Oncology

Well, I'm back in WI, starting my 4th year out with Hematology/Oncology, working with the doctor that I previously did research with. I'm already halfway done, and it seems to be crawling by. I will admit this is not my favorite rotation. The days go very slowly. I'm working on some research as well: a case study on a patient. I forgot how much work goes into writing up a research article. My preceptor seems flustered in how to deal with me. And that's how I feel this last paragraph was written: flustered.

I'll just write about a few things that stick out in my head from the last two weeks.
1. I had to tell a patient the other day that his prostate cancer treatment is not working and that his cancer is progressing. It's hard to keep eye contact with the patient, but I did. That way I could see the look of absolute shock in his wife's eyes, yet the careful control in his face.
2. A 40 year old male who was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer- Seeing Dr. O for the first time, both he and his wife admitted to still smoking. Dr. O laid into the wife. It actually made her cry. I was actually really happy to see a preceptor spend so much time on smoking cessation. Often times I feel that the doctors get resigned to the fact that patients are still smoking. Not Dr. O. We talked about it after the appt, and he said that he spends at least 5-10 minutes discussing it. When we saw them again 1 week later, she was down to a few cigarettes per day!
3. A bone marrow biopsy. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of observing one of these, I'll describe it here. I actually think this is one of the nastiest procedures I've seen. First, the skin is numbed with some lidocaine, and then a deeper injection of it, all the way down to the bone. Then this hugeass needle is driven into the hip, where he aspirates some bone marrow. Then he starts grinding the needle and spinning it to get a piece of bone. Now, this takes some effort. Dr. O is putting some muscle into it. Then he pulls it all out and cleans up. The noise is gross. You can hear the bone scraping and crunching.
4. Radiation oncology- I got to spend some time over there to check out how it works. I honestly had no idea what to expect. Well, there is this HUGE machine that focuses it's photon beam at, and radiates the tumor. The room is lined by 6 feet of cement and 1 foot of lead. They take radiation exposure seriously. As they were explaining things to me, I seriously just sat there wondering what language they were speaking to me. Honestly, it was like this horrible physics nightmare! This is the first time since my first year of school, where I really felt like I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I couldn't understand what they were saying, I couldn't think of any intelligent questions to ask, fearing that I would look like a complete moron.

Oh, and in good news, I passed those boards I had to take in PA. Phew. Next up, my written boards on Aug. 23rd.

Oh and in some other good news, the program director from my audition rotation invited me to come back and rotate in his private practice. I may or may not have been jumping up and down.

This Made My Day

One of my classmates posted this on facebook. I almost fell over laughing because it is so true. I mean, don't lose hope in your doctors, but for anyone who has a medical background, I hope I make you laugh.

And the OB/GYN one is absolutely perfect :)

Someday I'll write a post about my life again.

More Vacation Pictures

Found the camera: pictures are numbered from left to right top to bottom.
Picture 1-One of the Painted Pot geysers
Picture 2-Alpine Slide
Picture 3-The yummiest coffee drink ever. Coffee, amaretto, kahlua, baileys. Can we say calories?
Picture 4-Me and Jake on the balcony of our restaurant.
Picture 5-Jake in front of the Grand Tetons
Picture 6-Another geyser
Picture 7-Me and Jake in front of Morning Glory
Picture 8-Morning Glory
Picture 9-A cool picture in hot springs land
Picture 10-The wolves at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center
Picture 11-Old Faithful

Vacation!

Jake and I just got back from vacation to Idaho Falls, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole. We had an amazing time. Our first few days were spent with Jake's best friend Britton in Idaho Falls. I got to meet her and her family for the first time. It was such a fun few days. They took us out on their boat one day to go skiing and tubing. It was Jake's first time doing both. The water was freezing, since it's snow runoff from the mountains. Seriously, coldest water ever.

From there, we traveled to West Yellowstone, Montana. We spent the next few days driving around Yellowstone looking for fun wildlife and beautiful scenery. We were lucky enough to see 7 bears, a bunch of bison and elk, and bighorn sheep. We also saw beautiful waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, and of course the amazing mountainous backdrop.

Friday was Jake's 29th birthday! We started out the day at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center where we got to see grizzlies and wolves close up. Then we headed to the Paintpots and walked around looking at more hotsprings. Old Faithful was next, and then I talked Jake into a 3 mile hike to see Morning Glory, supposedly one of the most beautiful hot springs. Then we drove down to Jackson, checked into our hotel, and then went to the Granary for a delicious mountain top dinner! The food and view were amazing.

Saturday we started out with white water rafting down the Snake River. I had rafted the same stretch when I was 13. Needless to say, it wasn't quite as scary this time around. Then we acted like children as we went down the alpine slide! It's a 2500 foot slide that goes down the mountain. Then our vacation was over as we began the trek back to Colorado.

