The one time I thought I could be in the medical field

So, Hi.
I don't like the dentist.
I haven't gone to the doctor in over a year.
I try to never watch anything with needles.

But sometimes, when you need a job...you try to be interested in all of these things...Except to an extreme.

So, I had an interview at an oral surgeons office a week and a half ago. I thought the interview went pretty well. I was interviewing for the back office oral surgery assistant position. The interviewer was describing the position and saying things like, you get to assist in the surgeries, you will be trained. You have a lot of responsibilities. ETC....and I thought to myself, Awesome. I love to learn, I love responsibility, and I love helping others....


She did not mention the fluids.
Bodies moving while under anesthesia.
The sounds of teeth cracking and being way drilled.
And so many other things.

Mind you, I have had cavities, braces, cleanings, and even had my wisdom teeth removed.
I love watching Dr. Pimple Popper, which is basically all things medical.

BUT.

LET ME REEMPHASIS....BUT!

THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING IN THE CHAIR AND HAVING THIS DONE TO YOU AND BEING THE ONE WATCHING IT...WITHOUT A SCREEN.

So, Let me just lay the day out for you.

So I get a call around 8:45 this morning. Its the interviewer.

Interviewer: "Hey Mikayla. Sorry I did not get back to you last week. We were at our office in the middle of nowhere. We didn't get back until like 9:30 pm.
Me: No problem! How can I help you?
Interviewer: "Well, one of our working interviewers dropped out today, so we were wondering if you would like to come in today and do a working interview."
Me: "Sure, I happen to have a very open schedule." (Comes with the territory of not having a job...and playing the waiting game) " I just need to shower. I just got finished with a work out." (LiAr, You are a LIAR)
Interviewer: "Thanks! That is great that you are so flexible (Oh yeah, no problem. Comes with the territory of not having a job) Also, do you by chance have scrubs?"
Me: Um...No...Fresh out. But I can get some. (I really need a job!)
Interviewer: "Great!"
Me: "Okay, I think I can be there around 10:30...does that work?"
Interviewer: " That sounds great."


So, I get off the phone and immediately call my mom...because that is what you do.

Me: "Mom, I got the second interview!"
Mom: Oh, that is exciting.
Me: Yeah it is for today in an hour and a half
Mom: Oh that is soon.
Me: Where do you buy scrubs? I think I am going to like this job...I get to wear scrubs!
Mom: I have no idea.
Me: I think I have seen them at Walmart. Maybe I will check there.


So, I rush to Wal-Mart...Buy some scrubs and then head home to shower from my very vigorous workout...of getting out of bed and thinking about working out...

Fast Forward an hour. I am jamming to my favorites from "In the Heights" and thinking to myself, "I am really going to miss teaching music. I think I really do love it...but sometimes you need to close different chapters of your life.

Walk into the office on a pretty big high! Tell the front office staff that I am there for a working interview and they bring me back to the interviewer...who promptly turns me over to the back office staff. "You'll be following A. today." "Lets put your purse in the break room. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we would like to take you out to lunch today so the rest of the team leads can get to know you." I say, "Okay" and we are on our way.

So, I follow A. around as we prep the different rooms for surgery. She is getting an IV bag ready and reassuring me that if I feel faint throughout the day just to hug the wall or take a seat on the floor. "Don't worry", she says, "We have all done it!" It is not a sign of whether or not you will be good at this job.

At this office, they do surgeries in the morning and consults in the afternoon. So, by the time I got there, there were only three more surgeries for me to see.

Surgery number 1:

There are three people in the room, not including the patient. One holding the patients head, one holding the suction, and the doctor.


Let me just state this.
I was not prepared.

All the dentist visits, braces visits, and even getting my own wisdom teeth out could not have prepared me for the next 15 mins.

I walked in, and the girl holding the patients head said, "You can come closer"...and lets be real. My body could physically not come any closer. From the needle in her arm for the IV, to the cracking sounds of a tooth literally being forced out of someones mouth...I was a sweaty mess.

I began to sweat and my breathing sped up. I was just trying to be as calm as possible...but then my legs started to go weak. So I go down...luckily under my own control and I just sit there squatting for a while. But...I keep looking and checking it out. Because, I am supposed to be interested in this...NOT ABSOLUTELY GROSSED OUT. I am doing everything in my power to keep my cookies in check. DO NOT COME BACK...I DON'T WANT TO RETASTE EVERYTHING I ATE FOR BREAKFAST....THERE IS JUST NO WAY I CAN DO THIS...OH GOOD...THERE ARE 4 CHUNKS OF TEETH ON THE TABLE. SURELY WE MUST BE FINISHED SOON.

More suction, more weird conversation about everything under the sun...this is so normal for them.

And finally, alright, we are done! A. comes back to pick me up from the last horror story. I follow them into the next room where the patient has been prepped and is ready to start this whole thing over again.

ENTER THE DOCTOR...(OH SHOOT...WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN....I HAVEN'T RECOVERED FROM THE LAST ONE.) Now when they said this was a fast paced job, I didn't realize that I wouldn't have time for my breath to be caught...I was doing everything possible to keep from passing out. But, luckily, there was a new team with the next patient...So, when the whole thing started again..SWEATY PALMS, FAST BREATHING, WEAK LEGS...concern came over a whole other group of people. I was saying some serious prayers here. "Please, if I need this job bad enough, please help me to control my gag reflexes."

This was a more difficult one...so the pulling and the pushing and the muscling and the drilling took longer and there were smaller chunks of teeth...1...2...3...4...and lots of bits...Okay, I made it through.

Me: "Hey A., that was so interesting"
A.: "Yeah, that is what we do all day..."
A.: "How ya feeling...
Me: Pretty good. I just started to get so hot....I needed to bend over.
A.: "Yeah...We do a lot of standing...sometimes it is hard.


HEY A....YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT....I AM ON THE VERGE OF PASSING OUT.

Me: "Anyway, that is such an interesting job..."
A.: "Yeah I love it. I am always on my toes with what will come in next."

The patient wakes up and is moved to the recovery room. She is conversing with the first horror story in incoherent babbles mixed with gauze. A.asks me to keep an eye on her while she runs to get a drink. "Okay", I say....I giggle along with the girls and the mother. All while thinking, "What the HELL am I doing here."

I check the charts, and all of A's surgeries are done for the day. She comes back into the room and says, "You can go into room 4 where another surgery is going on." So, I go into room 4 where another surgery is going on.

Luckily I had enough time to catch my breathing...and my sweating...so I was so much more ready for this one. Nice and simple...only 4 chunks of tooth...and I was standing the whole time.

I thought to myself, "I guess I could get used to this if I need to."

A. came and found me again. She said, "I hear we are going to lunch today. Lets grab your stuff and get going."

So, A., the interviewer and I all hop into the interviewers car and drive to BJ's for lunch... We make small talk, eat our food (or in my case, as much as I could eat), and then I hop in the car with M. and we go to another office for the afternoon.

I shadow J. who is walking me through consults for the rest of the afternoon. She seems to like her job and the afternoon basically feels like a meet and greet for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, I had emailed the recruiter for a school that had been talking to me and been researching about other teaching jobs. The interviewer picked me up at the end of the day and we made small talk driving 10 miles to my car. I just kept thinking to myself, " I made it through the day."

Please, if at all possible, do not make me work in this medical environment. I believe I will die. Nothing with needles. Nothing with fluids. Nothing with sounds. I would still like to be naive enough to have to call someone when this things are seen or heard. I beg of you, please, oh please, let me go back to teaching!