Wait....what am I supposed to do now?

After 3+ years of studying pretty much every day, my last test of med school is officially over! I got my step 2 CK score back this past wednesday and now I really don't know what to do with my days!

I'm in the process of working on my application...Mid september will be coming soon enough, but really other than that...so much time and so little to really do.

As of yesterday I finished my internal med sub-I and can say it's official that I'll be applying for Internal Med come this fall. It's nice to know what I want to do with my life...I can't imagine the people who are still unsure this late in the game.

During 3rd year it was hard to get out and really enjoy much outside of the hospital. There was always a test, or an eval or something to be working on. As a 4th year, especially now that my Sub I is over, most of those worries are over. Obviously you still want to do well and impress, but the worry of a test is no longer there. As a 3rd yr I promised I would do more come 4th year and it's already starting to look that way. I just booked my ticket home for a wedding mid-september and i'm heading back to Indy in October for the colts/broncos football game....probably the last time manning will play in indy...should be a good time.

Hopefully I can get a few more things under my belt before interview season starts, but regardless, now that there are no more tests, I have no reason not to get out and enjoy the area.

Noxolo

Step 2 CK is in the books....

Today was my last test of med school *fingers crossed* !! After spending 9 hours sitting at a computer doing hundreds of questions it feels good to be done with tests...but it was kind of anti climatic. One, we don't get scores for 3 weeks or so...so although it feels good to be done-ish...the real fun comes once you find out what your score comes in.

I guess this signifies my transition into my last year of med school....only 26 weeks of rotations left! Pretty crazy.

Just as one thing ends, something else always starts. 1. I need to get my butt in gear for application season! I paid for my token today and i'll consider that my first step in the right direction but I have a long way to go. 2. My internal med Sub I starts on monday...and since that is what I'm applying for I should try not to suck at it too much.

This small transition kind of sums up life for someone in medicine. To the outside world this was a big deal...and to me it is as well...however, at the end of the day it's just another step down the path. The further I go, the more I realize that there really isn't an end point. There is always something more. I guess that could go for life too...and it's good to never be content.

I'll post more about what I did for CK once I get my score back and depending on if what I did paid off.

I'll also try and get a post out there for the application process/general match time line once I get my feet on the ground and get moving on it myself.


Cheers

UW

No matter where you go to med school...I think everyone can agree that doing UsmleWorld (UW) Questions is a must. 

They were great for step 1 and are hopefully pointing me in the right direction for step 2. I think i'm going to make a final push and finish the final 150 Qs on my first time through UW for CK today. Now if I can only make it through the 2000+ Qs again in the next 60ish days...plus finish USMLE Rx...and keep reading and reading and reading.

Can't wait til CK is over!

Cheers

Okay...blogging on a regular basis is harder than it seems...but I really should be better at it than I am...

After some pushes from family members saying I havent posted in a while..here we go.

Overall, life is good and I don't have anything to complain about.

Since my last post....I finished up OBGYN, took the shelf, started peds and ramped up my CK/CS studying.

OB= lots of fun...loved delivering babies.
GYN= meh, the OR is always interesting to me but GYN problems are not my cup of tea.

Shelf exams and I really don't see eye to eye. I have yet to find a good way to study for them so now I choose to just wing it and hope I learned enough on the rotation to pull through...and so far so good.

When I started med school I thought for sure I would want to do pediatrics. I love kids, kids usually love me...this would be perfect....then I started peds.

My first 4 weeks I was on outpatient...it was interesting/repetitive. Luckily I was in an office that saw a TON of patients...I mean >300 a day! So...not only did I get to see my share of ear infections, upper respiratory infections, flu, strep throat, etc....I was also able to see a few interesting/more rare things. HSP (Henoch-Schonlein purpura), post viral myositis, and PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and adenitis) to name a few.

Next up I did 2 weeks of inpatient and actually really liked it. I had some really cool kids and great attendings that really made the experience.

Now i'm finishing on NICU and it's been good so far....but I'm only a week in.

I love dealing with the kids but hate dealing with the parents. I also really don't like that a lot of the time, especially in outpatient there really isn't anything for a Dr to do. If a pt comes in with a URI...all you can do is treat symptomatically and really, the parents could have done that at home to begin with. If anything, this has further solidified my desire for IM.

In other news....70ish days until I'm done with tests for med school! (hopefully!)

I scheduled my CK for the end of June and CS is in early May...hopefully the first and last time I take either of them

Cheers for now

It has been a while...

So...I realize I havent posted in quite a while.

