Am I really Evil?

Many people ask me, "Why Dr. Evil?"

I thought it was obvious, but I guess not.  There is, of course, the movie Austin Powers, with the character Dr. Evil, who is so wonderful that words cannot express it.  But he has a line in the first film that is quite iconic and has become something of a mantra for me.

Dr. Evil is attending a counselling meeting with his son, and the therapist addresses him as Mr. Evil.  He then states, "It's Doctor Evil.  I didn't go through seven years of evil medical school to be called Mister, thank you very much."  This line says so much to me!

I am often asked about how much schooling I went through to get to this point in my life.  Well, after high school I did four years of college to acquire my undergraduate degree, a bachelor of science in zoology. I did a year of graduate work and then attended medical school for four years.  I then trained for a year in internship and then four years of residency before becoming a full-fledged physician who can practice on her own.

If you're doing your math, that's 14 years after high school.  That is a lot of work.

I admit it:  I don't look like a doctor.  I am often told that I look too young to be a doctor. And when you are not in the medical field, you may not realize that patients will tell certain things to doctors and certain things to nurses, but not to both.  So when I walk into a room, even after I introduce myself, a patient may still hold out on me waiting for the "doctor" to come into the room.  Frustrating, yes.  But I have learned to live with it.

Nevertheless, I have still earned my way into this realm and it was 14 years of hard work.  So, I didn't go through "seven" years of evil medical school to be called Miss, thank you very much. Every once in a while, it wouldn't hurt if some people can realize how much work it takes to get here.  But the moment you're here, it doesn't get much easier. Especially as a female in this business, there is still a lot of work to do.

I rely a lot on my writing to help me through those difficult times.  It's a great escape, but there are also times when I might bring just a touch of that real world into my stories.  I don't like to write medical dramas because I don't like to read them (and don't get me started on TV medical dramas.  I hope Greys Anatomy dies soon!).  But just a bit of that knowledge can add just enough reality into a story to give it the right amount of depth. To those of you who may read some of my stuff, if I put medical "stuff" in that story, you can rest assured that it is real.  I have heard the sounds those machines make, and smelled the things in some of those rooms.  And you can thank me later for not adding "too much detail", because the average person probably couldn't handle that detail.

As to the Evil part:  who's to say?  Maybe I am Evil.  I really like Pantera, so who knows.

Until next time,

"I want one million dollars!"