Catching Up

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.  

Pediatric Pulmonary review

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged.  I have been meaning to update, but I've been really busy.  I guess I'll just update you on the last rotation: I loved it!  I guess I have pretty much enjoyed all of my pediatric rotations and this was no exception. My attending was great and I learned a ton.  The children were wonderful and the parents were great.  I learned so much!!  I don't think I'll go into pediatric pulmonary, but it is on the list of specialties that I would consider.

I had to do a big project for my rotation.  I gave a presentation on Asthma in children.  I learned an amazing amount.  The average rate of asthma is around 7% in the USA, but there are homeless populations in New York City with rates as high as 40-50%!!  Also, there are subgroups of the population who don't respond as well to treatment, namely the beta agonists (albuterol), such as the Puerto Ricans.  No one knows why they don't respond, no one knows why they have higher rates of asthma and no one knows why it is more severe.  I could go on and on.  It is amazing to learn all of these things about asthma, especially while I'm living in New York and seeing patients that fit these criteria (I saw a little Puerto Rican girl who didn't respond to albuterol and I saw homeless children with horrific asthma).  I don't think I would have had the opportunity to learn something in a book and then see patient's whose lives are affected by the disease in  most cities.  The diversity and size of New York City makes medical training in New York City great: if it happens anywhere, it can and will (at some point) happen here

Anyway, I was suppose to give my presentation to other students until an opening in the lecture schedule opened up.  I gave a noon conference for the residents!  I am lucky they are pediatricians (and therefore nice) because they could have asked me difficult questions just to show that they know more than I do (at least at this point in my education).  Nonetheless, I was well prepared and I am proud of how I did (so was my attending.)  Overall, it was a wonderful rotation!

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.