New Addition and The End of Interviews

So interviews are finally OVER! I'm glad because I was getting tired of airplanes (ahem, DELTA). I learned a lot of what not to do while traveling (ahem, FLY DELTA). I definitely have my favorites and it's going to be a very difficult decision. I just want that email on Monday that says "you matched". Any of the programs I put on my list will be a happy place to train. So at least I have that going for me. I'm ready to put in my rank list and be over and done with it.

I have big news. There is an addition to my little world. I'm sure everyone has scrolled to see the pics, but I have a dog! She's a stray my friend W found after one of the ice storms. He couldn't keep her, couldn't find anyone to respond to the lost dog ads, and didn't have the heart to take her to a shelter. So I took her. She's super sweet, really funny. I'm pretty sure she's 1/2 lab, which luckily I have no allergic reaction to her so that's good. We don't know what else. The vet estimated her at 2-3 years old (meaning NO housebreaking for me. whee!). She's staying with my sister right now until I move out and can take her with me. She's really great with kids and is really people friendly. She must have been someone's dog. So I really lucked out. I've decided to call her Macy so we're still trying to get her used to her new name. Other than that I can't wait to get my own place so she can come home with me.

Le pictures:

Already a spoiled couch potato

I couldn't get a good pic to show everyone her size. She's a medium lab size.

She's really cute.

That's 50lbs of cuteness right there.

Oh, and after I make up my rank list this weekend, match day needs to hurry up!

The Road to Residency

Hello All. I'm sure I'm with everyone else on the whole "holy freaking jesus I've been interviewing for the past 2 months and now it needs to be over NOW". I had booked 12 interviews, but will end up cancelling 1 (if I ever stop procrastinating) so I will end up with 11 total. I have 2 more left in Jan and then I AM DONE. So, I will run down my 9 interviews. And you know I've met some weirdos.

Interview #1: I was nervous as hell and now looking back I should have been a huge bitch. But, it was my first and I was so worried about making a good impression and them liking me (yeah, should have just walked out after lunch.). So I fly out, stayed in a hotel which I had to pay for (you will come to see that most places paid for my hotel) then get to the interview to be blindsided. The entire worst part was the fact that for lunch they ordered PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA (yes, you read right) and then the residents took ALL the garlic sauce for themselves and didn't even offer to share with anyone. Now, it was my impression that interviews are somewhat of a recruitment tool. Most places have taken me somewhere nice or even just fed me the catered cafeteria food. But fast food pizza? seriously? come on people. Besides, the residents were weird, talked amongst themselves and pretty much ignored the 3 of us during lunch. Then, one of my interviewers took me to the cafeteria to interview me. ok, kinda weird. then proceeded to sit down, NOT LOOK AT ME (he looked off in the corner and made no eye contact), act like a jackass, and just went "so what questions do you have for me" without any tell me about yourself or anything. I left that interview petrified that all of them would be like that. Really BAD experience.

Interview Dos: Well, it was the home institution. Reaffirmed how much I love the faculty, LOVE the residents, LOVE LOVE LOVE everyone. It really has shown me that our med school has a kicking path program (it's probably one of the better programs I've seen).

Interview Three: This is the awesome of awesome stories. Being in path, most of my itineraries for the interview day come a couple of days before. Well, I flew out the day before my interview. That morning I didn't have anything in my email from the program. So I email the secretary explaining that I haven't gotten an itinerary yet and will be traveling for the entire day and won't be able to check it until I get into town that night. So I get in around 630 pm and there is STILL NO EMAIL. So I start calling the dept hoping to find someone still there. I get nothing. So, with my interview that next day I don't know where to be, what time to be there, nothing. I start flipping my shit. So with the good council of some friends, I got up the next morning, got all dressed and ready, then started phone bombing the dept until I talked to a person. I basically was told that I needed to be there RIGHT THEN (at 8 am) and they'll tell the secretary I'll be late and to just head in. I took a cab to the hospital and made it to the dept by 8:05 am. The secretary didn't show up until 8:30. She then proceeded to tell me that she didn't have me down on her schedule and must have "overlooked" my reply email confirming my interview date. Plus, she had taken the day off the previous day and didn't get my "holy crap" email until that morning. But it was "okay" and they "threw together" an interview day for me since I was already there. By the time I got to the program director there was apology after apology how it had never happened before and I will definitely be remembered (in a good way). I was thanked for being persistent and coming in anyway. Luckily the people there were nice and the program had a home institution feel to it. Although my adrenaline was flowing!

