Sunday Reflections

For a while now I've been thinking of how I could do more with my blog and although I enjoy the posts where I share my advice on getting through medical school, I also just want more informal reasons to write. And the other day it finally came to me...Sunday reflections. The whole point of Sunday reflections is for me to share a little bit more about my life as well as have a chronicle of where I am in my journey. The whole intention of starting my blog was for me to have something to look back on years from now, so I think Sunday reflections will be a great way for me to share what's been going on recently, where I am in school, and maybe just random thoughts/anecdotes that I'd like to share. A lot of this stems from the fact that one of my favorite things is to learn about people. I love to hear their stories. How they grew up, what excites them, and why they do the things they do. I feel like understanding people allows for us to have a better connection as humans and serves as the foundation for deeper friendships. So in the spirit of promoting that, I am choosing to let people hear more about my story.

This probably has to be one of my favorite times of the year. I know a lot of it has to do with my birthday being in November and with Thanksgiving bringing my favorite people together. My birthday always serves as my reset point for the year. I love to look back and see what has changed since my last trip around the sun, the lessons I've learned, and the people that have come and gone along the way.  And Thanksgiving is always the time that I take a pause and look around to see all the things that I have in my life and everything that I've been blessed with. This picture speaks volumes in those regards.

I won't tell the full story as it's not just mine to share, but over the past several years my parents had their fair share of hard times. So believe me when I say that this house has been a beautiful blessing for them and every time I take a walk to the backyard, I'm reminded how everything seems to work out in the end. On another note, I remember for years wishing that I had a place to run.  Our old house was set in the middle of a forest preserve and our street was the only street for miles. It was beautifully secluded, but not the ideal place to hit the pavement. When they showed this house to me, I fell in love. I'd always wanted something like this and I couldn't believe I was finally getting it.

This was the first holiday that we were celebrating in our new house and I was really happy that it was the one where we get a chance to celebrate the things that make us thankful. It was a great start to all the memories that we'll get to create here and a chance to look back on how far we've come. And that has been the thought that has been on my mind the past couple weeks. My birthday week I just felt so thankful that I have been blessed with incredible people in my life, friends and family that make me feel so loved. And of course how far I've personally come on my journey.

I'm currently three weeks out from being half-way done with my third year of medical school and I honestly can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Next year at this point, I'll be interviewing for residency and deciding where I would like to spend the next three years of my life and that's both exciting and terrifying. Either way, I know wherever I end up it'll be where I need to be.

Clerkship-wise, we are at the midpoint of our pediatrics rotation and so far I've been loving every second of it. I was a bit nervous at the beginning that I was going to change my mind and that all these years of saying I was going into peds was a lie, but I swear the past couple weeks have felt like coming home. I have worked with the different residents and attendings and it feels like I've found my people. I think it also helps that my patients are adorable and even when they just come in with colds I'm delighted to see them. But, it does make me excited to start residency and finally getting into the good part of my career.

For this Sunday, I hope you are reflecting on all the good things this week had to offer. The things that make you grateful in this life and all the things that you still have to look forward to.

-Gen<3

Internal Medicine Clerkship

     When I was picking my schedule for M3 year, I was a bit nervous to start off with IM as it's known to be one of the more challenging clerkships. But, I knew that it would be a great foundation for the rest of the year and that my knowledge from boards would carry me through. I'll be honest, I didn't think I would like IM, so another reason I wanted to have it first was so that I could "get it out of the way." But to my surprise, I was a bit sad to end my rotation.

What is Internal Medicine?

     

     I feel like for the longest time I didn't quite know what it was, but IM (internal medicine) is the medical specialty that focuses on the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of adult diseases. It sometimes gets confused with family medicine, but family medicine doctors also see pediatric and Ob/Gyn patients in addition to their adult patients. Although some family medicine doctors work on inpatient (in the hospital) medical services, a bulk of the doctors that see patients in the hospital are the internal medicine docs (the internists). Internists act as the team captain of a patient's medical care and call in specialty services for more complicated cases. This is due to the fact that internal medicine doctors deal with complicated patients, so of course, they aren't expected to be experts on every part of the body. There are specialists (e.g. Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Cardiology etc.) that handle those cases where the patient's care is outside of the internist's knowledge base. That being said, internal medicine doctors do know a ton and a majority of their patients have multiple active problems to manage, so they have to know how to treat the patient in a way to get these problems stabilized, so the patient can safely go home.

     After residency, internal medicine doctors can choose to do inpatient (as a hospitalist), outpatient (in the clinic),  a combination of inpatient/outpatient medicine, or do a subspecialty (like those specialties mentioned above). So, many doctors that know that they want to specialize in a particular area of the body will train as an internist and then continue their training with a fellowship in their area of interest. In that way, internal medicine is a great way to explore the medical subspecialties if you know that you want to practice adult medicine.

     Before discussing the rotation, there are a couple things that I think I should define for the novice med folk as well as the non-med folk. In inpatient medicine, "rounding" means that you go and see your patients as a team. Who is on your team depends on how the team is structured. At community hospitals, a team consists of at least a senior resident and two interns (as well as a teaching attending for some parts). And in my case, I was the medical student on the team. At an academic hospital, our team was pretty large. We had an attending, a third-year resident, a second-year resident, two interns, two sub-Is (4th-year medical students doing their acting internship), and two medical students. When we "pre-round" that means that you go and see your patients on your own prior to rounding as a team so that when you round with the attending doctor (the doctor that oversees the work of the resident team) you are ready to present your plan for the patient.

