Catch Up June 16, 2009

I only have 8 days left until I’m officially an intern!! I’ve been “borrowing” someone’s wireless signal until my cable/internet guy shows up…

Anyways, these past few weeks since I’ve posted have been jam-packed.  You know how it can be painful to play “catch up” with a friend you haven’t talked to in months… I’m going to spare you all the nitty gritty details.  But just like those catch up calls, I’ll just give you the highlights:

- I graduated medical school: yep, I even giggled the first time someone from the hospital called me “Dr.”  I’ve gotten better at it now.

- I went to my home town for a joint graduation party with my lil bro that graduated highschool.  It was so much fun! My favorite food – Mexican, my favorite drinks – margaritas & appletinis, and of course lots of family and friends.  I raked in lots of cash, which will get me through the next month without a paycheck, and allow me to furnish my empty second bedroom!

- While I was home I did TONS of wedding planning in just 2 days: visited 3 reception sites with my mom and fiance, tried on 28 dresses at 3 different bridal salons with my mom and sister, picked out my bridesmaids and their dresses, and bought my wedding gown.

- I was a bridesmaid in one of my close friends’ wedding.  It was beautiful… she set the bar high for my own wedding!  I definitely have to invest in waterproof mascara for my own wedding – my tears were flowing for hers. The wedding means so much when you really know both the bride and groom, and know all the work that went into the relationship and the wedding.

- I met with Employee Health and will be cleared once I get my PPD read.  I’m surprised that I’m able to type given the soreness in my arm from my Tdap shot!

- I met with my GME officer and will be cleared once I do my ACLS and BLS training over the next few days.  It was great because I received my Resident Training License!  I was also pleased to be reminded that my $600 parking will be paid for, along with 3 new white coats (my sis got me one that’s embroidered, so I’ll be wearing that while my other ones are getting embroidered too!).  I’m also ahead of the game – apparently half of the Ob/Gyn interns will be starting a week late because they didn’t get paperwork in on time… I’m pretty shocked considering most Ob/Gyn’s at academic programs are type-A.

Well that’s the last 11 days in a nutshell!  I have ACLS tomorrow and orientation in just a week from tomorrow… getting nervous, but also excited.

Senior Banquet Update June 4, 2009

As I noted in my post yesterday, I missed the big Senior Class Banquet due to my little brother’s graduation.  However, at the smaller affiliated school banquet today I got filled in on all of the details!

During the senior superlatives, the MC noted that the next particular winner had a blog.  He talked about reading the blog daily to keep up with my life.  I supposed at that point, the people in my class that knew I had a blog knew the award was for me… Most Likely to Become Department Chair!  I thought that was a good fit considering my love for orgnizations, leadership, research, and the fact that I’m going on to residency at an academic institution.  I guess we’ll see 20 years from now if that came true!

In addition to the superlatives, they distributed the yearbooks.  I can’t wait to see the yearbook since I worked on 6 of the pages.  Despite missing the drunken festivities at the senior banquet, I’m sure the yearbook will have captured the essence of many of my memories over the past 4 years.  Tomorrow I’ll be Dr. Med Obsession!  I guess I may have to adjust the header on my blog… no longer my life as a medical student; it’ll be my life as a doctor .

Congrats Lil Bro! June 3, 2009

Today my little brother graduated from high school!  My fiance and I flew up for a quick trip since he has to work tomorrow and I have yet another medschool banquet to attend.  I actually missed the big Senior Class Banquet at the school tonight for my brother’s graduation, but I know that seeing him graduate was more important than any banquet at school.  According to the Schott Foundation for Public Education, only 47% of black males actually graduate high school.  Not that I ever doubted my little brother would graduate, but I’m still very happy that he was able to beat that disappointing statistic.  Next year he will be headed to Washington, DC to attend Howard University with a major in Architecture.  He also plans to continue running track: high jump, triple jump, and long jump.  I’m very proud of him!

AOA Banquet June 2, 2009

Well I have now officially been inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha.  Earlier in 4th year I was selected and paid dues, but the ceremony had not yet been held.  It was different than other honor societies that I have been inducted into in college.  There was no oath we had to recite or true induction rights.  Anyhow, we did get a little bit of the history of AOA and our names were called as we were presented with a certificate.  We were also given a lapel pin with the University seal.

