The VA

So far working at the VA has been great. We have a lot of autonomy to act as almost the intern, which is nice because I feel like I actually know what is going on in all aspects of my patients' care. I also have been getting my work done fairly early, so I've had lots of time to study and have gotten to be home at reasonable hours every day, which I very much appreciate. The team I'm working on is great and the vets are an interesting patient population that I appreciate more than I anticipated. They are a very appreciative bunch, and much more laid back than some of the more uptight parents I came across at Mott which is a tertiary care center. The VA here is a good mix of bread and butter medicine and tertiary care since we get people from all over the state. Anyways, thats really all I'm doing right now.

Also, THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES LAST NIGHT!!! WOO HOO GO GIANTS! Third time in 5 years and I couldn't be more thrilled for my home team.

Switch Weekend

Ah the gloriousness of the switch weekend. Nothing to study, no commitments. Why can't it always be switch weekend!! I didn't do too much, but definitely got some quality downtime. I hung out with some friends on Friday night and then didn't leave my condo until tonight when I went to see The Best of Me at the movie theater with Stephanie. I cried through the entire movie (hard core cried) event though I read the book a while back and knew what I was getting myself into. It was a good movie. Other than that I really did very little besides spending too much time on the phone with Comcast not getting my internet problems resolved. Oh well. Onto Internal Medicine rotation tomorrow and I start at the VA Hospital. Hope it's an okay rotation, cause it's the next 4 weeks of my life!

Didn't make it

Seven weeks I made it through Peds without getting sick, so of course my body decided the weekend before the exam was the most opportune time to finally succumb to the viruses I've come in contact with recently. I spent my weekend with a ridiculously runny nose and congestion and dreams of well-child exams. No really, for some reason I have been tossing and turning and not getting good sleep because my head keeps repeating patient encounters and it's weirdly stressful.

Anyways, I stayed at home mostly this weekend since I wasn't at full strength, which meant I needed a few distractions. After doing two easy shifts (and a third one today actually) I had been to Target and Whole Foods and actually had some things to eat for once. I spent yesterday afternoon making dehydrated apples and bananas, and even made a pumpkin pie from scratch (aka from an actual pie pumpkin). This years pie worked out better than last years because I pouring the filling into the crust when it was already in the oven, which meant no spills! It was crazy beautiful if I do say so myself. I am pretty bomb at making pumpkin pie from scratch. I also recently discovered you can do the recipe with carrots instead of pumpkin and it is potentially even better, so I will have to try it sometime.

Today it was back to clinic. I have one more day of general clinic now and then one day of specialty clinics (Infection Disease and Coagulation) and then a study day and then the shelf. This weekend is the only weekend the entire M3 class has off together, so it should be fun! We are having a get together at Shea and Marcus's, and those are always good times. I also got a cryptic email today that was sent to a small group of people that said we should expect to go to a lecture at the VA next Thursday given by the chief of medicine, so some of us are guessing that means we have our VA month first for our internal med rotation. I guess I will find that all out soon enough since we start next week. Medicine is notorious for not giving much notice about your schedule. Anyways, I'm cold and hungry so I'm going to eat (probably some pie with it too!). 

Viruses

Today I had to reassure a parent that her child was very unlikely to contract Ebola. The media has made everyone so crazy! Everyone is super concerned they are going to get ebola or enterovirus and it has made parents paranoid and terrified beyond belief. People are just going nuts. Luckily the big enterovirus outbreak is on the downswing in Michigan now, but the media has people really freaked out. And while everyone is freaking out about ebola people are still declining flu vaccines that can help prevent their kids from getting a virus that they are actually likely to come across. Such is the life of peds clinic in the fall.

Outpatient life

This week and next week I am doing Peds outpatient clinic. It has actually been pretty good so far. I work with a different attending every half day, so my expectations and the way I interact with patients changes often, but I've been managing well I think. Ive seen one week olds all the way up to 17 year olds; mostly for well child visits, but also for some sick visits. I get to sleep in a little bit since clinic doesn't start until 8:30 or 9, and sometimes driving to and from clinic is a nice way to relax. Overall not so bad :)

Restful weekend

As usual I have been a bad blogger. It's hard to keep up when most of what I do each day I can't write about due to HIPPA. I have just finished a week on the newborn service, which was great. So many cute babies everyday! Best of all it was inpatient work, but all the patients are healthy and adorable! Other than that life has been much the same. Michigan played Penn State last night and actually won, so that was awesome! We spent the first half sitting near three group of people playing seat police and kept bringing ticket people to kick people out of their seats. I get it, but 90% of the student section is not in the exact seat they were assigned, so a group of 10 people shouldn't expect to have all their seats free when they arrive in the second quarter. It was ridiculous. We got annoyed and moved at halftime and enjoyed the second half much more. I also got a lot of rest this weekend, cleaned, did laundry, and actually made some food. Next up on the agenda is cleaning the fridge out and possibly going to the grocery store. Tomorrow starts two weeks of Peds outpatient clinic and then the rotation is over and I will be half way done with 3rd year!