Stethoscope

I can't believe our intern year is really finished. It seems like it flew by. Sometimes I wonder if I've learned anything at all, and other times I marvel at how far I've come. I guess the answer lies somewhere in between. I know I'm a little more confident; I also have a healthier, more robust sense of fear of (and appreciation for) taking care of sick folks.

I don't know what I'm supposed to wear next Tuesday for radiology orientation. A white coat seems excessive. And what do I do with my stethoscope? I keep trying to remember if radiology residents just ditch the steth in favor of little pocket books full of anatomical secrets.

My dad gave me my stethoscope before I started medical school. When I worked with Toni Darville, she told us to bring one to ID clinic. The one I carry now is the same one dad brought home for me to use for that summer job - an extra, a hand-me-down, used. I adore it. It's not a Cardiology III, it is totally basic and boring, and it has worked exceptionally well.

After that summer job, I hoarded it. It sat on my desk in the dorm room in Cleveland Hall for a year. It's amazing how this one instrument is so invocative of a career, a life, a moment in medicine.

I think I'll be the only radiologist with an ever-present stethoscope. It'll remind me just who I'm in this for - those people taking in a deep breath for their chest Xrays.