a celebration

wow. so it's over!

i have survived my intern year- reportedly one of the toughest on this path of being a doctor.

i look back at what i've seen...

the favorite part of my job is interacting with patients and their families. many times, we hear really funny stories (which i can't reveal here for privacy reasons) and sometimes we get to be a part of someone's life during a scary illness and help them get better. every single day is different and i never really know what's going to happen, which is exciting.

the worst part of my job is all the paperwork and bullshit that i need to do that i definitely DID NOT go to medical school for. i'm an expert at tracking down bloodwork that didn't make it to a lab because of any number of reasons (the blood was never drawn, the phlebotomist was never called, the blood got sent to the wrong place, there wasn't enough blood, the secretary entered the order in wrong, etc.). i'm also really good at calling radiology and yelling at the appropriate people to get studies on my patients. i'm also quite proficient in playing the role of transport, wheeling patients down to where they need to go. :)

i look forward to second-year because i want to do more teaching and more patient care, instead of drowning in the paperwork like i did for most of intern year.

i have a week off to relax, get a tan, and prepare for being a mini-senior!

a pick-me-up kind of day

today, i stayed at the hospital later than i intended, for no apparent reason. there is this saying in medicine "the longer you stay, the longer you stay" and "get out when you can." :)

i was signed up to volunteer at a free clinic run by the medical school tonight. i was really dreading it because i'm exhausted and it was from 5:30-7:30pm. i managed to squeeze in a 20 min nap that was much needed.

but once i got there, i had a great time! a lot of patients actually showed up and needed real medical attention. some needed vaccines, others needed to be sent to the emergency room. we worked with first-year medical students and i was amazed at how much i've learned over my first year of residency and how far i've come from first-year of medical school when i didn't even know how to do a physical exam.

as i was driving home, i remembered why i began this long journey to become a doctor. and why i love our hospital that serves the underserved southside of Chicago. my college's motto "not to be served, but to serve" rings true every day i'm at work, and tonight, it was even more true.

lots to catch up on!

wow, this last month of internship is turning out to be one of the most difficult ones! i'm exhausted. i've been getting up at 5am every day. i've only had 3 days off the entire month. this is getting REALLY old. thank goodness i only have 4 more days left.

a couple weekends ago, i spent my two off days in a row in new york to visit my friend who is leaving the country soon. we spent hours catching up because it had been almost 5 years since we really had seen each other (i saw her for a couple hours last march). and we partied at level b, which she tells me is a highly exclusive club that's hard to get into on the weekends. needless to say, i didn't get much sleep that weekend either.

this past weekend, i had 3 BBQs in a row. friday night, we had korean bbq with sam, who is leaving soon for stanford. :( saturday night, brian hosted a bbq in his courtyard with a tiki bar. he's leaving for michigan. then sunday night, joy had a house-warming bbq at her brand new shiny place, with fireworks and all.

today i had the wonderful opportunity to meet some of the NEW INTERNS! woohoo. it's weird to see them going through the same orientation we did last year... i remember being scared out of my mind to be a "doctor" and to actually be responsible for patient care. i feel like i've changed and grown a lot in one year.

i've also become disillusioned, jaded, and numb to a lot of what goes on behind the scenes in our hospital. but deep down, i still have the passion to do everything i can in the best interests of my patients and hopefully that will carry with me for the entirety of my career.