How I Almost Did Not Become a Urological Surgeon.

If anybody had suggested that I would become a urologist when I was a medical student or even as an intern, I would have told them that they were dreaming. My exposure to the field was fairly minimal during my time as a medical student and the thought of operating amidst urine just did not spark the slightest interest.  If anything at all, I was interested in becoming a plastic surgeon or a general surgeon. 

At the commencement of internship, we were all allocated to do at least one surgical term out of the 5 terms for the year. I was allocated urology for my surgical rotation. It was known to be horrendously busy and quite ironically, the two interns allocated to that rotation were probably lucky to ever have time to empty their bladders. I was horrified at the thought of doing the surgical specialty that was of least interest to me.  I quickly got in touch with a friend whose career interest was in psychiatry and he was completely unfazed about which surgical term he would do.  The swap was made and I got out of urology and did a plastic surgery rotation instead.  I just loved my time doing Plastics and by the end of the term, I was virtually unmovable in my desire to be in that specialty.  

For the second post graduate year (or resident medical officer year), it was again a fairly general year and to my horror, I was again allocated urology. I thought ‘hang on a sec, isn’t urology meant to be an intern rotation?’  Given that the term was so stressful for two interns, it was thought that it would be better to replace one of the interns with an RMO. Having that extra year of experience was going to make a huge difference.  I again hit the phones and on this occasion could not find anybody who was willing to do a swap. Begrudgingly, I accepted the fact that I would have to do this rotation. In spite of the adversity, I threw myself into the job and to my great surprise found the specialty extraordinarily interesting.  Urologists were both physicians and surgeons of the genitourinary tract and were not beholden to masters in any other specialty group in order to have a practice livelihood. On top of this, the urologists to whom I was to be exposed to, took great interest in my work ethic and general interest in surgery.  Their kindness and support for me had a profound impact on me although I was still steadfastly obsessed with having a career in Plastic Surgery.  

My primary career focus during my RMO year was to pass my surgical primary examination which at that time has a pass rate of around 25%. It was at that time, a clear barrier to restrict entry into the surgical profession. Fortunately I passed the examination on my first attempt which was pretty good going since my undergraduate academic record at university was fairly ordinary (after I discovered the medical revue, I never saw another credit or distinction grade for the remainder of my medical degree).  I now had to think carefully about where my next career move would be.  Something that I had noticed about the plastic surgery trainees at the time was the fact that they were all relatively old compared to other trainees.  At that time, those entering into plastic surgery training would first complete their general surgical training and then spend a year or more in non-accredited plastic surgery positions before commencing core training.  I came to realisation that the majority of those who were undertaking plastic surgery training were going to nudging 40 years of age by the time they were ready to commence independent surgical practice.  I thought that this was crazy and that I did have a life to live and made the tough decision to abandon the idea of training in plastic surgery.  My mind kept me returning to my time in urology and I soon became convinced that this was where my future lay.  

As is so often the case, it can be the mentors that you meet in the field rather than the field itself that can initially draw you towards it. 

To this day, I have no regrets.

My Brush with God

My favourite twitter account is God. I have followed it religiously. I had been one of the almost 1.8 million followers who eagerly awaited his witty one to two sentence tweets. Whilst they will undoubtedly offend any given large proportion of the population, they equally provide comic relief for an adulating audience. I love this account and it is one of the first accounts that I recommend all new twitter subscribers follow. Each day, I would look forward to God’s latest instalments and I would retweet my favourites to my own humble following.

This all changed when I saw the following tweet appear on the timeline. I often screenshot the ones that I like for possible future use in a presentation on social media where I would highlight the use of humour to gather an audience. 

I saw the following tweet:-

I screenshot it and then was trying to retweet it but discovered that it had been deleted. I then tweeted to God with the cheeky line as follows

He was clearly not impressed when he send me a private direct message as follows:-

Clearly God was not impressed.  You dare to take up a point with God, you run the risk of him unleashing his power over us.  I shamefully dared to do so.

Immediately following this I was placed into purgatory and blocked by the account.  This is the first time that I am aware of being blocked on twitter.  If others have blocked me, then I have not known about it.  

Anybody who follows God knows that the account is not for one who is sensitive.  He will unleash his fury and nobody is immune from the wrath of God.  I am now God-less but will now survive on screenshots of his best tweets sent to me by DM by friends. Yes, I could set up another twitter account but this be trying to escape from the purgatory that I have been banished to. I need to do my time and hopefully one day I will be released.  Please pray for me.  Please tell him that I am sorry.

(David Javerbaum is a well known comedy writer in the US. On social media, he is particularly known for his very popular account known as @TheTweetofGod.)


Addendum 2 February 2015

Last night I was messaged by God who essentially stated that he hoped that I had learned my lesson in purgatory and that I was being welcomed back into the promised land. I had been forgiven. I thank everybody for their prayers and on line appeals for forgiveness. Clearly he was listening.

Once again, this is my favourite Twitter account. I have seen him put followers into periods of time out in purgatory with the usual expletive laiden barrage but he is always forgives.  Whilst I knew my time out was temporary, it was for how long that I was unsure about. Do follow @TheTweetofGod but don't take it too seriously because it never is.

The 2nd Addendum 2 February 2015

I had a dream. Crazy dream. It was good whilst it lasted.
For those who know, God only ever follows one account. It used to be Ricky Gervais but he later dropped him for Justin Bieber.  This of course fits well with his book called the Book of Biebs.