     Finally, the last term to define is "call." If you've watched any medical shows or have seen any of the jokes about being a doctor you've heard the term being "on-call." What it means in general is that you are the doctor or the team that is in charge of patients at a given time and that you are contacted to care for them. In internal medicine, what it means to be on call depends on your hospital. At my community site, Being on call meant that your team would stay past sign-out to care for the patients until the night team showed up. We were also the team that responsible for responding to codes and accepting new admissions from 3:00 pm until the night team came in at 7:00 p.m. (we didn't accept any admissions to our team prior to 3:00 pm though) At my academic site, we were on call from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. We accepted all new admissions, responded to codes, and if there were admissions overnight after our call, they would go to our team until the next team started their call the following morning. And being "post-call" means that it is the day after you are on call. If you did overnight call that means that you are just coming off being on call for the whole night and you probably didn't get much sleep if the night was busy. Thankfully, we didn't have to do any overnight calls as M3s, but it is something to look forward to in residency.

Rotating Through As An M3

          The specifics of your internal medicine rotation will depend on what your school requirements are, but I believe most internal medicine clerkships are between 8-12 weeks in duration. Our school happens to have affiliations with many of the community hospitals in the Chicago, so our IM rotation was an 8-week rotation split into 4 weeks at an academic center (our home institution or the Veteran's hospital) and another 4 weeks at a community hospital with one half-day a week spent in an outpatient clinical setting during the entire 8 weeks. For my clerkship, I started with 4 weeks at a community hospital and ended with 4 weeks at our home hospital. Personally, I had a great experience at both, but the vibe from each experience was a bit different.

     At the community hospital, the schedule was a bit more consistent and we only had one call day a week. On the weekends, I only had to come in when my senior resident was working. If she worked on Saturday, I was off on Sunday. Our weekend day usually consisted of us rounding on our patients together, I would work on my notes, and then as soon as I finished, she'd send me home. The goal was to get out early on the weekends and I'd say I was usually always done before noon. I definitely appreciated starting off with a schedule like that and I definitely missed it when I was on my second month of IM.

What my community month schedule looked like:

- Monday-Thursday (regular, non-call days)

• 6:30-7:00 A.M. - Get sign-out from the night team, look up labs, ask the night nurse if there were any events overnight, and jot down some notes for the patients I was following.

• 7:00-8:00 A.M.- Round with my team on our new/critically ill patients. Our teaching attending would come around to see the new patients and this is usually when she would pimp me (a.k.a ask me questions about my medical knowledge...I still don't know why they call it that lol)

• 8:00-9:00 A.M.- Morning Lecture. This was usually on a topic that the residents were learning.  Occasionally, we had our own student lecture instead, but either way, they were focused on teaching us a topic in medicine (i.e. EKGs, Treating a patient with heart failure, etc.)

• 9:00-12:00 P.M.- Finish rounding on the patients we didn't get to see before morning lecture, work on coming up with plans for our patients, call consults, and work on notes. 

• 12:00-1:00 P.M.- Noon lecture. Same as above, but usually for these we had our own student lectures.

• 1:00-4:00 P.M- Finish notes and prep everything for sign-out to the team on call. Sign-out was scheduled for 3:30 P.M., but sometimes it happened later depending on how many patients we had on our team and whether it had been a busy day. As a medical student, they usually sent me home by 5:00 as long as I had finished my notes.

- Call days: Same schedule as above, but the day was longer and we were in charge of responding to codes.

• 3:30 P.M.- Get sign-out from other teams (there were 5 teams, so on-call days you were carrying all those patients until the night team came in)

• 3:30-7:00 P.M. - Take all new admissions, respond to pages for any of the patients we were caring for, and prep sign-out for the night team.  Any new admissions got distributed among the teams the next morning according to how many patients each team had, so even if we admitted them while we were on call, that didn't mean they would all get admitted to our service. We didn't really present patients to our attending, so post-call days were just like regular work days.

    As you can tell, an average workday was about 10+ hours depending on the schedule. On the days that I had clinic, I usually stayed until 6:00 p.m. And usually, I was at the hospital by 6:15 a.m. every morning (even on weekends). Our call day ended at 7:00 p.m. but I was usually there until 8:00 p.m. But, on an average day I was usually home by 5:00 p.m. Which wasn't too horrible and I really appreciated the fact that my weekend days were pretty light and consistent. That really helped me make it through the month, and as I was busy it really flew by. 

    During my academic month, the schedule was a whole other ball game. We were on call every four days which meant that most of the weekends during that month I was either on call or post call. And as we presented all our new patients on our post-call days. This meant earlier mornings in order to get everything ready to round at 7:00 a.m. (We'd typically come in at 5:30 or so to pre-round on our patients...These were the days I didn't get much sleep). As most of my days off were either a weekend day if we weren't on call or post call, I don't think I had a weekend day that was a regular work day. 

Our general schedule:

Non-call day: 

• 6:30-8:00- pre-round on patients, talk to nurses, work on your presentation.

• 8:00-9:00- Morning report. This is where the chief resident would do a case presentation for all the residents and we worked on coming up with a diagnosis. There was always coffee and for the most part. the cases were pretty interesting.

• 9:00-11:30- Morning rounds. We'd go see all our patients as a team, we'd present to our attending, and if time permitted, the attending would teach us something relevant to the patients on our service. If we had time after rounds, we'd start tackling our task list before heading to lecture.

• 12:00-1:00- Noon lecture. We went to the internal medicine department for a lecture presented by one of our attendings or professors.

• 1:00-5:00-Getting our work done. This was when we'd work on notes, call consults, help the residents with all the work that we didn't finish in the morning. If the day wasn't particularly busy and we had finished the work for our patients, the senior resident would send us home early (3:00 pm or so). 

