Tests and tea.

For the first time in what seems like months I feel well rested and really excited. I was granted the last day of clinicals off to study for my exam, and my dog actually let me sleep until almost 9! I do plan on studying a lot today but I also plan to stop my whole foods for some delicious grub for dinner to celebrate the end of a very tough clerkship. And no one's more surprised than me that I liked it. My patients were very interesting and I couldn't have gotten luckier for my team. My residents and interns were super helpful and let me have just the right amount of autonomy. My attending was a really great teacher both on rounds and in these didactic lectures he prepared for us. When I saw the last group of students leave the U at the midpoint of this block, I was sure I would hate it. They looked exhausted and so UNHAPPY! But, though I am exhausted (or was last night), I am not unhappy with my experience. And the best news of all, one of my patients is getting written up for a journal and I'm going to be published! If I got nothing else out of this rotation, which I did, that would be worth enough.

Even better is knowing what the weekend brings. Yes, I have a crazy hard test on Friday morning, and a less hard but still irritating test on Thursday morning, but then the fun begins! My sister is coming in while I'm taking said crazy hard test and will be at my house when I'm done! That's the day we'll find out the sex of the baby, so that's pretty exciting too! We're doing 5280 week for dinner and I'm super excited about it. Then Saturday we're going to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory for their tour. I haven't been there since I've been a little kid and it just seems like a good thing to do when you're pregnant and can't go to the beer tours :-(. It feels good to have lots to look forward to and some time to rest before it all goes down.

But a question, anything up in Boulder that we absolutely shouldn't miss while we're up there? I really would love to go to Redstone meadery, but I don't really think my sister would like it, and as previously mentioned, alcohol and pregnancy etc. But any place to eat or see on a February day you can think of? Comments appreciated.

Getting there

Well, I'm over half done with my time at the U. I am exhausted. This week I have Friday off since I am on call next weekend. Two more call days. I don't sleep so well at night these days, and I pay for it during the afternoon when the work slows down but I'm still stuck in the hospital. Since today is pre-call I am hoping we'll get out a little early, but we picked up a ton of patients on Friday call and haven't discharged very many. Which means we'll probably be pretty busy trying to get that accomplished today before we are on call again tomorrow. It makes me feel a bit less optimistic about the finish line when I'm so tired and I'm starting to get sick (I am never sick, is it kosher to blame the unborn?).

But there really is a bright side. I have 9 work days left of internal medicine. And on the really bright side, I do not hate it as much as I thought I would. I've been lucky to have a good team that is interested in making sure I learn lots and make me feel like I'm helpful,and when there's nothing to do, they make sure I get out of there. And at the end of the tunnel my little sister is coming out for a visit! And at that point I will have only one more rotation in my third year. Today or tomorrow I should get my fourth year schedule, and I'm really, really hoping to get the sub-internship (aka acting like an intern, not getting paid) I hoped for in May. It'll give me some peace of mind to know I'll get through the 4th year requirements and that I'll graduate on time even with the baby.

If I can just make it through 9 more days of squeezing like a sardine into my normal clothes I will be a happy camper. Four of those days are call or post-call, so those are scrubs days. And I have to thank my dear friend D who hooked me up with some more options for when my normal clothes are no longer an option. You are the best!

Hopefully I'll write about some of my weird stories in the days to come. But if not, I'll catch you all on the other side of medicine.