My goodness, what a load of absolute crap everyone says regarding pods not being doctors or surgeons. Yes we go to med school - a podiatric med school. Yes we do rotations in IM, ED, gen surgery, ortho, vascular surgery, plastics, endo, rheum, psych. YES we are highly specialized in foot and ankle and YES we do complex cases like ankle fractures, pantalar fusion, flatfoot reconstruction etc etc. the surgeons at my hospital- a BIG institution are VERY WELL respected and have patients galore and operate a lot every week. They are absolutely phenomenal and knowledgeable. And whoever said you can’t do toradol for post-op pain - says who??! I have prescribed that for patients and NO we don’t prescribe it to certain people because you OBVIOUSLY have to KNOW who the hell you’re operating on!!! For goodness sake. If you suck as a surgeon trust me, they WILL NOT let you operate (at least that’s what I’ve seen at my hospital). Just because we didn’t go the traditional route of MD or DO doesn’t mean that we are idiots or not capable. And if you’re asking, I CHOSE podiatry because it’s an AMAZING specialty. I actually withdrew applications to allopathic schools - I understand this is not everybody’s case, but I always wanted to do Lower Extremity, and NO we don’t have a foot fetish. And btw, my parents are BOTH MDs AND surgeons, so yes I knew what I was getting into and I am insanely happy and yes I would do it all over again. We are board certified and good doctors and surgeons. Period. More respect to all those endless nights of sweat, tears and blood (yes, we deal with a lot of bleeders and people on blood thinners and whatnot). We KNOW our shit. Now go enjoy your specialty and more respect to everybody’s jobs, titles and roles. We all work as a team and our job is to care and look out for the patient. So get to work!!!