Accompanying patients in their most difficult moments is a responsibility, but it is also a privilege

From an early age, Dr. Lemuel Martínez, closely experienced the world of medicinebut not as a distant observer, but as a recurring patient. His frequent asthma crises led him to spend long hours in offices and hospitals, where doctors They became family figures.

“I was a rather sick child, I had episodes where asthma attacked me and it was very difficult for my family … that usual contact in those exacerbations with many doctors It was something in positive essence … I began to see these people who dedicate themselves all the time to help. “

But it wasn’t just his own health that approached him to the medicine. A traumatic incident in his family ended up consolidating his respect for the profession. when he was about eight years old, his mother was hit by a lost bullet, suffering a serious injury.

“Health personnel, nurses, doctorssurgeons, everyone was very proactive driving my mother and saving her life, “he says.” That marked me a lot, see how they can save a loved one. ”

Although his inclination for medicine He was present since childhood, when he reached adolescence, Dr. Lemuel began to doubt. His mathematics skills led him to consider other careers, such as industrial engineering, which promised economic stability without the same level of sacrifice. In fact, he was admitted at the university of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez to study that discipline.

But a casual encounter in the Church changed his perspective, because while he talked with a relative about his experience as an engineer, he confessed something unexpected: “If he could go back, he would have studied music.”

That confession, deeply resonated to the young Lemuel. “Not because of the fact of music, but as he talked about that theme with a lot of passion,” he explains. “That moment marked me greatly because I understood that the person, although economically was fine, always left that thorn,” he mentions that thanks to this conversation, he made a decision:

“It was a moment where I opened my eyes and said: I have to study medicine Because this really is what calls me. “

The expert comments to MSP magazine, what, when entering the university, initially opted for natural sciences, but soon felt that something was missing. “When I took botany or zoology, I felt a certain emptiness,” he confesses. It was then that he discovered high school in human biology at the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón enclosure, a more aligned program with their interests doctors.

“That was the second big step in my life,” he says. Although classes were more difficult, motivation was different: “It was what I was looking for, what was interested in studying.”

During his training at the Central University of the Caribbean, Dr. Lemuel noticed that certain issues, such as antibiotics And microbiology, they were especially complex. Instead of avoiding them, he decided to face them. “When I started studying the part of antibioticsI felt that I did not dominate them … that led me to look for more information, microbiology books, and every time I was more interested.

That curiosity led him to the Infectologya field in which today is an expert.

Certainly, the doctor acknowledges that the medical profession is demanding and emotionally unpacking, but also a privilege. “Accompanying patients in their most difficult moments is a responsibility, but it is a big privilege,” he says. “Being next to patients who have some condition, a suffering, means not only being the doctor, being the psychologist, being the friend, being the person who explains what is happening, what will happen.”

The infectologist mentions that “one always leads patients in the mind everywhere”, so to maintain balance between their personal life and their work, prioritizes family support, meditation and exercise. “To continue helping for many years, part of my responsibility is to take care of myself, both in emotional health and in physics … without family support, one cannot,” he reflects.

Finally, for young people who are debated today between following the path of the medicine or choose others ProfessionsDr. Lemuel advises from a human perspective, born of his own experience. He acknowledges that at present, students face unique pressures: “We are in some times that I believe that for youth it is very relevant, because life is every time it is faster.”

“Everyone has some skills, each one has strengths … when one is inclined in science and medicineone can see the long and tedious path and scare, and that is normal. “However,” if that is the call and seed one has in your heart, you must follow it, “he concludes.