Before the ceremonial portion, we had cocktail hour.  Unlimited beer and wine plus hors d’oeurves.  I suppose since I hadn’t really eaten much all day, I really felt tipsy after just one glass of wine!  It was fun seeing several of my classmates that I hadn’t seen since Match Day.  They all were so surprised and excited for me that I had gotten engaged.  One of the great things about the night was that my mentor for Ob/Gyn was our Honorary Inductee for AOA.  It was great getting to see her one last time before going off to internship.  She was so supportive throughout the application process between selecting sub-I’s, writing me a letter of rec, reviewing my personal statement, and just general advice.  Tonight she had even more advice and well wishes for my internship and wedding planning.

After the cocktail hour and dinner, we were inducted as I described above.  It was nice to meet the 3 juniors that were selected as junior AOA as well.  The night ended with lots of pictures and smiles.  The first banquet was definitely a memorable one!

Graduation Week May 31, 2009

After 4 years… make that 21 years…. of school, this week will end with the culminating event: the Hippocratic Oath Ceremony!  Yes, I will be Dr. Med Obsession in just 5 days.  Leading up to the event our school has several festivities planned out.  There are several banquets: one for the entire class, another for our affiliated school, along with a separate one for AOA.  There is also a senior send off breakfast the morning of graduation too.  Lastly, there is the graduation and a reception following.

I can’t wait for all of the events!  It’s exciting there are so many events leading up to the big celebration.  After all, it is a pretty big deal.  I guess after attending one of my good friend’s medical school graduations a few weeks ago, I realize just how special it is.  I mean, many of us have dreamed of becoming doctors for several years (myself since age 3), and now the moment is finally here.  I can’t wait for my family and friends to arrive and share this moment with me.  I’ll be checking in with you all throughout the week!

My New Home May 27, 2009

I’ve spent the last few days moving into my new apartment, which feels more like a home now!  I arrived to my new apartment city and rented a car in order to get around in my new city until my car arrived.  My new apartment said they don’t do move-ins on Saturday, but since I was coming from out of town, they made an exception for me.  I completed my move-in inspection and was pleased to find only a few items that were in need of addressing, such as the blinds being dented or a crack in a cabinet.  Anyhow, the next day my dad and 2 sisters arrived to help me clean up the place before my stuff arrived.

Early Monday morning is when it really all began.  I returned my rental car to the airport and upon returning to my apartment my own car had arrived.  At the same time, my big rig moving truck arrived to the property.  Now neither truck felt comfortable coming through the apartment gates with their large trucks.  It wasn’t a big deal for my own car since once he unloaded it I could drive down from the street to the unit.  However, that would have been crazy to be wheeling my furniture down a hill from the main street, through the gates and to my unit.  My dad was able to convince the driver to come in through the exit gate by telling him maintence had said 2 other trucks had made it in successfully!  After convincing the driver to bring the truck in, we unloaded it all in less than 90 minutes.  It was great to have such helping hands.

We’ve spent the last few days setting up furniture, unpacking boxes, and decorating!  As you may have guessed from the italic font, the decorating was the best part.  My sister is into fashion and all that creative stuff, so she suggested a new color palette.  My dad is a painter in his spare time (he’s painted the interior of my entire home-town house).  We decided to paint 2 of the walls in the living room to have an accent wall.  Then we went to the fabric store in order to make new pillow covers for the pillows that I already had.  It was so much fun picking out the new color scheme and different fabrics.  We also bought these paintings that we staggered on my wall to really pull in all the colors together.  I had a poster from New Orleans (where I did undergrad) in a frame from my prior apartment, but there was always a strip of white space above and below.  My other sister suggested using the excess fabric from the pillows to mat the frame.  It looks great!  We also bought round colored placemats, dish towels, and cute mini candy dishes with colored marbles to spread out by the dining room and kitchen.  By decorating the living room, dining room, and kitchen on my own, I was able to spend less than $175.  For this amount of money, and a little extra time, my living room has a completely new look from my old place. 

It really feels like a home now, and it’s only been 4 days.  I’m so thankful for sisters and my dad.  They each brought in their own areas of expertise and it all pulled together nicely.

Transition to Internship May 21, 2009

As you may have gathered from my blog, the second half of 4th year is pretty relaxing.  Personally, I finished my all of my requirements for graduation on March 28.  Since then I have not even touched a book… well, except when I was packing them up for my move to my residency city!  So you can imagine, by the time I start internship, a full 3 months will have passed since I’ve been in a hospital treating a patient.  For those of you outside of medicine, that’s a long time.  There’s a reason that vacation time is limited as we started our clinical rotations.  You can get rusty pretty quick if you aren’t thinking about and practicing medicine on a daily basis.