1. Surgery finished strong...all in all it was a good time. The residents were great, the attendings were helpful, but by no means would I ever choose to go into surgery simply because of the lifestyle. The OR time was rewarding and so was the floor medicine...but the lack of life outside of the hospital for the next 6+ yrs of my life at least is enough for me not to pursue it.

2. Spending 2 weeks at home over xmas break was exactly what I needed after 3 months of surgery.

3. Getting to see some of my best friends from undergrad in milwaukee, some of which I havent seen in years was a great time. I can really appreciate our friendships more and am thankful to have met such great people. It always amazes me that even if we havent seen/talked in a while, the minute we get back together it's as if we were back on campus and nothing has changed.

4. I'm currently on my last of 4 weeks on OB...soon to be followed by 4 weeks of GYN. OB has been great so far...there is something amazing about bringing another life into this world...especially when you're allowed to actually be that person who brings them in and not just a bystander. Ive been in on a few dozen deliveries so far, and have even gotten to deliver by myself, with the attending and resident right next to me, a couple of times now...pretty awesome.

5. The other night when I was on nights I had the final confirmation that the OR is not for me. One of the OBGYN attendings was talking with me the other day and the Q of what do you want to do inevitably came up. I said IM, but tossed in that I liked the OR so who knows. He brought up the great divide....are you a cutter?...because you're either a cutter or you're not...and I couldn't agree more. I enjoy the OR, I really do, but I simply enjoy doing procedures. So...as of now, i've officially ruled out Surg and OB/GYN and am 99.5% sure I will be applying to IM come this fall....plenty of time to change that though.

6. I've always said cardiology, cardiology, cardiology....I think that goal may have changed as well. GI has always interested me and even more so lately...plus they get to do a lot of procedures. BUT, pulm/critical care has also jumped way up on my list. It's always new and exciting, you get to do procedures and you get to have a huge impact.

7. I got signed up for my 4th yr electives...kind of scary! As of now I'm doing an I'M sub I, GI, neurology, radiology, Family med, ICU and CVICU

I think that's about it for now....

Cheers

2 weeks to go...

Final 2 weeks of surgery anddddd I'm ready for the 2 week break that follows finishing! Kind of crazy to have been going every day since early July with no real break. Is this what real life is like? Everyone said clinicals was a lot better than basic sciences and on one hand I do agree. In clinicals at least we get to apply what we've learned to real situations, however, I think you're even more busy (or should be). Not only do you spend 8-12+ hours at the hospital each day, you're still expected to study outside...and needless to say...there is just as much, if not more to study now than in basic sci. These past 10 weeks have been pretty much a joke for studying..the last thing I want to do after being at the hospital for 12+ hours is go home and read or do Qs. Most of my studying comes on the weekends and even that can be a struggle at times. I finally put together a little study schedule for these last 2 weeks so hopefully I can get a good amount done. Time will tell...surgery shelf is in 11 days and then hopefully home in 12 or 13 days...crazy how fast it has gone!

In other news, I signed up for step 2 CK and CS....$2165 later of course! Ill be heading to Chicago in mid march for CS and most likely take CK at the end of June depending on how I'm feeling/how much studying I can get done in March/April.

These chairs are starbucks are not so comfy today so...off to the groc store before some more Qs this afternoon.

Cheers

3 weeks and 2 days left!

Who would have thought that surgery would fly by as much as it has!? It's crazy that I only have 2 more days of colorectal and then 3 final weeks on vascular! No joke, I think I'm going to miss it a little. The OR keeps growing on me. Even doing simple bed side procedures are more and more enjoyable....but still no way I would want to do 5+ years of surgery residency! I think a lot of it has to do with how great the residents are. I don't know if i've just been lucky or what the deal is but the residents I've gotten to work with have all been amazing. They're always there to teach and have fun doing whatever we are up to. I never feel pressured or over worked. I really couldn't as for a better experience, especially given that coming into surgery I thought I would hate it for sure.

Noxolo

Who would have thought...

Kind of shocking, but 5 weeks of surgery are done...7 to go! I still really don't like the long hours we have as students...heck, the residents and attendings are at the hospital more than we are....but then again I think they're crazy so yah.

To be honest, I kind of really like surgery now. Not so much rounds/consults, but the OR is a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Maybe it's because I get to do more than I thought I would and actually feel like I can be of some help.

Favorite OR Quotes:

"Surgery is a contact sport"

"hold it like you mean it"

"boo"


Noxolo

Scratch that...

