Month Early Career Award: From Pediatric Ninjutsu to Pediatric Psychology

摘要

I would love to start this article by saying that I was born to be a pediatric psychologist, that I knew from infancy this is what I wanted to do, and that this is all I have ever dreamed of. Of course we all know that this is untrue or at least greatly exaggerated. Truthfully, my childhood career aspirations included being a ninja, an astronaut, or the pilot of a fighter jet that turned into a robot (this was so I could protect the planet from alien invaders who were 30 feet tall). This all changed in the fall of 1981. At 6 years of age, 1 spent 2 weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit at Stanford Hospital, admitted for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA, or "Dead Kid Already" as they called it on the unit). My recollection of the education provided to me at the time was as follows: (1) you can never eat sugar again, (2) you have to take one shot a day for the rest of your life, and (3) there was no chance ever of being a pilot or astronaut because "diabetics can't fly planes" (remember this was 1981). So at the tender age of 6, having been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, my desired career choices were quickly narrowing (aside from being a ninja of course). I needed a new profession.