OMS-IV #BehindTheBlogger

The last #BehindTheBlogger was a somewhat darker topic, so this one’s gonna be on the lighter side! (The theme this time around is The Moment My World Stopped Spinning!)

For those of you who don’t know me, I have major, major type A tendencies when it comes to planning, so while this might not seem like such a big deal to most, it definitely made me super happy, because this year (well, med school in general) is quite like a controlled chaos of sorts.

“It” is the fact that my 4th year rotation schedule is FINALLY almost complete!

This picture was actually taken at my white coat ceremony, but close enough.

It’s been a long time in coming (aka I’ve been sending in paperwork since January), and there have been so many random mini-catastrophes, rotations that will never be, lost paperwork, and unresponsive offices that for a while there, I was legitimately concerned…but it looks like I’ll have a future for the next couple months!

If all goes well, this is what my 4th-year schedule looks like (past and present)! I’ll fill em’ in with “Day In The Life” posts as I experience em’! :]

• Anesthesiology (KY) | 2 weeks (Surgery Elective)
  • 3 weeks of “Vacation”…to study for boards. ;_;
• Family Medicine / Sports Medicine (PA) | 4 weeks (Family Medicine II-1 / FM Audition)
  • Ricketts Glen National Park!
  • Adventures in NJ + Delaware with Trish!
  • Monika’s wedding + Maryland adventures!
• Orthopedic Surgery (WV) | 2 weeks (Surgery Elective)
  • Adventures in Columbus, OH!
• Allergy/Immunology (WV) | 4 weeks (Internal Medicine Elective)
  • + Interview!
• Family Medicine (PA) | 2 weeks (FM Audition)
  • + Interview!
  • Chillin’ in New Brunswick (NJ), before…
  • …Boards. ;_;
• Family Medicine (NC) | 2 weeks (Acting Internship)
  • + Interview!
  • Visiting Asheville! (Part 2!)
• Vacation to go on interviews!
• Nutrition (KY) | 2 weeks
• Vacation to go on interviews! (Lots of catch-up to be done.)
  • This is the 4-interviews-in-3-states-in-3-days bout I am having second thoughts on my state of mind while scheduling, but on the plus side, I will only have missed 1.5 days of rotations despite all the interviews I’m going on?
• Rural Family Medicine (AZ) | 2 weeks (FM Audition)
  • Day trip to Las Vegas
  • Cathedral Rock Trail in Sedona, AZ
• Vacation to remind my family/friends that I am in fact alive + to go on interviews!
• Internal Medicine (CA) | 4 weeks (FM Audition)
• Neurosurgery (Adult + Pediatric) (CA) | 4 weeks (Surgery Elective)
• Rural Under-served FM with Migrant Farm Workers (CA) | 4 weeks (Family Medicine II-2)
• Sleep Medicine (CA) | 2 weeks (Elective)
• Pediatrics with OMT (WV) | 4 weeks

I’ve lived in 8 states since July. (Have I mentioned that I’m currently technically “homeless?”)

Aside from said rotations, I also had to take my boards (COMLEX-PE is basically “part 2B”) and globe-country-trot for a bunch of interviews. I try to give myself a little break between rotations to visit friends or go to my WV home (aka Please Save A Cat) to visit Linda, my foster kitty, dinosaur duckies, and all the other adorable rescue pets there. <3

Sadly, all this traveling is not without its casualties. Between my my PA + NC rotations, when I was driving to New Jersey, I received a somewhat distressed phone call from the residency coordinator from my Ortho rotation asking where I was and if everything was okay.

…Guess who apparently left her purse and tablet in the student house there? :[ The cleaning staff found it and alerted her, and she couldn’t find out where I was as per school privacy policies, so she thought someone had stolen my identity (or at the very least, my belongings). I received a giant email chain discussing my whereabouts and my well-being on Friday afternoon. (I felt so terrible about worrying everyone, but at least it was all cleared up fairly quickly, and my purse/tablet are en route to my base site!)

It’s been a lot of work so far (I just came out of 2 “14”-hour shifts over the weekend through Halloween and the time change!), but my rotations have contained a whole lot of learning and are really fun! I’ve also managed to see a lot of friends I haven’t seen in months/years, so while my world may currently seem like it’s spinning out of control right now…

I think I’m right where I need to be. :]

Or maybe on the inside, I’m like this!?

Thank you for reading a story from #BehindTheBlogger Hop. Every 2 weeks a group of bloggers is given a writing prompt. These prompts are very open ended, so our bloggers can write about whatever they desire. The main rule is that their blog post directly relates to the topic of that week. The point of this hop is for our readers to get to know us on a personal level.

Please hop along and read all of the blog posts in this weeks hop. Just click the links below. If you want real and raw emotion, then you will find it here. After you read each post, please comment and share. We want to get to know you too!

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• Have you ever felt like your life was spinning out of control? How did you deal?
• …Or are you so used to the constant chaos that it doesn’t really faze you anymore? If nothing else, med school definitely at least taught me to roll with the punches!