I fell ill with a rare disease and was thrust into the unforgiving medical world. While being treated through surgeries and medications, I developed skills I never knew I had. Unfortunately, the hospital became my second home and I experienced the real world of medicine which wasn't very pretty. I had become not only a patient but a caregiver. Through all of these trying times I went back to school to get my master's degree in journalism and I also took medical classes such as anatomy and physiology. I learned more about healthcare and its' politics then I cared to know - from hospital administration to children with cancer and everything in between. Real life lessons not learned from books alone.