It was. I was Third Yr Med then. I brought it up to my parents. My father was so disgusted!

"Nag doktor ka pa?! Sana nag-aral ka na lang kay Ricky Reyes!"

That was 2003ish. I shelved the idea. Until the calling called again https://twitter.com/toothmousse/status/1245730729234964480

Around 2004 I thought of being a plastic surgeon. Every lunch time I would go to the Med Lib to read on plastic surgery journals. Perfect for me! I have eyes for beauty. There was just one problem.

I LOVE TO SLEEP.

Antok na antok ako pag nasa OR. Siguro dahil walang masyadong nagsasalita pag may gawa. Or dahil sa anesthesia sa hangin? Ewan

By 4th year I crossed out Surgery.

5th year I still wanted to be a surgeon. I said to myself I'll just concentrate in one area...the head! Tutal gusto ko namang magpaganda ng mukha. Eh ang mukha...nasa head

So...Otorhinolaryngology (ENT)!

At that time I had an uncle with a neck mass. I was so enthusiastic that an ORL doctor would diagnose his condition. It was TB! Of course! But 2 months into treatment my uncle did not improve. Later we found out he had lung cancer. He died.

That kinda pulled me away from ORL.

Graduation came and I didnt know what to do. I didn't know what I wanted. I was lost. My three-year journey of discovering my purpose started when I returned my toga to the Office of the Dean.

"Where do we go from here? This isn't where we intended to be."

I wanted to be something else but what, I didn't know.

In the pursuit of being different, I learned acupuncture as part of the requirements to be a traditional medicine doctor in Denmark.

The entire endeavor failed.

When that didn't happen, my closest friends convinced me to work in the US. I finished all steps of USMLE. In between exams I worked for the Health Policy Development Program of the UP School of Economics. I've already told this part of my life in detail in my my TED Talk.

I spent two years waiting for a life in the US to happen...but it never happened.

When I was thinking about going into residency in PGH Derm, there were two questions that I had difficulty in answering.

"What would my classmates say? Dermatology is a laughable field."

"What would Papa say?"

But these questions faded when I asked myself.

"What do you love?"

And now here I am...having the best time of my life doing something that I am good at, something that I love, with the people I love. And what an awful great feeling to be able to help others at the same time.

Somebody up there loves this scared and insecure gay boy