Day in the Life: Neurology

Hello and welcome to Medical Mondays! It’s kinda been ages since I’ve done a “day in the life” and I’m super behind the times on these, so my Neurology rotation was actually all the way back in…December. #dontjudgeme It’s been a packed couple o’ months. ._.

Day in the Life: Neurology

7:40 am – 12:30 pm

I’d typically spend the morning at my office seeing my own patients! Some of my weekly sessions are “urgent care sessions” where they pack my schedule to the max (aka anyone who calls in for a same-day appointment) and life gets somewhat overwhelming.

I can generally handle the colds/flus, back/leg/neck/abdominal pain, urinary tract infections, abnormal discharge, physicals, paperwork, and medication adjustments, but when you randomly throw a new patient who arrived 20 minutes late and apparently recently joined a cult, is depressed, with multiple ailments, who was discharged from the hospital two days ago but didn’t bring any of her previous medical records with her and doesn’t know what she had or what they did? That’s just a tad bit difficult to wrap up in 15 minutes. ._.

I like trying to focus more on the good though (and for the record, the above person has since left the cult, so we’re good), so overall, It’s been awesome building my own patient panel over the last 1.5 years and getting to see my “regulars.” :]! I get to see some of the feedback they write about me and their comments make me smile. Like I mentioned in our coffee date over the weekend, there have been some losses recently but I’m really glad for the good updates/improvements I’ve been getting as well.

1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

I’d spend afternoons at the Neurology office working with different preceptors on various specialty clinics, including:

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Migraine headaches (they suck :[ )
• Seizure disorders
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The Neurology department is in concurrence that I am “too normal” for Neurology (good thing Family Medicine has always been what I wanted to do! :P ). I mostly helped with taking patient histories and at times with scribing, but this was mostly a “shadowing” type of rotation where I tried to absorb as much information as possible!

I hate seeing people suffer, and I also hate not being able to do anything to help them. Choosing the specialty I did has a lot to do with the fact that I really love preventive care. (Of course, there are countless medical conditions that can’t exactly be prevented, but for the ones where they can be, I like to try my best to get in on it early.)

One of our patients from ALS clinic now has a really difficult time speaking–something she typed to us from her personal assist device is still stuck with me: “I think euthanasia should be legalized for patients with ALS.” :[ (How do you even respond to that?)

Evenings

I’ve probably(?) mentioned this in passing already, but I joined several clubs at Rutgers, including…Salsa, Ballroom Dancing, and Rock Climbing (recreational division), so when I’m not studying, catching up on notes/paperwork, or on call, I’m doing one of those! (I completed my very first overhang climb on Friday!)

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will clear up soon because I’d really love to get outside and go hiking and exploring again! I recently signed up for an outdoor climbing event in Pennsylvania that’ll be taking place at the end of the month, so assuming that no catastrophes happen, I’ll likely be talking about it over my next coffee date! :]

• Have you ever wanted to curl up and just sleep for 24 hours? I’m kinda at that point right now, but maybe it’s just the lingering bits of my cold. Or just residency in general.
• Check out previous Day in the Life’s!