I'm not a med student, not yet a physician...

My last core rotation is over, and my two week Christmas vacation has begun. And there are lots of interesting events that are coming my way such as...

1. Five interviews in January
2. Step 2 in February
3. Match Day in March - hopefully a glorious day for me!
4. My brother's wedding in March - very exciting! I get to sport some new duds for the event...
5. Trip to India in April
6. Graduation in May!

These are the thoughts I've been having since finishing my OB-Gyn rotation, which has thus led me to feel that I'm truly in this interesting interim period, where I'm still enrolled in medical school, but have finished all of my requirements, expect for a 2 weeker in derm in Feb, but does that really count? Even though I'm done with my requirements, it is quite clear: I'm truly not yet a physician! I felt this quite strongly on the way home from my interview @ Emory a couple of weeks ago.

As I entered the plane, searching for the middle seat that was to be the bane of my existence for the duration of the flight, I noticed the woman sitting in the window seat next to my assigned seat was facing away from the window, flickering her eyes here and there. I could tell she was nervous about something... I greeted her with a smile (I usually like to strike up random conversations with my fellow passengers, unless they're some weird looking man exuding strange vibes), and I asked her if she was ok.

"Yeah, I just hate looking out the window."

This comment surprised me, since most people like window seats, when they have one, all they do is look out the window, or they use the wall of the plane as an opportunity to rest their heads and catch some zzz's.

"I'm terrified of heights," she told me.

"Well, you can switch seats with me if you want," I said, only eager to abandon my claustrophobic seat assignment.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, and we some how juggled past each other and exchanged seats.

As we both settled, she told me that she fell a distance of two-stories from a balcony not too long ago, and even since then, she has had this particular phobia.

"I have Meniere's disease," she said, which caused her to have frequent episodes of dizziness.

And then, without warning, an image entered my vision. I saw a grey-haired, chubby, jeans clad, ruddy-complexioned Dr. Kretzer pointing to a diagram of semicircular canals, explaining how the frequency of sound is picked up by different hair cells. Kinda neat, said Dr. Kretzer.

Although Dr. Kretzer was kind enough to pay a brief visit to my thoughts, I definitely couldn't remember exactly what Meniere's disease was. Other than Steve what's-his-name-of-a-former-Rocket-player had it. I think.

"Oh," was all I said to my fellow passenger, nodding my head, acknowledging that this disease was a part of her life. Just like they taught us in PPS...

Now, I must have nodded my head rather profusely or with a knowing smile or something like that. Or she saw and heard Dr. Kretzer with me. Honestly, I have NO IDEA what caused her to ask me, "Oh, are you a physician?"

I wanted to reply "Hell, no!" But I managed, "No, I'm a medical student."

And then, for a moment, I panicked. I was on a plane going on a 2-hour-plus journey to Houston, packed with passengers, many of whom probably had serious medical conditions that had a decent chance of spiraling completely out of control right before my eyes and requiring immediate medical assistance in a plane on which the most qualified medical personnel was a 4th year medical student!! And, I had revealed my identity as a medical student to this woman sitting next to me, whom, I feared, would reveal my identity to the world without knowing that all I would be able to do if, by chance, one of our fellow passengers decided to suffer from an acute event, is to do a pretty darn good H&P (history and physical). I'd probably also be able to find a decent radial pulse. And, a good pedal pulse. If I was lucky...

"Oh, that's fantastic," the woman said, "good for you!"

"Good for me... as long as no one falls ill on this plane!!" I thought.

Well, everything ended up being ok on the flight. No one had an acute event. The woman didn't freak out during the plane ride. We had some interesting conversation. I got myself a pretty decent window seat.

But, I couldn't but help look forward to the time when I wouldn't be too panicked to reveal my identity on a plane. Hopefully that day will come...