Week 2 is done...officially 1/6 of the way done with surg andddd the next 10 weeks can't go by fast enough. I really don't know why anyone would choose to live at the hospital like general surgeons do. I'm there generally 5am-5pm and I know the residents are there longer than I am for the most part....sounds like no life and no fun to me. The OR is still a lot of fun, but I miss the medical management that was integral in IM.

Oh well. At least it's cooled down, the trees have changed and football is in full swing....give me something to look forward to when I'm not at the hospital and not sleeping...

noxolo

Maybe surgery isn't sooo bad after all....

My first week of surgery is officially in the books....only 11 more weeks and 3 weekend calls to go!

Overall, surgery is a lot better than I thought it would be, but there is still no way i'd want to pursue it. The OR is a lot of fun and definitely the highlight of the rotation, but I don't love it enough to give up patient care....plus the hours suck. So far I've scrubbed in on 3 cases which have all been unique in their own way. One was a Lap distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy, one thyroidectomy and one ventral hernia repair. It's been interesting bringing back all my anatomy and actually applying it. I think surgery is the one place that you actually need to know where something should be, but also where else it could be.

One bad thing about surgery is that when I get home the absolute LAST thing i want to do is study. Sooo I'm finding it hard to get a chance to do anything more than read up on what ever case I may scrub. I guess that's what weekends are for?

Noxolo

Bang bang

The other day on living social they had a deal for target shooting for an hour for 2 people at a place in Livonia. Since my roommate has NEVER shot a gun, and we dooo live in the D, I figured it would be a good experience. We get an hour of range time, ear/eye protection, targets, two 9mm's and ammo...all for $28! I'm not sure when we'll go since I start surgery tomorrow...but hopefully sooner than later! I went to a different range about a month ago now, tons of fun! (If that's what you're into I guess)

In other news....MN football is somehow 4-0!? Pretty sure that hasn't happened since I was back in undergrad..which feels like forever ago. I might have to see if they play out here this season and get some tickets.

Cheers

IM...done!

So, my first rotation of 3rd year is done! I took the internal medicine shelf this morning and pending some sort of catastrophe on thattttt I am done with IM. It's pretty bitter sweet. I really enjoyed IM and have all but decided that is the route I want to take for residency! I still need to do a sub-I and a few electives to further solidify, but that's the way it's looking as of now.

Up next, surgery....welp. We'll see...it's going to be a longgg 3 months. The hours are looking like 5am-5pm, plus Q6 call.

In other news....I recently got a Keurig! It's pretty darn amazing. The chai latte, coffee and tea are all really good.

It's weird to have a free weekend...it has been a while. We'll see if I get anything done, might just need to relax.

As for the IM shelf...I really dislike when you take tests and about half way through you realize there was no good way to study for it. I did quite a bit of studying for IM...between step up to medicine, kaplan lecture notes, UW and USMLE Rx....I put in a few hours to say the least. However, there were still tons of Qs on there that were simply out of left field. I guess we'll see when scores come back in a few weeks.

Noxolo

and it continues...

So I guess it's been a little bit since I updated....in all fairness I've been kept pretty busy!

Lets see...as of now I have 2 more weeks of IM left! I started on a new team this month and it's crazy how different teams can be. It's still a ton of fun and I learn a lot, but it's just different. Here are a couple of pictures from last months team. Our attending was really nice and took us out to lunch on one of our last days.

Coming up in 2 weeks I also have the IM shelf which will be a little weird. It'll be the first test i've taken since step 1 a little over 6 months ago...crazy!

As for now, back to studying and trying to stay sane! At least football started and the weather is cooling down!

Noxolo

Another week done...

It's crazy how fast the time flies by! This week I was on night call, my first of many, and it wasn't too shabby. I think half of that has to do with having great residents to work with. We never really get scutted out and they love to talk and teach about PE skills or work ups on patients. With that...our attending right now is amazing as well. She really takes time to work through differentials and treatments for our patients even if they are very basic such as asthma or ACS. What is now second nature to her is somewhere in our minds...just not as organized and fluent as it should be. It's going to take one heck of a team to top this one next month but from the general consensus around here is that everyone is great soooo we'll see.

We have had a lot of lectures this week and I can honestly say i've taken something away from all of them...which is a rare feat in todays world where we have far too many lectures IMHO.

I really need to get back on my studying...night call really threw me off by a few days trying to catch up with sleep. Oh well.

Noxolo

It always gets busy at the end

Yesterday was my first day on call and it wasn't too shabby. Here we are on Q4 call meaning we're on call every 4th day. We also alternate between day and night call. So either 7am-7pm or 7pm-7am. Yesterday I was on day call and of course it was slow. I mean really slow. Until the last couple of hours which is exactly what you would expect to happen.

