Author: tjoroski

I was out to lunch with my mans the other day. We were enjoying our food cart breakfast sandwiches when out of nowhere, the man at the next table over turns to us and says “hey are you guys from around here?”

Tall, white, nerdy looking man with a puffy jacket and a lime flavor Jarrito bottle in his hands is talking to us. Kinda random but we’re nice so we engage. He starts talking to us about his life. He’s lived here in Oregon for 24 years, married, wants kids…owns an incredibly successful e-commerce side hustle, dropped out of his psychology Masters program to pursue a different life. He said there was a point where he just stopped going to classes and his professor pulled him aside to ask him what was up. “Mike, do you really want to be a psychiatrist? or do you just wanna help people? Because all the other students here want to be psychiatrists plain and simple, they don’t care about the other stuff, they just want to have that title and be that.” So he dropped out–to help himself and to help people. Now he’s on track to live the life he wants. Random and kinda weird that I bring this up right?

WELL. As people might know, I dubbing my current state of a mind a “quarter life crisis” of sorts. SO when this kind stranger was explaining how his path to helping people looked different than he originally thought, and that his masters program was not ultimately what he felt drawn to doing after he had already been in school 5 years….NATURALLY I thought God was talking to me BC WTF. This has been my literal inner monologue for DAYZ now.

SO between working on my personal relationships, starting a new job, and now battling whether or not my life is destined for PA school and a career in medicine..my mind is a ticking time bomb (technically the bomb has been exploding for awhile now but). It’s like, I graduated college thinking this was my destination. I took (and paid) for all the hard online pre-reqs (smh covid), worked my ass off in different clinical jobs pursuing this goal of school and being a physician assistant. BUT now if you asked me WHY I choose PA school, I literally don’t have an answer. The only thing I could tell you is because I want to help people. Im just realizing, do I need to go through the rigorous program, pay thousands and thousands and then jump into the workforce in order to feel important & help people? Probs no, but that works for people.

My mans was like “what if we made a buttload of money, started a non-profit and gave back to the community somehow.” A nice idea. But also scary thinking that I might not choose the career path that I have worked hard to maybe get into. I mean I could still apply in a few years after if I feel differently, the programs could change, the PA career could mean something different. Its just insane thinking I made it to weird ass 25 years of age with a P L A N that isn’t exactly what I feel like pursuing anymore.

I’m also trying not to make all my decisions right now while I’m feeling u n s t a b l e-ish. I wanna move out of my cubicle apartment, make more $$, travel, etc. So I’m just at odds and ends right now. What do I do? Do I keep pushing and follow through with this plan I had? Or do I pump the brakes and explore other avenues of myself and my life? Which is safer? Which is smarter? Which f*cking path is for me? S/O to all my confused b*tches bc WE ARE OUT HERE.

SO much pee. and blood. and swabbing and then more pee. 

DUDE sorry not sorry but MAs are the unsung heroes of healthcare (besides nurses but y’all are amazing and there are many articles about you already I checked). 

Medical assistant is such a broad term. Like whenever someone asks me what I do I literally say “everything.” 

When you think medical assistant..what do you think about? Usually its the weird scrubs we wear or that one bad blood draw experience you had.

Medical= relating to the science of medicine, or to the treatment of illness and injuries.

Assistant = a person who ranks below a senior person.

SO WTF does this mean? Pretty much that anything goes.

Need the pee cleaned off the floor from the patient who didn’t screw the cap on the urine sample cup tight enough? Tell your MA.

Need to call 911 for a screaming crackhead who’s thumb was so swollen from a needle that it turned black?  Tell your MA.

Need to pop that cyst on your patient’s buttcrack? Tell your MA.

Need to wake up a patient who fainted from a missed blood draw? Tell the MA who f*cked up to get the other MA.

Need to run the insurance ASAP for STD labs so the patient will actually pay instead of cuss you out? TELL YOUR MA. 

THE. LIST. GOES. ON.

The best thing about this job (in my opinion), is the variety. Sure, someone comes in for a covid swab but ends up at the ER because their face is drooping or they lose vision in one eye or some shit. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW. I also love the patients who think they know their stuff. Because yes, having gash over your eye that reveals the WHITE OF YOUR SKULL is no reason to go to the ER (this person walked out due to cost and went to Mexico the next day with some gauze & medical tape).

Teaching someone how to poop in a cup, not take out their own stitches, or explain that you don’t set the prices for procedures like wart removals (got REEMED by a patient for this once), is a skill set that simply comes with TIME and, I hate the word, but ~~e x p e r i e n c e~~.

Theres no such thing as simple in the MA world but here is such thing as BORING AF. We also have complicated AF where one patients’ ailment becomes our soul mission to treat, depending on the day.

I have to mention the voice. The MA voice. We ALLLLL have one. “Cary? Hi Cary welcome in! How are you feeling today? No worries, we’ll getcha some help and get you on home!!” 

