Inspiration

I just got off of the phone with my mom, who is in China taking care of my grandpa.  He had two-thirds of his stomach resected a week ago to remove a gastric adenocarcinoma, but he's been doing very well since the operation.  My mom kept talking about what a great man his surgeon is, and she also told me this story about my other grandpa, who was a famous orthopedic surgeon in Beijing.

One day, when my grandpa was still a young doctor, a man came into his hospital with a severe leg trauma.  All of the doctors agreed that they would need to amputate, and unfortunately, the patient didn't get much say in what kind of treatment he would be receiving.  My grandpa protested, saying that there was no way a farmer from the outskirts of Beijing would be able to provide for his family if he wasn't able to harvest the crops.  He decided to operate on the man and try to save his leg, against the recommendations and wishes of all of his colleagues.  Several months later, the patient was able to walk again and returned to his family.

Back then, everyone was poor, and the farmer had no way to repay my grandfather for his kindness.  So once every year, he would walk from his home to visit my grandpa, carrying on his back a bushel of corn in order to show his appreciation.

I've been kind of lost in my studying over the past few weeks, and I would be lying if I said I haven't let it get to me.  It's nice to be able to sit back and remember why exactly I'm here where I am now, and it's because I want to be half the doctor that my grandpa was.