Flogging Trolls

I have sequestered myself in a small room, away from the usual distractions, so that I can sit down and write. I've wanted to write for many months, about many things, but I'm generally most inspired when I'm fatigued and disgusted, so I sleep instead. Not this time—this time I'll write.

I'm doing a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency and I'm in my third year now, but I took almost a year off last year to do an International Health Fellowship with the American Medical Student Association. I did a half-year of internal medicine as an intern and then to all appearances vanished for a year and a half. Now I've returned, and my fellow diffident interns are suddenly senior residents. The change is remarkable.

I remember my first morning report after I came back from Nigeria; Jeff, who had been an intern with me on the general medicine rotation, was there, and I was glad to see him. He had kept himself dissociated from the medicine game as an intern; he asked questions when he didn't know what to do, he never flaunted what he …