ava7217
Dec 29, 2009
Undergraduate / 'the science behind my injury' - CORNELL College of Agriculture and Life Sciences [2]
How have your interests and related experiences influenced your selection of major?
To tell you the truth, I don't remember the exact count on the batter. Or even what pitch was called. All I remember was the excruciating pain I felt as I released the ball. I overlooked the pain and finished the game, but I couldn't help but notice the immediate swelling. I didn't take the time to truly worry about my arm until the thirteen hour plane ride back from Japan. By the time I was back in the states and saw a doctor it had been two days. My elbow was still inflamed even though I iced it and took Advil. After talk to my pediatrician I was informed to go get an MRI done and have injections into my elbow. I wanted to know what was going on and understand everything behind this injury just as I did to all my previous ones. However, I knew this one would be more serious than the others. This is when I met Dr. Bae, an orthopedic surgeon in Boston.
He walked in with such confidence and I knew right there my injury was diagnosed. Before he told me he asked me questions about myself and my interests. This made me feel comfortable. As we were talking, I found out we both had the same interests; he was a doctor, I want to become a doctor, he played baseball, I play baseball. We were both pitchers and connected instantly. The MRI's were shown and he thoroughly explained how and where my ligament was partially torn. I was crushed. I thought could I ever play again? He read my mind. He told me, "I'm going to take my doctor's hat off and tell you something," I had no idea at this point what he will say. "We live in the real world, as a doctor I'm going to tell you that you need to take six months off. But once again this is the real world and I know you are a competitive athlete." I sat there so intrigued in his speech. He went on explaining how I need to be smart about my injury, and I choose when I should play or not. The risk of me playing will increase the probability of it tearing completely. The risk of me not playing will be me not being seen college coaches, which means a loss of scholarship opportunity. He put the science behind my injury and applied it to my own life. This is when I knew at that very moment that I wanted this career.
The implications of that visit stretched far beyond the health of just my arm. It began to affect my daily life. I saw everything a different way. My classes at school were different because what we were learning was no longer just simple school material but rather real life examples. My anatomy class taught me not about the human skeleton but functions as well. We saw why and how things work. This is where I saw that biology was the same concept. Biology is the study of life. This idea is not confined into one solemnly idea, it was one of the largest and most important branches of science. I am intrigued on how many other subdivisions biology can be broken down into because each field assists the idea of life in their own way. The medical aspect of biology really appealed to me. My interest in medicine has made me a more well rounded person as I learned more about the health of my mind and body through my own experiences. (I improved my eating habits as I learned the differences between X Y and Z and how X was good because of this while W was bad because of that)
Not sure how to end it...
How have your interests and related experiences influenced your selection of major?
To tell you the truth, I don't remember the exact count on the batter. Or even what pitch was called. All I remember was the excruciating pain I felt as I released the ball. I overlooked the pain and finished the game, but I couldn't help but notice the immediate swelling. I didn't take the time to truly worry about my arm until the thirteen hour plane ride back from Japan. By the time I was back in the states and saw a doctor it had been two days. My elbow was still inflamed even though I iced it and took Advil. After talk to my pediatrician I was informed to go get an MRI done and have injections into my elbow. I wanted to know what was going on and understand everything behind this injury just as I did to all my previous ones. However, I knew this one would be more serious than the others. This is when I met Dr. Bae, an orthopedic surgeon in Boston.
He walked in with such confidence and I knew right there my injury was diagnosed. Before he told me he asked me questions about myself and my interests. This made me feel comfortable. As we were talking, I found out we both had the same interests; he was a doctor, I want to become a doctor, he played baseball, I play baseball. We were both pitchers and connected instantly. The MRI's were shown and he thoroughly explained how and where my ligament was partially torn. I was crushed. I thought could I ever play again? He read my mind. He told me, "I'm going to take my doctor's hat off and tell you something," I had no idea at this point what he will say. "We live in the real world, as a doctor I'm going to tell you that you need to take six months off. But once again this is the real world and I know you are a competitive athlete." I sat there so intrigued in his speech. He went on explaining how I need to be smart about my injury, and I choose when I should play or not. The risk of me playing will increase the probability of it tearing completely. The risk of me not playing will be me not being seen college coaches, which means a loss of scholarship opportunity. He put the science behind my injury and applied it to my own life. This is when I knew at that very moment that I wanted this career.
The implications of that visit stretched far beyond the health of just my arm. It began to affect my daily life. I saw everything a different way. My classes at school were different because what we were learning was no longer just simple school material but rather real life examples. My anatomy class taught me not about the human skeleton but functions as well. We saw why and how things work. This is where I saw that biology was the same concept. Biology is the study of life. This idea is not confined into one solemnly idea, it was one of the largest and most important branches of science. I am intrigued on how many other subdivisions biology can be broken down into because each field assists the idea of life in their own way. The medical aspect of biology really appealed to me. My interest in medicine has made me a more well rounded person as I learned more about the health of my mind and body through my own experiences. (I improved my eating habits as I learned the differences between X Y and Z and how X was good because of this while W was bad because of that)
Not sure how to end it...