My lovely medical school thought of a remedy for this gap in time, and for internship anxiety.  They offered a one-week “Transition to Internship” course in conjunction with our simulation center.  I am halfway through with the course and couldn’t be happier. Each day starts with 3 lectures, then a lunch break, and finally an afternoon of different simulations. So far we’ve had morning lectures on topics ranging from acute chest pain, dyspnea (shortness of breath), shock, and even a panel from current interns and cheif residents.  In the afternoon we went on to the simulator where each of us had to individually act as the patient’s doctor.  Thus far I’ve had to sort out diagnosing and treating a supraventricular tachycardia (heart beating very fast), a tension pneumothorax (lung collapse under pressure), and septic shock (inadequate blood flow to organs due to an infection).  We also had simulations where patients had problems with ventilator management, and how to place lines (arterial, central, and IV).

Talk about a crash course for internship!  Making some of these diagnoses seems simple enough, but when it’s on a patient simulator and you are watching the patient’s blood pressure tank and desat (oxygen levels drop) in front of you, you have to have a nice differential and begin treating quickly.  With the first few simulations I was pretty nervous and also frustrated on how long it takes to get a chest x-ray or labs back.  On any standardized exam, all of the info you need for a diagnosis presented in a question stem that can be read in 30 seconds or less!  The simulator forced you to use clinical judgement without all of these tests being ready instantly.  It was also funny because our attendings would act as the nurse and sometimes try to steer you wrong.  For example, for my septic shock patient my “nurse” was asking if I wanted to start dobutamine as a pressor for the blood pressure.  This is a case where you wouldn’t want to do that because the patient already has decreased vascular resistance and the drug would make it worse.  I had to tell him to start norepinephrine and the patient did alright!

What this week has showed me is several fold.  Of course, I still have so much to learn.  However, I really have come a long way from my first simulation as a 1st year where I would be afraid to speak up.  Here I was coming up with differential, ordering labs and imaging, and starting appropriate treatment on my own.  I learned when to call for help as well.  If you get to a point where you don’t know the dose… call Pharmacy.  If you are just in over your head, call your senior resident, shoot you may even have to call an attending.  And of course, get other specialties like cardiology or general surgery involved if need be.  I found this course to be invaluable and can’t wait for these next 2 days of class.  I feel a bit more ready to start internship now that my mind has been jogged.  I have to remain confident in my abilities (although not overly so) and be ready to hit the ground running in a month!

Return From Paradise May 15, 2009

I just returned from my most memorable vacation yet.  The trip to Hawaii, the Big Island, was initially meant to celebrate my completion of medical school.  What it turned into was an engagment and subsequent romantic celebration all week long!

On Sunday morning, my boyfriend picked me up to head to the airport.  He had a small duffel bag that he referred to as his “man bag” that he was carrying on the plane.  He was juggling all of the luggage, so I offered to hold his “man bag”, but he wouldn’t let me hold it.  He is his mother’s only child and sometimes has these moments, so I didn’t really think anything of it.  The whole plane ride he was very cuddley and affectionate, so I was very much enjoying it.  We finally arrive in Hawaii and took a shuttle to the hotel.  He made a point of telling everyone we were celebrating my medical school graduation.  Then when we checked in the front desk told us that we were going to be in the “Ocean Tower.”  I was surprised because when we booked the room, we were definitely supposed to be on the interior.  He played dumb like he was surprised like me.  We arrive to the room and when I open the door there are beautiful purple orchid petals all spread out over the white bedspread.  There is a vase full of the orchids on the table in front of the couch in the room.  The drapes are drawn open and there is a great view of the ocean with the black lava rock, palm trees, and a golf course.  I comment that the flowers are beautiful and that I was so amazed with our ocean view!

I head out to the balcony to take pictures and he comes out shortly thereafter.  He tells me, “You know how much I love you right?”  And I say, “Of course.  Why is your nose sweating!?”  So yeah, whenever my boyfriend is nervous his nose sweats.  So I wipe the sweat off of his nose like I always do and he asks me if I have any idea why his nose might be sweating.  I tell him, “No.”  He then diverts my attention to this couple to our left golfing.  Then as I turn back around he is on his knees with a ring box open.  He said my full first middle and last name, “Will you marry me?”  I get this huge smile and ask him if he is serious, if it is for real, and I give him this huge embrace.  I start crying and he asks, “Is that a yes, I didn’t hear your answer?”  I immediatey respond, “Yes, I will marry you.”  He then puts the ring on my finger and we hug and kiss again. Then he points out the intricacy and personalization of the ring.  On the side where the metal prongs come together is a platinum heart.  When I graduated college he gave me a heart shaped necklace with diamonds, and our first Valentine’s Day when he moved to my city he gave me a bracelet with a heart.  Thus, now my engagment ring has a heart to stick with the same theme!  He and I also have the same first and middle initial, so when we marry and I have his last name our initials will be the exact same.  He also got my soon-to-be initials engraved in the band. I was so impressed with all of the detail he put into the ring!  Turns out my ring was in his “man bag” which is why he didn’t want me to hold it.  That definitely would’ve ruined the surprise.

