This morning I remembered why I do it. Why I went to undergraduate for 4 1/2 years, why I spent another 4 years in vet school, why I spent a year as an intern, and why I'm considering doing a 3 year residency ontop of that. That doesn't count contemplating a fellowship (2 more years).

Before I get to the why, I maybe should admit I have a problem or 2 (or a few hundred but we're not counting them). I have a compulsive need to be in school, to be studying, to be learning more. I know its a lifetime of learning, especially in the medical field, but really? The other thing is that I have the need to be recognized as being an "expert" on something, which is why I want to do the whole specality thing in medicine and surgery, hence the fellowship idea.

But back to the why... this morning I sutured up a laceration on the inside lip of a horse, just me and the owner and the horse. No technician, no senior clinician, no one looking over my shoulder telling me how I should be doing it, that I was doing it wrong. I got to make my own decisions, and somedays thats a rarity. It was just me and the horse, fixing his injury (oh how I love thee, oh surgery).