Our 1st Christmas

This year marked our 1st married Christmas! We've been married for almost 6 months now and it has flown by! This was also the first year that I did not wake up Christmas morning at my parents' house...only took 28 years for that big change! I was able to spend time with much of my family on Christmas Eve and then headed back home to wait for Jeff to get off work.  He had to work on Christmas, so we did our exchanging presents that morning and spent a little time with his parents before he headed off to work, then I headed over to my aunt's house for the afternoon.  We got to do Christmas with the rest of the family that Saturday, and it was so fun! Here are a few pictures!

We are registered for the Country Music Half Marathon! My 3rd and Jeff's 1st!

He loves his new camera!

He's imagining the face he will make during his massage! We got each other couple's massages! LOL!

Wow! I look tired! I could use this pillow to go back to sleep!

Jeff got me a new memory foam pillow with a cooling layer! It's amazing!

A shoe rack!!! I think he was tired of me having shoes all over the bottom of the closet!

My beautiful new earrings!

I love jewelry! Haha!

Our Christmas tree after we opened our presents!

My warm slippers! Jeff always gets ice cube toes pressed against him!

I made Christmas breakfast consisting of biscuits, sausage, eggs, and tater rounds! Yum!

Spending time with one of my biggest fans...Jordan! We had a great afternoon!

Our 1st Christmas picture after Jeff got off work! Can't wait to celebrate many more together!

A Month of Thanks

While I haven't jumped on the Facebook bandwagon of telling the world what I'm thankful for daily, it has made me think each day more and more about all the things I am thankful for and how blessed I am.  With my anesthesia rotation winding down since I have an interview taking up much of next week, today I thought about how thankful I am for preceptors that are amazing, willing teachers.  While I'm not sure if some of these physicians are getting reimbursed for the time they take to teach me, to me, it seems that they are taking on a student out of the kindness of their heart.  Most physicians that I have followed have seemed to take joy out of sharing their knowledge and experience.  Most physicians remember how it is to be a student.  Each new generation of doctors has to be trained somehow and many of my preceptors did not think they would be in a teaching environment, yet they have undertaken the task with zeal.  My favorite preceptors are the ones who challenge me to get out of my comfort zone and to think critically. They give me confidence in myself showing the confidence they have in me.  They make me want to learn all I can about their specialty.  Looking ahead, many, many years down the road, I hope I will have the same opportunity to teach the new round of soon-to-be doctors.  I want to be the type of doctor that shows the enthusiasm and love I have for this profession to my patients, co-workers, and anyone else I encounter during my practice, and more than anything, I want to be good at what I do.  And I want to deliver babies...but that's just a small part of it! :)

Looking Down the Road

In light of receiving my first residency interview, I thought I would update my blog for the first time in forever! I started this blog so that I could record my thoughts as I went through rotations, and maybe help make my decision about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  As I soon found out, that was not needed...within two days of my first OB-GYN rotation, I knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing.  So here's a draft of my personal statement that I've used for my applications. I

There are a few moments in life when you may get the awe-inspiring feeling that your life is headed in the right direction; a sense of purpose urging you to take a certain path.  Most recently, that feeling happened as I was walking down the aisle toward my smiling groom, surrounded by my family and friends.  Before that, one of these remarkable moments was my first solo delivery. It was 2 weeks into my OB/GYN core clerkship and no deliveries had worked out quite well enough to allow me to deliver on my own.  I had finished checking on a patient when I ran into another attending on our service.  We started talking and he asked if I felt ready to deliver unassisted.  I jumped at the chance since I had been waiting for weeks for this opportunity.  I had witnessed many births by this point, but to be scrubbed in with the doctor observing behind me was a gratifying experience that I will never forget.  As excited as I was, it was amazing to be involved in such a joyous moment in the proud parents’ lives.

During my 3^rd year, I had the opportunity to pick many of my first rotations. I had completed my Master’s in Anatomy before medical school, and with my knowledge of the human body, I knew that whatever I would love doing would involve surgery or procedures, something very hands-on.  I rotated through Interventional Radiology, Neurosurgery, Cardiovascular Surgery, and Orthopedic Surgery, each one giving me a new set of abilities. With each rotation, my surgical skills improved and I felt more at home in the operating room. I enjoyed the immediate effect we could provide a patient with an operation, and it was amazing to see the transformation in their health.  The one thing I did not receive with these rotations was an exposure to primary care.  The interactions with patients, while rewarding, felt short and often had no reason for long-term follow up.  I decided I wanted a stronger, long-term relationship with my patients and still play an integral role in several aspects of their health.

