My vow

My vow to you (the internet basically as I am sure few people read this still) is that I update more often. Bam. Done

Turns out we are getting married in 15 days. Ahhhhh! I am not feeling too overwhelmed or anything...mostly because my mom has been a gigantic awesome amazing help with everything. I. Love. Her. Nuff said.

This month I am on Geriatric Psychiatry. I will be honest and say that I took it for the free food at Immanual Med Center and because the hours aren't bad. There is no real rounding and no weekends. What else could a 4th year med student ask for (other than no rotation, which some of my friends were able to pull off somehow). I watch a lot of electroconvulsion therapy (ECT). No, it isn't like it was in the 60s and 70s. All the patients are fully sedated and have a heavy muscle relaxant on board. We treat patients of all ages (haven't seen any adolescent though) with a variety of diagnoses from major depression to bipolar to schizoaffective. The theory is that while medication work pre-synaptically (on the neuron that releases the chemicals), ECT works post-synaptically (on the neuron receiving the signals). Most patients receiving it start with a course of about 6 given every other day. After that the treatments can be spread apart depending on the subjective feeling of the patient. It is great to be there for 4 weeks because I get to see people who actually significantly improve by the end of my time.

What else have I been doing? Not much. Matt and I went up to Spokane a few weekends ago to get our marriage license. Apparently Spokane County thinks it is okay that we get married. Yay! I also got to try my dress on again and do a hair & makeup trial. It is always weird seeing me in makeup, because my normal routine consists of mascara and blush...maybe. I also was lucky enough to have a loving aunt who threw me a bridal shower. I was flying on Southwest, so at least I could put some gifts in my checked bag and get them back to Omaha. It is tough knowing we will be moving in a year and what to do with gifts we have been receiving. They are all boxed so nicely right now, and I don't want to ruin that. Things like the coffee pot, however, will be unpacked. And used. A lot.

I made these last night. Added mushrooms and cheese. Baked them. Could have used some sauce in there, but the dough is really good and versatile. I have sooooo many yummy things I want to cook, but I do have to fit in a wedding dress. After that, all bets are off.

HERE WE GO!!!

We are going to Virginia Mason!!! I will do my preliminary year of medicine here at Creighton, then off to the great northwest!!!! This was our #1 choice (exact combo and all). I just still can't believe that someone liked me!

The run-down

Last Monday, the 14th, we all received emails from the matching program saying whether or not we matched. Everyone gets the email at about noon eastern time. Read here for how the match works. I am currently on my rheumatology rotation. My classmate and I were super anxious all morning. I think we were making the patients all nervous. Both of us got good emails (she got her's 2 minutes before me, which made me go crazy). The rest of the day we both felt light as air. She is going into orthopedic surgery - usually a very hard thing to get into. You need a stellar resume for that. She obviously has it.

The next few days drag by for obvious reasons. We had a fake match party in which everyone had to try to react with their happy face even with a bottom pick. Needless to say my sleep suffered this past week.

Thursday morning rolls around bringing with it the perfect storm of drinking - St Patrick's Day, the Match, and NCAA basketball. The weather was great. Little overcast but in the low 60s. Matt and I start the day stopping at a bar his friend owns...at 745AM. I passed on the drink; Matt had one. We then hit up a greasy spoon dinner for breakfast. Hashed browns and an omlette. Awesome start. Then to the bar on school for an early morning happy hour. We were all up in the ballroom ready to get the show on the road at 1030AM.

Technically we can't start opening envelopes til noon easter, so we wasted time with some logistics etc. We are called up randomly on stage, in front of friends, family, and all the world wide web. (Here is the video recording, you can skip ahead a few minutes til after we pray, but don't go too far). Everyone brings a dollar so that the last person called up at least gets something for having to wait nervously. Until you open your envelope, you have no clue where you are going. No. Clue. I was assuming, knowing my luck, that I wouldn't be called til late in the hour making my family and friends wait online. Little to my surprise though....I get called up 2nd!!!! (that's why you don't want to go too far on the video). I am pretty sure this is the point at which I black out from nerves. Oh. My. Goodness. Sweaty palms.

Matt and I go onstage. Envelope now in hand. Nervous. Opening. Two things circled. Creighton preliminary. Virginia Mason anesthesia. AHHHHHHHHH. Give Matt a kiss. Shake some hands. Proceed to cry a little. Black out from excitement. I honestly don't remember what the next 20 or so of my classmates said up on stage. Too many texts and tears.

If you couldn't tell, we are excited. This gives us plenty of time to find Matt a job and a place to live up in Seattle. The idea of moving in June this year didn't seem fun. And now I can go back to planning the wedding. Which is going fine. Thanks for asking.

