What its Like Being Married to a Black Woman Doctor
“We refuse to be what you wanted us to be; We are what we are; That’s the way (way) it’s going to be.” –Bob Marley and the Wailers The Trials of Mia Aretha (as Witnessed by Karl) For real though. Ordinarily I don’t vent in public. In fact, I am not active on any of […]
“Throwing My Life Away” Was the Best Decision I Ever Made
As medical students, we are trained to anticipate the next step, being a resident. As a resident, we are placed on track to know that there are offices, hospitals, clinics, etc that need us. The position is waiting; you just have to fall in line and find the right one. But what if how you […]
Perfection is Not Required
I remember June 20th, 2010 like it was yesterday. In the months preceding that day, overwhelm had become my new normal. I had so many hats to wear and it did not seem like I was succeeding in any of my roles. I was a wife, mother of two children ages 2 years and 7 […]
A Card For Father’s Day
One evening this week I was strolling the stationary aisle of my local grocery store looking for Father’s Day cards. The selection of cards was dizzying; a wealth of color and sparkle and sentiment. This card poked fun at a love of fishing, that one was grateful for patience and integrity, another one was affectionately […]
Med Student Memoirs: My Expectation Hangover
It was my first day of undergrad and the feeling of pride and excitement were overwhelming. I was thrilled, I was going to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. I checked my email several times a day, and being that it was the first day of college, I figured I’d […]
Traveling Year Round with a Family of Five
If there is such a thing as a travel bug, we have been bitten. I don’t know if this desire was passed on to me or created when my mother would take us on an adventure every other week when we lived in Jamaica. We would travel to the sites on the island and once […]
#Reality Check: Choosing to Be A Mom-Doctor
I’m a doctor, I’m a woman, I’m a mother to a fiercely independent little girl and I want her to know she can do anything she wants. But I am not a feminist, at least not the way it’s been interpreted recently. ( …and cue in the angry comments) As a fourth year medical student, […]
The Double Standard for Doctors
“Some reports have come in that you are unapproachable” “Excuse me” I said stone faced while my mind began racing and searching memory banks and files for any instance where I could have been accused of being rude, unapproachable, or unprofessional. No specifics were given but it was conveyed that there was a mass feeling […]
You’re the Surgeon?
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] You’re the surgeon? I usually meet my patients for the first time in the worst condition possible. They’re critically ill from either an injury or a general surgical emergency. As trauma and critical care surgeons, it is common for us to treat the underlying problem first, with either […]
How to Get into Medical School With A Low GPA
I’m an orthopaedic surgeon…but if you told me I’d be here when I graduated from college, I’d be laughing at you! When I got started in college, I thought I was going to be a premed and apply to medical school. It was not a well-thought-out decision. I thought that this was what good Chinese-American […]
