Transition

I am starting to prepare for the big changes that are sure to come in the next few months. I will be a doctor in about 3 months and starting residency in 4. I will actually be in charge of saving people and this is scary! I am not ready for this and just hope I can learn enough in the next few months not to kill anyone. I will also be moving somewhere completely new. Where I don't know anyone (other than my husband). This is exciting and nerve racking at the same time. I am excited to meet new friends, shop at the several farmers' markets around, and maybe buy our first house. These are all big steps for me. These are also big steps for my husband. He knows I will not be around during residency like I am now. Hopefully he will be able to form a great group of friends and supporters up there and hopefully he will be happy. We are both ready to be Mainers though. We are both ready to enjoy what Maine has to offer and to enjoy the outdoors. We will miss West Virginia, that is for sure, but at least Maine is similar in a lot of ways. I still feel like there is so much more to enjoy in West Virginia that I haven't gotten a chance too. I suppose this is just life. We do hope that people will be able to come visit and help us enjoy Maine!!

In other news, my cousin Kim received a double lung transplant a week ago tomorrow. She is still on a vent but doing well. Her kidneys shut down after the surgery but are picking up. Today, she is supposed to get a trach and hopefully she will be able to talk soon. She is aware of what is going on. We are all wanting her to get her strength up as fast as possible. I am so so happy but am continuing to pray that everything goes well. She only had 1 more week left before she was going to be taken off the transplant list and so she was given lungs that may have not been the best. There have been some issues with them but they will be okay according to the doctors at Cleveland Clinic. At least they are so much better than what she has had for her whole life (she has suffered from Cystic Fibrosis and has outlived her life expectancy). Her family has gone through a lot in the past few years with her younger sister dying of CF and Kim deciding she would be put on the transplant list. Her father was also diagnosed with colon cancer a year ago. So they need good news more than anyone I know. Continuing to pray for improvement!!

Also praying for those in Japan especially my roommate from college Akina, who I haven't been able to get a hold of. Wishing I knew the last names of her friends, maybe I could find them. I feel so bad about what is going on over there. It is gut wrenching.

Match Day

Yesterday was Match Day (yes, it was also Valentine's Day which is slightly less important). It was the day I figured out where I and my husband will be for the next 3 or 4 years! I matched Family Medicine in Bangor, Maine! I am a Mainer woohoo. It is a more intensive program than most family med places but I get to do as much ob as I want and as many gyn procedures as I want in the office!! Exciting stuff.

Rank List Rank List

I submitted my rank list last Friday. On its due date. I am still unsure about it. The thought of what I ranked where makes me sick to my stomach. Just try having to make a decision that will not only determine where you will live for the next 3 to 4 years but also determine what you will be doing for the REST OF YOUR LIFE! I have both OB and FM programs on my list and I am still not sure about what I want to do. In some ways I think I will be way happier doing FM. I have 7 programs ranked, four OB and 3 FM. I feel good about the program I have in 4th, I know I will match there if I don't my top three, however, I am wondering if I should have just put it first so I could move on with my life and start planning things now. I really don't think I will match my top three though. Two OB and another FM. I got a call from one OB place about my interested but they didn't say anything about theirs...so I still think it is questionable about matching there. We shall see I guess. I just thought I should try to do OB since I have wanted to do it for so long. I am really stressed out about it. February 14th can't come soon enough! I think my hubby and I will spend Valentine's Day looking at housing and apartment listings to wherever I match...sounds like fun to me!!

140 Days...til Graduation!

I can't believe it is so close to graduation! I am getting excited but am oh so nervous. I have so far to go still though...good times!

I have been doing my audition rotation in Columbus. It has been great. However, I am still not 100% set on OB so we shall see. I have three more weeks to finalize my match list. I am also starting to feel bad about not applying to certain programs. Anyways, these past few weeks have been a good learning experience if nothing else. I have seen some interesting things i.e. an external cephalic version done when a patient was in labor whose baby was breech (it was successful and she had a vaginal birth, leaving both mom and baby happy!) and a ruptured uterus. The hospital I am at has a lower c-section rate I think (there has only been 3 or 4 there since I have been there) so that's good at least. The ruptured uterus was crazy to see! We had a patient who had two previous c-sections who was scheduled for a third. She had been really sick for about a week and a half before she was scheduled and had a severe cough. When the doctor got through the peritoneum the baby was right there in the sack, NO UTERUS! It was very scary for everyone. They got the baby out and mom started bleeding a lot. They found the upper uterine segment attached to the abdominal wall and the lower attached to the bladder. Taking that down and reattaching the two ends was very interesting. They got everything under control and closed. It is so scary to think what would have happened if she would have went into labor. That baby right there. The uterus didn't bleed before because it was so scared. So, needless to say, it was an amazing experience. I was very happy mom and baby were okay. They think that maybe it ruptured during the week when she was coughing so hard. I've also gotten to see some neat surgeries! Now all I have to decide is what to do..what to do...what to do??