Gender Regrets

I don't have many regrets in life. I don't regret things I've done that have failed; Still learned. I regret not doing medical school earlier in life. But I don't regret the decision to go late in life. But today I have a new regret.

Where I am, medicine is a man's world. It's dominated by male attendings and women who think they are men or have to make pretend they are periodically. So when a female joins the ranks, you tend to notice. Such was the case recently when a new medical student joined rounds with us boys.

There she was, 5 foot something, with curves from her pony tail to her painted toes all reddish-blonde with a cute Southern accent. All the boys made sure they mentored, led, guided and pimped her. She got more attention than the last Krispy Kreme donut in the nurses break room. She remembered kool little factoids about medicine from her recent reading and studying for Step 2 and was sure to walk briskly with the attending so everyone behind could see her, uh, ya...see her. The boys loved it. I didn't get spoken to, pimped or looked at the whole day. I got no new patients and didn't have to present the few I had. There wasn't time. She was there.

So my regret? I regret not being born reddish blonde, 5 foot something, with curvaceous curves, a cute Southern accent and a decent memory for medical text factoids. Maybe my next life?