A PA’s Life

Happy Thursday 🙂

I am REALLY hoping this Thursday is happy. I already have it in my head it will not be happy. I’m just trying to make it through my 10+ work hours. Going to be a busy day at work. I keep telling myself “I can do it. I can do it”.

Really I am blessed to have chosen such a great profession. For those of you that are a little unfamiliar with my job, A PA is a healthcare provider that does everything a doctor does. We have masters degrees in medicine, we are fully capable of treating and providing medical care, we just go to school a little less (if 6 plus years of college is less- PA school is awful).  Basically if you know what a Nurse Practitioner is, we are similar to that, but NPs normally work in one specialized area. PAs are trained in all types of medicine so I can job jump to any field when I get bored. I work under a physicians name, but not specifically for or with that doctor. I work with MANY doctors, surgeons, etc. Basically PA’s are the doc’s right hand man and we make life a heck of a lot easier for them and their patient load. It’s the #2 job in the nation right now! If you ever go to an ER, urgent care, or your regular primary care office chances are you saw the PA and not the doc, I promise 😉

I often am asked all the time “Why didn’t you become a doctor?”. Well for many reasons. And let me share them with you.

1. Hoping to have a family one day. The PA profession is very flexible. You can easily go part time, or adjust hours as needed! 
2. Money. Okay let’s face it, this is important. No I will never make as much as a doc, but I live well. I have loans, but not hundreds of thousands like docs do. And it takes them a very long time to get to that comfortable point of “big money”. PAs make a good chunk of change right out of school!
3. No residency. I work with residents all day long and residency… well excuse my language.. it sucks. Long 80 hour work weeks, and going back to #2, little pay. Hey if I put in that many hours I want to be paid for it. I’ve talked to residents from many different hospitals and they calculate how much they make for the hours put in. It’s about 4 bucks an hour. Yeah, no thanks!
4. Life outside of work. When I clock out, I’m done for the day. This isn’t the case for all PAs. Some are on call, some chart at home, and some do research at home. I am fortunate enough to work at a job that when I leave the hospital I separate myself from work until I go back.
5. Business. Medicine is a business like anything else. I like not being the main person responsible for all this stuff. I’m part of the business, but I do not run it. Yes, things can come down on me just like they could the doc, but I’m not solely responsible.
6. MOST IMPORTANT ONE! As cliche as it sounds I like helping people. Every PA I’ve ever worked with has had a great bedside manner. We don’t have egos, we like spending time with our patients, and we like managing their care and making a difference. I knew I was right for medicine, and as stressful as it can be sometimes there’s nothing like having that patient say “thank you”. It really does make you feel good about what you do!

Speaking of thank you’s. Yesterday was a busy day for me, but I did have a nice experience. A patient told me I was her guardian angel. She was so genuine, and it made me feel amazing that I could put someone at ease and make her feel safe. This is why I do it. For moments like that 🙂

I was supposed to spend my whole day in the OR yesterday, but that went from a full day of cases, to NO cases and them being stolen from me… don’t get me started! Grrrrr Minnie’s claws came out.

So I was not prepared with my meals! I only packed 2 larger ones because I thought I would be too busy the rest of the day in the OR. This is what I did have:

The trail mix bar was probably my favorite one I’ve had thus far. The almonds and cashews were FULL size. I liked that!

Lunch was grapes, crab soup (thanks G-Mama), and my protein shake!

At one point in the late morning, I stopped to take a picture because look at the sky!

SO BLUE! It made ME blue thinking about being stuck inside. But then this beautiful sky turned into a down pour at the time I was due to leave.

I hate the rain leaving work. It takes me forever to get home because people in Maryland cannot drive in the rain. So I skipped the gym and made it my rest day for the week. Plus I was SO extremely tired when I got up in the morning, my body was telling me okay sleep a little would ya?

So when I got home the plan was to go in and take an hour nap. I never fell asleep. I threw Phoebe on the bed with me and she just barked in my face and then leaped from the edge of the bed onto my stomach. She jumped so hard it knocked the wind out of me. How a 6 pound dog can do this? I’m not sure. Super pup.

I got up and made a fluff before making other chicken and veggies for dinner. This was a strawberries and cream fluff!

Then Phoebe and I played a bit. I really need to get her up and around more. She needs to exercise. Pomeranians are prone to obesity and after 5 minutes she was panting super hard. I don’t want my baby girl unhealthy!

Back in the gym tomorrow! Hopefully for a back day, yay. Come on 10 hours, fly by!

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie