My eyes shot open after a terrible nightmare. It was at that moment that I realized, it wasn’t just a dream. I had been placed into my favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy. My purple, polkadot pajamas had changed into blue scrubs and in my hand was a scalpel. Under me was a patient dying on the table. I had heard in movies many times before that beeping sound of the monitor when a patient's heart was slowing down. How was I supposed to know what to do? It was only my first day in this hospital!

With sweat running down my forehead, I quickly ran to Derek. Derek was my courageous, reliable, and intelligent boss. He always wore the same ferry boat scrub cap and blue scrubs while he was at work and at all times while in his OR. His scrub cap was not something important at this moment! I was in need of his help and his immediate ability to save my patient. At that moment, I discovered that my patient’s name was Greg and he was dying of a brain tumor. As I had been previously removing this tumor, I had ruptured a blood vessel and Greg was bleeding out. If anyone could repair the damage that I had done, it was Derek!

After an hour of working to save Greg and serving as Derek’s assistant, we had been able to stop the bleeding and properly remove Greg’s tumor. It was a miracle that Greg pulled through this surgery. He went into the surgery with a one in five chance of surviving and he beat the odds! I left the OR to go find Greg’s family and tell them the good news. As I approached his wife, Amy, she was extremely grateful for the successful news I had to share with her. “Thank you so much”, she said. “I can’t believe what you have done for my family! You truly are the best, here at Seattle Grace.”

Today had been a great start to my surgeon career. It’s days like today that make you realize why you have overcome eight years of school and many stressful internships and field experiences just to fulfill one dream of becoming a surgeon.

As I headed home for the night, Derek stopped me. “I would like to thank you for all of your hard work today”, he said. “You did the right thing by getting me right away. Thankfully, we were able to save Greg because of you, Meredith.”

I couldn't believe the great and encouraging words that he had said to me. I left the hospital for the evening with my head held high. The next two years working as an intern at Seattle Grace, I would be living in my mother's old home. She had passed away three years ago and I was left alone to make a future for myself. I knew that working in Seattle was my calling and I would continue to become a better doctor with the help from many known professionals at this hospital. I slipped into bed with the certainty that tomorrow would be an even better day.

It is 2:09 A.M. when I am paged to the hospital for a trauma emergency. There has been a terrible accident involving two cars hitting head on. One of the cars has been reported of being found in the river below the bridge. With a total of five injured victims, all doctors are being called in for an early morning. When I am arriving at the hospital, the ambulances are just pulling up. I sprint to the emergency wing and start preparing for the patients coming in. I was put with the first person to be found. He was a seven year old boy from the car found in the river. He was suffering from several broken ribs and a punctured lung. If this lung got any worse, surgery would have to take place to stop this boy from suffocating.

In the other emergency room, Dr. Yang was patching up a sixty-four year old lady from the car on top of the bridge. Her injuries were minor but she was still in need of a full body examination before being released. Yang worked on stitching up her arm before reporting to another case on the other side of the emergency wing.

When I returned to my patient he was smiling and talking to me like he was perfectly fine. I could not believe what I was seeing. I gave his test results a look and the only thing he needed was rest and some medication. His injuries would heal on their own and it would just take some time.

I was extremely surprised by this young boy. He was a fighter and it was truly a miracle that he was in that good of shape. My first two days working at this hospital and nothing but good has come from it. My skills as a doctor were already improving and I was learning while doing my favorite thing in the world.

I found myself back in my bed trying to catch some sleep before my shift started at eight. When I woke up after a few hours I was back at home, in my very own bed. My scrubs had turned back into pajamas and it seemed as if nothing had ever happened. Could it really be possible that it was all a dream?