My New Best Friend

My new best friend is this yummy FAGE yogurt with strawberry. This stuff is AWESOME!!! I'm not getting paid to sponsor them, but I wish I was :) It's especially good with graham crackers. Anywho, back to all the important real life stuff...

Mom's surgery was a success! The first few days were pretty rocky. She got behind the ball on the pain thanks to hospital staff that put the pain pump out of reach. Awesome. After that you can bet I was on that pain pump like white on rice. I pushed it every 10 minutes, even if she was sleeping, because I'm an awesome daughter and all. 2.5 weeks later and she's back at home after a 2 week hiatus at premier physical rehab location Casa de Bennett. It's really exclusive. You pretty much have to be my mom to get in.

I've been on Peds Clinics all month. Lots of achy ears, sore throats, rashes, etc... I haven't really seen anything interesting this month unfortunately. The schedule is ridiculously wonderful. I had time to finally go to the dentist today for the first time in probably 1.5-2 years. Not sure exactly, but it's been a while. I got lucky and had a new patient discount and was really pleased with the staff and service. It's Dr. Burns on Northpark Drive in case anyone needs a new dentist. Got x-rays and a cleaning for $110 today. Woo hoo!

I start Labor and Delivery on Friday. Woot!!! Maybe I'll finally get to deliver that 1st baby. Yeah, I know. I haven't delivered a baby yet. I'm an M4 doing OB. I get it. That's bad. That's really bad. L&D was just slower when we were on it and at the time I wasn't really digging the whole delivering of the babies and whatnot. It was really scary to me. I changed my tune about halfway through that rotation and by then it was too late. Alas, hoping to deliver my 1st one Friday.

On a related note, I got my first rejection letter today. I was relieved. Is that sad? That's bad, probably, but I'm already worried about scheduling. I'm beginning to think I applied to too many schools. Oh well. I guess better too many than too few.

On a slightly related note, I'm now officially poor. I was wondering how this came about since I was more budget conscious than usual at the beginning of this semester and then I figured it out:

New air conditioner in July $1100
Step 2 CK in June $500 or $550? can't remember
Step 2 CS in July $1100!!!
ERAS (residency application) in September $600 - yes, I applied A LOT of places

So that about explains why I'm coming up 2 months short as far as budgeting. The upside - we're probably gonna get one hell of a tax refund next year since all that school stuff can be written off :)

The weather is absolutely gorgeous, so I'm about to thread some shish-ka-bobs and make the hubby fire up the grill in a bit. Hope everyone's having a great week!

Total Knee

My mom's going in for a total knee replacement this afternoon. Please send up some prayers for a safe and complication-free surgery and speedy rehabilitation. Thanks y'all!

Shifting Gears

*This update is dedicated to my Cousin A, who likes to send me friendly reminders that she hasn't seen a post in a while. Ahem...*

It's September 1st. New month, new rotation. I'm doing Pediatric Clinics this month, aka "Peds ambulatory" aka "if you're an M4 you leave at noon everyday, no questions asked." That's good and all, but it was really hard for me to hang out in clinic and only see 2 patients in 3 hours today. Normally by noon I've seen about 15 inpatients on OB. It's incredibly hard for me to stand still anyway, but after running nonstop for 12-15 hrs a day, nearly every day last month it was next to impossible to just hang out.

I'm a little sad my High Risk OB rotation is over. Even though the hours were killer it was so nice to be busy and feel like I was actively learning things I would use in the future. Plus I got to do a few procedures - speculum exams, wet preps, looking at said wet preps under the microscope, Implanon insertions, ultrasounds, cervix checks (I'm getting better; correct about 50% of the time now), etc... Got to scrub into about 20 C-sections and 5 D&Cs. Wish I'd gotten to sew, but my dear intern only got to sew 3 times, so it's not like she was being greedy. (frylime - I'm jealous!!!) I've already decided I'll probably sew every one of my future patients after c-sections anyway, so there's plenty ahead of me.

Ran about 2.5 miles tonight. I know I haven't been posting my running in the last few months, but I've been keeping up with it. Ran about 2 miles in June while studying for STEP - embarrassing!. Then about 30 in July while taking that easy computer course. Ran around 6 last month. Anywho, off to watch Top Chef and clean house before I go to bed and get to sleep until 6:30 tomorrow. Score!!!

Quote of the Day

Pt: "I've been feeling drained lately."

Me: after a few other questions: "Are you constipated?"

Pt: "Oh yes!"

Me: "When was your last bowel movement?"

Pt: "Well the 1st one I had today was at about 7 and then I had another an hour ago."