Call-day:

    The same schedule as above, but we were on call until 7:00 p.m. and the day could get hectic as we were getting all the new admissions and responding to codes. I want to say the latest I ever left the hospital was 9:00 p.m. 

Expectations as an M3

     As this was our first rotation, the expectations were pretty lenient. At this point, we were more so expected to get used to working in a hospital setting after coming off of two years of being strictly academic. They wanted us to get used to talking to patients, working on writing effective notes, presenting patients to our attending, and getting comfortable working on a medical team. What we were allowed to do really depended on our site. At my community site, I feel like my role was more limited. I was allowed to see the patient and write progress notes, but I didn't do much else. My notes were also for my practice and didn't count as much for patient care.

     Since my home institution is a teaching hospital, we were allowed to do so much more. I was allowed to call consults, talk to families, put in orders/meds (they still had to be signed by the residents), and my notes were actually used in patient care. The residents would check over our notes, add in an additional information, and the attending would sign off on what everyone had written. As we were more involved in our patient's care, there was way more pressure to do everything well. As you didn't want to make mistakes in your patients care and look bad in front of your attending. But since they did give us more responsibility, it really helped me feel like I was a part of the team and for the first time what it felt like to be a doctor.

Prepping for the Shelf

   
      Unfortunately, at the end of each rotation, we have to take an exam to be evaluated on what we've learned. This meant that in addition to working a full-time job, we were also coming home to study for an exam. As the breadth of information tested on the internal medicine shelf mirrors that tested on our board exam, it was a lot of information to review. It was the first time that I was in this situation and I handled it as best as I could. It was definitely really hard to have the motivation to come home and study after a long day at work, but somehow I did it.

     As far as resources, most people recommended finding a review book (i.e. Step-Up to Medicine or Case Files) and reading that cover-to-cover in addition to doing practice questions on Uworld. Personally, I am not a textbook person and I found it really hard to get through reading a review book, so I just focused on doing practice questions. I believe there are 1,400 or so questions for internal medicine on Uworld and I got through about 1,000 of them. I used some online videos ( Online MedEd is a great resource) for topics I was weak in before my exam. But, throughout the rotation, I was looking up information on my patients on UpToDate every day and learning that way as well. For me, that was enough to do decently well on my shelf exam and in combination with a great clinical grade it worked out well for my overall grade on the rotation.

My Take-Aways

     As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my time on internal medicine. I will say that something that I know really contributed to my experience was that both of my teams were great. I had so much fun with them when we weren't busy practicing medicine that it didn't feel like we were at work. I know this wasn't true for some of my classmates on IM, so your team can really make or break your experience. It was the first time that I really got to experience medicine full on and I loved it. I enjoyed taking part in a patients care and when I was able to get really involved, it confirmed that I had chosen the right field. I won't sugar coat it though, there were some days that were really rough. I spent most of the two months just feeling exhausted by the long hours and worried that I wasn't studying enough for my shelf exam. And the learning curve from being an M2 to being an M3 is pretty steep, but eventually, you do get the hang of it. By the end, I was so tired and ready for a much-needed break (hence the laid-back past five weeks), but sad that I had to leave my team. 

     Overall, I realized that I really enjoy inpatient medicine (clinic is not my fave). I don't mind long days or rounding and rounding will be way more fun when I'm the attending that gets to ask all the questions.  As I had just taken Step a couple weeks before starting this rotation, it was really cool to see the things I had studied in practice. I felt so smart and like I mentioned above, it was the first time in the past years of schooling that I actually felt like I was becoming a doctor and not just studying for another class. And actually working with people was so rewarding when you could see them get better under your care and witness that you are making a difference. At this point in time, my heart is still saying pediatrics (even though my teams were trying to convince me to choose IM...It might possibly be my back up), but IM will hold a very special place as it was where I started my journey as an M3 and where I learned that I do really enjoy this field. It was certainly not an easy rotation, but I learned so much, I had so many great experiences ( I got to do my first arterial blood gas draw on a patient) and I feel ready to take on the rest of my M3 year.

     I know that was very long, but I wanted to give a detailed account of my time on IM. I start my Ob/Gyn rotation on Monday, and I can't wait to share my experience at the end of that.

Take care,

- Gen<3

A letter to The Incoming M1s

     At our school, the incoming M1 students will be starting their first week of medical school next week. So, I wanted to write a few words of advice as they start their new journey.

    Hello, my new future colleagues!

     I know that it's a different way to start this letter, but know that you are now the newest members of a prestigious club, and that is such a great honor. I know that it has taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to this point. So, congratulations to be standing at the gates of the beginning of your futures. Every day that you walk this journey, you will be faced with new experiences, new challenges, and new opportunities. I urge you to take every one of them and see how you can use them to help shape you into a better doctor and more importantly, a better human being. I can't promise that this journey will be smooth sailing, and more than likely it won't be, but know that you have it in you to make it through any storm you may need to face.

     You are now among some of the brightest and most accomplished people and in some cases that might make you feel inferior. But, don't compare what you have to bring to the table with those around you. You are a unique individual and what you have to offer is just as valuable as what anyone else has to give. The people around you are not your competition. You are all on this journey together, so my best advice is to try your hardest to support one another as you climb to the top. This journey is not one you can fully do alone, so never be afraid to ask for guidance. But with that in mind, medical school is also a very personal experience. Make sure to cater it to fit exactly what you need and don't worry if that looks completely different from what the person next to you is doing. Don't be afraid to change things up as you are figuring things out, because eventually you will find exactly what works for you.

