Hi Everyone

Since I'm desperately avoiding studying this morning , I decided to start a blog on my favorite website.

A little about me: I'm a 24 year-old second year med student. I have been married for 20 months now and am loving it! Hubby and I have known eachother for 10 years this months, dated throughout high school and did 4 years of long-distance during undergrad. Thankfully, I was able to get into Medical School at the University where he is in the Architecture Program. He'll be graduating in June

I'm currently wrapping up my second year and nervously prepping for Boards. The overwhelming amount of work ahead has led me to be lazy this morning and start this blog. I'll be taking boards the end of May and taking the month of June off for Hubby's Grad and the wedding of some very good friends before I begin clerkships on July 3rd.

My clerkship Schedule:

Surgery (Jul-Aug)
Family (Sept)
Psych (Oct-Nov)
Selective
Selective
Selective
Winter Break
Peds (Jan-Feb)
OB/GYN (Mar-Apr)
IM (Jun-July)

It was not my first choice schedule at all, but I love the group of students I was placed with, which should make the year even better.

I'll keep you all posted! But for now, I gotta go hit the books ...

Well, I have officially wrapped up classes as an MSII. Now I just have to make it through my 3 final exams...blah! :banghead: Pharm and Path are both cumulative, which sucks bigtime at the moment; but I know when I'm taking boards in a month I will be super thankful.

We got our elective assignments for Third year and I'll be doing Anesthesia, Neurology and Radiology; I would have preferred something other than Neuro since it is mandatory 4th year anyway, but maybe it will put me a step a head, since I hope to be doing Neuro while very preggers 4th year.

I took the advice of some other posters and bought a Palm TX for next year and beyond. I actually found a great deal on eBay, so I'm crossing my fingers that all is as promised! As much as I can't wait to play with my new toy (medicine has turned me into a total gadget geek) I kinda hope I don't get it before my exams are over. I might have to make Hubby hide it from me so I don't get too distracted!

32 days until boards!!!!!!!!! You would think I would be super motivated, yet I really want all of this to be over with! At one point I was second guessing my judgement in taking boards so early; but now I know that it probably won't make a difference. I would have just taken a week or so off before studying again and would have had problems getting back on the horse. Just gotta keep chugging along at this point!

Good luck to everyone else! I know this time of year is busy no matter where in training you are. Soon it will be summer (and I'll be livin' it up in the OR :laughing: )

NO MORE PHARM!!!!!!!

One exam down and 2 left (well, and boards, too.)

Back to the books :guilty:

No More Exams!!!! You could say that I am one happy chica!! I even got to spend the afternoon with my husband and family. Most of my classmates are probably out drinking somewhere, but I'd rather be curled up with hubby. I'm sure this makes some of my classmates think I'm snobby for never going out. But he's the one who has supported me for the last 10 years and he'll be the one there long after we (my class) have all gone our separate ways.

As we get closer to starting a family it makes me take stock in the things that are truly improtant to me. And my Family is definitely highest on the list. Sure, I may have done a few % better on my exam had I skipped my brother's college grad. But it was totallly worth it to watch him walk across that stage! Yes, I could take boards later; but I will feel even more proud when I watch hubby accept his diploma after 6 long years! Yes, I'd love to be AOA (what med student wouldn't?) but I'd rather maintain my relationships with my family and friends and I am just not naturally that smart. I'm pretty sure that the monemt I hold our little one in my arms for the first time; it will be the best feeling on earth! Screw school...given the choice I'd rather be a mom!!!

But for now, I will bask in the accomplishment (and relief) of finishing year 2 I can't believe I'm half way done!! :cloud9:

72 hours from now I will be finished with boards!! I can't figure out whether to freak out or Jump for Joy. I will be so happy to have these things over with. But, honestly, I have so many things floating around my head now that I wonder if I'll be able to assemble it all into a cohesive thought let alone 350 cohesive thoughts... :crossfingers:

Whew!! Boards are over!! Although, I walked out of there feeling like I had my ass handed to me...Now I just have to sit back and hope I did well enough to pass!

I've enjoyed having the last few days off! Hubby and I have gotten a lot of things done around here that we've been putting off for months and we're gonna spend the afternoon at a local amusement/water park for some much needed relaxation

We begin orientation for third year on June 28, which at the moment feels like eons away. But if June passes as quickly as May did, I'll be putting on that white coat before I know it. We put in our requests for placement for the surgery clerkship, so now I'm just :goodvibes:

Well, even though the weather didn't cooperate graduation weekend was a blast! Hubby was so excited and I'm so proud of him!

That said, I'm exhausted and completely family'd out! I know it meant a lot to my hubby to have them all there for everything, so it was worth it; but they mentally and emotionally exhaust me! They only live an hour away, so luckily the only one who stayed with us was his older brother, who was actually a huge help getting everything ready for the party yesterday.

I've known my hubby for 10 years and his family for all of it and i used to have this idealistic notion that we would hit it off as well as hubby does with my family. Yeah right. I've tried and tried to click with his little sister and we get along, but have very little in common. At first I thought it was the age gap (4 years) but now that she's in college its still not that much better. (kinda sucks because he is really close with my brothers and I always wanted a sister). But his parents are driving me nuts!! I was explaining to some friends what his theis was about when they asked and his dad completely interrupted me! Ugh! He always has to be the center of attention! But what can I do but bite my lip? I know they're proud of their son (he's the first in his famiy to graduate from college and now has his masters) but he's my husband and I'm proud of him, too!

