Day 1 - Pre-Pre Med and an operating room

I've never written a blog before. Partly because I did horrible in english class in grade 12 due to my poor writing skills and partly because there was nothing to write about. However, that is quite different now (the interesting stuff to write about part... not the writing skills).

For the past month i have been doing research about med schools (domestic and overseas), residencies, specialties, lives doctors live and much much more, all with regards to... surgery! I decided after much thought and consideration that this is a viable direction for me to take my life. The main questions that came up were: HOW do i do it. CAN i do it. DO I want to do it. and lastly WHICH position do i want to do it in? (EDIT: sorry, wrong blog).

There are a million websites and forums out there with so much information about all these things and i'm doing a pretty good job getting through what I can, so this will be my "creative" outlet for that.

In addition to research i have also been trying to find a job shadow/mentor to learn from and see if this is really for me and to find out what it takes. I've done pretty well so far in that, it isnt easy. I'm definitely not the only one as i'm competing with every other med school keener in hamilton.

This blog will hopefully give people who are in the same boat as me with ideas and information on how to get their foot in the door and ahead of the game. We all know the canadian med school system is half-impossible to crack. Its scary. Im scared.

So far i've set up a few things:
1) OR orientation and the ability to watch surgeries at a hospital in various times (will speak about this later!)
2) A meeting with a general /trauma surgeon to discuss possible job shadowing (in may!)
3) HHSC has approved my application for an internist (internal medicine MD) to mentor me (waiting for them to find one.. shouldnt be long now!)
4) A meeting with the head of residency for mcmaster (dont ask me HOW i got this one, im not even sure)
5) Been approved for summer volunteering at st josephs with work on post-op care and later on ill be moved to the ER.

How did i get these done? Persistence and lots of research/emailing people. For every 15 people i emailed, i maybe got 2 replys. Awesome eh? Its expected, surgeons are busy.

Anyway, that is why i'm here. I'm going to make another post soon with a few things that i need to add. Look forward to:
-First day in the OR
-Summary of info on off short med schools
-Good links for research
-And much much more

Whats my real goal?
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Oh baby.