    Savor every second. Good times, bad times, and all of the above. Because, before you know it, you'll be standing at the end of the journey wondering to yourself where the time has gone. This is a very special time in your life. The time that you are shaping yourself into who you need to be and that in itself is magic. And although this journey is challenging, I promise you that it is filled with so many beautiful moments. So, don't get too caught up in the chaos that you forget to appreciate the moment that you are in. And whatever it is that brought you to choose this path, don't lose it. Use your passion to help drive you to the finish line and you'll see that nothing will seem impossible.

     I wish you the best of luck as you start this journey, but know that you don't really need it. Everything you'll need to make it through is already inside of you, and don't ever forget that.

~Genesis

How to Spend Your Summer After M1 Year

    One thing that you'll realize shortly after starting medical school, is that it is a bit like undergrad all over again. Of course, you have already started in the profession of your choice (hopefully, your dreams), but the notion that at the end of your four years you'll be putting out your residency applications definitely hits hard. And of course, just like undergrad, your grades won't be the only thing that residency applications will be looking at.

     I don't want to scare you. In medical school, the need to have your C.V. filled to the brim with activities isn't really necessary, and a lot of what you have to do depends on what specialty you are thinking about going into. If you already have your heart set on being the next Cristina Yang, you might have to start thinking about how you can get yourself involved in research. But, if you know that your specialty of choice isn't as competitive, you have a bit more laxity in what you can do. 

A couple areas that I think are worth exploring over the summer are: 1.) Leadership 2.) Shadowing and 3.) Self-care.

Leadership

     

     As a physician, you are often going to be the head of a team, so being able to show residency programs that you are able to do that is really important. For me, I have quite a bit of leadership experience from this past school year (that will come in a separate post), but for this summer I am helping coordinate the summer program I participated in last summer. I can already tell you that come residency application time, I have plenty of examples for when they start asking me the, "Tell me about a time..." questions. But, just because my leadership opportunity is within the realm of medicine, doesn't mean that yours has to be. You can always seek leadership in other areas, such as your community. The most important goal is just to prove that you can take responsibility and how you handle your responsibility. Also, that you can work on a team. The medical field is very team-oriented and residency programs will want to know that you have the ability to be a team player, so being able to prove this works in your favor.

Shadowing

     If you have the free time, this is a great time to look into the things that you are interested. Have you always wanted to be an emergency medicine doctor? Go shadow one! The unfortunate part about your 3rd and 4th year rotations is that you only get a brief glimpse of things before you make a a decision about what you'd like to practice for the rest of your life, so if you have the chance to get exposure to your field of interest early on, that's great. You'll already have an idea of what to expect, but you'll also start building connections for the future. That and like medical schools, residency programs what to see that you know what you are getting yourself into. Being a doctor isn't easy and each specialty has it's own unique challenges. So, having the opportunity to get to know what your future job would be like can give you a bit more certainty about choosing a specialty and will allow you to confidently speak about why you are choosing it come interview time.

Self-care

    

     Medical school is hard and making it through a full academic year takes a lot out of you. So, if you want to take the summer to recuperate before prepping for M2 year, that's totally okay. I know that there's always pressure to do everything that you can to make yourself a competitive candidate, but at the end of the day, you won't be able to do your job well if you're burned out. One of my favorite quotes is, "You can't pour from an empty cup." And I feel like this is so true in the medical field. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to effectively take care of others, so remember to make it a priority. If residency programs ask you what you did for your summer, all you have to say is that you took the summer to focus on self-care. I would say that anyone in this field will understand that this is completely necessary. So, don't be afraid to keep this as an option.

     Regardless of what you decide to do, remember to enjoy your summer. I know the pressure to add things to your C.V. will be there, but if you are going to spend your last "summer break" being miserable, is it really worth it? So, remember to keep that in mind when you are planning out your summer following M1 year. 

- Gen<3

Coming Up For Air

     Hello, Hello! I am sorry that it's been seriously a hot minute since I've posted anything, but school got a tad hectic. We just ended a 6-week exam stretch last week (we had an exam every monday for six weeks...), so I've been crazy busy. But I still wanted to check in.

     When I was thinking about how I would describe the past couple months of med school, the first thing that came to mind was swimming. You start off on the shore where the water seems inviting and you know you know how to swim, so you dive right in. You soon realize that the water is pretty deep and the waves are crashing pretty hard. Sometimes, they crash a little too hard leaving you gasping for air. And if you've been swimming for a while, your muscles start to ache with the weight of the water enveloping your body. The depth of the water below you making it even harder to stay afloat. But, you've been pushed away from the shore and you don't quite know how you're going to get back, and all you know is that you have to just have to keep swimming. So despite everything, you keep going. And when you finally make it back to shore, out of breath and knowing that you just conquered what you thought was impossible, the rush that comes over you is electric.

     The past couple months have been a combination of days where I felt that I didn't know how I would make it back to shore and many days where swimming felt comfortable and I was just happy to be in the water. And that's the crazy thing about medical school. There are days that you feel that you don't have what it takes and others that you know you are in the exact right place. What keeps you going is knowing that even on the bad days you are working towards what you love to do and telling yourself that you know how to swim, so why are you going to let the water scare you?

     When I started out the semester, I expected a challenge and although I had some trying moments, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The consectutive exams kept me busy, but I am pretty good about making time for myself, so I did have some fun thrown into the mix. But it's crazy to see how much I've changed since I first jumped in and now have made it back to shore. I'll probably talk about it a bit more when I do a recap for the end of M1 year (I can't believe that'll be in a couple weeks!), but for the most part I feel that this semester has shown me just how much I am capable of.