Interview IV: Place set me up as far as hotels. I had my own suite! It would have been nice to have the boy there with me. Dad and I actually drove (whenever I drive he wants to come. I've found that we have an 8hr limit. After that we start bickering in the car). The residents were nice but I didn't get that "click" and the program director  kept talking about how he wished one of the now pathology attendings at my institution would have gone there instead. So it was a little awkward. But everyone was nice. And took us out the night before and for lunch. Both to awesome places. they do it right. Otherwise it was an uneventful interview. Had to drive straight back in the TERRIBLE weather to take my review of histo test the next day. That I ended up passing by some grace of God.

Interviews 5-8 were in one massive 2 week long voyage. By 8 I was missing home and the boy so much I let my hair down and just didn't care anymore!

Interview 5: The residents and faculty were cool. I really clicked with one resident over our love of kidney path and lack of daily proprioception completely sober. No weirdness whatsoever on the program part. There was a DO student with us that took some away rotations at the institution. She just acted like she was a shoe-in and kinda like an ass at times in my opinion. Oh well. It was a good experience.

Interview 6: Again, nothing impressive. It was way up north and the snow was taller than I was. it was the first interview where I was the only one that day. Which was weird to have all the attention just on me. I only met 3 residents while there, which seemed odd. They took me to lunch at a nice place with awesome dessert. One resident was a little too enthusiastic about me, and kept saying "oh PLEASE come here!". And the chairman wasn't there and I'm supposed to have an interview set up over the phone but it was never followed through... oh well. I even got a parting gift from this place (one and only time) but except the chocolate I couldn't take any of it with me. Mainly because I refused to pack anything bigger than a carry-on because airlines are out of their mind for charging $25 bucks a pop for checking in a bag. Since I only had a carry on it was stuffed to the max and the large jar of some local sauce wouldn't have been kosher on the plane.

Interview 7: Let's just say that if I hadn't taken the hotel shuttle to the interview I would have just walked out halfway through the interview. When I met with the Program director she proceeded to tell me how the 3rd year residents go to mandatory board review classes paid for by the program because residents were FAILING THEIR BOARDS. Plus, all the residency positions were funded 100% by medicare and therefore they had a cap enforced by the government. So, no internal funding of resident spots. Then, they'll be merging with several other hospitals in the area, and the residents will just "absorb" the increased workload. And the only way to get pediatric path exposure was to go to a DIFFERENT STATE. Yeah, I wish I had just walked out. Plus there was one resident with the personality of a saltine cracker and another who made it clear this wasn't his first choice. Or he may have scrambled for all I know.

Interview 8: Not too bad, kinda ho-hum. Largest group with 5 interviewees. One girl was late getting to the shuttle in the morning but we all ended up getting there on time. She was weird, she was laying on the couch during the pre-interview appetizers the night before. Plus she looked chronically pissed off and her hair was a mess and honey child could have used some foundation and lip gloss. Just sayin'. and there was one guy who didn't say a word until, oh, lunch the next day. Weirdest group of fellow interviewees by far. I think the most offsetting point of the program was the response of "Well, most of them are...." to the question "are the attendings approachable". Yeah, red flag of malignant attendings. And it was a program that the response to having a kid during residency was "Well, they can't STOP you from getting pregnant". Other than that they were all friendly and normal.

Interview 9: I drove to it with my dad. It was uneventful except for the fact that I think I walked away with a vicious cold as a parting gift. I got a lot of "we like you come here" and promises of "if you come here we'll do _____ for you". Which was a first. And I interviewed with a WEIRD person.  Very socially awkward. But nice.

