The two friends are siblings (twins actually); one is a kindergarten teacher at a public elementary school in Warrensburg, and the other a medical doctor who practices internal medicine at a hospital in Dallas, TX. For the sake of not using real names we'll call the doctor friend Leia - that seems fitting. We met up on Friday night at a bar to have a few drinks and catch up with one another. We had only been there about 10 minutes when a random woman hurried over to us and frantically asked if we had any baby aspirin or any type of aspirin at all. Me being the @$$ that I am, my first thought was, "Well maybe if your baby has such a headache then he/she shouldn't be in a bar on a Friday night in the first place." (I'm kidding, and I could tell it wasn't the time to say this out loud). It seems that an elderly gentleman at the end of the bar was experiencing a "mini-stroke", or TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack for those wanting to know the official medical term). Leia went over very calmly and assessed the situation, evaluated the elderly gentleman's condition, spoke to his family and also spoke to the EMTs once they arrived and updated them on the situation and the old man's status. The elderly gentleman was taken to the hospital and our night progressed like nothing had happened. The old man's family was very thankful to Leia, and I could tell having a doctor there with the old man until the EMTs arrived really put the old man's family at ease.
I know I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I was a little excited when this situation presented itself, and here's why. I'd never seen Leia "be a doctor" in person. We grew up together and I have memories of her in high school and what not, but since she practices medicine in another state I've never gotten to see her do her thing as an adult. She's very humble when it comes to her profession - she doesn't talk about it much, and always works to downplay the fact that she's a doctor when she's around other people that she grew up with. Maybe she's just a private person, or maybe she doesn't want it to look like she's bragging that she's a supersmart doctor or something - I don't know. She's very nice and will answer any question about her job when asked, but she doesn't volunteer much information and she'll subtly steer the conversation to something else by asking someone else a question or by bringing up another topic.
It's a good thing that Leia was the doctor there at the bar on Friday instead of me, because If I had been the doctor then the situation would've been totally different. I'm sure I would've stood up, chest puffed out, and said something cheesy like, "No need to fear ma'am, I'm a doctor" while winking to the lady and then rushing over to the old man, all the while dramatic instrumental music would be playing (it would be very ER-esque, with me looking like George Clooney\Dr. Doug Ross circa 1998). I probably would've tried to score free drinks from the bar for the rest of the night, because after all, I did single-handedly save this man's life.
In all seriousness, it was a little weird to think that at any time my friend could be called upon to save a stranger's life. I'm pretty sure that there will never be a situation where I'm out socially and someone will say, "Is there a DBA here? We have deadlocking on a OLTP server and need assistance STAT" (I threw in the STAT part for effect). It just won't happen. I guess that's the responsibility that comes with those types of professions (medical doctors, law enforcement officials, etc.); always being "on call." Scary.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am very proud of my friend, and it was cool to see her do her thing in person. It's just too bad that the old man's airway wasn't blocked; maybe I could've seen Leia stab an ink pen in the old man's throat so he could breathe (how cool would that have been?!). Oh well, there's always the next time we hang out.
Song of the day: "Am I Wrong" by Love Spit Love. It's on the Angus soundtrack, and it's a good "hangin out" song.
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