     Again, I'm sorry I've been absent for so long, but summer is upon us, so I'll have more time to write about some of the things that have been on my mind as I've been going through the year.  Overall, I'm very happy at the moment and just gearing up for the end of the semester. We're about to have a five-exam stretch to finish off the year, but knowing that summer is at the end of it, will make it all the more bearable. 

I hope you are having a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

-Genesis<3

Where Are My Boss Ladies At?

     I'm not sure if it has to do with my newfound awareness but lately, I've been incredibly inspired by the women around me. As a woman pursuing the medical field, I am fortunate to know many incredible ladies that are on this journey with me, but the strong ladies are not limited to the future doctors. I am also happy that I get to call some of the most incredible women my friends. 

     For those that aren't sure what exactly a boss lady (a.k.a girl boss) is, I believe the concept is best defined by Sophia Amoruso, author of the book #GIRLBOSS. She defines the term as, "someone who's in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it. As a #GIRLBOSS, you take control and accept responsibility. You're a fighter --you know when to throw punches and when to roll with them, but always on your own terms. You know where you're going, but can't do it without having some fun along the way. You value honesty, over perfection. You ask questions. You take your life seriously, but you don't take yourself too seriously. You're going to take over the world, and change it in the process. You're a badass." When I read this, I was like, "Heck yeah, that's exactly what I am" and that is the attitude that I've been keeping these past couple weeks back. Every time I see the women around me succeed, it truly inspires me and gives me hope about all the change we can bring about. But, I firmly believe that the only way that we can do this is by supporting one another. Another quote that I read recently (Thanks, Megan) was, "Behind every successful woman is tribe of other successful women who have her back." I identify with this so much because my friends have been incredible at this, and I am also surrounded by so many incredible ladies in my class that make this true as well. Individually, we are a spark, but together we can set the place on fire. 

     So, these past couple weeks, I've been rockin' and rollin', trying to make the most of my time, and reminding myself that I don't need to be perfect. I just have to give it everything that I have. I am on my own path to being a badass, but I am also cheering on the ladies on the journey with me.

     I hope everyone is having a fabulous week, and I shall talk to you soon!

- Genesis<3

December Monthly Recap 2016

     I apologize for getting this up a bit late but as you can imagine, the end of the year quickly transitioned into the beginning of the new semester and that has kept me preoccupied for the first week of the year. As I mentioned in last month's recap, December was supposed to be pretty tame. The end of our semester consisted of only two exams and then we finally got three (well deserved) weeks of break. I spent most of the month catching up with the people I hadn't had a chance to spend time with as well as doing things that I had put to the side during the semester. Overall, I felt the month provided the R&R that I will be needing in order to make it through the beast that is second semester (We'll touch more on that later) and provided all the fun and excitement that is expected of the holiday season.

Some of My Favorite Moments

    

 Literally, one of the very first things that I did once I had hit submit on that last exam was meet up with my best friend Elida for some girl time. We spent the day catching up and visiting our alma mater and I cannot begin to tell you how amazing that was. I hadn't been back where I went to undergrad since I had last gone to visit G right before she graduated. Walking around the places that shaped me into the med student that I currently am felt all sorts of amazing and being able to experience that with my best friend just made it even more special.

    

Our favorite burger place was all decked out for Christmas, so I obviously had to get a pic:)

     Later the same night, We celebrated one of our med school friend's birthday and the beginning of winter break. My med school crew went out for a classic girls night of dancing and of course, that is always a blast. I'm very content with our little friend group and I was so happy that we had a chance to celebrate how hard we worked this semester before everyone went off to start their own winter breaks.

My "doctorbread" cookies <3

     As I had a surplus of time, I spent some of it making Christmas cookies. I made three different recipes, but I was super excited about these gingerbread cookies. I had been wanting to make homemade gingerbread cookies for a while now, and the recipe that I found was amazing. From the picture above, I'm sure you can tell that I am obviously very artistic (lol) Not really, but when you're a med student you turn everything medical so I couldn't help giving the cookies a little stethoscope! I made a bunch of cookies and gave them out to friends and obviously ate quite a few myself, hence why January will be filled with many visits to the gym.

Chicago Squad Friendsmas Outing 2016

Maybe one day I'll be tall enough to be the princess</3

     One of my favorite Chicago traditions is the Christkindlmarket that is put up every year in the Daley plaza. Growing up we used to come to look at the cute shops and lights but now as adults, everyone makes sure to come for the Gluhwein (German mulled wine). Every year, people line up for a mug and every year they change the style of the mug which I think is a super cute detail. The market has tons of little shops selling treats and homemade goods. It's always fun to go and have a look around.  This year, I happened to go with two different friend groups this year. For the Chicago Squad, it was only a part of our Holiday celebration. The other half was hanging out at Meg's for wine and gingerbread house decorating as well as a trip to Macy's (R.I.P Marshall Field's) to check out the holiday window displays. 

Our annual Pj Pic

My uncle plays the role of Santa and announces presents

     Christmas came up really quick, but I was really glad that I had time to celebrate it with my family. I was raised in a Nicaraguan household, so we actually celebrate on the 24th. We gather with family, have a nice dinner, open gifts at midnight, and just enjoy each other's company. I feel really blessed that I have the chance to spend Christmas with people that I love so that in itself was an amazing gift.