*bangs head against wall*

Quote of the Day

Because I don't want to violate HIPAA at all I'm just gonna tell you we had a very, very young patient come into OB Receiving today after getting a positive pregnancy test at the pediatrician's office yesterday. She's not even in high school yet :(

Me: "When was your last menstrual period?"

Very Young Girl: *says nothing* Mother tries to persuade her to answer me. They end up telling me it was about 5 weeks ago.

The kicker - we do a sono and she's almost 6 months pregnant.

It was a really sad situation.

P.S. - I've finally adjusted to the hours, gotten in a groove, feel more useful than a burden to the residents, and am 100% sure I've made the right decision about what career to pursue. Thank God! - literally, thank God! I'm having a blast. Even though the days are long, they somehow fly by. It's incredible.

How Do They Do It?

I was at the hospital for 13 hours today.
My residents were probably there 14 hours.
I saw my resident eat 1/2 cup of cereal and a Coke today - that's all.
I am literally sore all over and not quite sure how they keep up the momentum!

Today was a bit more fun than yesterday though. We had clinic all day yesterday (not my favorite). Today was a bit more scattered. We started the morning out seeing postpartum patients, then ended up in the OR for a delivery and D&C after a very scary miscarriage, then ended up helping out in OB Receiving for the afternoon.

I think tomorrow will be more fun though :)

Quote of the Day

Today was interesting. Especially the part where I found out that my team rounds at 4:00AM.

Anywho... Best quote of the day from high risk OB clinic:

Intern: I'm just going to insert the speculum now. (inserts it)

Preggo: (sharply inhales) Woo!!! I hope it doesn't hurt this bad when the baby comes!

At this point the intern, nurse, and I just look at each other and laugh.

So Excited

I start High Risk Obstetrics tomorrow and I've gotta admit - I'm pretty pumped. I didn't think I would be excited to start a rotation but I really am now. What the heck? I guess I picked the right profession after all. Speaking of which, so have 11 other people in my class. That makes 12 of us. There's 6 spots at UMC. Oy. Let's hope everyone else wants to travel, because I really want to stay here!

We had a little orientation Friday which lasted about 45 minutes, much better than the orientations we had last year. They managed to drag them out into all day affairs. The funny part was when the secretary looks at me and tells me that the course coordinator really didn't want her to give me a syllabus, but she felt that would be cruel, so she did. (Thank God!) Whenever I see this doctor I'm not supposed to mention to him that I have a syllabus. Everyone else has one. They're all doing the routine courses though - Labor and Delivery, Clinic, Operative Gyn. I think the director was afraid the syllabus might constrain me to situations that aren't conducive to learning, such as sitting around the hospital waiting for women to labor. I get that.

Is it terrible to say that I'm glad I don't have a partner on this rotation? It was nice during 3rd year to have partners to split up the work, but I'm afraid that during 4th year when you're trying to do a good job, work hard, and impress the residents and attendings things could get a bit competitive and ugly...

From the looks of this syllabus-that-doesn't-actually-exist it appears that I'll be in clinic out at the fancy new building a few miles from campus on Mondays and Fridays, then assisting with c-sections and hospital work Tuesdays-Thursdays. As far as tomorrow goes I'm just supposed to show up at clinic at 8:00, but I have a feeling the rest of the month will consist of much, much earlier mornings.

I'm pretty pleased with the schedule though. Mostly Monday-Friday with the exception of working 2 Saturdays for 12 hours each. These are my call days. One will be from 7A-7P and the other from 7P-7AM. I have 7 days off in August, today being one of them.

I'm using today to write that dreaded essay for my computer course. I know, I know - I should have done this already, but I just got carried away enjoying this month "off." My goal is to get this stinking essay done before Mad Men comes on tonight.

Other updates in the academic world:
-Got my Step 2 CK score back. It went up!!! Although I can't really say that's a surprise. I studied a lot harder for this Step and worked hard to figure out what methods worked for me and which ones didn't. Now that it's time to stop studying hard core I've finally figured out what works. Typical...

-Got a first draft of my personal statement written. Still gotta do that C.V. Meet with the dean Wednesday.

-Switched my schedule around, putting in more slacker courses where possible :)
Here 'tis:

July: Computers in Med
August: High Risk OB
September: Peds Clinics
October: Labor & Delivery
November: House Medicine
December: OFF
January: OB/GYN Clinics
February: Review of Pharmacology (slacker course)
March: Review of Anatomy (slacker course)
April: OFF
May: Plastic Surgery (this will only be for ~2 weeks since we graduate during the 3rd one :) )

I think I'm finally happy with that schedule. It's slightly front-loaded with alternating heavy and light schedules. I think that'll work well for me.

