Confessions of a Cat-holic (67)

On top of the aforementioned incompetences, I was also undeniably clumsy. I was definitely not a careful person. Not only that, I was also the most scatterbrained person whom I ever knew. You might think that if I could obtain perfect scores in a public exam, there was nothing I couldn't do. But I guaranteed you I might be a good test taker but I was the most forgetful person who could give people the impression of having the memory of a goldfish. Not sure if my inclination to mess things up had led to my slightly obsessive compulsive behavior like washing my hands ten times a day and checking up on my phone almost twenty times a day for the peace of mind.

Watching episodes like the Hippocratic Crush, I knew that I wouldn't be able to survive the long hours obliged to being entitled as a doctor. 36-hour shift was not uncommon for young practitioners and these doctors needed to stay awake and alert through night and day, with patients' health at stake. Careless mistakes and human errors were costly and might jeopardize others' health, while also putting doctors' own lives at risk. It could be the reason why medical school was by far the hardest to get in across many countries, and throughout history too.

Out of all the people I came across in my life, I would confidently say that I probably slept the most. I was a very heavy sleeper, and I could easily lose my temper if I was sleep deprived. On average, I needed 10 hours of rest every day, at least. The only all-nighters I pulled in my life, as far as I remembered, were when I finished my HKCEE exam. I played mahjong with my friends and neighbours for 48 hours straight. I could lose sleep on gaming, but not on studying or working. But even so, I only did it once in my life. I probably didn't have what it took to get through housemanship.

But even so, I wouldn't take the easier route. I knew I might not have what it took to become a doctor, although my grades qualified. If I was interested in the medical industry, I knew for a fact that there were many other jobs I would happily take. Like for example, a vet? Or a pharmacist who never got to work with patients and had the privilege to work in a germ-free drugstore all day long without the need to be exposed to body fluids or blood. Pharmacists didn't need to give injections. Pharmacists earned a lot too, apparently. The job was uneventful, I would say. Others might describe it as boring, but that just worked for me. I wouldn't want to be in the frontline combating emerging viruses all my life, especially after the SARS outbreak in 2003.

I could be a lab technician or a science researcher. I could see myself working in a lab wearing protective coats looking at microscope all day. If not pharmacist, I might work as a pathologist. Not all medical doctors ended up working as surgeons. I loved investigating diseases in a safe environment, like a test center or a scientific research facility. In that way, I wouldn't need to see patients and risk my health being exposed to sick people.

If I took a step back, I might even try working as an autopsy technician, aka coroner. I was afraid of blood, body fluids and human tissues. But interestingly, I was completely fine with dead bodies. Ever since elementary school, I was fascinated by the idea of mummification. The first trip I took out of Asia was to England where I desperately persuaded my mother for years to take me to the British Museum to see the Egyptian mummies. I liked skeletons, god knew why.

I used to follow a drama series named Untraceable Evidence starring my favorite actress, Flora Chan Wai San. Some twenty years had passed already, and I still remembered how criminals evaded persecution by performing medical tricks onto the bodies of the victims.

If you noticed, these jobs I was interested in still fell under the category of a medical profession but were no longer dealing with life and death situations. I knew myself well enough to avoid possible pitfalls in life, unlike my schoolmates with the Asian mindset of pursuing wealth and material possessions before anything else.