The End of 3rd Year - When I last wrote I was in the middle of my pediatrics rotation. After that, I began Family Medicine for 6 weeks. SIU is unique in that it lets it's student go to their hometowns to work with a local family physician. I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with Dr. Chris Nelson who works at Carle in Mahomet. I had so much fun working with him in his clinic. He knew everything about his patients and his patients really loved having him as their doctor. During the final week I was able to be a part of the inpatient Family Medicine Service at Carle Hospital. It was neat to get to learn about Carle and compare and contrast hospital versus clinic work. After those 6 weeks, I did my Psychiatry rotation. On this I spent 2 weeks on the inpatient psychiatry service, two weeks on the substance abuse service, one week in the Partial Unit which is a group that meets daily to help with the transition from inpatient to outpatient life, and one week on consult service in the hospital where we see any medical patient who needs a psychiatric consult. Overall, it was a very interesting experience! I liked it, but not enough to do it full time.
4th Year - Heading into the beginning of 4th year was pretty scary because I still did not know what I wanted to do with my life! In August I did an away rotation at UIC in Chicago in ENT. This was a very fun, but very exhausting, month. Most days started at 5am and got done after 6 (however, the residents normally had to stay longer). I got to see a good deal of surgical procedures including tonsillectomies, myringotomy tube placements, rhinoplasty, thyroidectomies, parotidectomies, and trans-spenoid approach to removal of a pituitary tumor. We also got to do a lot of clinic work. Although I loved the subject material, I really found myself unhappy, tired, and stressed out. This made me highly consider picking either ER or Family Medicine as my choice. My next rotation was in the ER. I liked it but at the same time did not like it. I enjoy all of the people in the ER. You never feel like you are alone, even in the middle of the night. There are always nurses, other physicians, techs, and many other students and physicians who come in and out. Also, the ER physicians at Memorial Hospital are top notch. I really loved working with them. However, I found the ER so hectic. It is hard to get to know patients, you are always rushing around having to sacrifice time with one patient for another. Patients are unhappy because they have been waiting so long. So, after much thought I decided on picking Family Medicine as my career choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Application and Interviews - It took me a long time to get my full application together, which consists of all of your grades, classes, extracurriculars, personal statement, and 3 letters of recommendation. I applied to every program in Chicago in hopes of finally being able to live with BILL! I ended up going on 11 interviews. They say that 4th year is easy because you don't have to take hardly any tests and you can pick what rotations you want to do, however, it was pretty stressful in my opinion. I went back and forth so many times on my rank list. It was crazy. That being said, there was one program that really stood out from the moment I went there - Advocate Illinois Masonic. Everyone was so welcoming and I really felt like I clicked with the program director. People kept telling me to go with my gut, which I ended up doing, but it was hard. I liked to make lists and compare every little aspect of the residency....who gets more vacation, how much parking costs, where do I get more electives, who has free food in the cafeteria, etc. I am so happy that I ended up picking Masonic as my number one!!!!
The wait - So, after you submit your rank list, they make you painfully wait for what seems like a year before you learn where you have matched. I have gone through all of this with the post about Bill. Finally, on March 16, 2012 I found out that I match at my #! choice!!! YAY for Masonic!!!!!!!!!! This was such a great day and I was happy to have my parents, Bill, and Bill's parents there with me.
Panama - In April I went on a medical mission trip to Panama with a great group of people from SIU. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I wish I had a post all in itself that described this amazing experience. Our group set up a clinic in several different communities and we saw about 200 patients per day. It was interesting to see a different culture and a totally different way of living. The biggest thing I took from the experience was that even though these people did not have much, they were extremely happy and very grateful for what they had. Maybe someday I can write more about this experience because I really want to share and document my journey. Oh yeah, I also turned 30 while I was in Panama! It was a birthday I will never forget!
End of Medical School - the end of school was bittersweet. As time began to wind down, I realized how much I would miss the great group of friends that I had made. I would miss family dinners with my loves Eliza, Shannon, and Jess. I would miss the hospital that I had gotten comfortable with even Springfield. It was scary to think about moving to the big city and becoming a resident, but also exciting. I got to celebrate Jess and Ben's wedding, Steph and JJ's wedding, and be the matron of honor in Eliza and Tom's wedding! We all finally graduated on May 19, 2012 and were all officially doctors!!!!
Now - Now I am set to begin residency tomorrow! I start of with a few weeks of orientation. My goal is to document my adventure on my blog. Ideally I will try to update with each rotation, but we will see how that goes! Hopefully you will be hearing from me soon!!!!!
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