It has been a loooong time since my last post--and yet it seems like just yesterday that I posted the pictures of my sweet niece. That day was my very first day of my first 3rd year clerkship, and orientation didn't start until 10, so I was killing some time that morning. Now, I have only two weeks left of my internal medicine rotation.
This first rotation has been scary, and fun, and nerve-wracking, and exciting, all at the same time--and I'm not even making any of the real decisions! But it's amazing how much I have learned in just a few weeks. When we first learn the physical exam, and for the first two years when we're tested on it, it feels like we're just going through the motions on completely normal, fake (aka "standardized") patients. And we really are just going through the motions. I felt absolutely zero confidence that I would be able to pick up anything abnormal--or that I would think something was wacky when it was completely normal. Students in classes ahead had told us that it's always that way--and then one day it just clicks. You listen to someone's heart often enough that you just know when you hear something off. I totally didn't believe them. Then it totally happened for me. I started to see and hear and feel some of the abnormal findings that we had learned about but never experienced. I am so loving this.
I have no clue what I want to do when I grow up. I'm kinda worried that I will be one of those students who loves every rotation and can't make a decision when it comes time for residency applications. I really do like internal med, and I never really thought I would. OB-Gyn is next, so it will be completely different and maybe I'll get a better idea. But whatever I choose, I have no doubt that this medicine thing is what I was made do.
p.s. I'll try to get some new pictures up soon. But I haven't had much time for fun pictures :)
5 years ago
