From day one in medical school you are taught... "“When you hear hoof beats, think horses - not zebras.” “Zebras” are the anomalies, the odd presentations, the diseases so rare that most doctors would not have ever encountered them in a normal medical practice in their lifetime. Often times, the 'Zebras' present like a common illness/disease (the 'Horse').
For the next few years, I realized much of my medical education was not spent leaning about the common presentations of what affects the majority of the people we see as patients but rather studying the pathologies of the "zebras."
I have often thought about the analogy above and how it applies not only to the pathologies I study, but to medicine and life in general. We each fight battles daily, however large or small. As I make my way towards becoming a physician I hope to gain a better understanding into the practice of medicine. As a young, female, osteopathic medical student I hope to make my own mark as a "Zebra" in a land filled with "Horses."
