GROWING Pains.....Caveat Emptor

Caveat Emptor -

For those of you who have successfully lived your academic lives in peace and relative isolation, allow me to introduce the concept of "the gunner"; the aggressive, "smarter-than-thou", Type A personality who must be the first - or best at everything s/he undertakes. They can usually be found by following the trail of annoyed faces formed as they marched into a room with an air of self-importance....trust me, I know—I used to be one.

My header - "Buyer beware" (in Latin) or as I have figuratively translated - "Gunner Beware" - refers to the reality of Med School academics and the fact that they should not be underestimated—by me, by you, or by anyone else with any hope of success. In the days leading up to the start of classes, we students received numerous speeches about how we must work hard, "for work will make the stupid among you bright, the bright among you brilliant, and the brilliant among you steady.”  As any self-respecting Gunner would, I nodded earnestly, taking care to write down every word that came out of the lecturer's mouth –as I’d already convinced myself that I'd repeat this phrase to my awed classmates while delivering my valedictorian (read: victory) speech 4 years from then.

I cannot tell you how distant that dream now appears.

I graduated with a double major in Chemistry and French from some "great school" in the eastern time-zone...frankly, I could care less right now as in three weeks they (Med school profs) covered every chemical thing I took four years to learn (in greater detail) - and I have learned so much other stuff that I can't even remember my French - despite the presence of a very attractive Togolese girl who could have definitely appreciated it.

I think a visual aid might help:

Every Bone has about 10 parts...usually the attachment points for a muscle.

Every Muscle has an origin and insertion, a nerve that supplies it, and a blood vessel that feeds it.

Every Nerve has a series of spinal roots that create it, as well as a series of vulnerable points along its course and about 5 more nerves it creates.

Every Blood vessel has about 7 branches (or tributaries if you have veins) - their own vulnerable points, and a complicated series of relationships with the muscles, bones, nerves and (other junk) around them.

You have 13 muscles in the space between your knee and your ankle.

Go.

Not convinced? No problem - I understand, I was a Gunner too - and one year ago, I held my mortar-boarded head up with my four roommates - A Stanford bound-engineer who had developed a bike that could stand up on its own, a Rochester-med bound Economics major off to learn neurosurgery, and a Tehran-bound photographer with dreams of starting a non-profit......

Today well,...Today, I just prayed to pass.

Beware what you get yourself into - Med school is a beast that should not be toyed with.

Caveat Emptor!!

Student Dr. Hinson