During my first OB/GYN rotation, I found something that I had not in any rotation before: I enjoyed clinic as much as I did being in the hospital rounding on patients or in surgery. Being the only student on the service with three physicians, I was able to see many of the practice’s patients, which offered a huge range of pathology and treatment styles.  The versatility of this field astounds me, as you can be involved in a patient’s preventative health and health maintenance or treatment and recovery of illness.  Another thing that has drawn me toward OB/GYN is the opportunity to educate patients.  I have a strong background in teaching, and I’ve been told by many patients on rotations that I explain things very well.  My experiences in OB/GYN have been some of the most interesting and challenging moments of my clinical time and I look forward to being in such an exciting field.

At this moment, my goal is to practice general Obstetrics and Gynecology, although I am eager to have an in-depth exposure to many of the subspecialties.  I have a very supportive spouse, family, and group of friends, and medical school has provided me with the ability to balance my personal and professional lives well.  In addition to my surgical and communication skills, I have a friendly demeanor, strong leadership ability, dedicated work ethic, and the motivation and desire to learn.  I look forward to entering a residency program that is academically challenging, committed to teamwork and support, and driven on keeping up with the advances in patient care in the field of OB/GYN. 

6ish months later...

Goodness, I am awful about making sure I write in my blog! So, now I have almost a half a year's experience to catch up on.  The most exciting moment right now is that tomorrow is the first day to try on a wedding dress! We are definitely in planning mode now that all of the holidays are over.  I just feel like once I find my dress it will feel like everything is coming together! Now if I could just nail down a color, we'd really be getting somewhere!

Since the last time I updated the blog, I've had some of my favorite rotations.  The rotation after neurology, neurosurgery, was definitely my favorite.  The first day on the service, the doctor asked me tons of anatomy questions, which were right up my alley, so he definitely had some trust in me after that day.  From that day on I got to open and close almost every surgery and even got to do whole carpal tunnel surgeries and muscle and nerve biopsies myself, under close supervision, of course! I never expected to get to do so much on my first surgery rotation.  It is definitely one of the things I could imagine doing for the rest of my life!

After Neurosurgery, I moved on to Cardiovascular/Thoracic Surgery, which I loved! There's not many things cooler than holding a beating heart! Once I proved that I knew my way around the OR, the surgeons gave me the responsibility of suturing the leg after harvesting veins, and as I got quicker with that, I got to move up closer to the heart each day, eventually getting to help with bypass surgeries and getting to close the chest.  The heart is a part of the body I have always been fascinated with, so then again, I would love to be able to do this as a career, 9 hour surgeries and all!

I came into medical school thinking I would be an orthopedic surgeon, and after my Orthopedic Surgery rotation, I'm not so sure about that! The thing is, the part of orthopedics that I really loved, the spine surgeries, is what I got to do in Neurosurgery, and the rest felt like the exhaustion of holding limbs.  It was a very valuable rotation, especially since I got to see a range of hospitals from LeBonheur to The Med, but I was exhausted most days and of it just didn't seem to fit.

My four months in Memphis were so much fun, mainly because of my lovely cousin Christy! I had such a blast having a roommate again, and we never had a dull moment.  Christy was on a pretty strict diet and didn't keep bad stuff in the house, so it was a lot easier to lose weight down there, and a 24 hour gym didn't hurt! Total I am up to a 29 pound loss, which is much less than I hoped to be by this point, but I still have time! I'm in Hopkinsville now, and they have given the students a free YMCA membership, so it's definitely crunch time!!!

Getting into a groove!

Wow! It has been over a month since I wrote something on here! I'm pretty bad about always finding something else I could be doing other than sitting down on the computer, but I'd really like to update my blog more often, so I'll just have to make it one of my priorities!

A lot has happened since my last update! Kyle and Mandy's wedding went so well! It was beautiful and they had a great turnout of people there to celebrate their love! It definitely got Jeff and I more excited about our wedding...if that's possible! Just 10 months left until we tie the knot and it is speeding by!

I finished up my radiology rotation in Cookeville and was really sad to leave! Sometimes things just fit, and that's what radiology did. I went to grad school in anatomy, so that's what I am good at, and it was all anatomy all the time! What more could I ask for? The only problem if that stays a top choice is that it is a super competitive residency, so I'm not sure how great my chances are to get in, but if it still feels right, I'll definitely try!

About 2.5 weeks ago, I moved to Cordova to start my next rotation in Neurology, which is turning out to be a lot of fun! It was a little scary the first week, especially when all I got was a list of patients and rooms and was told to go see them, but after a minor "what do I do" moment, I pulled myself together and it ended up being a lot more fun than following a doctor around! One of the hardest parts about this rotation is having patients that aren't mobile or can't speak because of a stroke and trying to figure out how and what to do for my exam. I believe it has to be an art form that doctors eventually pick up, developing your own style of exam and deciding what questions to ask, one that I think will take a little while to get the hang of.

