It was only yesterday when I got text message saying “Congratulations.” It was from the OB-GYN residents-in training of San Juan Medical Center. I replied, “Why?” I could not fathom why. They said that I made it. I passed the part I of Diplomate (written) examination of the Philippine Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I never had a hint because I never expect of ever be successful in it. The stages I have gone through were tough. The standard of the Philippine Obstetrics and Gynecology Society is high. I was not sure at the outset if they would accept the required documents. I heard that they have rejected papers from a lot of doctors already. I had to make changes up to last minute before I have submitted the paper. Anyway, I was dumbfounded when I got a message from a friend that I was among the few who were allowed to take the exam. However, I am much more edgy now that I passed the written exam. Hooray! I wanted to pinch my cheek. Am I dreaming? It was one of the hardest exam I ever had. I tried not to look at the results and I resolved to myself that I would just wait for some calls or text messages from any people I know who might get interested on looking at the website. I just could not face failure and it would hit me hard. But yeah! I made it..I have been on dream state. I almost reach the unreachable star.
After high school, I followed my father’s advice to take BS Biology. He said that it was a good preparatory course prior to going to medicine. I followed my mom’s dream of me going to medicine because Dad said that he thought that electrical engineering would be very hard for me. I had only two schools in mind – the University of the Philippines or New Era College. For me, they were the best in the country. New Era College was where I finished high school and it was the only school which prepared me in my U.P College Admission Test. During my time, there were no review centers like today which could help anyone to get to prestigious schools. The good people of New Era held extra classes for those who would like to take the UPCAT. U.P is known for being the school of great men and women of the country. There was a rumor that people who get there are bright. I wanted to belong to the cream of the cream of the crop so I chose the U.P. for my premedical school. Before I finished the four- year course, I took the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT). It was a required examination before we proceed to Medicine.
Eventually, I went to De La Salle University College of Medicine. I did not go to U.P. because I was a summer graduate. I tried to apply, but I was not qualified. My dad loved La Salle Med School the first time he saw it. He said to himself, “This is the right one for my girl.” It seemed like going back to New Era because people’s lives were centered on God. Every activities were started with prayers. First year was like repeating my biology courses because I have taken the subjects up in premed. I was bored a little bit. Then, the years that followed were tough. The fourth year was called the clerkship period when we were taught the discipline and when` our clinical eye were polished. We started having 24-hour duties. Our lives were divided into from duty, duty and pre-duty statuses. The latter was when we go to the outpatient department. We started to behave like doctors and tried to do what the residents could do. We looked at the patients first. We took their histories and did physical examinations. Sometimes, the patients were irritated because the intern would also do the same to them and the residents would repeat the process when we refer them before they refer them to their consultants. Most of the time, we spent our from duty statuses sleeping in our dormitories. The 24-hour duties were very tiring. There were lots of times when I wished I could use a wheel chair to move me around while I monitored the vital signs of the patients.
We had the so-called revalida. It was an exam that would determine if we could graduate. It was very tough and some of my friends failed. We also underwent Internship Matching. It was when we were asked to fill up a form and pick the hospitals in the Philippines where we wanted to have our internship. Some hospitals would accept only the top of the class. I chose the government hospital near my dad’s office because they said that I would be very good if I finish my training there because of a lot of cases that I could see. Internship only lasted a year. As a part of a team, I felt some kind of achievement when the patients improved and whenever they started looking for me whenever they followed up. Some of them were my father’s friends and they went home to our hometown in Bulacan proud of my dad’s little girl who took care of them. Then, after taking the medical board examination three months after graduating from internship, I became the first doctor in my family. A big achievement, it was. My dad posted my name in front of our houses: Dr. Esmeralda C. Calayag- Lady Physician. Dad introduced me to his business friends. He was very proud.
Since then, with the M.D title on my blazer, I was given so much respect even by the famous politicians I encounter. I had mistaken one of them as one of my father’s friends because he was eyeing me in the elevator. It was only when I saw him on television did I realized who he was. Imagine how the famous actress bowed at me when she saw me as I enter the hospital lobby in my white gown. I felt awkward when the character actor I saw harassing my favorite action star on television was too shy to face me when my dad asked me to help him in a medical mission. People give me a chair to sit wherever I go. Being a doctor is something Big.
The glory was short-lived, though. My parents died and along with them went the comforts. It was hard as we sweat now for everything that we wanted to buy or to see. Thus, I went to obstetrics and gynecology because I saw that this is a financially rewarding career. Obstetrician-gynecologists always have patients and they have a lot of money. After medical school, I wanted to be an internist. However, when I was already in the pre-residency stage, I never like staying in the intensive care unit and looked at the sorry state of the patients. Cases were complicated. Many patients have many diseases, thus making their management difficult.The coverage of the field was broad. I tried going to ophthalmology because my grade in that subject was good. However, the hospital did not accept me because I was always late. My driver’s fault, though. He prioritize bringing my younger sister to the dentistry school because he was more afraid of her. She was stricter than I am, even now. He was afraid to receive berating words from her.
I have gone through rigid four-year residency training in a government hospital in San Juan City. I continued the daily routine of from duty, preduty and the 24-hour duty statuses. Facebook was my way of relieving my stress. Games were my outlet. I was able to write two research papers under strict scrutiny. All of us had to present scientific papers in contests.They were also prerequisites for graduation. However, before I finished my third year, I could already do cesarean delivery, abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy with confidence. I was taught laparoscopy and I promised myself that I would continue further study on that procedure. I wanna be like her who showed me that procedure. She was beautiful inside and out and one of the best we had in the Philippines.
Those who graduated from residency training are called consultants. We hold our own private clinics. Some like me still go on 24-hour duty in the government hospitals alongside our private practice. We could admit patients under our service in the hospitals where we are affiliated. As an obstetrician-gynecologist, I am called anytime my patients are in labor, or have to undergo some procedures like exploratory laparotomy for ectopic pregnancy or completion curettage for abortion or abnormal uterine bleeding. We could ask professional fees for such services, but we do them with extra love with the thought that if we help others, we do it to please our Almighty. I am glad anytime they go home with gratitude to what I did especially when the case was challenging.
It is not easy to be a doctor and it is not usually financially rewarding. There were those who are not yet earning. It is best that we also have business on the side. Doctors have to be enterprising, too. We must know how to invest so that we could continue our commitment to heal. It is a long journey before we could get to the end of the road. Years of perseverance, like in other professions, is the key to get there. If one is ready physically, psychologically and financially to spend his prime in schooling full time, then medicine is for him. If not, he could choose other path. If he go to medicine without the enthusiasm and the love, he could not last. Think well before making the steps. The road is easy for those who are determined to reach that very far star.