I would like to take this moment to personally apologize to your Instagram feed, because everything else on it is no match for "hot doctor" Dr. Mike, who just took the Internet by storm. The second-year medical resident and his trusty husky sidekick Roxy are singlehandedly filling every void in your heart with their adorable selfies. This is basically the best thing to happen to the medical community since Scrubs. (Fight me, Grey's Anatomy fans.)
The actual Dr. Mike of lore spoke to us on the phone today to explain the secret to his Instagram success. "Honestly, it was me just having an Instagram just like everybody else, posting things I was doing, putting up pictures of my dog," he said. "I think that's the secret — they really follow me for my dog, not me."
I'm guessing that his 300,000 followers might disagree, seeing as how this is clearly a team effort between man and man's best (ridiculously adorable) friend. The dynamic duo have been together for five years going strong, and the last three years of Instagram is a testament to their unbreakable friendship. Are you ready for this? (Spoiler alert: You're not. But hey, if these Instas make your heart burst, I hear there's a really ~hot doctor~ on call.)
If you look up #SquadGoals in the dictionary, it is actually just that picture of Dr. Mike and Roxy. Here are a few pics of Dr. Mike on the job that broke the internet this week:
Stethoscopes improve your selfie game at least 67 percent. I read it somewhere. (ScIeNcE.)
Scrubs on fleek, y'all. (Emoji game is also strong.)
"The response has been really overwhelming. People are really sweet," said Mike of all the insane attention the pictures have gotten. He has been fortunate to be able to use his Insta-success as a platform for charity work, getting people out to events, and helping out med students, college students, and even high schoolers who have reached out to him for advice.
Of course, Roxy also has her own brand of sage wisdom that we should all be paying attention to.
That's right. Roxy doesn't even have opposable thumbs, and she takes a better selfie than you do. She's putting all of us millennials to shame.
Mike has had Roxy since she was a wee three-month-old pup. He said that after the passing of his mother while he was in medical school, he and his father needed something to cheer them up and focus their efforts into something positive again. "We always wanted a dog," he said. "I thought it was the perfect time to get a dog. She's turned out to be one of the greatest blessings of my life ... I feel like she sort of carries my mom's spirit inside of her."
He told us that his ultimate goal in sharing these snippets of his life on Instagram are to dispel traditional ideas about choosing the path he has. "Usually, there's that stigma that you have to give up your life to study medicine. I've kind of battled that stigma my whole life, showing that you can be a normal person, have a social life — you know, enjoy your hobbies while still becoming a doctor," he said.
"I really want people to not give up on their dreams just because they're afraid of losing something in their life they have now ... It's just not the case. All you have to do is plan accordingly," he said.
And, you know. Have a BFF to see you through it.
Images: Courtesy of Dr. Mike
