whenever I needed blood drawn or tests
done I would always insist on watching, and though my mother never understood, I loved every
second of it.
It was not until last year, however, that I truly gained an appreciation for how important it is to
have a good medical team that you know and trust. In highschool I had gone to the emergency
room for sharp pains in my abdomen and back that were excruciating. The ER physician
diagnosed me with muscle spasms, most likely from strenuous exercise. Thereafter, every time
this pain reoccurred, which wasn’t too often, I treated it as a muscle spasm. One night in June of
2012, while I was at work, I started having another “muscle spasm” but this time it was different.
I couldn’t get comfortable; the pain was so bad that I become nauseous, and this time the pain
did not subside after an hour, but lasted for two days. At the time I did not think anything of it;
however, the pain started reoccurring every few weeks, and each time it came on it got worse.
Half way through my fall semester the pain was so bad that I was vomiting, I was unable eat or
get out of bed, and I was missing days of class, as well as dance team practices. One night at two
o’clock in the morning I woke my roommate up and asked if she could drive me to the hospital.
At the ER they drew a few tests and told me they did not know what was going on, gave me a
few pills and sent me on my way. The physician told me that it was not his job in the ER to find
out what was wrong with me; it was solely to make my pain go away.
His statement about the job he was supposed to be doing really struck a nerve. Here I was trying
to survive my hardest semester of college and all he could give me was a few pills and a
complete lack of empathy. At this point I knew that I was not having muscle spasms and that
there was a larger problem here. So I went back home to my family doctor who finally scheduled
me for a CT scan. Looking at my scan I saw that my left kidney was probably about three or four
times the side of my right, and it was starting to fail because I had a Ureteropelvic junction (UPJ)
obstruction. I was referred to a urologist who performed surgery the next month. Throughout my
long journey I met, and was treated by, a large variety of healthcare providers ranging from
physicians, physician assistant, to CNAs, this whole experience taught me a few lessons. First is
that you know your own body better than anyone else. And second is that as a patient you must
be able to trust your physician and their entire team to take care of you. I also was able to closely
observe the interactions between the physician and the physician assistant, and the roles that the
physician assistant was filling. These roles were very intriguing to me and I began researching
the physician assistant occupation more in depth.
I had always known that I wanted to go into the field of medicine but my personal experiences
have made me realize that I want to be able to get to know my patients, make a relationship with
them, and most importantly gain their trust. I want to have an active role in patient care, and
know my patients as individuals. Through my own experiences, research on the different health
fields, and my shadowing and clinical experiences I know that by becoming a Physician
Assistant I can achieve all of these goals. I have learned how important health is, and how it
affects a patient as an entire person. I can’t help but think how differently my semester and life
would have been if the ER physician would have picked up on my condition back when I was in
highschool. I know that I can become a great Physician Assistant because I have the compassion,
determination to learn, and a passion for helping people. I know how scary it can be not knowing
what is wrong with you, and I want to be able to help those people like my healthcare team
helped me.