Hi folks,
I’m a premed in Australia, so some aspects of medical school and much of the application process is different for me than for the majority of people here (i.e. MCAT and portfolios). Nevertheless, I had my colon removed early last year as an emergency due to rapidly developing ulcerative colitis and in November I had a J-pouch formed. For those of you that don’t know, a J-pouch is sort of like a makeshift colon/rectum using ~30cm of small intestine. Because of this I require more bathroom trips throughout the day, and at the moment my digestive system can still be unpredictable, though this is expected to settle down a bit over time. I am prone to dehydration, as well as some vitamin deficiencies, and so simple illnesses such as a cold have amplified effects on me.
I am hoping that you wonderful folks could be realistic with me, as I’ve not come across anything online about physicians/medical students that have gone through similar circumstances as me. Whilst my digestive system can be somewhat controlled with medication, I feel very concerned at times that I will be at a disadvantage once I reach medical school, or be viewed by universities/other students as a liability due to my unfortunate circumstances. I have never told any of the people I know at university about my surgeries due to lack of confidence in how they’d treat me afterwards. I tell myself that no one would care, but I still worry that I might be treated differently. While I’m almost unrestricted by having a J-pouch, I get caught up in thinking that it will make an already difficult process even harder. Realistically, do you think that I will be at a disadvantage because of my circumstances? I tell myself that surgery would be stupid for me to pursue, as I may be stuck in an operating theatre for many hours and my digestive system may not be agreeing with me that day. As I mentioned earlier, a simple cold can make me feel wiped out for a few days due to dehydration as I don’t have a colon to reabsorb any of that lovely water.
The process of having emergency surgery and seeing the impact of a supportive and extremely informative doctor made me want to study medicine even more than I already did, and my gastroenterologist was a massive inspiration to me at the time. I don’t feel like I could not bring any of this up at an interview when asked why I want to be a physician. While I am concerned that having possibly recurring health issues to consider may not look great on an application, I don’t feel like I’d have much else meaningful to say instead and I’d just sell myself short.
If you’re still reading at this point, my question is: am I, realistically, going to be at a disadvantage throughout the medical school process due to my circumstances and possibly ongoing health issues, and would I be seen as a liability by either a medical school or my peers? Most days I have to use the bathroom roughly every four to five hours, which may not seem too bad but things get easily blown out of proportion in my head, so would this restrict me from pursuing certain specialties down the line?
Thank you very much for reading and for any advice you have,
Hamish