OMG

OMG Match Day is tomorrow. OMG. I found out on Monday that I matched, now I just have to wait about 18 hours to find out where. You all will get a big update on Friday!!

I'm back!

I feel that I say that every 2 months or so. Maybe this time it is for good? Maybe? Hopefully. The fall has FLOWN by. Between November and...well...now, I have been traveling at least once a week for interviews. I did a stretch of 13 days with 7 interviews. Ri. Dic. U. Lous. I have been to: SUNY Upstate, U of Rochester, UMass, UConn, Yale, Penn St, Maine Medical, U of MN, Mayo, Nebraska, Oregon, Virginia Mason, and U Chicago. Oh my goodness. I have seen a lot of places. A lot of airports. A lot of hotels...both the good and the bad. And the sketchy...

(side note, I started this post 2 weeks ago...then my computer broke on me. I finally will finish it)

I leave for my last interview on Thursday. Up to UW. Where mom and dad will join me so that we can have some family bonding time with addressing wedding invites. Woohoo?! Actually, all the wedding stuff is going great. My mom has been awesomely helpful. We have decided quite a few things, but I, being the indecisive person that I am, am always seconding guessing myself. Thank goodness Matt was there to do the tuxes with me. He just went: bam, bam, bam. And now I am going to go change it all ;) Okay, not all of it. Just some of it. He is also growing his beard out just to spite me.

Over Christmas we got a lot of wedding things done. And by done, I mean we did things without actually making decisions. Best part was the cake tasting. OMG I love cake. I just want to eat all the cake at my wedding. Still haven't actually decided on flavors. At all. But I love the flavors that I am thinking of. MMMMMMMMM cake.

Since updating last I have done the following rotations: CT surgery, pulmonary medicine at the VA, and prenatal diagnosis. Today I started my pain rotation. Pain is a sub-specialty that can be entered through anesthesia (as well as PM&R...and maybe something else). Hopefully I will get a better understanding of all those pain meds out there. Here's to hoping. 4th year does an awful thing to your motivation.

I swear I will update again. Woohoo!

oops

double post

GUSTER!!!

They are my favorite band of all time, and I finally got to see them in concert!! They came to Denver a few times while I was there, but I never had anyone with whom to go. This time, however, I made Matt come. And he actually liked it!! Usually he makes fun of my music selection (even though it is in the same genre of his own choices), but he admitted to enjoying the show. The venue is smaller - so nice and personal. They played a great mix of new (CD released Oct 5) and old stuff. They played a cover, which is pretty usual for them. They played their one encore song acoustically. Completely unplugged. No mics or anything. It. Was. Great. No, they aren't big and flashy, but they play great music and interact with the crowd. Loved it.

Today, after making a peach cobbler because we bought too many peaches, I leave for LA to take a very expensive test. This is Step 2 CS (clinical skills). The other one I took was a standardized computer based paper. This is a fake day of clinic. 12 or so patients. Interviews with them. Notes on them. There are only 5 sites across the states, and I chose LA as to see Annie!!! They also have sites in Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Not really looking forward to it, but at least I am getting it over with. Some of my classmates aren't doing it til January. Icky.

Surgery is going well. I get to close almost every case, which is fun. I do really love working with my hands. My surgeon is great though and understands that surgery is not my field of choice. I am enjoying myself though. And I get to wear scrubs. Always great.

I'm a bad person

Turns out I would rather watch football/take a nap than update. Meh. Things happen. Including...the entire month of September. It involved a GREAT Labor Day weekend trip to Chicago, marriage/wedding prep, and a cousin wedding up in Seattle. Also, the weather in Omaha was absolutely great. It was a month that may trick you in to wanting to live here forever. Then you remember the winters...and the humidity.

I forgot..September also involved applying for residency!!!!! Anesthesia is technically requires 3 years of training with a clinical base year prior to starting the 3 devoted years of anesthesia. That clinical base year can come in 3 main forms: a transitional year, a preliminary year, and a base year built in to an anesthesia program (making it 4 years at that one program in total). While many programs are starting to go the way of offering all 4 years, a good number of them still offer both 3 year and 4 year programs. A preliminary year is basically the intern year of an internal medicine residency. Lastly, a transitional year is much like a preliminary, but it is not part of a larger internal med residency. Or at least this is how I understand it.

I have applied to a limited number of 4 year programs trying to make it a little easier on Matt in attempts to find a job. It turns out learning where you are going to go in mid March doesn't give that much time to find a teaching job in a tight market. All the other programs I have applied to attend for 3 years and would remain in Omaha for that clinical base year. This will give Matt more time to find a job. I luckily have received a couple of interviews but am looking forward to getting more. All of this is requiring a bit of organization, which has been pretty easy seeing as how my current rotation is pretty laid back.

Also....passed step 2!!! woohoo