Seeing patients

After the landmark legalization of same-sex marriage a day after my birthday on June 26th, 2015, I’m sure there was a cascade of “am I gay?” thoughts amongst the general population, for what does it mean to be truly gay? The jury’s still out on that one. Yet, for the first time, there was reason to act for those who were curious. Thus, there was a window of opportunity, if you will, to meet individuals in a relatively safe, documented form utilizing smartphone technology. This window, I’m sure, will soon close as I predict the definition of ‘gay’ will become increasingly more strict as society advances and new rules–both spoken and unspoken–are created in the war zone that is gay dating.

Yet, impelled both by my onset of mental illness along with medications I would later learn may contribute to a state of elevated impulsivity, I dove into the unknown through the dating apps and began “seeing patients” in the general population in a metaphorical sense. When I first started, I had just taken a leave of absence after completing my M2 year of medical school, and my first encounter was at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton, California. Not a bad venue for your first time.