So that wraps up the interview trail so far. I have two more places. Then Match day. I can't wait. I just hope I get my #1 choice. I hope we all do.

Picture post of my travels to follow!

Speak Freely

As many of you have noticed, my blog had been on semi-lockdown due to a recent stink over blogs and being a "medical professional". With all of that I had to really sit down and think about whether to continue my blog or not. There is such a stink lately about medical, celebrity, and regular people and social networking sites. My personal opinion on all of this is that in a way, we are guaranteed freedom of speech and press. So really, we cannot be prosecuted over our opinions stated out loud or in print (by the federal government). Granted, privileged information such as patients names, conditions, etc should be protected. But what about our thoughts and opinions on subjects? Or our personal views on what is happening on a specific rotation? Why are we, as medical professionals, held to a standard where our thoughts and opinions must be censored because someone may get offended?

That must have been outlined in the fine print where I signed away my rights when I entered medical school.

So with that, I've decided to continue my blog. Granted, I have now prevented people from typing me into a search engine and finding me. I will say this: if you read my blog and get offended you have one of two choices:
1. come to me personally and explain why you are offended. I'm all about people voicing their opinions.
2. Stop reading. If you don't like what I say, don't come back. This is me exercising my right to have opinions and post them freely. I abide by HIPAA protocols and never reveal patient names or any other identifying information. Names have been changed to protect privacy and unless you were there or know specifically who people are, you don't know who I'm talking about. If you think I may be talking about you and you get offended, see choice #1. if that is not an option, then reference section 1 of choice #2 : STOP READING.

Ok, with all that now said, I will update the blogworld with my doings.

I finished anesleesia. It was definitely not my cup of tea. By the 3rd mock "mega code" I resorted to being sarcastic and caustic. It was ridiculous. I understand that there is a time and place for such codes, and it's great practice, but I will never run a code. And those who will may need this, oh, first week of intern year. Because none of us will remember the things outlined in the past 3 mega codes. Just my opinion.

Now on review of histology. Pretty great so far. I have some blackboard modules and access to a slide box and the histo lab. I also have 4 interviews this month so I'll be sure to keep up with all that. First one is next week on the 10th and I am scared! I'm sure I'll become more comfortable once I get one interview under my belt, but I'm so worried I'll screw it up. I've set my limit at 15 but I don't think I'll want to do that many.

Things with the boy are going well. He even came to the Halloween party (and for all you losers that didn't go, you missed out on meeting him!). So far everyone seems to like him which is good. He's definitely turning out to be a keeper! We really don't talk about the whole interview and match day thing, except for we'll just deal with whatever comes when it comes.

Hope everyone else in blog land is doing well! Adios for now.

Total Pain

On pain clinic this week. Ugh. I'm really glad my partner is a slacker like me, because we totally just disappeared at 11 this morning. Love it. Talked to some other fellow M4's that are just doing a pain month, and they told me to not even worry about showing up to morning rounds. No one will notice. Sweet! So I get to sleep in and just show up to 8 am clinic. Booya. However, the African attending offended me within 5 minutes (first he called me a pharmacy student, then when I said I was in med school and pharmaceutics wasn't my "area" he proceeded to tell a condescending story about Jonah and the Whale. He basically was like "you're immature not stepping up" and I'm like "I'M NOT A FUCKING PHARMACIST!"). However, his accent is awesome and I like hearing him talk. Totally not paying attention to what he says, but his accent is pretty awesome.

Ok, so I will say I'm trying really really really hard to get the boy out to meet everyone. Down sides include 1. He's in starkville working all week 2. he has 3 younger sisters he frequently takes care of 3. All of the above prevents us from having a lot of alone time so I tend to get selfish with him. I think I may attack him with a camera and post some pics so everyone can at least see what he looks like. We became official sometime last week? (yeah, that whole anniversary thing isn't happening from my end haha). He is super sweet to me, seems to like my feisty in-your-face personality, has the cutest smile and makes me laugh. Apparently I can't stop smiling whenever I'm talking or thinking about him. I'm completely smitten. Any more than that, you'll have to ask. I hate sitting and gushing because I could go on and on (and I'll do it).

