People ask me this all the time. Have I always wanted to be a lab assistant? The answer is no, I didn’t even know what one was until a couple of years ago. However, have I always wanted to be in the medical field? The answer to this is yes, for as long as I can remember.
Choosing to be in the medical field was not a hard decision for me. Ever since I was young, I wanted to be a doctor. Growing up, I can remember taking vital signs on my cat, trying to find his pulse and using a fake stethoscope to hear his heart beat. I am not sure what it was, but something intrigued me. I am certain it wasn’t about the money or the fame that mainstream media has placed upon doctors. It was more about the mystery. It was that the human body is one of the most complex pieces of machinery in this world. A large scale, billion-piece jigsaw puzzle that needs to be solved. Whatever it is, it still intrigues me. Every day is a constant learning experience for me, be it at my job as a lab assistant at Sonora Quest Laboratories, or in class as a microbiology student at ASU. Either way, every piece of information I come across poses the familiar question to my mind: why?
I do not think I will be the one to find a cure for AIDS or cancer, I doubt I will ever be a Nobel laureate. More so, I look at myself as an intricate part of the jigsaw puzzle we consider human life. Without every piece of the puzzle, it will never be complete.
Working together as a team is what I love most about my job. I get to work alongside many different members of a team to help doctors in diagnosing a patient. A patient has never personally thanked me, but I am sure that by the time I retire, I will have made a difference in at least one patient’s well-being. A pin on my name badge at works states, “Laboratory Professionals: Behind the Scenes Heroes.” This is truly what we are. We are the people who slave behind the microscope or at the computer, researching and digging deeper into what we observe before us.
Sometimes I can leave early at work, but most of the time I stay late. Sometimes I get to go to bed earlier than normal because I finished studying, but, most of the time, I am burning the midnight oil which seems to always be running low. In either situation, I love what I do and I love what my future holds. Be it as a physician working directly with patients or as a scientist in the lab, I am certain that this is where I am supposed to be, and I couldn’t be happier.