Picture 1- Some of the cracked mud near a hot spring.
Picture 2- Jake working up the courage to jump in the water.
Picture 3-Our first black bear siting. There's a cub too, but you can't see it.
Picture 4-Jake and I in front of the Lower Falls.
Picture 5-Just a cool picture I took.
Picture 6-The hilarious sign warning people not to step off the walkways.

I left the camera in the car, so I'll add more pictures tomorrow, including Morning Glory.

Audition Rotation

I recently finished up my first audition rotation. This is basically a rotation at a program I'm interested in for residency, which means that the entire two weeks was an interview. I went in knowing that I was going to bust my ass in trying to impress them; what I didn't know was that I would fall in love with the program and not mind the busting at all. I rarely looked at the clock. I immediately clicked with the residents. I scrubbed on so many surgeries. I finally learned a one handed knot. My suturing skills improved. They let me deliver a baby (this is a big deal because I barely knew them and other medical students don't get to always do them). They complimented me everyday! I went in on the weekends to impress them some more (this is not a requirement of the rotation). My schedule was hard. I basically came home and slept every night.
Monday- 8:30-7:30
Tuesday- 6-6
Wednesday- 6-6
Thursday 6 am- 8:30 am on Friday morning (yes this is 26 hr shift)
Friday-day off because I took call
Saturday-5- 5
Sunday 5-5
....and so on.

I obviously did a good job because at the end of the rotation the program director told me I did very well, he heard nothing but good things, and that I definitely will be getting an interview in October!!!! I am so excited! I would love to match at this program, but I refuse to get ahead of the game. There are only 3 spots and one of them goes to a male. That leaves me with getting one of two spots. I know I did well, but there are other students who will be rotating through and who will do well. So this was the start of my residency application....there's still a lot that has to happen.

Boards Tomorrow

I'm in my hotel in Philadelphia trying to decide whether I want the time to fly by so that I can get to my dinner with friends tomorrow night or slowly so that I can still run over stuff tonight and get my brain all organized. Anyways, tomorrow is Step 2-PE. For those not versed in medical boards, this test is a practical. I will be seeing 12 standardized patients (they're actors, and unfortunately these are the people starving for money, not like Brad Pitt or someone there like). I get 14 minutes in the room with them to complete a history and physical and then 9 minutes to write up my note. I'm exhausted thinking about it!

So I'm about to head out for the evening....dinner (I'm thinking Chinese), grab some food for breakfast from Whole Foods, do a test drive to the exam location, come back to the hotel, review a few things and hit the hay. If anyone can muster up some good luck vibes and send them my way, I'd be very grateful.

Muah.

San Francisco!

This past week I flew to the other coast to attend ACOG. This was very exciting for me, as it was the first time I attended a conference that I would probably be attending the rest of my life. I met up with my classmate Annie who I haven't seen in two years! It was wonderful catching up with her and sharing this exciting time with her. I flew in Sunday, Annie met me at the airport, and we took the BART to the hotel. Since my flight was late, we didn't have much time to get ready for the first event. It was two round table events: the first was with program directors and residents discussing the interview and application process. The second was discussing CVs and personal statements. These were both very informative sessions. That evening we just walked around looking for a place to eat, came back and went to bed. The next morning we got up, headed to the Moscone center, registered, and listened to a talk on SSRIs during pregnancy. After that we started our journey through the exhibition hall! It only took us three trips over! Man, this was insane! I can't believe how big the booths are, and all the giveaways there were. I came home with a lot including: a textbook, three pregnancy books, many tubes of stretch mark and scar cream, lube, pens pens pens, maple syrup, many totes, vitamins, hand sanitizer, and a ton of papers! My suitcase weighed about 15 lbs heavier on the way home! I also delivered a baby with forceps on a simulator! That was definitely a new experience!

We headed back to the hotel to attend another med student activity. This one was two panel sessions about OB/GYN as a career and another on the interviewing process (this is a big deal). Again, very informative! That night there was a reception for the students and residents, which was kind of boring, but we met up with a new friend. After the reception, Annie, our new friend, and I took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf! We had dinner, found the sea lions, and just walked around.

Tuesday, we went to a session called "Stump the Professor." This is where residents present difficult cases to some of the renowned professors around the country and see if they can get them. It was a lot of fun, plus I learned a lot. The professors got 2/3 correct. There was a residency fair that afternoon, but only two programs that I'm even somewhat interested in were there. After that, Annie and I grabbed lunch and headed our separate ways. I hopped on the train to meet up with my old college roommate in Los Gatos. We spent the evening together and it was a total blast to catch up. I had a red eye flight out of San Francisco, which has totally screwed me up. So here I am, back in Ohio, awaiting my next insane trip.