“Welcome to the Jungle

We’ve got fun and ‘n’ games

We got everything you want

Honey, we know the names

We are the people that can find

Whatever you may need

If you got the money, honey

We got your disease”

Axl Rose’s voice roared over the loudspeaker as I sang along with a bar code scanner doubling as my microphone. “Welcome to the Jungle” seemed quite the appropriate theme song for where I found myself at 3AM on a recent Wednesday morning: an enormous warehouse on the outskirts of Lexington, KY.

But how the hell did I get there?

One day in July 2013, while on a month-long break from medical school, I found myself dreaming about what I would do during the 8-month break I would soon have between finishing medical school and starting Residency.

During that day-dream, I found myself:

a) in the outback of Australia, rough-housing with cuddly koalas and lacing…