   

  Finally, I got to celebrate the end of the month by closing out the year with my girls. We had such a great time singing and dancing our hearts out at one of our favorite dueling pianos bar, and I don't think I could've picked a better way to spend it New Year's Eve than with this wonderful group of ladies.  We started the evening collecting our NYE squad at Meg's place (We had a couple different friend groups join in) and then headed out. The four of us also met the next day for our Sunday Family Dinner. Recapping the previous night's events was all sorts of hilarious, but what I loved most was spending the first day of the year with these amazing group of girls. This past year has really built up our friendship in so many ways and knowing that I have such a solid crew makes medical school all the more bearable. So, if you guys are reading this (which I know you are lol), I just want to say thank you for making the past year so amazing and that I love you guys very much <3

Looking Forward

     Not going to lie, the end of the Holiday season was definitely bittersweet as I knew that soon enough after coming back to school, we'll be in full force. I know this semester will be rather busy, but I am excited to continue learning. Sometimes I'm still in awe at the fact that I even get to do any of this, and I think I should spend more time recognizing how lucky I am. I've also made it a goal to change my mindset from thinking about the things that I "have to do" to recognizing them as things that I "get to do." I heard that from one of my favorite bloggers Laura Lacquer and I thought it was brilliant. Not everyone gets the opportunity to become a doctor, so I shall keep that in my mind as I trudge through the class work I have to do this week.

    

     I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday season and I can't wait to show you guys what goes on this next month!

~ Genesis<3

October/November Monthly Recap 2016

 
  Whoa, it has definitely been a hot minute since I've blogged. And for that, I greatly apologize! If you happened to read September's recap, you are well aware that I was working through getting myself into the groove of medical school and testing out what would work best for me. I was super optimistic that October would be the month that I would finally get my life together...let's just say I was overly optimistic, but I do appreciate that I have that trait.

October

    I started out the month hopeful that as I had a couple exams under my belt, it would be easier to navigate medical school, but when October came around, my to do list felt a mile high and time felt non-existent. We had a couple weeks with back-to-back exams, but the worst part was knowing that as soon as the month ended, we would be thrown into the first "hell week" in medical school. I am not going to lie, October was probably the roughest month that I've had in my medical school experience thus far. I had so much going on and I knew that it would be a while before I would have some breathing room. In those weeks, I had also had to miss out on time with my friends and that hit pretty hard. Sitting at your desk studying biochemistry for hours on a Saturday while you are missing out on your best friend's housewarming party, isn't exactly the most motivating, but it was surely a necessary evil. Thankfully, the month ended with a couple fun outings in preparation for the trying ten days that would initiate the month of November. 

Party at a classmate's apartment

Celebrating a friend's Halloween-themed birthday outing with my roomie!

November 

     November started with the busiest ten days of my life. We had four exams in the span of ten days and unlike the finals that we had in undergrad, these were more intense. Two of our exams covered all of the anatomy we had learned since the beginning of medical school (we had a lab portion and a multiple choice component) and our physiology exam was worth 40% of our overall grade. With all that on our plate, you better believe it was a very high stress time for everyone. It was not fun, but I pushed through knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel would be celebrating my birthday the week after. Those ten days pushed me in ways that I didn't know possible, but I can proudly say that I came out and performed well on all of my exams. The rest of the month was simply glorious. After hell week, we only had two courses left (Physiology and Biochemistry), so the amount of work we had to do substantially decreased. I got to celebrate my 24th birthday, spend time with friends, and just have some time to myself. The end of the month was mainly spent celebrating the holidays and getting myself out of my relaxed schedule in preparation for the final two weeks of my first semester. 

At our class's charity auction night

Birthday pic with the besties

My med school squad

 Looking Forward

     The next two weeks we will be wrapping up the semester. It's crazy to think that I will be able to say that I've successfully made it through my first semester of medical school and will be 1/8 a doctor. We get three weeks of vacation and you better believe I will be trying to enjoy those weeks as much as I possibly can before starting next semester. I am hoping to also spend my time off getting myself a bit more put together, so I can have a strong semester as well as creating more content for the blog! I feel like I have a lot of topics I can explore, so hopefully I get around to that. 

     I apologize that this isn't longer. I wanted to get something up for the blog, but I should be studying for the exams that I'll be taking next week...So, unfortunately I had to keep it short. I hope you guys have been having a wonderful past couple of months and I will hopefully be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

September Recap 2016

     Oh my goodness, it has been a longgg time since I've come on here. I greatly apologize, but as you can most likely imagine, my first month of medical school has certainly kept me busy. By this point, I am about a month-and-a-half in, three exams down, and by no means an expert on the matter, but I'm getting the hang of it. Really, these past couple of weeks have been a learn by trial-and-error situation, and the past two didn't leave me much breathing room, but thankfully this week I had a bit more time to catch my breath. So, what have I been up to? 

Medical School

     As I mentioned earlier, I've had a lot going on academically. Honestly, the hardest part of medical school is trying to create your own harmony (I'll probably do a blog post on this topic). There are many ways to approach medical school and for the beginning of the year, I was trying to figure out what worked best for me. It has taken a bit of time, but I think I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it (hopefully by October I'll be a bit more convinced). At the beginning of the school year, I decided to get involved in extracurriculars and of course, that added to the madness of being busy. I am currently on of the co-chairs of the community service committee for my school's Latin American Medical Student Association (LMSA). For this, I help organize monthly health fairs in Hispanic communities to allow people to have a place where they can check their glucose levels, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and get BMI counseling. It's a really great opportunity and as I am a co-chair of the committee, I get to sit on the board of the club and that makes me feel kind of bad-ass. I am also teaching a Medical Spanish class to some of my peers. The class is run by LMSA, but I teach one of the sections with two other instructors. So far, it has been really great and it feels cool to be able to help my classmates learn how to expand their practice into the Latin American community.  Apart from the academics and extracurriculars, I've been spending time trying to find my niche. I think I've slowly found my group of people and it's making the whole medical school experience more enjoyable. Academics have been a rollercoaster as we've had a couple back-to-back test weeks and those kept me in a frenzy to get prepared for an exam. The lovely part about medical school is that our classes are pass/fail, so the pressure of grades isn't really there. Of course, I always aim to do much better than just a pass, but it's nice to know that at worst all I need to do is pass. Overall, classes haven't been too awful, but where it gets hectic is trying to juggle all the subjects that are being thrown at us. I have happily done well on my first three medical school exams, and I am hopeful that I can keep that a continuing trend.