Got a lot of my interviews booked. Still haven't heard from UMC. Really getting nervous. I'm sure they are just one of the many programs that send out invites later, but I won't feel better until I get my invite. I"m getting kinda nervous and almost like "ugh, I don't want to do this" but it has to be done. I'm glad everyone else is getting a bunch of interviews and I absolutely cannot WAIT until match day. Woo!

Time for bed, went running tonight and i am pooped!

Free Friday

I feel like I'm playing hookie today. The anesthesia dept didn't want to start up their rotation on a friday I suppose, so Monday is orientation. I'm not looking forward to doing a month of something I have no interest in (especially since it'll mean early mornings) but I suppose anything is better than having to do surgery. Plus I know I'll get all my sign offs done, so that's good.

Things with boy are so far so good. Slowly introducing him to people. Still think we're in that "hang out and talk" mode. I'm trying to let go and enjoy instead of freaking out about impending Match Day and all that it entails.

All is well on the application front. Hopefully I'll just get to stay at UMC but we'll see. I'm going to try to do things in the cities I visit so there may be an interview trail picture post when the time comes.

Oh, and I'm also trying to decide what to dress up as for halloween. Unfortunately growing up halloween was "go dig through your closet and come up with something creative. I'm not buying you a costume" so I've never really gotten into the spirit. So maybe this year I'll actually go buy something. I'm going to try to tag along with the niece and nephew while they trick or treat (omg the cutest things you've ever seen kids do) and then maybe the halloween party at H&M's or out with friends? I dunno. we'll see.

Wha Whaaa!

Micro for the rest of the month. Got to say it hasn't been my favorite. Which is ok, gotta have that one thing you don't absolutely love, don't you? But everyone is nice, and the lab is stinky. I feel like I need a decontamination shower after being back there.

Got more interviews. I'm thinking about not accepting one. Even the email was super high strung and listed out things I needed to include in my email, as well as the fact that the Residency Director or Chair will be personally calling me to find out what my research and career interests are so I can get set up with the correct people or something like that. Yeah, I don't think so. Kinda scary.

Tonight will comprise of chocolate cake baking for a friend's birthday, and going over and over my presentation. I'm house sitting again this weekend, and I'm hoping I may convince boy to come and watch movie again with me. Yes, it's just an excuse to cuddle, but he's really cute. I'm trying really hard this time to not come on strong (we kinda dated-ish in the past. it was my idea and I feel that this time it needs to be on his terms). Yeah, really cute.

Not looking forward to anesthesia next month. Oh well, gotta do what we gots to do.

Smitten

Hematopathology this week. Been working with one of the docs I asked for a rec letter. Hopefully I've stepped up my game and I'll get a good one. I'm even doing a presentation at end of the month conference on Hemoglobin SC disease (two letters, you'd appreciate this one!). I'm kinda pumped, and trying REALLY hard to make sure I don't have a really long talk. I want to go into sickle cell and just plain hemoglobin C disease, but that can't happen. They told me to keep it under 10 min. I think I can do that if I talk fast (which I usually do when I'm nervous). Right now it's looking like about 10-15 slides so I should make it. I believe I'm completely smitten with this idea of being a pathology professor one day. I've really enjoyed coming up with a presentation.

So I'm absolutely loving CP. Have I mentioned that lately? haha. Oh, and the interview invites have started, mainly with a lot of the East Coast programs (which is what I was told to suspect according to SDN) and a select few southern programs have sent me the email "we're reviewing your application and you should heard from us starting by this date". So it's exciting! Hopefully I'll have a job in path by March 17th!

I believe that I shall be jinxing myself, but you know how the minute you swear off guys, and plan to be single then start looking after "residency settles in a routine", is the minute you find someone?

Yeah, guess who that happened to.

But that's all I'm saying about that.

Off to look up some numbers and google photos for my presentation.