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I’ ve been studying a patient’s file that looks thicker than Grishiam’s novels. But unlike the renowned author’s thick creations, this one was poorly constructed, with no beginning and no ending. It’s up to me to figure out where to start. Such is the work of highly paid medical specialists. You put a note here and there, but nothing was ever aimed to make the work of the other doctors easier. Looks like they too have lost their path in this man’s medical maze. Either that or they simply have no idea what the case is at hand. And to cover up their confusion, they made several pages of seemingly scientific, but comical medical summary. 

I remembered how in medical school, correspondence was never a part of the academics. We were usually asked to memorize a template which we follow from beginning to end. “This is a case of a 45 yo male, blah, blah, blah…, On PE, he appeared conscious, oriented to time, place, and person…”. This serves as our rope to the surface. Remove the rope and everything goes awry. As a doctor matures in his or her practice, the more the medical correspondence shortens, until it becomes just a series of notes. Scratches to figure out when peer audit is called for, or when a patient is referred and a medical summary is needed as guide for the next doctor who’d be taking on the case. Sometimes, the corresponse is lost altogether, and in its place we find ourselves receiving instead calls from referring doctor explaining a case. I’d then ask questions like, “ what did the histopath report say?”, and I’d be receiving answers like, “ I need to request a copy of the report. I completely forgot to write that down on the chart”.  I’d then pretend the doctor is probably jam packed with patients, that writing has become so hard to fit into his schedule. That or he has completely forgotten that medical charts are legal documents that needs to be accomplished real time.  

Anyway, time either seasons you out for the better or fades you out to nothingness. Either you become crystal smooth or you become jagged with lots of corners. But then again, unlike the boulders and the stones that receive the hard whipping of the passing seasons, people will always have a choice to use experience to hone oneself and be better. To age gracefully and to leave a legacy behind.