Saturday, October 08, 2005

 

A Grease-Monkey With a Higher Degree

If you’ve known me less than ten years, you may not know that in high school, I really wanted to be a mechanic (specifically, an airplane mechanic for the Navy or something). I was trying to enroll in the school’s automotive maintenance class, but my parents insisted that their little girl wasn’t going to hang around with burn-outs and become a "grease monkey."

Being only seventeen, I either was foolish enough to think parents could dictate this, or I just wasn't willing to put up a fight--I don't remember which--so I went on to pursue other career paths.

But the automotive itch didn't go away—in 1997, while working as a technical writer and special ed teacher, I aced my first semester of Automotive Service at COD state (a.k.a. UCLA, the University Closest to the Lombard Area). I worked as a general service "grease monkey" part-time for over a year. I even got my own grease-monkey shirt with the shop name and my name embroidered on it and everything! (I should have stolen one as a memento.)

Anyway, the whole reason I bring this up is because the insides of cars still interest me. As I was listening to Car Talk a few weekends ago (every Saturday morning on NPR!) they read a letter they received from a medical student. The student explained how one of his professors used a clip from Car Talk to demonstrate the diagnostic process.

So on a week that has left me exhausted, cranky and wondering "why the hell am I here," I am reminded I am just right back where I started. Going to diagnostic rounds and performing surgery--they're just like working on cars.

Both medicine and mechanics are all about understanding the inner workings of a body and its systems, from the big moving parts right down to the physics, fluid mechanics, chemistry and molecular processes. It’s all about being a presented with a problem, solving the mystery as to the cause of the problem and finding the solution that will fix the problem without causing other problems. It's about leaks, abnormal sounds from under the hood, misalignments, breaks, trauma, aging, wear and tear, contamination, accumulations, and big fat unsolved mysteries.

After two years of sitting on my ass, I get to go back to being a bit of a grease monkey--only this time using sterile saline and glycerin-based lube--to open up and fix things. I'm learning to understand the different systems and common problems to become a good diagnostician. So it seems to me, after only an additional 3 years of pre-med and 4 years of veterinary school (and the associated debt), I'll finally get to be a mechanic after all.

So, here's my working list of auto systems and their medical counterparts:

- Engine, combustion, battery, alternator: cardiopulmonary, energy (e transport chain?)
- Exhaust system: respiratory and excretory
- Transmission, brakes, belts: muscular
- Frame, axles, boots, shocks, steering: musculoskeletal and joint
- Gas tank/fuel line: digestive
- Body: skin, integument
- Radiator, cooling system: thermoregulatory
- Computer systems: homeostatis, autonomic nervous system


Well, time to go--Car Talk starts soon!

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