Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt4

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt4

 

While doing science was amazing, it wasn’t all just easy and fun like that.

As it turns out, science is actually mostly doing other things, that are not science.

Making pointless corrections to your report, protecting your reputation, trying to acquire funding for your research – and as a byproduct your own payroll.

In fact most of the highly educated scientists I worked with WOULD NOT, be granted a bank loan, in order to buy a house for example.

Since every 6 month, they had to secure new funding – they never had a secure income.

And no bank in return, would grant them a loan.

The smartest people on the earth, getting by day to day – praying that their next paper full of convoluted language would pass through the bureaucracy and let them pursue their passion for a couple of months more.

I was appalled by the way they were living their lives.

No one was more into the raw finances of it all than the professor himself.

The smartest people, stuck in phone calls with philanthropists, begging for money, instead of doing science.

 

I had enough.

I had seen enough.

The world did not need yet another scientist.

There’s enough of those already.

What science needed, was hard cash.

For me to make the biggest conceivable difference in this world, I needed to become Iron Man kind of wealthy – and invest that wealth into medical research.

And I knew just where it was needed most.

I knew where I could make a difference.

I was NOT a philanthropist, with pockets lined with dad’s old money.

I was a Medical Doctor.

If I could secure wealth, I could make sure it was spent well.

But, I was never going to achieve that kind of success as a DR.

The only way I could reach these levels would be as an entrepreneur, providing products or services so beyond my competition that success would have to be inevitable.

I had climbed one mountain.

And from the top of the mountain, my field of view was expanded.

I could see a new horizon.

But against that backdrop, there stood an even higher mountain

It had been a long toilsome journey to come up here in the first place.

I had learnt so much

 

I could stay here, and be happy – I’m sure.

Or I could risk everything, work my way all the way down to the ground

And be faced with a mountain higher than anything I ever climbed before

Without knowing if there is even a way up at all

 

I’ll have to see when I get there.

I sighed as I made up my mind.

I began the long journey down.

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt3

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt3

Medschool

 

Such a privilage

 

I was learning about my own body, How my OWN BODY worked.

 

How come this isn’t something every single one had to learn…?

 

We ALL have a body

 

Most of the time it works alright

 

But sometimes, there’s an issue

 

I could not believe that this all this I was learning wasn’t common knowledge

 

I was fascinated, and in love

 

I was in love with a girl who changed her career, to become a nurse because she too became enchanted, by my excitement, as I told her about my every day.

 

But it was soon time for what I had been anticipating the most.

 

The Thesis term. An entire term dedicated to science, delving into lab-practises, medical journals, and making our own small contribution to the ever evolving medical field.

 

I remember the first time when I was going to look in the microscope to see how my chemical compound had affected the growth of neurons.

 

Could it be? After years and surely billions of dollars spent on countless projects, could I have the cure to Alzheimer’s?

 

My eyes would be the first to see.

 

There were butterflies in my stomach alright, as I peered into the microscope.

 

…Unfortunately, I did not discover the cure to Alzheimer’s that day.

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt2

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos?? Pt2

 

I chose to do military,

 

It was a chance, of seeing a life that few got to see,

 

It was an experience in a different world.

 

I was drafted into Reconnaissance

 

We viewed ourselves as an elite force

 

Light infantry – in a world full of tanks, drones, planes and bombs

 

After the first exhausting day, I read the graffiti below the bunk bed above me

 

“Welcome to Hell”

 

While other things in life has been mentally challenging, this was as close to being in a physical hell that I’ve ever been.

 

With all my energy spent, I would sit on the train home, an 8 hour trip with nothing to do but to ponder life.

 

Infused by lingering dread I would be on an equally long return journey, after the weekend.

 

Military service lasts for a year.

 

I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

 

16 hours of thinking time every – or every second week.

 

I thought about the people I cared about.

 

I thought about what I could do for the world.

 

I thought about setting a goal that could that I could always fight for.

 

I thought about my mother having cancer.

 

I thought of never having the chance to meet my grandfather.

 

Slowly, and gradually, over several weeks, months, I decided that I would like to solve it all

 

Cancer. Alzheimers. Heart attack. The loss of our loved ones.

 

Once my mother passed away, i remember the feeling.

 

It felt nothing at all.

 

Where once there was warmth and love.

 

Now there was nothing

 

I remember her struggle

 

Fighting against invisible bonds, trying to gasp for air with cancer-ridden lungs

 

Like being under water, while you’re in fresh air

 

The panic in her eyes shattered my heart

 

As I dropped the flowers down into her grave

 

As the warmth left our home

 

As our home, turned into a house. A building. A practical facility.

 

I didn’t see the point of it.

 

In the movies, a death seems to have a purpose.

 

In religion, death is but a doorway to somewhere else.

 

But this was just empty.

 

Yesterday she was here.

 

Today she wasn’t

 

All her things remained.

 

But she was gone.

 

Her old clothes smelled like she used to smell,

 

But she wasn’t just around the corner.

 

Not anymore.

 

I knew what I wanted to do.

 

I wanted to fight this pointless death that eventually destroys us all

 

I wanted to go into science

 

I wanted to come up with the next miraculous cure, that would let you see your children, grandchildren, grand-grand-children…

 

All with your health intact

 

With your life safe, warm and strong

 

…I applied for medschool

 

I would soon be taking my first steps, down the fascinating and transfixing road of medicine

Why does a medical DR… produce sales videos??

That is quite story, it is the story of the past 11 years of my life.

The part of my life that was my own.

As you grow up, you have these guidelines that sets you up to arrive at a predetermined destination.

Suddenly and abruptly, the railroad you were bound by… stops.

And you could veer of in any direction.

From being firmly, and BY LAW, held in place, controlled by your parents, required to report to school every day, at the same time according to a strict routine – to suddenly being a loose cannon.

We teach kids to memorize words, mathematical formulas, historical facts….

…but will this really make them an adult?

Will this really help them evaluate which of the millions of directions available, that they should go for?

In the western world we honor freedom above all.

But does that really make someone happy?

I’ve seen with my own eyes, that having to pick one path among many, can paralyze people.

How could you ever know, which one is the best?

It’s literally impossible.

It’s a insane statistical calculation at best.

Left up to chance at worst.

And for many, the only thing that can make them choose is the steadily encroaching reality.

Expenses, bills to pay.

Forced into choice, we go for a short term solution, without taking in the entire picture.

We take the first steps on a path, that we think will last a day, but end up being our whole life.

For me, it wasn’t like that.

For me, I didn’t have that stress.

I had an unlimited amount of time to consider, and try to make the best choice

Of how to spend my life.