Social Life

     Whoo, I felt odd even typing that subject title (haha). This past month has been on the busier side, so I didn't partake in too many social activities.  I'd say the extent of my social outings this month were birthday celebrations with some of my favorite people. Meg's birthday was September 7th, so the weekend after we celebrated with Indian food and drinks at her place and then went out to a really fun dueling pianos bar for a bit. It wasn't a late night for me as I had to get up early the next day to attend our first health fair, but it was still super great to be able to see her and G and to get out of my normal routine for a bit. 

Never a dull moment with this birthday queen!

     The week after it was Eme's birthday, and as she's my sister, I really couldn't miss out on seeing her. She came up to the city with my parents and some of our extended family and we all went out for pizza. My mom had bought her some cupcakes at this really cute place downtown, so we finished off dinner with those. Her birthday was on the Friday before my second exam, so I was a bit flustered, but I was very happy that I took the time to see her and to be with my family. Sometimes, a little family time can remind you that despite everything going on in your life, you'll never have to go through it alone.

My nugget on her birthday!

     Then last night, I happened to get tickets to go to a Blackhawks game and as our schedule has been on the tamer side this week, Mallory and I were super excited to take a night off of studying to go and watch our favorite team. We didn't win, but just being in the stadium is an incredible experience, and I am now super pumped for hockey season to officially start!

Looking Forward

     It's crazy because I know that the next coming months will surely be just as busy and I'll have to add in other activities for school (I'll touch on that more next month), but I'm hoping that I'll keep getting better at having a handle on my schedule and it won't seem as difficult as this first month has been. Of course, I can't really promise that I'll blog more often, but I will definitely try! 

     I am glad I finally had the chance to update you guys on my life and I can't wait to be able to share more of my medical school experience. I hope you guys had a great month and I'll talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

August Recap 2016

     Hello! The month of August has been a busy one for me. Moving to the city, starting medical school, and getting into the groove of my new life has definitely put plenty on my plate. Sadly, the moments that I did have the opportunity to sneak away, I didn't happen to snap a pic (I promise I will try to be better about that next month!). So, I'll just update you on what's been going on thus far.

    The beginning of August marked the beginning of my med school career. It was crazy to be able to finally start and when classes started, they kept us pretty busy. I just had my first exam this Monday, so the week leading up to that was pretty hectic. The main challenge of Medical school thus far has been trying to figure out what works best for me, so that I can set up my routine. It's the beginning of week three, and I feel like I'm still trying to sort that out, but hopefully as we go on, I'll be able to figure it all out. 

     Eventful Moments

     Following orientation week and White Coat, I had the opportunity to catch up with my girls. One of the best parts of being back in the city is being closer to them, and although my time is more limited than it was before, it's so nice to know that I am able to see them when I have the chance. My first Saturday in the city we went out and explored Lakeview a bit and of course that had to include delicious drinks and yummy food. 

They are too adorable:)

     The following week was our first week of class and that was a little hectic. We still had quite a few orientation sessions, so the days seemed to drag on. Thankfully, Sunday dinner at Meg's recharged me for the following week. G and I brought our roommates and we had our own little potluck dinner. It was a great way to break away from studying for a bit and to also have everyone meet. My roommate Mallory and I also went out for a bit on Saturday. The part of the city that we live in is called Little Italy and they were having their Festa Italiana festival. We just walked around for a bit with one our friends from school and tried out some of the local Italian food. I stuck with the Italian theme and had gnocchi and cannoli, so you better believe I left pretty happy and full.

     This past week/weekend had been dedicated to school. I did attend some extracurricular meetings, but as the weekend approached, the studying got intense. Mallory and I pretty much lived in our school's study rooms for the weekend, but Sunday I broke away for a bit to have dinner with my family. I felt it was a nice way to remove some of the stress and get myself in a good mindset to take the exam.

     As I posted about the beginning of the month already, this post looks a bit sad. The majority of August I honestly just spent getting myself acclimated to being a medical student and those moments aren't necessarily the most exciting, but I will try to include as much as I can.

     As we move forward, I will be trying to update you guys as much as I can, but unfortunately, I do get busy and I don't always get the opportunity to blog. I will be trying my best, though! 

I hope you had a fabulous month and I will be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

     

Advice For M1 Year From An M3

      I know that navigating through your journey to medical school can be daunting and I am so thankful that I never really had to go through it alone as I had my friend Alissa to ask for help. Alissa and I actually met in undergrad and went through a few premed classes together. We were in the same year, but as she graduated a year early and I took a gap year after college, we ended up with a two-year gap between our medical careers. Alissa just started her M3 year right after taking Step 1 this summer (Whoo hoo, Alissa!). Naturally, as someone who is about to start their M1 year, I wanted to know if there were any tips and as she's made it through the struggle, and she had some great advice to offer.

Advice for First Year Medical Students: Guest Post by Alissa Z.

