ASA, Orange County, and First Interview

This last week has been a busy one. After finishing Emergency Medicine I flew to San Diego to attend the annual Anesthesiology conference. There were a bunch of sessions for medical students and opportunities to meet program directors and residents, which was awesome. I also got to learn a lot about Anesthesia and got some cool free swag. I even won a signed copy of Miller's Anesthesia, which is essentially the bible of Anesthesia. That will be awesome for stating out my career in a year and a half when I've survived intern year. I'll probably still buy his Basics book to read first though, but it was SO excited to win!

After ASA Dad and I went to Orange County for 2 nights. We didn't do too much, but had a nice time doing random things. I had to stop at Starbucks for an hour to get online for a lecture for the online class I'm currently in, so we went to Balboa Island and got a really quick lunch and he explored while I did some learning. After watching lecture I got a frozen banana, which is exciting is you've ever seen Arrested Development. We also saw some nice homes, beaches, did some shopping, and spent some time in the hot tub at the spa at the hotel (the St. Regis is super nice!).

Yesterday morning we got up REALLY early and I flew back to Michigan. It is a bit colder here for sure, but luckily not too bad yet! I had my first interview today here and it was really great. This program sets a really high bar to compare other programs against. Now I'm watching the Cal-USC game and doing some online class work until it's time to go to the interview day dinner downtown. Fun times! 

Finished Emergency Medicine

I finished Emergency Medicine today and now I have 15 weeks of freedom. Well, freedom and interviews. It should be an exciting time. Today I had my first experience with quick interview slot filling as I snagged the VERY LAST interview slot for a transitional year program. Talk about nerve wracking. It also happens to be the day before another interview and almost across the country, so it's going to be tight, but I have a flight all set up and ready to go so I can make both.

For now I'm ready to head to San Diego in the morning for the ASA conference. Should be a great time!

Lovely Wedding Weekend

This past weekend I went to California for the wedding of my best friend of 28 years. It was lovely and so nice to celebrate with her and her new husband. I couldn't stop myself from crying through most of the night for no reason. The food was great, the company was great, and Katie looked beautiful. Such a great time. I got home this morning at 1AM and then got to watch some videos for class this morning and got a few hours of sleep before my 7AM mock code simulation. It was a long day, but I survived! 

ER Continues

I am now officially 33% done with my ER shifts, meaning 5 down and 10 to go. So far all of my shifts have been in the Main ERs, but tonight I have a shift on peds. Its 6P-2A, which will be a bit strange, but at least it's a change of pace. Tomorrow is another shift in Main and then I have a nurse tech shift, aka IVs etc. Then its off the CA this weekend for wedding time! Ready for three full days off (and the chance to trapeze!).

EM day 1

First shift went by fast. Did some lac suturing, attempted LP (with barely any instruction so was super weird), saw patients. It is chaotic.