[matryoshka4811]

It's hard to comprehend how many hours a doctor can keep going unless you see them everyday. My mother is an OBGYN. I remember growing up surrounded by MCAT and medical school books and the residency nights when she wasn't home when I went to sleep and when I woke up. I don't really remember when the doctor lifestyle wasn't a dominant part of how my immediately family functioned. (She had both of my siblings during her residency.)

And now, after she's been in practice for almost two decades, it really isn't much different. She's the head OB at a hospital/clinic that is the only one for several counties. She gets multiple cases a year when women show up in labor that she's never seen before. She's had to report multiple births to child services because the mother is an addict. On a personal level, it means that she never makes it to both Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes neither, and she's on call pretty much all the time.

All of this to say that she's inspiring really. I've never known someone who works harder or more tirelessly. I worry though that she'll work herself to death. Even then, I know she won't regret any of it.