1. Enjoy your time off!

     Your time off will slowly start to dwindle away the farther you progress in medical school, so enjoy it while it lasts! During first year, it feels like you have no time, but you really do! Use some of your time to have fun. (P.S. I was told this advice my first year too, and I didn't follow it because I felt like I was sooo busy. But it really is true, so try to have some fun!)

2. Choose efficient ways to study

     Going along with #1, don't choose a study technique that is very time-consuming (aka notecards). You might have enough time to continue studying with it first year, but as soon as second year rolls around, you will not. It is better to try different, more efficient study techniques your first year when you can afford to take the extra time to study. Pay attention to what you like about each study technique so that you can optimize your studying. As a bonus, if you find a more effective study technique first year, you will have more time to have fun!

3. Learn physiology very well

It will be your foundation going forward.

4. It is okay if you don't like your anatomy class.

     Personally, the cadavers really bothered me, but I have loved observing and assisting in surgeries on living people. Being disturbed by a decomposed and dissected dead body does not mean you can't be a good doctor-it means you are human! (Although if they don't bother you, that's fine too. Everyone is different.)

5.  Your medical school experience changes as you go along

     Everything in medical school gets more interesting as the years go by because you begin to learn more clinically relevant information and get to practice more medicine. Keep that in mind as you are studying biochemistry first year because it gets better! It also gets must harder and more time-consuming, but because you will like what you are learning, the time you spend studying will be more enjoyable.

6. Don't throw people under the bus!

     I'm sure everyone has heard of gunners (people that study constantly and actively try to put people down in order to get ahead. I will let you in on a little secret- it doesn't help them get ahead! When you put people down, your classmates won't want to help you, and that can have a big impact on your performance in medical school. Collaboration helps everyone, and medicine is a field that relies on it because that is how doctors take the best care of their patients. Your professors, residents, and attendings will also notice if you are putting people down, and really, no one likes that.

7. Know Your Place

     Don't be entitled because as medical students we literally don't know anything. There will always be many more people who know more than you. Just keep that in mind and don't be arrogant (or a gunner- really, don't do it). 

8. Graciously accept Advice---See #7. 

     You can always learn from someone who knows more than you. Even if you're not planning on going into a certain specialty, you can learn something important from that clerkship (that advice is more applicable to third year, but keep it in mind!)

9. Don't Start Studying for Step 1 Your First Year

     

     You won't learn the majority of the information on Step 1 until your second year, so you won't be able to study effectively for it anyway.

   That's about it! Basically, medical school is all about being able to adjust to different situations. Every time you start to feel comfortable, things will start to change and get more difficult. In third year, you will constantly have to adjust to different clerkships, residents, and attendings. It's hard, but it's good practice for life because life is change. With that in mind, I think #2 is the most important piece of advice because to excel in medical school, you need to be able to adapt. While you are adapting, try to stay true to who you are and take time for yourself so you can stay as sane as possible. 

Good luck!

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         I wish anyone that is starting medical school this week ( or around this week) lots of luck! We've made it! Have a fantastic week and I shall talk to you soon! 

~ Genesis<3

What Do I Want To Specialize In?

     Ever since starting this blog, I've had this post in the back of my mind and as I start my medical school journey next week, I felt it was the perfect time to write it.  Something that was a common theme during SPP when meeting future and current medical students was inquiring about their specialty of interest. At this point, it's not always a hundred percent certain that we'll actually choose to go into that specialty at the end of our four years, but typically we have a specialty in mind when going into medical school. So, before I am influenced by what I will see in school, I want to write about what specialty I have in mind before it all begins, so that I can come back and compare it with my choice at the end of my fourth year.

What Would I Choose?

     For as long as I can remember wanting to be a doctor, I always had one specialty on my mind and that was Pediatrics. I've always had quite a bit of admiration for pediatricians because I feel that they play a very influential role in how we first experience healthcare and to this day, I can still remember the different pediatricians that I had over the years. As a pediatrician, you also have a different type of relationship with your patients as you get to see them grow up. I bet it's really incredible to be able to start seeing a patient when they are just a little baby and then potentially see them until they become adults. Also, there is something quite unique in the pediatric environment. Of course, it holds all the common elements that a regular healthcare place would have, but the nature of the patients make for a whole different experience. When I think of this, an Arizona Robbins from Grey's Anatomy quote comes to mind: "These are the tiny humans. These are children. They believe in magic. They play pretend. There is fairy dust in their IV bags. They hope and they cross their fingers and they make wishes. And that's what makes them more resilient than adults. They recover fast, survive worse, they believe. In Peds., we have miracles and magic. In Peds., anything is possible...".

I absolutely love this quote and as someone that has spent quite a bit of time volunteering in a pediatric hospital, I can tell you that Peds. has a certain magic to it and that magic attracts me. 

What Would Hold Me Back?

     Up until this point, it is pretty safe to say that my mind is set on Peds., but I know there might be things that could dissuade my choice. I really do love kids, so I don't know if seeing really sick kids might be too much for me. I didn't have a problem while volunteering with them but of course, being their doctor is a different situation. Something that I frequently hear about Peds. is that the parents are worse than the kids. The major factor that could change my mind would be having to argue with parents all the time, but I still feel like I should be fine. I know that if I really do love it, nothing will change my mind, so that's also something to keep in mind as I am going through the next four years.

     Thankfully, I have plenty of time to make my final decision and also a ton of rotations to experience. Who knows, I might find that I love something way more than I love Peds. and that is just as awesome. I can't wait to see what I decide, though.

Have a fabulous week and I will be talking to you soon! 

~ Genesis<3