After finishing up my pediatric pulmonary rotation, I had scheduled some time off to study for and take two sets of boards. The first being Step 2CS (Clinical Skills) and the second being Step 2CK (Clinical Knowledge).
Right after the rotation, my cousin was in town from home. Farley and I met her down by the World Trade Center. It was so much nice to see a familiar face! Even though I have Farley, I do get homesick sometimes. We decided to head to one of our favorite places in New York City: Union Square. We decided to grab a drink and appetizers at Farley's favorite restaurant: the Heartland Brewery. We then walked around the area for a while before going to dinner at Pete's Tavern, one of the oldest restaurants in New York City! Pete's has been around since 1864 and the building was amazing. It was such a cool old brick building with tons of celebrity pictures. However, we got a new server and he was having a hard night. We were served the wrong meals and Farley's hamburger wasn't prepared as ordered. It could have been amazing, but I left wondering how they have been open since 1864. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day!
The next week, Farley and I were six days a week studying for our Step 2 CS exam. This is the exam where we have to go a history, physical exam and write a note after seeing a standardized patient. We had a book of practice scenarios and we took turns being the standardized patient/grader and the test taker. I won't bore you with the details, but rest assured, it wasn't that much fun.
The following weekend, Farley's aunt came into town from Seattle. I've never met her and she is one of Farley's favorite relatives so I was excited and nervous. Again I forgot my camera! We walked around Times Square trying to decide where to go before settling on SoHo. I had not been there since our tour of New York last August and I was thrilled to be exploring somewhere new. It was such a fun area of New York and so beautiful. We went into trendy NYC shops and looked at cute clothes (much of it grossly overpriced). There were tons of street vendors and I usually don't buy things from street vendors (in fact, I can't remember if I ever have before), I was in the midst of buying a bracelet when Farley swooped in an bought it for me. It is so unique and different that I just had to have it. I call it my "'bird's nest bracelet"
The following week, we did tons of studying and flew to Atlanta to take the exam. I have no idea how it went because I could think of tons of things I did correctly with each case, but there was always something that I realized I forgot in retrospect. I suspect that I did just fine. I don't think they are expecting perfection because we are limited on time: we have 15 minutes to do a complete interview, a physical exam, counsel patients, tell them our plan and differential diagnosis and answer question and 10 minutes to write a note. Now that might be more than enough time for an attending physician, but an attending physician is much faster than I am because she already knows the important things and I have to cover everything (whether I think it is important or not) because I have less experience and my miss something. Part of the grade is our bedside manner and I am confident in my ability to be nice and compassionate to people. Overall, I am sure it went fine, but until I hear about it, I don't know for sure.
We started studying for the other set of boards Step 2 CK once we returned. Six days a week this is our schedule: Up at 7:15 and get ready. Do practice questions from 8:00-9:00. Review questions from 9:00-11:00. Study from 11:00-12:00 (either review yesterday, pre-read for today or cover topics I tend to miss questions about). 12:00-1:00: Lunch (and usually we watch the Colbert Report). 1:00-5:00: watch video lectures. 5:00-7:30: ESS (exercise, shower and socialize). This is when we got to the gym (three days per week), we clean/do laundry, go to the grocery store, or maybe just take a walk. It is my favorite part of the day. 7:30-10:00: Review the information covered in the video lectures. 10:00 get ready for bed/relax.
Now sometimes, I don't stick to this schedule exactly, but you get the basic idea. I really need a good eight hours of sleep (or more) to focus this intensely for so long. I don't think Farley needs as much sleep as I do. Obviously, you can tell this isn't exactly the most fun I could be having in New York during a beautiful May and June, but I have to do it. Now, one day a week we take off and get out of the house. We usually sleep in and go explore in New York. One week I get to choose what we do and the next, Farley chooses. When I choose, we go somewhere new and explore, but when Farley chooses we go to a movie.
My birthday is in Mid-May and we moved our day off to be on my birthday. I wanted to go walk around central park, but it was raining and overcast (couldn't even see the top of the Empire State Building). We ended up just walking around Union Square and shopping a bit. Neither of us got anything until we went to Strand Books, where I picked up a few used books to enjoy at my leisure (sometimes I like to read for fun before going to bed). Farley took me to Max Brenner for dinner and I have pictures of the dessert! Oh and by the way, that isn't a martini shaker, it is a shaker of hot fudge.
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