This is my final takeaway of this project. I was given the opportunity to shadow Dr. Vallurupalli, a cardiologist at Sutter Medical Hospital. From this experience, I was able to see medical procedures, surgeries, and interactions that allowed me to expand my understanding of the medical field. I am all the more excited to (hopefully!) be a cardiologist in the future, with all of the new experiences I have. Since a young age, I have been aware of how difficult the journey to achieving this dream is and the difficulty of the actual job put a lot of pressure on me. However, I wanted to explore it further and identify whether I could really handle it. Doctors are surrounded by pain, stress, and grief, 3 emotions that humans tend to stray away from. When you are a doctor, it is your job to involve yourself in each one of these. By analyzing a multitude of medical studies through these blogs, I think it became clear that doctors develop their own coping mechanisms to deal with simply their job, but a large part of this potential “discomfort” is solely created by the doctor-patient relationship. This makes me more aware, as a patient, of how my doctor is positively or negatively affected by my actions. We can also see this as an indication of why it is so necessary for humans to be kind to others, regardless of class, gender, or race, as we are affected by emotions in the same way. This project truly allowed me to expand myself and I hope it did that for you as well. Please feel free to contact me with questions about this project or requests for further explanation of a certain subject.