That night we headed out to the edge of the resort and cuddled up into a cabana to watch the sun set.  We then went to a nice steak and seafood restaurant to celebrate the engagement!  The rest of the week we had so much fun.  He kept calling me, “Fiancee,” and I couldn’t help but smile every time.  We did a tour of the whole island where we got to see Rainbow Falls, Volcanoes National Park, the Black Sand Beach, a macadamia nut factory, a coffee factory, and tons of beautiful scenery.  We headed to a salt-and-pepper beach for a day in the ocean and beach volleyball.  We had a night out on the hammock star-gazing.  We watched the sunset on a few more nights.  We definitely hit the hot tub.  We went into the local mart.  And of course, we explored every inch of our magnificant resort!

This was such an amazing vacation.  I’m so happy that he proposed now and not at graduation (which he revealed was his original idea) because we had a full 5 days to enjoy it!  Everyday was just another day of relaxing in each other’s company.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds, but I already like how it’s starting!

Happy Mother’s Day May 10, 2009

This year I decided to switch up my traditional greeting card.  One of my classmates mailed out a link for hallmark.com.  The first thing that caught my eye was the Photo Card.  They had about 20 different templates and you can select and drag whichever pictures you would like from your computer to go on the card.  Then you can personalize it with one of their canned messages, or just write your own.

I decided to make a couple for my mom and my grandma.  My grandma opened her’s 2 days ago because she couldn’t resist.  She was so excited and had never seen anything like that before.  Her voice was shaky as she was thanking me.  It was great because for her card I put pictures of her with each of her children and her grandchildren.  It’s a nice keepsake.  My mom hasn’t opened hers quite yet, she wanted to wait until I landed in Hawaii (I wrote this before taking off), but I’m pretty sure that she’ll love it!  I’m sad to be missing the annual Mother’s Day brunch on the river, but will be there in spirit.

What did you all do to celebrate Mother’s Day?

Fit for Hawaii May 10, 2009

This week was my last week with my trainer.  I must say that I’m very happy with the results!  What I’m happiest about is how I feel and look, not the number on the scale.  I took some before pictures of me in a bathing suit and I wasn’t pleased.  Today I put on my bathing suit again and I was so happy!  I look back at that before picture and have a hard time believing I’d let myself go like that.  I don’t want you to think I was obese, just a little overweight… my BMI had gotten to 25.5 and now it’s 23.6 (normal range).  You can tell that I’ve lost inches everywhere… my thighs are both smaller, ams are more tone, and most importantly my waist has gone down almost 2 inches.  I’m back to the size I was my freshman year of college (before the freshman 15) and look damn near as athletic as I did my senior year of highschool.  The fact that I’m able to wear the dress I wore for my highschool graduation on this trip to Hawaii is amazing to me.   I know that I still have some work to go… maybe about 5 more pounds, but I’m happy with my progress and that I’ve maintained this lower BMI for 2 months now.

Also, I know that I’ve been so much better cardiovascularly.  I mean when I first started this I would walk the treadmill at 3.7 MPH with the occasional “sprint” at 4.0.  Now I’m up to running the treadmill at 6.0 with a 2.0 incline!  Instead of only working out for 20-30 minutes, I find myself having the energy to stay 60-75 minutes.  I don’t wake up unable to walk and ridiculously sore any longer because my body is in much better condition.

In Hawaii, the hotel that we are staying at has a gym.  My boyfriend and I decided to bring workout clothes so that we can keep up the working out while we’re there.  The great thing about my trainer was that she showed me tons of exercises that can be done at home.  Simple things like squats, lunges, pliés, tricep dips on the edge of a chair, a million different core exercies, and the list continues.  Varying these exercises by holding them for different counts or holding canned veggies as weights keeps your body guessing.  So if we don’t feel like leaving the hotel room, or want to workout on the beach, we can do so!

Ultimately, I have continued with my dietary modifications and it’s made a world of difference.  I’m so happy to be in shape and have a better idea of what it takes to lose and maintain weight in a healthy way.  I’m not even scared about gaining weight on vacation in Hawaii because I have learned how to make the right food choices.  So happy to be fit for Hawaii!  My flight leaves in 8 hours… so excited .