Community: Real Life

Med school and boob jobs


Sabrina

We chart the ups and downs of fabulous fresher Sabrina as she trains to be a doctor.
Entry: 1

TheSite.org follows fabulous fresher Sabrina as she trains to be a doctor, and ends up on the operating table herself.

I hate introductions, so you'll have to forgive me for the lack of inspiration and jazz in my first sentence, I promise you, it will be a lot better from now on. See? I'm Sabrina, I'm 19 and I've lived in Surrey all my life. In about 2 weeks, I'll be starting medical school with the other poor saps/lucky people (depending on how you view the profession), and at some point next year I'll be back on the other side of the stethoscope, having plastic surgery. In my case, it will be a breast reduction. I'll get onto that in a minute. Firstly, medicine.

Why did I want to be a doctor? I didn't know then, and I don't know now. My former chemistry teacher says it's masochism - maybe it's that - unfortunately, I found out that I won't be able to ball-gag the patients. I had applied to Queen Mary's, King's College, St Georges HMS and University College, all in London. After some very scary interviews, I was very lucky to secure conditional offers from all of them, and I decided that UCL would be my firm. It took me three years to do my A-levels due to glandular fever, but this summer, I escaped from Godalming College, Surrey with AAB grades in Biology, Politics and Chemistry respectively.

So anyway, although being a revolting student has its perks, there's also the dreaded debt. I've been offered the full loan of £4930. UCL also have this scholarship scheme from students like myself from low-income backgrounds, so I shall be receiving £2000 over a period of three years. I can't speak for other universities, but UCL has been taking part in a government initiative known as 'Widening Participation.' As it says on the website, the strategy has three main aims:


To raise awareness of higher education among under-represented groups.

"When I tell people that I'm having surgery, they're horrified."

To increase the number of students from under-represented groups attending programmes at UCL.

To maintain and, if possible, increase the excellent progression and retention rates of under-represented groups at UCL.

If I'm going to be honest, from a personal point of view, I felt a bit weird when I first heard about this. I mean, did they offer me a place just because of my background? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid, and I actually was a good candidate for a place? Maybe I should think less into these things! I'll be writing more about this when I start and get to know lots of other people.

Anyway, onto much bigger, and well, not exactly better things. My breasts. Ahh, I could write about them all day, hell, I see them often enough, but bottom line is, they're an F/FF cup - I'm 5ft2 and a size 8/10 - not exactly the best combination. When I tell people that I'm having surgery, they're horrified. Why would I want to 'butcher' my body with a very complicated operation, which carries a multitude of risks? Why? Where do I start? Actually, a good starting point would be this - carry two bags of sugar on your chest all day, and then you can ask your question again. It's uncomfortable, I can't run, I can't sleep on my front without waking up with pain in my lower back, people have just walked up to me in broad daylight and grabbed them, my bras look like something designed by Brunel which have given me grooves in my shoulders and the worst thing for me, is that people automatically assume that you're stupid.

After another summer of sobbing in the changing rooms of Topshop whilst trying to get into bikini, I had had enough. I got a referral from my GP, then saw a plastic surgeon, and was put on the waiting list. After a frustratingly long wait, I had got a date. Unfortunately, I had to take my Chemistry A-level on the same day, so it couldn't be done. So back to the bottom of the list - if all goes well, I should be having the chop, I mean op, in February, bang in the middle of year 1! The only problem is, once you get behind the scenes (and I've shadowed a lot of surgery), you begin to become aware of exactly everything that can go wrong. It's not very reassuring to you hear a surgeon say during an operation, "Oops, I shouldn't have done that." But hey, doctors make mistakes. As long as they don't happen to me! In all seriousness, I have the utmost faith in the surgical team, my problem is I'm a perfectionist, and there's only one chance to get it right. If not, at least on the bright side, I'll have the job of giving all the Jordan's and Jodie's a run for their money!


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