2 minute read
Breaking Waves and Storms | Unpracticed
MD Class of 2025
In plain sight we see the change in both the tides and the weather. Occasionally less obvious, changes such as these can be appreciated in those around us.
Unpracticed
Gabriela Bagdon
MD Class of 2024
Nothing prepares you for the first time a patient makes you cry. You wish you could rewind 10 minutes, stand in front of the bathroom mirror, set your face, and practice what you will say. But instead, you will be caught off guard. You will know her age, her blood pressure submitted by the nurse before you go in the room, the brief “reason for visit” in the electronic chart, and maybe if you are smart or wise or well-practiced or some combination of the above, you will read a few notes written by her providers. If you did that, you would be better prepared for what she will say. If you read the notes and practiced your words and your facial expressions in the mirror, the news wouldn’t be easier, but maybe you could comfort her. But instead, you are caught off guard. You connect over her 2-year-old boy and your 2-year-old boy, and just before you gleefully begin rambling about your 2-month-old girl after asking if she has other children, her face flushes and her eyes water. And that is when she tells you the real reason for her visit – the months of irregular periods, the pain, the sadness. And then you ask what happened. And then you find out that her due date was the same as yours. And then you remember where you were the day that her baby girl died. Your heart will beat faster, and you won’t know what to say, and you will promise that the doctor is nice and he will help her. And then you will leave the room, and the nurse will tell you she is sorry you had to face that. And you will wish you had just known what you were going to face. And next time you will read the chart, you will take a deep breath, you will smile politely at the mirror, calmly state your name and ask how you can help today, and you will try to prepare yourself for the details that you cannot prepare for.
