Once upon a time...

Well, I thought I would begin where I left off - pediatrics. Definitely surprised by finding out that this speciality was not for me. I, along with many of my classmates were having a hard time getting a great teaching experience in this rotation as there were not any residents to work with. We had some time on the floor, outpatient clinic, PICU and dabbled in a few curbside days in endocrine and allery clinic. Really, I have to say that this was probably one of my rotations I have to say the least about. I thought a long time ago I would be working with children, particularly in hematology/oncology but that is no longer the case. While I enjoy seeing kids, I came to a single realization. If I were to do peds, I would have to specialize - meaning it would be at least 5-6 years of post graduate training. There is no way I could do general medicine for children. All the well-child visits were just a little too monotonus to bear with the crying, screaming, etc. Just not in the cards for me but this was good! Narrowing down my options for residency.

Then came the big day... MOVING DAY OUT OF SAGINAW!!!

The day I handed in my apartment keys and permanently moved home was more than I could ever explain. Now, being done with my 16 months on the island, 5th semester gone and my nearly entire 3rd year away from home, it was time - my time to come home and yes, as I can say now since I am now months out of this time, permanently.

As soon as I came back home it was a great weekend back then onto my greatest challenge yet - Beginning at Henry Ford Hospital for my internal medicine rotation! Really I felt that IM was the route that I was going to take as it was June and application season began early in July to start working on applications. I could write for hours, no, days on this topic. I absolutely had the best months of my medical education here. This rotation consisted of three months. The first was a specialized floor, just randomly picked for me but in guess what? Heme/Onc! It was a fabulous month and definitely one I will be elaborating on in the future. My second month was in a general medicine floor that was absolutely bustling with business, a very fast-paced and high turnover floor. My last month was in outpatient clinic which was a nice break form the q4 calls.

Of course, nothing during this time could compare to August 1st, 2009. That's right everyone, I am now a happily married woman! Tony and I are married and it was the most wonderful day in my life! Now, I know alot of people say that because maybe they have to but I'm telling you it was SO FUN! Our reception rocked so much that no one even left, we had to be kicked out to close the place down! The wedding actually took place between my 2nd and 3rd months of my IM rotation. I was SO lucky because I realized that I scheduled 13 weeks instead of 12 for my rotation. So I had to drop a week. I strategically placed it a week after my 2nd month ended, so I acutally ended up with a whole week off before the big day! It worked out awesome and have God to thank for that little blessing! Also, my attending for outpatient clinic allowed me to come in the following Wednesday to begin my outpatient month so I could enjoy a long weekend with my new husband! So kind of him! Of course, with school and his work we just couldn't take time for a honeymoon (which was later taken in December, three days in Waikiki and a seven day hawaiian cruise!!!) but we were able to drive up north the day after the wedding and relax together in peace and quiet! :)

Then it was back to work. Outpatient clinic began but it was much lighter than my inpatient months so it still felt like a vacation. I will be commenting on my IM rotation I am sure multiple times, perhaps one month per blog entry to catch up but they were wonderful. Internal medicine is truly the most facinating residency in my eyes. You get the best of all worlds and see everything! So by this time, my application was submitted the first week of September - and yes I have applied for a categorical position in internal medicine!

While we are on this topic, I might as well comment that I limited myself by applying to only local hospitals. I was told this was a dangerous strategy as I might not match but I knew that I would never want to move again and if that meant that I would have to match next year, so be it. Luckily, the interviews came rolling in! I received 8 interviews and took 6. They all went quite well actually great - I still say interviews are my thang ;). My personality has the chance to come out and I feel that I can read people and situations well to the point that I come across very personable. Throughout my interviews, I got comments back on how great my personal statement was and how impressed they were by my letters of recommendation and extracurriculars. Very positive interview season which began (surprisingly early) in late November with my last being mid-January. It was a great time but I still can't imagine being one of those people who applied to 100+ programs with over 10-20 interviews. Six was plenty for me.

As for now, I am still in my fourth year. I have some research under my belt now, a pulmonary elective and half of a GI elective down with only this month, two weeks of anesthesiology and one month of infectious disease to go! 2010 has been great to me so far!

I think though that I have quite a few topics to talk about in future blogs, that is if anyone ever looks back on this since I have been quite inconsistent over months and months... To be honest, I want to keep up with this blog. I think I have missed out on giving advice, venting and reaching others interested in this field by stopping my entries. It be nice to hear if anyone would even still be interested in me continuing but maybe I just will anyway for me :)! I will plan on talking about my floor months of IM, application process, interviews and catching up with my electives/research that I have been doing over the past few months. Let's see how well I do!