Small Town Doc

Nothing like traveling to a small town in Tennessee complete with, blue flame-painted Jettas, guys celebrating their girl's birthday at Wendys, and signs advertising a "Hog Trade" every third week. As you can tell, it was Rural Track day. Today we were each assigned a different doctor to shadow for the morning. Though I've only been in med school for two months, I'm amazed at the amount of knowledge I've already accumulated. Two months ago, I wouldn't have noticed much about my preceptor's practice of medicine, but today I found myself critiquing his interaction with the patients, his manner of using the diagnostic equipment, and his thoroughness of exam. Medicine is an art, each doctor finding his own way to prepare the impromptu script thrown at him with every entrance into the exam room. It was a good way to reemphasize my reason for being here. Our first patient had Bell's Palsy (a defect of one of the cranial nerves). It made me realize that all my studying of Anatomy isn't in vain, and that it will be of use to me. Though not an incredibly small town, Rogersville is small enough where the doc knows Jane's dad who's the head of the Lions club and also treats her son who's going to the local community college. You could say the family doc is almost like the local gossip or Dear Abby, knowing almost everything about everyone in the town.
Still lacking in hours for the service learning component of my Psychology class, I stopped by the Church Hill clinic again to volunteer my services as a translator. Though we didn't have as many patients, it was still a rewarding experience as I conversed with some of the local Mexicans and met some people devoted to the cause of healing not only the physical but the spiritual as well.
Well, I should probably get some sleep. Like today, tomorrow promises to be another long day as I head to Knoxville for the weekend. It will be good to see everyone again and live "normally" for a weekend..well...maybe with a little studying.