Can you hear me now?

Cardiology is not my discipline.

Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, cardiology and new age healing are on about the same plane. A cardiologist saying to me "Listen! Just there, at the left sternal border! It's very subtle, but you can hear it. Just tune in...let it unfold to your ear...you'll hear it, it's there!" is about the same as a psychic saying "Ah, yes, I can see it clearly. Your aura is pulsing blue and gold. It's lovely. Just spend some more time getting in touch with your inner eye and you'll see it! It's there!" It's not that I necessarily doubt either practitioner. I just can't sense what they're sensing, and I'm pretty sure that I never will.

The thing is, as a med student, I'm supposed to think cardiology is the acme of cool, even if I don't plan to go into it. I'm supposed to swoon at the thought of hearing a mid-systolic click and go into raptures at the barest hint of an S3 sound. I have a hard time mustering the required enthusiasm, and I'm pretty sure my preceptors can tell. But I'd be lying if I said I could hear anything special with that expensive stethoscope toy of mine.

And either all my classmates have far more acumen than I do, or they're stretching the truth a little too....

~isolde

Labels: clinic, frustration, school