Anywho, back to this stinking essay. Hope everyone who started their August rotation today has been having a good one so far.

*** As I was reading this post I realized I can drop another one of the electives I have scheduled. Score! Now which one gets the axe - review of pharm or review of anatomy? Hmmm... Decisions, decisions. Wish I could drop Computers in Medicine!

Turning Into My Mother

I just heard a phone ring on tv and wondered if Kris had somehow installed a house phone while I was away shopping today...

What's Been Going On

Here's a LONG overview of what's been going on lately. It's mostly for myself, so I can remember what the heck I've been doing the last 2 months. When I'm not at the hospital all the days just run together.

I finished up my M3 year sometime in June. It was painful and tiring most of the time, but I learned a lot and had some fun thrown in there too.

My best friend got married in the middle of June. Here's proof:


I spent most of the month of June prepping for Step 2 CK (clinical knowledge. They ask us pertinent questions about patient care - diagnosis, treatment, what test to order next, etc... It was an all day test which I took on June 28th. June 28th also happened to be my 25th birthday. I came home to find this:


I wish I'd thought to take pictures but I was a little brain dead due to the 9 hour long test and surprise waiting for me when I got home. There was quite a spread. Most of my immediate family was there plus a few friends from school. It was a great way to spend a birthday. Kris worked really hard on this one.

About a week after that Kris and I journeyed to Houston, TX so I could take the 2nd part of Step 2. It's called Step 2 CS (clinical skills) and judges how we work in a clinic situation. There's actors who act like patients. We have 15 minutes with them to talk, get the history, do a physical exam and a little counseling. Then we write a note in standard format summing up the visit, what tests we want to order, and our top 5 diagnoses. The test is very expensive $1100 and is only given in 5 major cities in the USA. I'm really hoping I passed for all of these reasons.

Unfortunately the test isn't given in a nice area of Houston. Fortunately our hotel was very nice. Kris and I spent 3 nights there. The first night we just settled in and I studied a bit for my test the next day.

Day 2 = Test day. It was long and short at the same time, nerve wracking at first, then just monotonous. Spent the night unwinding with room service, beer, and hot tubbing it.

Day 3 = the Aquarium, the Galleria, and the Improv. The Aquarium was surprisingly small and for some unexplained reason featured a white tiger. It was huge. I managed to piss it off by pretending to pet it through 6" glass and it lunged and tried to attack Kris. We scared several children.

The Galleria is huge! We spent a lot of time looking, but I didn't even buy anything! Pathetic I know.

As for the Improv - I highly recommend it if you like comedy. It was open mic night when we went so the tickets were FREE. Even when they have well known headliners the tickets are $22 which is a great deal for several hours of guaranteed entertainment. Even though it was open mic night I only had to break out my pity laugh for 2 of the comics. Fortunately they were on stage 2-3 minutes each so the misery doesn't last long.

Day 4 = Time to leave. Before we left we toured the National Museum of Funeral History. Sounds weird, but it was one of my favorite things we did. Tickets were cheap. It was a large open space, and most of the time we were the only 2 people there. They had tons of gorgeous old hearses, the Pope mobile, funeral programs, and lots of interesting coffins.

As for the rest of July I've been taking a course called Computers in Medicine. This consists of searching for journal articles pertinent to your future profession on a topic of your choice, creating a Powerpoint, and writing a 3 page paper. Sounds simple enough, but as the teacher is out of town until August 2nd, I have no idea if the assignments I've turned in so far are up to snuff. Just going to keep turning things in. Hopefully when he gets back he'll be so overwhelmed with his inbox he'll just give me a pass. I HATE writing papers. That's one of the reasons I chose medicine as a career.

I still haven't written my C.V. (resume) or Personal Statement. I meet with the dean on August 4th to review these things. I'm planning on tackling one or the other tonight.

Our air hasn't been working for the last 2.5 weeks. After 4 maintenance calls, 3 box fans, 2 personal fans, and many sleepless nights our home insurance company has agreed we need a new unit and some new ductwork. It should be here by the end of the week. It's about time. Our unit was 25 years old.

Also - K and I went to St. Louis last week, but I'll post about that later. This post is already entirely too long!

Hope everyone else's July has been going great - and that you all have working air conditioners. It's HOT out there.