Followed by: Height, weight, allergies to non-medicine things, allergies to medicine things, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, medication list (I’ve seen 4 pages NOT double spaced front and back—this was an elderly person), favorite color, have you had your pap this year, are you suffering from SARSCOV2, your childhood pet, what you ate for breakfast, is your cough wet or dry etc.  ALL of which is usually on a sticky note novel ready to be input into the 400 year old computer system after you’ve compiled 10 of these notes just in time for lunch!

IN ALL SERIOUSNESS: MAs keep the train moving. The calling, reassuring, sending in medications, taking out the trash (and pee cups), talking, button pushing, fixing and caring that we need to provide in order to keep the peace is admirable. We often aren’t credited or talked about. Especially during covid. 

MAs in clinics were there throughout the shut downs. Some clinics never closed. Where did people go when they were way too constipated for at home treatments? What about an allergic reaction? or for a cut on their foot? Or other realms of medicine with other types of MAs. ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat), Fertility, Womens Health etc… My work is in Urgent Care and we were getting positive covid tests alongside everyone else cuts and bruises. 

MY POINT: S/o all my MAs. We work hard, and sometimes hate it. But often feel proud of our small wins! (when we’re not starving or sweating bullets).

My uninspired ass felt inspired by how uninspired I felt today! IFKYK.

Anyways. I wrote this on my Instagram today and then shared it on Facebook.

“One size does not fit all when it comes to being in our 20s.

I’m 25. This is the weirdest age I’ve ever been. People are always telling me the same thing about being 25. That is has to be the best time of my life. My 20s.

I found this article that articulates the most relatable facts about being in my 20s.

“We are growing into ourselves across a whole lifetime, not just throughout one decade. Let’s all retire the idea of our 20s as a #bestlife—and just strive for a good one.”

COVID happened. Life is happening FAST. This idea that our 20s has to be “a golden age of rootless freedom and fearless exploration and, somewhat contradictorily, the time when you’re meant to figure out your career, your relationships, and your life goals…” creates immense pressure and has felt unrealistic.

Being 25 is f****ing hard and weird and exhausting. There are beautiful moments & cherished moments.

But there are also days I wish we could forget or days where confusion and sadness creep in with the insecurity of what the world will be like as time goes on.

For anyone who needs to hear this, your whole life is a journey. The now is simply the now and life is indeed what you make it… but your 20s DO NOT have to be the most amazing part of your life. We are loving, learning, working, creating, and struggling. We’re looking forward and doing the best we can, your best is all you can do sometimes and that can look different day to day.”

I drew inspo from an amazing article from a freelance writer. Check it out here!

SO. You’re here! Amazing. This is my version of risk. I’m 25. I’m blogging. I started this in a coffee shop during what I consider my “quarter life crisis.” Let me back up. I graduated undergrad in 2019 with plans to pursue PA school (physician assiatant school), which is kinda like Med school except your mental health has a fighting chance. Then I went into the work force as a medical assistant. BOOM. COVID destroyed the world. 2022 is here and now IDK what the f*ck is going on. Hence: quarter life crisis mode is full speed ahead.

I am in a long term relationship. I’m on my third round of Invisalign/braces. I have a coffee addiction (no really, I get headaches). What smells like it died? Oh yeah, my finances. BUT, given the weird shit and exhausting day to day of being a confused “in-between-er” (between kid and adult I think?), there is GOOD.

I have a dog. A cute ass dog. My friends are dope, all 2.5 of them (JOKING, I love u all). My parents like pot and my sister is an artist (I’ll plug her info later). I LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH in Portland OR! The “weirdest” place on Earth (not our greatest achievement but whatever makes us stand out I guess). Anyways, there is happiness in the lull of this strange decade.

HOWEVER HERES MY ISSUE: Everyone keeps telling me that my 20s are supposed to be this amazing time to explore and have all this freedom and Im so young so I should be happy and carefree!! BUT ALSO find a secure career path, a proper home, lasting love (and babies, range rovers, green smoothies and planter boxes I built myself) and I guess eat right?? It’s a lot. This ideal assumes that everyones circumstances and situations are all the same like a “one-size-fits all,” but thats just not true. I did (or kind of do??) have a plan. The plan was to finish all my pre-reqs and then go off to PA school, graduate, find a job and then idk marriage or something some day.

I read this amazing article that argues that the pandemic has made people realize that the idea of “dream job” is dead– and we’re better off prioritizing our own lives over our nine-to-fives. This feels more true than ever. PA school has been a dream for the last few years but now that I’m in a position to actually shoot my shot, I’m questioning whether or not the huge undertaking (mentally, financially and physically) is actually what I want (let alone need) right now.

Bottom line: being 25 simply isn’t all glam. Im not traveling around the world, I don’t have tons of money and I am struggling with my career, relationships, habits. I just think young people (and people in general) forget that we have our entire lives to grow and change and be who we desire to be. It doesn’t have to come to fruition before we hit 30, unlike society says. Sh*t, I don’t really know what to do with my life so I started a blog? LOL.