Then, we're sitting the 3 hr long all-school graduation ceremony and I'm talking to his mom about EVERYTHING...she cannot sit next to someone for more than 5 seconds in silence. And she starts telling me about how good she's been about not pushing the grandchildren thing. (Hello, by telling me this YOU ARE PUSHING IT) {Now, hubby and I can't wait to start a family, but we have not told our families this because we want to do it on our time frame with out all their opinions and "helpful advice".} Anyway, she keeps going on about how she and my mom have been so good about it because we're still in school etc. And I did agree that my mom has said nothing. She then proceeds to tell me how hard it must be on my mom not to say anything because I'm the oldest and she doesn't have anyother grand kids yet and I've almost been married for 2 whole years. But that its easier for her (MIL) not to be pushy because she does have two grand daughters already, but that she would love more because she doesn't see the other two enough. (another side note, hubbys older brother just completed a messy divorce and has been living with my in-laws for almost a year in the process, and since he gets his daughters every other weekend, there for so does my MIL, who gives them very little time alone with their dad) Apparently she thinks she'll be spending more than every other weeknd (the whole weekend) with our kids. um, no. Ugh! Family!

Hubby was pissed when I told him all of this and swears we're not telling his mom I'm prego until the baby pops out. We'll just tell her I'm getting fat and then promptly move out of state. Lol! It makes it easier that he's on my side and can at least see the crazy; but it was a struggle to spend all that time alone with them while he was taking part in the ceremony.

All in all it was a great weekend, but I just needed to vent about my in-laws! At least hubby and I can laugh about it together! But I have a feeling this will be a very interesting experience!

On a happy obsession note: I have my pre-conception visit on the OB/GYn on wednesday I want to make sure I'm as immune as possible and up to date on all my vaccinces before I start in the hospital and we start trying. Even though we don't plan on stopping my birth control and moving to condoms until surgery is over in August, I want the check-up done before my clerkships start. Something tells me this is gonna fuel the baby obsession fire!!

Well, only two days left of my summer vacation We begin orientation Thursday and I start surgery on Monday :yikes:

Our first week will be in the classroom, and I think we even lucked out and get the 4th off :unitedstates: Then I'll be spending my first 3 weeks with the burn unit at Shriners and then 3 weeks of General Surg at the VA, then 1 week of elective procedures and shelf prep.

Luckily, although my daily schedule will be brutal because it's surgery; I don't have call at Shriners and VA is home call. So all in all, it could have been a lot worse.

I am really nervous about beginning clerkships in general. Do I know enough? Will I be able to manage all the responsibility? Will I get yelled at? My biggest fear is that I'll hurt someone! But my friend who is a nurse, just jokes with me that the nurses' biggest job is to make sure none of the medstudents or interns kill patients. I'll just have to trust myself and have faith in everyone else's experience.

I'm also a little anxious about the time I'll be spending on the Burns service. I have heard it's pretty rewarding if you like working with children, (which I do!) but at the same time I have a feeling that it will be emotionally exhausting. Plus, something about burns freaks me out and I guess that's probably pretty normal and probably dates back to the whole caveman, fire, and survival of the fittest thing. I just hope I'll be able to deal with that part so that I can help as much as possible with the patient care part.

I'll try and post more as we actually get rolling with the clerkship; but I have no idea if I'll have time.

Guess who will actually be taking care of patients today?!?! I'm nervous and excited all at the same time! Didn't sleep much last night, but I guess I should get used to that! Surgery, here I come!

Well, I can see the light at the end of the surgery tunnel! All in all it has been a great (if exhausting) experience!

I really enjoyed my weeks on the burn service; and got to work with a wonderful group of people. I really learned a lot about surgery and critical care; but most of all I loved taking care of the same patient for the whole 3 weeks. Most of the cases we're incredibly sad; but at the same time it was so rewarding to watch the progress of these amazing kids! Just watching their daily struggle made me want to become a better physician. If you could make it through this rotation with out being touched by these kids; medicine isn't for you. They were such an inspiration! Everytime I felt tired; I looked at everything they we're going through and my life seemed so easy. When I was exhausted post call; all I had to do was look at their parents to see what dedication and faith are all about.

We did see the results of some horiffic abuse cases and it was heartbreaking to see what some parents are capable of doing to their own children. Why can people like that have children, but there are so many nice, loving couples that struggle with infertility? I think the most difficult part of the service was dealing with these ugly realities head on. But the best part was the smiles of these courage children It was music to my ears to hear my patient with a trach actually speak when it was downsized and we all cried when one of our most severe patients responded by nodding his head.

Burns service was truly a once in a life time experience; and just furthered my desire to work with kids.

Everything else is going well; just not a whole lot to write about. Hubby and I did celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and he suprised me with a trip to a local vineyard for a wine tasting and dinner. It was such a romantic night and exactly what I needed. We haven't been able to spend as much quality time with each other the past month as we would have liked; so that evening was a real treat!!

I start my 3 weeks at the VA tomorrow and then on to the world of family practice