OCD

The medical school admission process selects for people who border on OCD. I would be one of those people. The reason why is because medicine is so damned detail-oriented. It's like putting together Lego's, except you read the instructions once, see it done once, and then you're expected to do it from memory. So having people who are a little neurotic sometimes helps.

And sure enough, when I'm doing my thing, I've got it down to a T. I'm ordering 5,000 labs, getting x-rays, quizzing students on the diagnostic criteria for hemochromatosis. Beware my Doctor Fu. I'll check back on things, and I'll hear, "Oh that Dr. ifinding is so thorough!" But where this spills over into my personal life can be a little annoying.

I can never remember if I locked my car. I will go back from my office or from the hospital to check and make sure I locked my car. Even now, just talking about it, I want to go and check. Even worse, my front door. I am always so glad when I have a place where the door automatically locks.

I am always worried that I left my burners going on my range, or left the toaster oven on. Every day before I leave, I have to check both to make sure they're off. This might even sound somewhat reasonable till I tell you that I've been doing this daily, but I wasn't cooking for about 2 weeks. That's right, I was checking burners that I hadn't used in 2 weeks.

I have a pathologic fear someone is trying to page me and I'll miss it. Weekends, at night, my pager is always on. It's really, really hard for me to turn it off. I'm even worse with my cell phone.

And I can't pack like a normal person. I was gone for a weekend, and when I finished packing for the trip, I had 5 days of clothing packed for a 2 days. I had packed sweaters, jeans, boots, and a jacket for 90 degree weather.

I need help.