Reclaiming My Birth Rights by Adrienne Carmack MD

Author:Adrienne Carmack, MD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: advocacy, human rights, circumcision, breastfeeding, natural childbirth, genital autonomy
Publisher: Adrienne Carmack, MD

Chapter Nine: Blessings in Disguise

At this point in my life, things were really taking off. I was in a place of serious questioning and major rapid transformation, and I was witnessing falsehoods all around me. But it wasn't until I experienced two serious illnesses that I was really able to step back and decide to make some major changes to the path I was on.

When I finished my residency in Miami, I was eligible to practice on my own as a urologist. Many of my friends were opening their own practices, but, instead, I chose to pursue additional training. I wanted to be a subspecialist in pediatric urology and had applied to do this before becoming a mother. It's a highly competitive field, and the application process began more than a year and a half before the actual training started. I had become pregnant while I was applying, so by the time our daughter was born, I'd been accepted into a competitive program in Seattle with plans to move there after I completed my residency in Miami.

Kaili was now six months old. I wanted to be with her, but I also wanted to continue my training. I really enjoyed academic medicine and pictured myself doing research alongside my practice at a major children's hospital. I would share my skills for the pursuit of the advancement of medicine, while helping those who needed it. I'd always loved kids and wanted to be in a field in which they were my primary patients. I'd chosen surgery, where it was mandatory to train on adults before any training on children, and I was eager to start a career in which I was around the light of children all day.

Two weeks before the planned move to Seattle, while still living in Miami, I was up at the hospital early, making rounds with other residents before starting surgery for the day. We finished our rounds and went to have a quick breakfast before our cases started. As I sat down to eat, I began to have severe abdominal pain. It was rare for me to walk away from a meal, especially a free one, as often times being in surgery for hours, I didn'tknow when I would get to eat next. But I was in serious pain, so I immediately left and went to the doctors' lounge to lie down.

The pain worsened. Finally, dressed in my scrubs and white coat, I went to the ER. I walked directly into the nurse's station; the nurses and doctors all knew me. I had consulted with them numerous times to help them with their patients. They were more than happy to help me. I had always been kind and responsive to their calls for urologic help, and we had developed a mutual respect. Once I told them about the pain, they quickly got me registered, and before I knew it I was in a hospital bed. I didn't know what was wrong, but within minutes a technician was

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