ANYONE OUT THERE PAST 55???

In re: the question of physical endurance: a night of call is usually more engaging and interesting than a night of transcontinental flight; but it is exhausting. And it sounds like you feel as if you are particularly not strong (10th percentile?). In which case if you feel like there are real physical factors getting in your way you might want to talk to your doctor about this–about your limits and whether they could be changed.
The question is not whether you will be pushed to the limits of your endurance, but whether that sounds better than being bored at work. I’m often tired as hell, miserable, sad; but also inspired, joyous and ready for the next challenge; I am never bored. That’s the trade-off I expected and boy did I ever get it.
joe

Hey xzystnc,
I will be 50 In Jan. However, I’m in better shape now than when I was in business, all through my 30’s and 40’s. I try very hard to stay in shape and eat right, after all, why go to medical school at this age if you do not plan on putting some serious time into the career after you graduate? I plan on working till I’m 70 or 75. Keeping fit also helps in the endurance part of medical school.
Saying that, I have to admit that after finishing my first year of medical school – I’m burnt! I can seriously say that if school was just one more week I could not have continued. I go into my second year with only 5 weeks off, and I do have doubts on how I can continue at this pace. This is more of a motivation problem than a physical endurance problem – thank goodness for the workouts. Any suggestions on how to overcome this?

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But, while I am healthy, I certainly do not have the energy that most 25 y/o’s have. The genetic cards I have been dealt also mean that I will always be down around the bottom 10th percentile of physical strength. I have no illusions about going into surgery (I just don’t see that happening), but will I still be able to handle the MS3/MS4 years and, following that, the 3+ yr residency? Right now I take red-eye flights from West Coast to East Coast fairly often, and am usually bushed for the following day.
Sorry for the expression of self-doubt. But, there is a significant time cost just to taking the pre-reqs, and I just want to make sure I am getting into something that I can handle.


Unfortunately this is something that’s pretty hard to project out and predict from one person to another. Certainly if you have some chronic illness or condition that results in you having little strength or stamina, then medicine or some other physically demanding career is going to be challenging for you. But before shrugging and moving on to something else, I’d encourage you to assess your lifestyle and determine if you’re fated to be lacking in strength, or is it something that you just hven’t built up due to lifestyle, work demands, that wonderful take-it-for-granted attitude that many of us can adopt in our 20s and 30s? Are you REALLY not able to become stronger or more durable?
I would say that those red-eye flights are not a bad approximation of a call night with the exception that call is FAR more interesting. However, it does take a lot out of you.
Bottom line is you do need to really want to do this. I hear people say things like “I could never get up at 4:30am,” or “I could never stay awake for thirty straight hours.” Well, guess what, you will have to do that in medical school and residency. I honestly do think it’s much more about whether you want to do it than whether you can physically do it. If it’s something that excites you and really floats your boat, you’ll get up early, you’ll be excited about it, you’ll stay up all night and do other crazy things - but it won’t be awful because you’ll be so enthused about what you’re doing.
At least that’s how it’s working for me. There are no word to express how glad I am to be done with a hellacious intern year that had me on call every four nights for all but two months of the whole. damn. year. And wow, did I have a good time too. Would I repeat it? Hell no. Would I make the same choice? Absolutely.
Mary

HI Mary, Joewright,
Thank you for your informative replies. I may have exaggerated a bit when I said I was in the bottom 10th percentile. And I do agree that there is much I can do to help myself get stronger.
You’re right in that this is something I really have to want to do. I do believe in the theory if you do what you love, rather than what you can tolerate, you will find the journey worthwhile. In my case, I realize that this will be a long, sometimes tortuous journey, and one not without pitfalls. Can I do it? I know I can. Do I want it badly enough? I believe so, but I am still doing some soul-searching here.