It was nice to kind of have a more relaxing day, get a little bit of studying done and see how the residents handle their busy work when we were in a lull. I couldn't be more happy about our team this month. My Jr, Sr and attending all really enjoy teaching and make sure to stop and always keep us involved whether it be through pimping, PE skills or just running through protocol work ups on our patients. It has all been really fun up til now, but having a solid team who is willing to teach and recognize where we are in our training is the cherry on top.

Yesterday I also had my first admit which I was completely nervous for...why...I have no clue. So when you're on call your Sr will get a call from the ER and then someone, usually the med student, will go down and see the patient in the ER. We take a complete H & P, talk it over with our Jr, who then also has to see the patient and fill in/double check the important info we gathered.  I think I was really fortunate to have a patient who was very lively, friendly and kind of just along for the ride.

I think both of my patients were DC'd today so tomorrow may be a pretty quiet one. Which is never really the case...always studying, presentations, meetings, lectures, etc....but..it's fun. Even though I've only been on inpatient for all of 5 days now, I think I could see myself doing this....I guess we'll see

Noxolo

A whole new world....

Today was my first day of inpatient and let me say, it's a whole different world than outpatient. I like some aspects, others not so much...I guess it's just different. There is nothing like being back to the bottom of the totem pole....We have our attending, a Sr resident, 2 Jr residents, a 4th year Med Sub-I, another 3rd year med student and a post intern year doc acting as an observer this month. Needless to say, our team of 7 could beat just about any other IM team in a tug of war match this month!

In outpatient my days were more 8-4...see a patient, present, see with the Dr, then move to the next. With inpatient there are a lot more lectures (resident lectures, student lectures) and we all round on all our patients together...then more lectures. Either way I feel like I'm learning which is good, but it makes me feel like I know nothing still because it is never ending.

Such is life.

Noxolo

Boom...outpatient is done

So, today I wrapped up my last day of outpatient IM. It's kind of weird knowing I won't be back that office for quite some time. I'll try and swing back to say hey sometime while I'm still around here but my schedule will keep me pretty busy. Given that it was my first rotation and did a lot of my "firsts" there it will definitely be missed. However, on to more exciting things with inpatient.

Cheers

1 month done...almost

So, come Tuesday, I'll have my first month done....crazy. It's amazing to me how fast these past few weeks have gone. I knew i'd be kept busy with the clinic plus studying, however I didn't think it would all go THIS fast. Come wednesday I move back to inpatient for 2 months so that will be a nice change of pace.

All in all, outpatient has been a great experience. It's given me an interesting perspective on medicine simply based on the population base in the clinic I'm at. Family, friends, musicians, athletes, homeless, CEO, retired; the list is never ending. The ability to communicate problems with a wide array of patients is really a skill all by itself.

My one gripe with outpatient is....drugs! In school we learn all pharm by generic names...whereas now in outpatient I feel like everything is done by trade names! Plus when you throw in all the combo drugs it gets to be a headache. I think i'm finally getting a hold of it now though, of course right when I'm finishing. I've heard that inpatient is mainly generics so that'll be a little better for me.

On another note, the olympics started which is always fun. It's crazy to think that 4 years ago I was watching most of them in Sanford during CA training. A lot has happened in 4 years and it's crazy to imagine what will happen between now and 2016 in Rio.....

Yeah this post was all over the place...which sums me up right now. 2098323 things going on and even more that i'm probably forgetting! Today I worked on my CV which makes me want to kick myself for not working on it as I did things these past few years....would have saved some time.

Noxolo

Hump day

1. It cooled off some today....thank goodness!

2. Reps brought breakfast (starbucks and muffins/donuts), lunch (pitas) and a snack (coldstone ice cream) today...needless to say it was a good day.

3. So in basic sciences when you're face deep in a book trying to learn all these drug side effects and random disease facts you honestly think WHEN will I ever see a patient with this or that. Well, today was one of those days for me. It's always interesting and invigorating  to see the details you've learned in the past. To me, it helps put all the work into perspective. We're past the phase of learning to pass the test; we're on to learning to help patients (granted that has been the ultimate goal from day 1, it's a little harder to appreciate the knowledge until you get legitimate patient interaction).

Cheers

Monday funday

Today was a new day, new doc and new pts. I'll say this, lots of patients means keeping me super busy and thus the time FLIES by at the office. All in all it was a solid day filled with murmurs, bruits, SOAP notes and cortisol shots. Just another day in the life....

Oh and trying to study after I get home sucks! Honestly it's the last thing I want to do buttttt it has to get done...

Noxolo