Getting a plan

I am scheduled to take a few more board exams soon.  I get so nervous for exams and I hate taking them...I guess I picked the wrong profession because I will be taking exams for the rest of my professional career!  I was finally able to get my electives for the rest of the summer scheduled after my exams.  It was a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders!  One of the difficult things about being a Caribbean medical student (at least at my school) is that we have to schedule all of our electives on our own.  I had a hard time getting my rotations scheduled and I am thrilled to be scheduled until September.  I decided to apply for a few rotations at non-affiliate hospitals for next fall in adult and pediatric hematology and oncology.  I am trying not to get my hopes up for these rotations, as these hospitals are some of the best in the United States, if not the world, and it is difficult for anyone who isn't affiliated to get one of the handful of student spots available for students at non-affiliated schools. But, you never know unless you try and I am trying.  I probably won't find out if I get a spot at one of these hospitals until June, at the earliest, so I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.  I have been spending a ton of time working on getting my summer rotations scheduled and filling out applications for rotations the non-affiliate hospitals.  It is such a relief to be able to solely focus on my studies.

It's a bit surreal: next fall/early winter, I'll be finished with medical school.

Pediatric Pulmonology

I'm so happy to be back in the world of pediatrics!  I didn't realize how much I missed working with children until returning to the pediatric unit after a month of surgery.  Don't get me wrong, I like adults, but I love working with children.  They are so full of life, they are little fighters and shockingly, they never seem to feel sorry for themselves (unlike many adults, including myself).  I just like the atmosphere of pediatrics--I feel like it is, for the most part, more positive than other areas of medicine.

I had a couple cute kids this week.  There is a little girl, about 10 months old, who has been admitted for a month due to a bad infection.  She was looking great and got to go home (she was admitted for so long for intensive antibiotic therapy).  Whenever we rounded on her, she would dance, give the residents hugs and apparently she learned how to say "bye-bye" while in the hospital.  Now if I had the infection she did, I'd be grateful that I was getting better and would be okay, but I doubt I'd be dancing when the doctors came to check on me.

I really like the attending I am working with this month.  She is super smart and really well rounded.  I think I am going to learn a ton about pediatric pulmonary.  I have to do a big presentation for this rotation, which I started this week.  I chose to do my presentation on asthma because it is so common and such a bread and butter area of pediatric medicine.  However, now I wish that I would have picked something like hyaline membrane disease of the newborn because I don't know as much about it as I do about asthma.  Nonetheless, asthma is a much more common and studying it in depth will prove to be beneficial to me in the future.

Dinner and Baking

I had a three day weekend since I ended my surgery elective on Thursday.  I really wanted to do some baking and cooking because I find it so relaxing.  So before going to the gym today, I made some cinnamon rolls.  I really wanted chili and cinnamon rolls for dinner a few weeks ago so I found a recipe online: they were amazing! I asked Farley if he wanted them again and he said "YES!"  So, since I was in a baking mood, I made them, a beef roast and a salad with craisins, low-fat feta, caramelized walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.  Anyway, everything turned out great, so I thought I'd post a couple pictures.  If medical school doesn't work out, I can always go to culinary school.

Above: The cinnamon rolls (with walnuts) right out of the oven, before I added the frosting.
Below: My dinner plate.  I'm a lucky gal!

Macy's Flower Show

This week Farley and I went out and about New York.  We went into Macy's because I have a gift certificate (I have been keeping my eye on a dress....I am waiting for it to go on sale, but it hasn't yet).  When we walked into the Herald Square Macy's we got a surprise: The Macy's Flower Show.  The flowers were so beautiful that they looked like they were artificial.  However, the whole first floor (and floor 1.5, which is open to the first floor and that partially looks down on the handbags, makeup and fine jewelry).  It smelt so wonderful in the store.  I wish I could bottle it so you could smell it as you read this post.  Here are a couple pictures.  I took them on my iPhone, so they are not as high of quality as my digital camera, but I think you can get the idea of what the Macy's Flower Show is like.

Surgery Elective is finished!!

After completing my elective in surgery, I think I can say without a doubt that I will not be a surgeon when I grow up.  I finished up my last day on Thursday, March 31st.  I am so relieved to be done with the rotation.  It just isn't the area of medicine that I want to practice in and I am happy to be heading back to pediatrics on Monday.