The Ache

I really like my job as an NP in a small student health center. While the pay isn't great and truly, there is no prestige, I have the opportunity to meet a variety of people of a variety of ages (believe it or not) and I get to live vicariously. 

Many of these students embark on amazing life journeys, whether that is to Australia, Zimbabwe, or simply to downtown. Their lives are pregnant with possibilities, ready to emerge into this world at that right time. I meet musicians, future veterinarians, law enforcers. 

While much of the above can be said about any clinician's office.  What is special about mine, is that I have been privileged to have the time to listen, I mean really listen to their life stories.  I get to witness, and sometimes hold their pain with them, when they need a little respite.

Enter Sarah (of course, not her real name). Sarah is a thirty year old female who is studying to be an elementary school teacher who came to see me for a breast ache. This ache, which was located in her right breast, primarily, had been an ongoing issue for months.  While not able to palpate any bumps or lumps, this ache, which had not altered, and in her mind was not musculoskeletal related, was weighing heavily on her mind.

Like many of the students that I see, Sarah has way too much on her plate.  She is working part-time, going to school full-time, is married and has a nine year old daughter and a four year old son.