Delinquent

I know I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm about to rush off to a book club meeting, but I just had to post this picture. Because I LOVE it:




Promise I'll post more later. I stole this picture from myfavoriteandmybest.com. I tried to hyperlink that but I'm either too dumb to do it correctly or blogger malfunctioned.
You should check her out. As long as you're not afraid of profanity and pretty design pictures.

I Conquered World!

Okay, so I didn't conquer THE world per se, but I did finish USMLE World question bank. It's ~2300 questions long, and pure misery. I finished it late last night. I know, I know, I said I was going to finish it before the wedding last weekend, but there were just things that needed to be done before the festivities began. Then I needed a day or 2 to recover it seems like.

I take the big test Monday. So what will I do until then? Well I've just used my most OCPD characteristics and made a list of the subjects I did the worst on in World. I'm going to start my review by reading those sections in a review book, then reworking the questions I missed for that subject. Maybe that will help me learn just a few things in the next 3-4 days. Wanna know what I suck at? Here 'tis:

WORST SUBJECTS:
1. Poisonings - don't come to me if you overdosed. I will likely kill you in the process of trying to save you. Sorry.

2. Infectious Disease - don't come to me if you're um, well... sick? But really, if you do come to me and you've got pneumonia I'll likely just look up the most appropriate antibiotic at the time. Or ask my attending. Then I'll write the order for it. Then I will have learned it. I can't learn all this crap by skimming it on a page, but I digress...

3. Genitourinary - but Allison, I thought you wanted to be an Ob/Gyn? Don't worry guys. That section is separate. This section is a little more Urology-ish.

4. Endocrinology - I just don't think organ systems should exist that have little pieces in the brain, above the kidneys, and in the throat.

5. Gastroenterology - I'm kind of surprised about this one. It's one of my favorite subjects (it's just a long tube y'all). I think I've gotten better at it as my studying has progressed and I get really relieved once I realize it's a GI question being asked.

Okay, so now y'all know what I suck at. Do you wanna hear what I'm good at? Well I don't care if you do or not. This is my blog and I'll do what I want :)

BEST SUBJECTS:

1. Psychiatry - I'm betting this is everyone's best subject.

2. Dermatology - I'm as surprised as you are.

3. Preventive Medicine - I'd rather prevent you from getting sick than have to pick the appropriate antibiotic once you've gone off and gotten sick.

4. OB/GYN!!! - See, I told you not to worry.

5. Biostats - This makes me laugh. Because we took this class 2nd year. And my grades speak quite the contrary to this being on the list of things I'm good at. I think I still remembered some of this because I had to study so hard for that last test. You know, to pass the class.



So that's that. I guess I'm about to study some poisonings and infectious disease. I've already made a list of things I want/have to do once this test is over and I can't wait to tackle some of it.

Things I'm Loving Right Now

Since I've mostly been staying at home and studying the last few weeks in preparation for STEP 2, I've been taking mental notes of all the little things I'm loving in and around the house right now.



1. Saving money. How, you ask? I've been cooking a lot more. It's a much needed distraction and it's easy on the wallet. We get our next loan disbursement on July 6th but knowing our institution, it will most likely be a week late. I ran out of money sometime around the end of May. Thanks to my lovely husband and a credit card with a high limit I'll be fine, but it's still nice to feel like I'm saving some pennies by cooking more.



2. ULTA Smoothies. Most of you know I indulge in a daily bubble bath. That can get a little expensive if you're not careful. I had been buying the cheap-o Wal-Mart bubble bath but due to it's dilute nature it ran out rather quickly. The scent selection is also a little limited. Enter a coupon at ULTA and their smoothies being on a buy 2, get 2 free sale. I think I ended up paying about $20 for 4 bottles of the stuff. It's really a good deal because they are uber-concentrated. 2-3 pumps and the bath is full of bubbles. I currently have Pineapple Passion, Creamy Cocolada (coconut), Key Lime, and Candied Caramel Pecan. Pineapple Passion is by far my favorite. It's fun to mix them up though. 1 pump of pineapple, 1 pump of coconut. You get the drill.



3. My new treadmill! Most of you know the saga of my last treadmill. It was a craigslist find. I paid $225 for it. That's approximately $100 for each week that it worked. Sadness. After scouring the internet/Academy sports/Sears for the best deals I came across the one I wanted. It was $377 at Wal-Mart - an amazing deal for a brand new treadmill. Enter the problem. We don't own a truck. Solution - Wal-Mart will ship stuff to your house for $0.97. Yep - 97 cents. Bonus - it arrived 2 days early. I have enjoyed studying on it because Lord knows you get sick of sitting on your butt all day long and studying. Kris and I were able to assemble it in about 2 hours. It was relatively easy, but definitely a 2 person project. I've been very pleased with it so far.