I do love living in Cordova because I have more friends down here, I have an awesome gym that is unbelievably close, and my cousin that I'm living with is a hoot! The only downsides are being farther away from Jeff and family and the traffic (oh the traffic!). But I'm having a blast, still have great hours and am getting lots of sleep, and already lost 12 pounds since I've been here! Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well, I guess that is all for now, just waiting for the doc to get here to spend the afternoon in clinic. So until next time! :-D

Getting My First Glimpse Into the Rest of My Life

Since I'm starting the 2nd week of my first rotation, I figured this was as good of a time as any to put some of my impressions of the week into words.  My first rotation is Radiology in Cookeville, TN.  I thought this rotation would be a good one to ease myself into the "doctor world" since you see a little bit of everything, and it has done exactly that.  It's been a blur of X-rays, CT's, MRI's, ultrasounds, and tons of other imaging.  I love love love this rotation and it's not even one of the ones I thought I would!  I've had unbelievably reasonable hours, free lunch (always a plus!), and the people are great! And its all anatomy all the time!!! What more could a girl want? As much as I want to enjoy the next two years, I hope I don't feel this way about every rotation, or else it's going to be really difficult to choose what I want to do for the rest of my life!

The only thing I wish I had more of in this rotation is patient interaction.  When I see a patient, it is usually for a procedure, so there's not a lot of conversation, but I know that the rotations here on out will be more one-on-one patient-centered, so I'm going to enjoy Radiology and make the most out of each day!

The big event for this weekend is my brother's wedding! Saturday afternoon I will gain a brand new sister! I'm so excited for them and I love how happy they are! I know they're going to have a fantastic blessed and happy life together! And I really love to see our family grow!

The Last Summer Before Reality

As soon as it started....or so it feels like...I can see the end of the summer drawing to a close and I feel like I haven't taken advantage of it! I survived both of my Step 1 exams (and we will see if I passed in the next few days) and went on vacation with the fam to Fort Morgan, AL.  That was an adventure! We nicknamed the trip "A Day Late and A Dollar Short" although the last part wasn't true.  Other than Granny, we didn't spend much money because she paid for almost every meal or activity! The "day late" part of the trip came with making it to a hot air balloon festival in time to see the last balloon deflated and made it to the Blue Angels just as they were landing and 5500 people were leaving! But it truly was a fun trip!

There's the smokey hot air balloon being deflated!

Since we got back from vacation, I've spent a lot of time cleaning my parent's basement so they don't have to have all my belongings in the way...truthfully I forgot what part of the basement looked like what with my stuff and my brother's "free stuff" from Japan.  But he bought a house so that is all moved out and now my stuff is all either waiting for the yard sale this weekend or in his old room.  In less than a year Jeff and I will be registering for new things, so I better clear most of my stuff out or we will be renting multiple storage units!

Speaking of weddings, I was so excited to see friends from DCOM at the Pazik-Huckaby wedding! To put it plainly...it was my dream wedding...outside, beautiful location, tent reception, dancing, everything a girl can dream of!  And it was hot!!! Probably the hottest weekend I have ever seen! Ours will be a quite a bit different, but it's so fun to see such a great couple get married...and get a few ideas of our own.  Alicia's wedding definitely got our creative juices flowing for a few days and we came up with a few more things we'd like at our wedding.  Other than the wedding, it was just an all around great weekend, including a triple date to dinner and Ted, Sounds game, Putt-Putt and more!

Such a fun reception! We had a great time!

I'm definitely looking forward to these next few weeks, and they will be packed! There's a yard sale (hopefully a success), Jonah's 2nd birthday, Mandy and Kyle's last shower and wedding, starting rotations, and hopefully finding time to spend some quality time with friends, family, and my love! 

Another huge priority for the next few weeks and actually the next year is weight loss.  While I was in grad school a few years ago, I lost a whopping 95 pounds, and since I left Mississippi I have been slowly (well maybe not so slowly) packing on the pounds.  Now, I'm dedicated to taking them off again! I have around 100 pounds that I would like to lose before the wedding, so if you subscribe to the whole 2 pounds per week idea, I've got just enough time! 52 weeks --> 100 pounds...and it's going to happen! We have the Warrior Dash coming up in September, and I don't want to have a heart attack halfway through the course.  And, my superficial reason, aside from blood pressure problems and not being able to run 13 miles anymore, is that I don't want to look at my wedding pictures and be unhappy with how I've let myself go.  So here we go again! Wish me luck! :)