Island Med Student

I’m pretty much sitting on top of the world right now. I had an absolutely fabulous night of pediatrics ER last night. I learned, I had fun, it was worth sacrificing a Friday night.

Today was “find an apartment day.” The long story short is that I have found someone to sub-let my apartment for the duration of my lease (and a med student, at that!).

And today we found THE PERFECT new apartment!! It’s a little less than a one mile walk to the hospital I’ll be doing my residency at AND it’s ON TOP of Prospect Park (the coolest park in NYC)…which happens to have TONS of dog run areas, and even a doggy beach!!

The location is just superb! I’ll be able to walk to the hospital every day, and I’ll be right next to a beautiful park, where me and my doggies can run and frolic and enjoy nature! We still have to get approved and sign the lease nd all those fun details, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna work out. And we’re going to hopefully be moving in next week! Everything is just coming together like a dream!

Please watch this amazing video below of the Prospect Park Dog Beach (which I’ll soon be living a few minutes walk from!) I was so happy that I cried as I watched this movie! My doggies will soon be in doggy heaven!

Check out my post on Medscape to read about a patient experience involving a vision of an angel. I hope you’ll find this post thought provoking. Also, there is a fun poll that you can take!

Click Here To View the Entry

I feel like lately I have a million ideas/things to write about during the day. But by the time I get home, I have lost the energy to write about them. Please do forgive me. But I am loving working in the nursery/NICU, and I’m learning many things every day.

I was following one newborn in particular, whose story turned quite interesting. I can’t share the details, for privacy sake, but I can say that it involved a psychiatric consult for the mother. Out of all the newborns in the nursery, I happened to have one whose stay involved a psych consult! It was sad for the patient, but incredibly interesting for me. I was able to use my psych knowledge and background to assist in the hospital care. I really was thrilled that I had insight into the case, and it served to further clench my decision to pursue psychiatry. I can say right now that I definitely made the right specialty choice. Psychiatry truly is a perfect fit for me!

My apologies for being too tired to share any more wonderful insights. Please enjoy my photos for now!

1) A tea party gone wrong?
2) People selling drugs on my block?
3) My shopping cart addiction
4) Barbie homicide crime scene
5) Bumper cars

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

Check out my post on Medscape to read my message to all you students who are matching this year!

Click Here To View the Entry

Check out my post on Medscape to learn about my feelings about matching (I forgot to post this last week).

Click Here To View the Entry

“The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best – and therefore never scrutinize or question.”
- Stephen Jay Gould

Today was a wonderful day of pediatrics clinic. I saw, I learned, I made way too many kids cry with my prodding and poking. During some downtime today started talking with another med student about taking patient histories. He commented how that was his least favorite part of being a doctor. I realized that it was my most favorite part of being a doctor. For me, there is nothing as fascinating as getting to know a person, and hearing their story.

I guess it’s no surprise that I ended up in psychiatry. Psych is all about getting to know the stories that made and make a person an individual. To me, taking a history or listening to someone share their life’s details with me is like opening a gift box. I enjoy peeling back the layers to reveal the gift inside.

Please enjoy the trashy photos along with today’s post. I took them all on my walks to and from the hospital today. It occurred to me as I was snapping the shot of the discarded hotdog that one of the reasons I enjoy (and am possibly obsessed with) taking photos of trash is because I’m interested in the stories they tell. How did that pile of smashed up computer parts end up so non-randomly assembled on the sidewalk? Why did someone discard that hotdog after only one small bite?

Perhaps just as fun as knowing the stories behind the trash, is making up my own stories for them.

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

Ever since I wrote about matching to a residency position, it seems as though everyone was very curious as to where and in which specialty I matched. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be starting my residency in psychiatry on July 1st at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York. There, I spilled the beans!

When ERAS opened, I originally applied to three specialties: psychiatry, family medicine and emergency medicine. My “problem” was that I felt truly passionate about all three specialties. I ended up getting interviews in all three. It was a very difficult decision for me to make, because I really could see myself in any one of those fields. I ended up choosing psychiatry, because I ultimately saw it as the best match for me. I really liked all of the programs that I interviewed at, but the SUNY Downstate program really seemed like a good fit for me. I liked the fact that they have a lot of research that I’m interested in, and everything about their program seemed like a good fit. In addition, the location is perfect. I really did want to stay in Brooklyn. The diverse patient population was also an important factor. So, when I went in for the interview, I was already very excited. The interview day was amazing. I loved all the faculty, residents, and program directors. So, when I was offered a pre-match position, there was really no decision to be made. I knew it was a perfect match for me.

So, there you have it. I will soon be beginning my residency in psychiatry. Also, I just made a wonderful discovery a few mintutes ago. I thought that I would be finishing up my electives by April 30th, but I just realized that I’ll be finished on April 16th! So, I will even have to update my MD countdown. In less than 7 weeks, I’ll be a doctor!

I couldn’t be happier right now! I just got home from a day of pediatrics clinic, which I absolutely loved. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m doing this pediatrics rotation late in the game, because I love peds so much that I could see myself doing this as well!

Note: Photos were all taken with my iPhone on the way to the hospital this morning. My obsession with trash continues. And now that I’m going to be living in Brooklyn for 4 more years, expect much more trash to come!

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”
- Ben Williams

My mom recently sent me the above quote, and I thought it was too cute not to share. T’is soo very true! As I was searching for the above photo of my doggy Scope licking my face, I stumbled across the two below, and wanted to share them as well.

Today was a good day of “pain management.” I assisted on a cervical and lumbar epidural procedure, and observed a few others. I also had a nice, long talk with one of my patients about exercise. He had become overweight and it was exacerbating his spinal stenosis. Over the past year he’d lost 65 pounds, and he found that the weight loss had helped immensely with his pain. We started talking about how much we both enjoy exercise, and at one moment I had to grab his hand and just scream, “I KNOW!” because we both had the exact same feelings on exercise. We agreed that that there’s nothing more exhilarating than your own body’s endorphins, and a runner’s high is perhaps the best thing in the universe.

Anyway, it’s time for me to continue catching up on emails. If anyone out there is having a bad day, I recommend going for a run, or walk, or anything that gets your heart rate up. That, or find a cute puppy to lick your face!

In addition to the information I posted about studying for the USMLE Step 2 CK, I thought I’d share with everyone my opinion (and the opinion of other students I’ve met) about which books are best for each core rotation/clerkship.

Internal Medicine: Step-Up to Medicine (Step-Up Series)

Surgery: Surgical Recall, North American Edition (Recall Series)

Obstetrics/Gynecology: Blueprints Obstetrics and Gynecology (Blueprints Series)

Psychiatry: Blueprints Psychiatry (Blueprints Series)

Pediatrics: I haven’t had peds yet, so I don’t want to put this info up yet. I will update this once I take peds, or get good opinions from other students who have completed it!

Check out my post on Medscape to learn about the scary world of residency applications.

Click Here To View the Entry