Poison

I just had one of those moments where you think you might be catching a glimpse of your own future. Check this out: Environmental Third World Medical Toxicology.
Can I get a Hell Yeah?

I have recently become enthralled with the idea of being a medical toxicologist: a student of poisons, a provider of antidotes. This is one of the few subspecialties that falls under the Emergency Medicine umbrella, and only requires an additional two years of study (why stop at 24?). In a field that is so broad, that requires knowledge of so many other specialties of medicine, there is something exciting to me about having a specific area of expertise. And what better area than heroin overdoses and suicidal tylenol ingestions and poisonous mushrooms and rattle snake bites?

I was just searching for the website of OHSU's toxicology department, in preparation for my one month elective that is to start tomorrow. And I came across an old press release entitled "Toxicology in Third World Settings" which described a 2004 regional toxicologists conference that focused on "the latest research on everything from hazardous foods to air pollutants believed to cause debilitating and crippling disorders that strike tens of thousands in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia."

This sounds absolutely fascinating to me. Granted, it is not within the usual scope of the emergency physician's scope of practice, but when you consider the number of, say, organophosphate pesticide poisonings that occur annually among migrant farm workers, you realize that even "third world" toxicology is all around us. It is a symptom of the many social and economic injustices that are poisoning this world. Get it? Poison.

Get it? Poison.

Also. It seems unfathomable that I have been a student for 21 years of my life - 24 by the time I finish residency. Boy do I love studying. Man! I just can't get enough of that studying gig. And good thing, because tomorrow also officially marks Day 1 of studying for Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Exam. Known affectionately as "the Boards." I took Step 1 two years ago and it was only one of the most agonizingly soul-crushing experiences I have lived through. And the beauty of it all is that it never ends - there are basically 5 huge horrible Board exams that you need to take to be licensed to practice medicine in a certain field. And then you have to take renewal exams every few years. Straight from the mind of Satan himself. Boy oh boy do i love studying.