I have returned

I just realized it's been many rotations (and therefore many months) since I've updated this thing....and much has happened since then:

• I finished orthopedic surgery in September; this was my 2nd go-round in dealing with bones, and I had a total blast (again)!  There's nothing quite like hearing a bone crack and pop, watching a femoral head pop out of socket during a total hip replacement, and the sound of an electric drill has hardware is being implanted.  (In my down-time this rotation, mostly at the end of the month, I had the opportunity to scrub in on a few more GYN procedures with my old preceptor, which was a huge treat; for the girl who started PA school thinking I'd never do Ob/Gyn, and I'll graduate knowing there's nothing else on the planet I'll be happy doing, I'm the poster-child for keeping an open mind).
• I moved onto ENT surgery next for the month of October, which also involved a LONG commute every day (I logged 1.5 hours each way every day to get the hospital where my rotation was, which meant seeing NO sunshine M-F for the entire month; this, in addition to the fact that this was an incredibly difficult rotation for me (especially after Ob/Gyn being such a highlight in my life), made this month really rough.  However, I survived, and gained some valuable experience 
• I then started November as the first of 3 months in a row at Children's Hospital Colorado, one of my favorite places on the planet.  While I know that pediatrics likely isn't in my long-term future career-wise, I can't imagine a more fun place to spend a rotation.  I started out with 2 days of general pediatrics, dealing with a wide array of well-child checks, coordinating of social problems and dealing with parents, and then....



"What is this crazy lady going to do to me?  She's not the one with the pointy things, is she?"

• I had emergency surgery at 3am on November 3rd (boy, I REALLY know how to live it up and have a good time at the start of a weekend....); I spent the next week out of clinic recovering, which wasn't too bad, but not the greatest way to spend a week
• I came back to clinic the next Monday to have the crazy week from hell (or, at least I thought); it was a conglomeration of all of the patients who were super sick, behind on their shots, mad that they weren't seeing a provider fast enough, and dealing with coordinating public benefits....needless to say, my first week back (during which one of my attendings said I looked like "a slightly paler shade of white") was crazy, and sort of like juggling fire.
• The short week before Thanksgiving was just as nuts, but I finally felt more like myself, and not so exhausted and sore, so I was better able to deal with the endless sea of patients, charting, and figuring things out.
• Just one more week left of general pediatrics before I move onto 2 weeks of Pediatric Endocrinology.  This will be my 3rd go-round with their dept., so I'm looking forward to spending more time there.

 I'm at that point where I feel pretty confident in what I know, and know when to ask for help, and learn more.  I'm also thinking graduation is coming so slowly that it seems like an eternity, and 5 months is forever.  However, considering some very interesting developments, I may not be finished (more on that in a post devoted entirely to that....)

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving, and that the impending holiday season brings lots of relaxation (or for those of us in medicine, a crap load of patients trying to get in their visits before the end of the year insurance deadlines).  Hopefully I'll find more time to update things in the future.