There are some days when I’m honestly blown away by my class, and feel proud & extremely honoured to be part of it.
In our school, each medical school class has its own charity/charities that they choose to support for the year or for all four years. During the beginning of this year, our class voted that our class charities would be the ‘Make a Wish Foundation’ and ‘Sleeping Children Around the World’ for the next four years. Throughout the year we’ve been holding various fundraisers like bake sales, dances, night outs, etc, etc to raise money for them. And about a month or two ago we learned that for the ‘Make a wish foundation’ we would be ‘adopting’ a little girl who had cancer. Her wish was to go to Disney World, and it was our job to help her get there.
I guess both as a way for us to meet her, and for her to have a nice, special day for her & her family, a princess party for was planned for today. The whole class was told to dress up in costumes as princesses/princes or whatever Disney character we wanted to be. So yesterday one of our friends (I’ll call her Doodles) and I went shopping to get/make ourselves some costumes. In the end, after some major dollar-store shopping and some craftiness & engineering (that I’m ridiculously proud of) on my part we came up with some sweet costumes. I was Minnie Mouse. Truffles was a fobtastic princess. Cramberry was a bunny (stemming from the fact she LOVES them). And Doodles was Lilo from Lilo & Stitch. It was cute. And very fun. So today I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I didn’t know how this party would turn out. But as I walked into the class, I was amazed. Our whole classroom was decked out with balloons, streamers, an amazing magical castle complete with magical “burning” fire, and even a cool ‘river’ running across the floor. And the costumes! Wow. Many people had some incredible costumes on. From wizards, princesses, princes, and fairies to a ladybug, a bumble bee and even a unicorn with shades, they were all there. Of course, Mickey and Minnie were there too. It was awesome.
We had our 2 lectures for the day, and luckily the prof let us end early (actually I think the 1st prof thought he was in the wrong place). The people who were running the party told us that “Rosie” and here family were here, and that they were excited but nervous. They brought her in, and what followed was pretty amazing. Basically our class created a whole princess adventure for Rosie and her sister to go on, where they had various tasks to complete so that they could save the princesses from the ladybug and bumble bee. It was a fairytale come to life, and of course it ended with a happily ever after. The two little girls had so much fun.
After that Rosie’s mother spoke to us about their family, and what Rosie’s been through. She spoke about her treatments and how strong she is, despite the fact she’s still undergoing chemo. She then thanked us and reminded us to always think of our patients and who they were as people.
Today was an incredible day. I was so proud of our class to have been able to put this all together. To be able to sit in that classroom today so out of the “medical” realm, but all the while knowing that this too was so important, so relevant. As doctors, we often forget what it’s like to be a patient. We see the disease, the symptoms and signs. But we often forget that our patients are people too. They have emotions, and feelings and families that go beyond their condition. And as corny as it sounds, and I know we all laugh at how much we hate FIFEing, it’s actually important. That’s something I hope we never forget. But looking around today, with everyone in their crowns/ears/tiaras/hats, and knowing that these will be the future doctors of tomorrow, I think our class won’t have a problem.
In our school, each medical school class has its own charity/charities that they choose to support for the year or for all four years. During the beginning of this year, our class voted that our class charities would be the ‘Make a Wish Foundation’ and ‘Sleeping Children Around the World’ for the next four years. Throughout the year we’ve been holding various fundraisers like bake sales, dances, night outs, etc, etc to raise money for them. And about a month or two ago we learned that for the ‘Make a wish foundation’ we would be ‘adopting’ a little girl who had cancer. Her wish was to go to Disney World, and it was our job to help her get there.
I guess both as a way for us to meet her, and for her to have a nice, special day for her & her family, a princess party for was planned for today. The whole class was told to dress up in costumes as princesses/princes or whatever Disney character we wanted to be. So yesterday one of our friends (I’ll call her Doodles) and I went shopping to get/make ourselves some costumes. In the end, after some major dollar-store shopping and some craftiness & engineering (that I’m ridiculously proud of) on my part we came up with some sweet costumes. I was Minnie Mouse. Truffles was a fobtastic princess. Cramberry was a bunny (stemming from the fact she LOVES them). And Doodles was Lilo from Lilo & Stitch. It was cute. And very fun. So today I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I didn’t know how this party would turn out. But as I walked into the class, I was amazed. Our whole classroom was decked out with balloons, streamers, an amazing magical castle complete with magical “burning” fire, and even a cool ‘river’ running across the floor. And the costumes! Wow. Many people had some incredible costumes on. From wizards, princesses, princes, and fairies to a ladybug, a bumble bee and even a unicorn with shades, they were all there. Of course, Mickey and Minnie were there too. It was awesome.
We had our 2 lectures for the day, and luckily the prof let us end early (actually I think the 1st prof thought he was in the wrong place). The people who were running the party told us that “Rosie” and here family were here, and that they were excited but nervous. They brought her in, and what followed was pretty amazing. Basically our class created a whole princess adventure for Rosie and her sister to go on, where they had various tasks to complete so that they could save the princesses from the ladybug and bumble bee. It was a fairytale come to life, and of course it ended with a happily ever after. The two little girls had so much fun.
After that Rosie’s mother spoke to us about their family, and what Rosie’s been through. She spoke about her treatments and how strong she is, despite the fact she’s still undergoing chemo. She then thanked us and reminded us to always think of our patients and who they were as people.
Today was an incredible day. I was so proud of our class to have been able to put this all together. To be able to sit in that classroom today so out of the “medical” realm, but all the while knowing that this too was so important, so relevant. As doctors, we often forget what it’s like to be a patient. We see the disease, the symptoms and signs. But we often forget that our patients are people too. They have emotions, and feelings and families that go beyond their condition. And as corny as it sounds, and I know we all laugh at how much we hate FIFEing, it’s actually important. That’s something I hope we never forget. But looking around today, with everyone in their crowns/ears/tiaras/hats, and knowing that these will be the future doctors of tomorrow, I think our class won’t have a problem.
1 comment:
today was pretty great =) i agree with you on all counts.
doodles? LOL!
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