Endoscopy

The guru of good habits Stephen Covey once wrote, "Between what happens to us in life and our reaction is a space. In that space lies our power and freedom to choose our responses. In our responses lie our growth and happiness."

He had a point. It's often far more difficult to choose the weather of our mind than it is to wait for perfect weather. With that concept in mind, I've been learning not to control everything, but to control how I feel and react. Regardless of what the weather is like, I choose not to feel under the weather.

Recently, stomach pain woke me up twice. I realized that it's better to get an upper endoscopy examination. That means inserting a tube with camera through my mouth and into my stomach. That isn't a terrible medical procedure but most of us can think of a dozen reasons why we should have sedation medication: to help us rest and relax, to avoid discomfort, to go asleep without remembering the tube scratching the throat.

But then, I wish to go back to work immediately after the endoscopy examination. I did that today and sailed through the procedure smoothly without any need of sleep medication. Fifteen minutes and - ta-da! - I was back to clinic seeing patients.