Catching Up

These past couple of months have been pretty crazy. Classes finished at the beginning of May and since then, life has been a marathon. I was originally slated to take boards at the beginning of June but that didn't happen. I admittedly didn't deal with stress very well and pushed my date to July which snowballed other things I had planned during the time I assumed I would have off.

At the beginning of July, I braved going to Nebraska for my friend Karla's wedding. So incredibly happy for them (I totally cried at the ceremony). A group of KCOMers went and we had a blast having one last get together before we spread out across the country for rotations. On the way back, I picked up my mom from the airport and we made our way back to Kirksville to pack up the rest of my stuff.

In the event you weren't aware: I have a ton of stuff. Too much. We ended up taking two loads down. Thank goodness I only moved two hours away or else I would have been in big trouble. Any concern I had about not having enough stuff to fill my new place vanished pretty quickly.

With my garage overflowing with furniture and boxes and nothing but the beds set up in my house, mom and I headed back to Seattle for a couple days before going to Kauai. It wasn't exactly the vacation I envisioned but it was an escape. I stayed at our hotel studying while my parents ventured around the island. Surprisingly, I got a lot done. The day before we left was the only day I allowed myself to go out and explore but I was able to go to the beach where South Pacific was filmed (one of my favorite movies), saw some sea turtles, and enjoyed some time with my family.

After getting back, it was another week of studying and then off to take my board exam. I have the worst luck with testing centers. When I went to go take my MCAT way back when, the computer wouldn't recognize my fingerprints and they had to do it the old fashioned way which they hadn't done in over two years. I retested for the MCAT when I was in the master's program and they tried to tell me I wasn't registered to test for that day (thank goodness for smart phones). This time while I was being logged in, the whole Citrix system shut down and they couldn't log anyone in. They finally got it working again and eight hours later, I finished that beast but the system wasn't recognizing that I was done. There was a lot of anxiety over the past couple of weeks about whether or not there would be any other issues with my test.

Orientation for third year took place the day after I took boards. Probably not the best scheduling decision as I was super duper tired (and my hospital ID which I'm stuck with for the next two years shows it). While this was all going on, my wonderful momma came back to Missouri again to help me get unpacked. We were able to go see my aunt and her new house for the Fourth of July before my mom had to go back and it was time for me to start my first rotation in family medicine.

Rotations: I LOVE THIRD YEAR!!!! I know it has only been three weeks but I am having such a great time. The four of us from the 2015 class are getting along really well and we get together fairly often in our down time. Our hospital only has a family medicine residency and a traditional intern year so we have a lot of one-on-one time with attendings. The group of residents and interns are fantastic and are being so helpful. It is a little intimidating moving from the classroom to the hospital but everyone we have encountered has been patient and understanding. I have only had one instance that I felt the wrath of rapid fire questioning from a doc but I survived and was surprised at the end of it how much I actually knew.

My first rotation is in family medicine. I only have a week left since I have the next two days off and I'm getting rather sad that it is almost over. I have gotten along with the doctors and staff so well and could not have asked for a better welcome to clinicals. From the very first day I have been seeing patients on my own before the doctor goes in to make sure everything is correct. I'm still trying to get all the medications down (lord there are so many) and I am feeling a little rusty on my OMM skills but I'm hoping that will improve with time.

Life in Jeff City: Compared to Kirksville, I feel like I am living in a big city. I'm still getting used to having so many options for grocery stores and being able to stop on the way home to pick up random things I need from Target or Kohl's. Three of us went on a float trip the weekend after we started. We are really close to the Lake of the Ozarks and the rivers that branch from that. AND we actually have some time to enjoy it. I'm still getting used to seeing armadillos as roadkill (I really don't remember those ugly things being around when I was little). If the past three weeks are any indication of how the rest of this year is going to be then I can honestly say that the past two years were worth it in order to get to this point.

Life is going pretty fantastic right now in pretty much every aspect. Did I mention I passed boards??? :) Thanks everyone for your support and the care packages to keep me motivated.