It's amazing how fast 4 weeks go by...

01-26-08

Hi everyone,

Hope you all are having a good week. I am officially done with my first Sub-I. It was awesome. I learned so much. In my last week there I requested to be in the nursery for a few days. In my 3rd year pediatric clerkship no one truly taught me how to do a good new born examination, and… well… I didn’t want to go on without knowing how to do it. So one of the residents showed me and I did it over and over again for 2.5 days. This small deviation from the floor was so very important, and I am very happy to have requested it.

On Tuesday I had my very last interview for a residency program. Since it was done at the hospital I rotated at, and also I’ve had so many prior interviews, I didn’t prepare much. Normally before an interview I go online and research the hospital, the curriculum, the research requirements, etc. Here I didn’t need to… I think we interviewed one another, but not really on that Tuesday, rather from the first day of my rotation. LOL! Well, I truly loved this program. This is where I want to go. I hope they want me as well. But, whatever happens, happens—I’ll be happy wherever I end up.

I think I told you before that the hospital is about a mile from the shore. When I’m in the parking lot I can normally smell the ocean (when it is not 12F). I tried unsuccessfully before, to drive to the shore; there were always houses preventing me from getting through. After my interview day I decided to try my luck again. This time I asked all the residents how to get there. I got 5 different ways and chose one. This time I made it! I was so happy!!! It was pouring outside, but I stepped out of the car and walked on the boardwalk for a bit. I wanted to go down to the water, but I had my nice shoes on and it really was pouring hard, so I decided to go back to the car. However… I returned again the next day to have a better view. The sea is the one thing that can really get me relaxed. It’s not the swimming I’m after, but that calming effect of the rhythmic waves.

The ocean itself looks similar to the Mediterranean. The sand is coarser and not as yellow. There is also a silly picket fence in front of the sea. I thought it was kind of funny! One big wave and whoosh! The fence will fall… But the strangest thing of it all is that the sun rises in the ocean and doesn’t set in it. :o)


















Isn’t it really nice? It is probably packed in the summer… eh?

Anyways, on Friday I went out with one of the residents I really liked—it is always fun to find new friends. We went to a Thai restaurant and had some awesome delicious food with good conversation. I never had Thai food before, and I ended up loving it. Yum. Then we drove around—to see the towns in the area. Then we went for some coffee and then I drove home because I was awake since 4AM and the resident had to be on call the next day.

Today I woke up and went to volunteer at the shelter. I walked in and saw a gray kitty that looked just like Lily. I thought it WAS Lily until I saw it was a male cat. Phew. Today I walked the dogs—it was relatively warm outside (30-32F... oi, oi, my island in the sun!) and it wasn’t windy at all. I decided not to wear my coat, and so glad I didn’t because one of the dogs decided to paw me when I took him out of his cage, only he had poop on his paw and as a result I had poo on my shirt. Ick. I cleaned it good and moved on with life, but had it been my coat I would have had to waste time going to the dry cleaner.

Anyways, afterwards I came home I tried to get some of my graduation paperwork done. There is so much of it, and it is such a pain. I need to finish it this weekend though, as I really don’t want to even think about it during my next rotation.

My next rotation is at the hospital I did my pediatric cardiology at. I really liked that rotation, and am kind of excited to go back. However the only difference is that I will be on the floor doing my second sub-I. I hope this will be as good as the rotation I just completed. This new hospital is actually my second choice—I truly hope I will like it, as there is a real chance of me getting there :oP

Match results will be in a little bit over 2 weeks from now. If I don’t match I’ll have to enter my next list for the other match. Anyways, the suspense is killing me!!! I wonder what mom would have said about the programs I picked…

Okay now, really, enough about the hospitals and match and residency… It seems like I can’t talk about anything else!

Vega is all better! She is eating like her normal self again… Hooray! KC is well too!

Hmmm. That’s about it...
Everyone have a great week!
Love to all,

Re