4. Splenda with fiber. Because Splenda is good. And Splenda with fiber is better. Because I do not eat a bowl of shredded wheat with strawberries on top of it every morning, or barley with lentils for lunch. Sometimes I just drink coffee til noon - or until 2:30 if I wake up at noon.



5. The fact that my best friend's wedding is in just 4 days. It's going to be so much fun! Just gotta work on my speech for the toast the night before. I'm not so good with words... or public speaking... or public speaking with words...



6. Wingback headboards. I'm thinking about trying to make one of these once Step is over (June 28th for me). I've read a lot of how-to guides online and I think I can make it happen. Besides, one time I took an aptitude test in junior high and it told me I should either be a carpenter, race car driver, or doctor. I feel like I'm the last 2 on most days, so why not try to embrace the 1st one more?

As for the step studying, it's coming along slowly but surely. I feel a lot more prepared than I was for Step I, but that's not very hard to do considering I only completed half of the USMLE World question bank. True story. Right now I have about 500 questions left. I'm planning on being finished by Friday afternoon so I can party it up at the aforementioned wedding all weekend and then review the next week. I do confess that I wish I was a faster studier and could just cram all this info in in a 2 weeks or so, but I know now that's not how I learn. I need lots of time to digest the information, then review it again. I am getting very, very tired of studying though. Less than 2 weeks as of today :)

I Have Decided

I have decided that from now on all major STEP exams should be held the first week in February. We could all start studying in January, when it's brutally cold and uninviting outside. We would all be so full of pep too, since it's just after New Year's and all. The resolution would be to do well on the Step. Christmas would be over. There would be no major holidays to look forward to/procrastinate about. It's cruel and unusual to make us trudge to the hospital in the snow and rain and freezing temps of January and then have us stuck in the library/coffeehouse/house/classroom wing during the BEAUTIFUL summer.

I'm feeling a little sorry for myself (and the rest of us M3/M4s) today.

I had to turn down a boat ride and dinner on the Reservoir with my bestie today (for the 2nd time this summer) and it almost made me cry.

I hate the STEP.

That's all.

Two Years Ago Today...

We got married!

Not Feeling It

This marks day #3 of not feeling so hot. It all started Friday morning. I felt a tiny bit sick to my stomach, but blamed it on too much greasy Waffle House with Kris the night before. (Always a good idea the night before a big standardized test, amiright?)

Things got worse as the day went on. My sweet mama tried to take me out shopping and I could only make it through 1 store. Thankfully it was Pier 1 and I was able to sit down in chairs throughout :)

Went home, got in bed and hibernated most of the night. Kris got home with some Pepto Bismol which worked the absolute opposite of how it was supposed to. Funny, I didn't know Pepto was just Syrup of Ipecac...

Saturday I managed to feel pretty okay in the morning, made it to a good friend's wedding. It was a gorgeous morning wedding with a reception following at the Old Capitol Inn. There was a jazz band called Dr. Jazz - made up entirely of older doctors who play weddings for fun. They were great! I was wondering how many of them had families though. I don't imagine they're ever at home if they're off playing gigs on Saturdays.

Today I woke up thinking I could finally get to studying hard core, but I was wrong. I'm jut still not feeling it. I slept until 11:00 and then fell back asleep at 2:00 and just woke up. I've got absolutely NO appetite so I'm trying to force the gatorade and fluids down. I'm pretty sure it's just a viral gastroenteritis, but if that pain starts heading down to my right lower quadrant.... I'm gonna be pissed! (That means appendicitis, hospitalization, and likely surgery for the non-medical people. Aka - lots of lost study time)

Hope everyone else is getting some work done and not being sick!

"Lett-ush"

I just ate a BLT.

And I grew the L part in my backyard.

Because I wanna be Martha.

But just a little bit sassier :)

Have you Heard This?

Because I really don't appreciate Lady Gaga's music very much, but I LOVED this song that the geniuses behind Glee deconstructed. Here 'tis:


Also a good Lady Gaga redo by Pomplamoose:


Back to stupid board studying. Should've been an interior designer. For realz.

I have 6 episodes of lost to watch before tonight's finale

Can I do it?

Well - I'm no quitter...

Runner's Log

Since I didn't feel like studying or watching tv - I went for a run. Then I had to give Penelope a thorough scrubbing to get all the mud out of her fur. Now she smells like strawberries though. Win win :)

4.15 miles; ~42 minutes