Shadow, Corpus Christi Medical Center and C.C. Outpatient Surgery Center

May 2017 - August 2017

It all began with a handshake, a disrupted tendon, and a passion for medicine. The surgeon who preformed my most recent opperation allowed me to come shadow him in the OR. In a flurry of excitement, I was making the 45 minute drive every morning to the largest city 3 town over to watch surgery by 6 am. I kept a portfolio of all the surgeries I watched. Sketch after sketch tracks my progress in understanding the anatomy and function of the human body. It was an incredible opportunity. Here, I gained invaluable experience in Orthopedics as well as some hard life lessons. With this, I bolstered the dreams of my future self. Between 5 surgeons, 3 anastezioloists and one physicians assistant in particular, I have an unbelievable set of mentors. I am honored to have been invited to return so that I may further my field education during school holidays.

Scribe, South Texas Bone and Joint

May 2017 - August 2017

From the surgery center, one surgeon in particular took an interest in me. Dr. Bernard Seger and his PA, Jackie Coates, took me under their wings and brought me to heights I didn't know I could achieve without having any college degrees or certifications. They hired me as a scribe in their clinic. As a scribe, I did patient intakes, ordered x-rays and equipment/medications, I would keep the doctor updated on his patients, and even follow individuals from their initial consultation all the way through to post op recovery and release. 
My main job was to find ways to improve navigation of the computer system that we opperated on. It was an unforgiving platform, but there was plenty of nifty things to figure out. For example, I found a way to connect smart phones with patient files so that secure images could be taken from the phone and transferred directly to the patient's file without saving the image to the phone and risking a HIPPA violation (or having a some gnarly wounds in one's photo stream).
In the hospital, I often corrected dictations and completed charts. We would round in the hospital a few times a week before clinic in the morning and on Tuesdays I had a front row seat to total knee arthroplasties!
I will be returning when I go back down south during school holidays.

Caretaker

January 1999 - present

I was brought into this world for a specific purpose. My mother was recently divorced and pregnant. My grandmother had just been diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer: a prognosis of a 3% chance of survival. She fought. She defied the odds. She defeated the cancer. 

All my life, she told me I had given her a special reason to fight, to live. 12 years later the intense radiation from treatment caused the mass of scar tissue on her chest to become necrotic. This is when I knew my purpose in life. I had always known I was a healer, but it wasn't until I went on the journey of treatment, failure, surgery, and recovery with my grandmother that I knew I was to become a surgeon. 

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I became my grandmother's caretaker. I cleaned and dressed her wound. I kept notes of her healing, or lack thereof. When I knew what it felt like to hold the hand of someone in need, look them in the eye, and let them know I was going to do everything in my power to help them: I discovered myself. I found the fire roaring in my chest. Now, I live with an insatiable flame driving me to my destiny.

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