This wasn't my ideal job. I never envisioned myself as working when I got my medical license. So how did a girl from big-city Florida wind up at a hospital in small-town Ohio? Well I had just completed college and was preparing for my first job as a doctor when I found out that my local hospital wanted me to intern, even though I had completed my internship there in college. There was some new chief of medicine who didn't know who the hell I was and didn't even believe that I was a certified doctor despite the fact that I was 26.
So I ended up searching the internet for any hospital that had open resident positions and would hire someone just out of med school. I found two: one in Anchorage and one in Lima, Ohio. Naturally, I chose the one that wasn't in Alaska. I was glad that I had worked my ass off in high school and college to get every possible scholarship I could to minimalize student loans. I owed a total of $10000, which for a medical student was pretty good.
I walked into the hospital for my first day on the job. I decided not to wear scrubs because I didn't want anyone mistaking me for an intern. Instead I wore a black dress with a medical coat. I hadn't actually ever been to the hospital before starting there because I was busy moving.
"Hi, I'm Faith Hudson, the new resident." I said to the nurse at the reception desk. She was a Latina woman. "I was supposed to meet with Dr. Schuester."
Dr. Schuester was the chief of medicine. We had interviewed over Skype. I then noticed that the nurse's nametag read Santana. She lackadaisically picked up the phone and paged Dr. Schuester.
"Dr. Hudson, it's good to see you." Dr. Schuester said before he gave me a hug. "We're so happy to have you here at William McKinley Medical Center."
"I'm happy to be here too, Dr. Schuester." I declared. I was. Even though it wasn't exactly where I wanted to be, I was happy to be working as a doctor.
"Please, call me Will." He told me.
"Then maybe you should call me Faith." I suggested. I wasn't expecting him to be so informal. I then decided that I should ask the important question. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Well I have some charts that you can look at." He declared. "I'll let you take your pick on your first day."
I scanned through the charts. There was an eating disorder, Crohn's Disease, bladder infection, and a potentially broken nose.
"I'll take the broken nose." I declared as I handed the other charts back to him. I then made my way to the patient. It was a short Jewish woman with brown hair named Rachel Berry.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Hudson." I told her as I walked into the room. "So what seems to be the problem today?"
"I think my nose is broken." She declared. She had a bandage over it.
"Well I have to do an x-ray to make sure." I told her as I put a lead apron over her. "In the meantime, do you mind telling me how something like this happened?"
"I was rehearsing when my costar who can't threw his hand back and wacked me in the face." She explained. That sounded like it hurt.
"What were you rehearsing?" I asked.
"I am in a local production of Wicked which is something that I can't do with a broken nose, so hurry up and tell me if I need to drop out of the show." She ordered.
I sighed. My first patient was being difficult. I had just started and she was acting like it was my fault that she was injured. I probably should have taken the guy with Crohn's. I turned on the X-ray machine and then went to get the results printed.
A few minutes later, I returned to the room. In my time waiting, I considered trying to find a way to make her feel better. When I got back, I had the idea and decided to present it to her.
"So the bad news is that your nose is broken." I replied.
"What's the good news?" She questioned.
"I never said there was good news." I remarked. "However, I do have a suggestion for you. I think it might make you feel a little bit better."
"How can you possibly make me feel better when I'm going to be replaced by an understudy?" She asked. Wasn't she going to be wearing a fake nose for the play?
"You're eligible for a nose job." I explained. "We could make it smaller and possibly even set it in place."
I wasn't a surgeon, so I wasn't sure.
"Just tell me how long it will take to heal." She remarked.
"A few days." I answered. I tried to hide my disappointment. They didn't teach you how to deal with difficult people in med school. Maybe I wasn't ready to be a resident.
No. I couldn't think like that. I had worked too hard to let my dreams of being a doctor be derailed by one single unruly patient. I was stronger than that. I would bounce back and hope that the next patient wasn't so hostile. I understood that no one wanted to see the doctor, but they could still try to be on good behavior about it.
The next thing that came up was lunch. I looked around and felt like everyone was looking at me and suddenly, I felt like I was high school again. It seemed like everyone had these cliques. All of the surgeons hung out together as did the specialists and even the interns. I was kind of nervous. I looked for anyone who would let me sit with them.
"You can sit over here." A guy offered. He was kind of short, but still taller than me and wore a bowtie with a medical coat. "I'm Blaine Anderson, Pediatrics. So are you an intern?"
I thought about the snobby response, but he was being nice to me.
"No, I'm Faith Hudson and today is my first day as a resident." I answered.
"Oh, I heard that we were getting a new resident, but I wasn't expecting it to be someone so young." He declared.
"I'm really not that young. I'm 26." I pointed out.
"So that must mean that you're just out of med school." He deduced. "Most people don't become residents until in their late 20s. I'm not even a resident yet and I'm 28. You must have really impressed Dr. Schuester."
"I just found an ad on the internet." I explained. "I also had an offer from a place in Alaska."
"So where are you from then?" He asked.
"West Palm Beach." I declared.
"Don't they have a hospital there?" He inquired.
"They do, but they wanted me to be an intern." I explained. "This is despite the fact that I had already interned there, so I began to look for anything else and here I am. So where did you go to college?"
"I went to University of Ohio." He answered. "But I went to med school at Ohio State."
"I heard that they are expensive." I commented.
"Yeah, it was." He replied. "But it was worth every penny."
I couldn't help but wonder just how many pennies he had spent for it.
After I was done, I went home to see that my roommate Cara was in. She had been my best friend for years and he graciously agreed to move to Lima with me even though she didn't have a job of her own. She did get hired as a dance teacher right after we moved though. We first met when we had roomed together in college. I specifically did not want to room with another pre-med major.
"So how was your first day of work?" She asked.
"It was okay." I answered. "My first patient was a real bitch, but I persevered and made it through the rest of the day without any other problems. You know you should apply at the hospital. You do have a nursing degree that you're not using."
"You know that I don't like being a nurse." She responded. "I love to dance."
"Yeah, but you can still dance and be a nurse." I pointed out. "Plus, if you're a nurse, I'd have someone to talk to at the hospital."
"I'll think about it." She replied. "Now let's get some dinner."
So this chapter was going to be longer, but it was cut short due to time. I don't know how things work at hospitals, but this is how they work in this universe. I haven't decided on if I want Lucy or Jessa as Faith's love interest yet. Please don't forget to review.
