'As a certified surgical technologist' - Physician Assistant personal narrative

Hey everyone, love the help that is happening on here so I thought I would throw my personal narrative out there for some help on it. Thanks in advance.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" This question is asked to every child, teenager, and young adult. For some it is a never-ending quest to find the answer, but for others it was always clear. Luckily I fall into the latter category. Many of my earliest memories are of being by my mother's side at the clinic in town. As the son of a registered nurse I had the privilege to get to be back behind those wooden doors instead of sitting in the lobby. As I grew up I loved just sitting at my mom's desk and watching the doctors and physician assistants interact with the patients. I can still remember the first time that a patient walked out of the exam room, wiped away a tear and hugged Dr. Karber. It was at that exact moment I realized what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people the same way these people did. As I went through high school my passion only grew as I spent more and more time at the clinic and around the staff. So off to college I went to realize my dream. Unfortunately though, somewhere while attending college that passion began to stall.

At the conclusion of my time in college I found myself at a crossroad and really questioning whether this was what I really wanted or if I had just glorified the whole dream and healthcare field. I made the decision that if my heart was not in it completely, I could not go through with pursuing it. For the next five years I bounced from job to job convincing myself that the next one would be the one I would fall in love with. After continued talks with my mother the question changed from "what do you want to be," to "what is going to make you happy?"

As I tried to answer that question I began to remember that original passion in my life. Throughout my other jobs I always continued reading about the new advancements in healthcare and it was here that I realized I had never really lost that passion. As a result I began to research careers within the health sciences. I was not sure what exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew it had to be in healthcare. One profession that really jumped out to me was surgical technology. The combination of being very hands-on with the patient as well of the gratification of seeing the impact of your work really spoke to me.

As a certified surgical technologist I have experienced both the highs and lows of what being in healthcare can bring to you. Every day I have the privilege to wake up and go to work where I feel like I am making a real difference. The smiles and thank-you's that I receive are a daily reminder as to why I love doing what I do. I will always cherish the memory of one patient named Lois. After her cataract procedure was finished and she was sitting in the discharge area and the numbing drops finally wore off she looked up and saw her daughter clearly for the first time in 8 years. She was so overcome with emotion that she made the nurse bring her back to the operating room so she could personally give each one of us a hug and thank us. I am not sure this is something you could experience in any other profession. The only downside is that is the last time I would get to interact or see Lois. It is times like these I started to search for something more in my healthcare career.

Throughout my time as a surgical technologist I have had the opportunity to work with many different physician assistants. In talking with them and seeing the work that they do, I started to wonder what more I could do. Unfortunately for me I am still really lacking the personal touch I wanted. I really enjoy what I do, but I still yearned for that personal touch with the patient that I was missing. At the constant urging of many of the physicians and physician assistants that I work with I began to research into the profession of a physician assistant. In talking with the physician assistants there was not a single one that did not love going to work and doing what they do on a daily basis. As someone who worked just for a paycheck this spoke volumes to me.

The information that I have gathered has somehow ignited a passion again that I had thought had reached its peak. The hands on experiences and the daily interaction I could sit here and tell you that I have the background with my schooling, and that I have the experience with my profession to become an amazing physician's assistant, but so could hundreds of others. What sets me apart is that I am one of the lucky ones that gets to tell you I have that fire and passion and I know my answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?"