looking back to look forward
TAGGING → Finn Hudson (self-para) LOCATION(S) → New Orleans, LA; Seattle, WA TIME FRAME → 1996; 2009 NOTES → This is my entry for the first SGRPG prompt! Below, I’ll include the prompt as a reminder and then my entry. :)
PROMPT:
Everyone has a reason for wanting to be a surgeon. Everyone has that one moment that makes them realize that this is what they want to do. What was your character’s motivation, that one moment that made them decide that being a doctor was what they needed to be?
It should really come as no surprise that nothing can truly prepare someone for actually being a doctor, for being thrust out on the floor and forced to deal with patients that depend on them to get better. What was your character’s first day on the floor like?
1996
Beep...beep...beep...
Finn had heard the beating for so long that he felt like if it were to stop, he’d probably still hear it. However, this beep was the one thing that was grounding him, the one thing that reminded him that despite the pain he was feeling. Today was day three in the hospital of what he had originally thought had been a stomach bug. Vomiting at school had led to two days out of school, but it had all escalated when the twelve-year-old hadn’t seemed to improve and his mother found him unconscious in the shower.
His 103 degree fever had finally started to drop, and his pain had gone from a very generous nine (he believed in saving his ‘ten’ ) to around a six or a seven. It was manageable, but he was still feeling extremely uncomfortable, and three days of this pain made it feel like he was never going to feel normal again.
Also, being confined to a bed for three days did a number to his mental state. He was normally such an active kid, so feeling too terrible to move had led to panic attacks that hit him at random. He couldn’t even go to the bathroom on his own.
The one thing that made this stay worth it though? The medical staff. The doctors and nurses at Tulane were angels. The nurses checked on him regularly, and a few even snuck some ice cream up to him, which was a nice treat compared to the chicken broth he had been living off of for about a week.
These doctors and nurses made it feel like he wasn’t stuck in the hospital, and throughout the entire process of his stay, he realized that one day, he wanted to be that kind of person for someone else. If he felt comforted, then he could only imagine the level of accomplishment the job of comforting brought with it.
2009
Finn took a deep breath once his scrubs were tugged on. The morning had consisted of a tour of what was now going to be his second home by Chief Smythe, and now it was time to really show everyone what he was made of.
As a tall, awkward jock-type, Finn was often underestimated. Sure, he said some goofy things from time to time that made people question his intelligence, but honestly, he liked the challenge. Seeing his doubter’s face after he outsmarted them was surprisingly refreshing. So, he was open for doubting. He’d just have to have fun with proving them wrong, which as an intern, seemed to be the main task. Don’t kill patients, and show you’re worth being here. Those were two things he (hopefully) could do.
As he walked out of the intern locker room with the rest of his intern class, he noticed the group of residents waiting for them at the nearest nurse’s station, and his stomach rumbled with anger. Or maybe it was the fact that he could barely choke down the oatmeal he had made for breakfast. Whatever.
As their assignments were handed out, he noticed a shorter (then again, everyone was shorter to him) Asian woman handing out nicknames of who he assumed were her assignments. And honestly, no one fit ‘Gigantor’ better than he did. Dr. Cristina Yang was her name, and unlike the saying, her bark was not anywhere near as terrible as her bite.
Dr. Yang kicked Finn’s ass on the first day. He walked more than he walked in his entire life, he was sure, doing all sorts of impossible errands, but he always made sure to have a positive end result. Dr. Yang made Finn do tasks that most interns would drop dead over, and he just reminded himself to keep a smile on his face. Well, maybe it was inappropriate to keep a smile on his face while examining a foreign body in another man’s rectal canal, but he definitely didn’t show any weakness. And as much as he wanted to vomit when Dr. Yang handed him a ten-blade and told him to puncture and drain an abscess on a eighty-four-year-old’s abdomen, he just remained thankful that he hadn’t force fed himself some oatmeal that morning. He stayed positive through it all, which is a reminder that has seemed to come full circle in present times, but that’s another story for another day.
Finn’s first shift was easily thirty six hours of pure hell, and he wanted nothing more than to collapse in bed for the rest of the week, but he knew that someday, all of this would be worth it. Someday, he’d look back on his first day and just chuckle fondly, and he was right. As horrible as his first shift went, he wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
Well, maybe except for maybe the abscess and foreign body extraction.