A Day in the Life of Dr. A, vs. a day in My Life

Becoming a doctor is no easy task... everyone knows that. But for most, it stops there. They never bother to think about what it's like after they become one. This could be for many reasons, but perhaps the most important one is that they are never around any one in the field, making the whole thing seem very alien to them. Personally, I know a handful of doctors, friends, parents of friends, etc. and recently I've been getting curious about how they live their day to day life. The daily life of a high schooler and that of a medial professional are quite different.

So I made a quick comparison of both of our days, starting from when we first get up in the morning. Dr. A wakes up promptly at 5 AM, every single day, no matter what. As for me, I usually get up sometime around 8 or so, considering I don't have to be anywhere until 9. He's in the hospital by 6 AM, where he is promptly greeted by a series of appointments, checkups, trips between the two hospitals here in Cedar Rapids as well as the private clinic he works for. Enjoying a lunch break is a rarity for him he says; sometimes he's holed up inside the hospital for so long he couldn't tell you the time of day it is outside. Me on the other hand, I'm at school from around 9 until 3, with one of those hours strictly devoted to lifting weights in the gym, not exactly a class per Se... I also partake in a lunch break every day, no matter what. He may get home as early as 6 in the afternoon, but there really is no telling how late his work might keep him.

One weekend out of every month, he is on call. This means that anytime during the day or night that weekend, he can be called into work. His beeper can go off during dinner, the Super Bowl, or at 3 AM in mid December; it doesn't matter, if it goes off, he has to race to work. Sometimes he says, it might go off 5 minutes after he gets home from an 8 hour hospital session he just finished. I work one day on the weekends, and I'll be damned if I ever answer the phone if I see a call from anyone related to work trying to get a hold of me. If I wasn't scheduled to work that day, it's close to impossible to get me to come in.

All that is fine though, during the summer I was working two jobs everyday, usually up to 16 hours a day, about 4 days a week. So I know I'm capable of those long hours into the night, the real question here though is: am I prepared to do that for the rest of my life? I would like to continue on with my hobbies once I grow older as well, and I think that becoming a doctor might get in the way of that. Once Dr. A gets home, he's done for the day. No real hobbies or anything like that, just from work to bed, everyday. And by far, the biggest thing I'm not liking here is the whole being "on call" thing. I wouldn't be able to do anything, because at any given time, I know I might get called into work. I'd be like the guy in class without his homework done afraid that the teacher might call on him to explain something from the assignment.