Hi! It’s been a while.
The last time I posted I had just started my fourth year of podiatry school. I had no idea what was coming! This year has been a tough one to be a medical student. The first couple months of quarantine I was home just like everyone else in the world. However, I have been back to my normal schedule since June.
So far, I have completed two and a half externships, and boy does it feel good to be back seeing patients and learning new things!
This month I am on a nephrology rotation. Needless to say, it has been an interesting time to be working in a hospital with all this COVID-19 stuff going on!
But, in an effort to keep things light around here, I thought I would share some outfit ideas for the hospital. I feel like dress attire is so much more confusing for women!
I have been wearing these pants nonstop! I have them in three colors! My uniform for clinic attire is basically these pants and a sweater or cute blouse. I am still working on finding a pair of shoes that are professional, stylish, and COMFORTABLE! I’ll keep y’all posted.
This was a BIG weekend. On Thursday I finished my last set of exams EVER! Our fourth year of school we are rotating through different hospitals all over the country, so we don’t take traditional classes anymore. Even though I am so excited not to sit in a lecture hall, the end of third year is really bittersweet. I am going to miss being able to see all my classmates everyday!
Then Friday was my 26th birthday, our friend from college and his girlfriend visited from Pittsburgh to join in on the festivities. We drank good beer, ate lots of pizza, and even raced hermit crabs… best birthday ever! I am so blessed to have so many great friends and family who wanted to make sure I felt special on my birthday! ❤️
In January I completed my third year surgical rotation. This was, by far, my favorite rotation! We work with different surgeons every day and get to see so many different procedures, techniques, and approaches to podiatric practice.
My goals going into this rotation were simple: to get comfortable being in an operating room, and to not break sterile. Prior to this month I had never been in the OR and it was really intimidating at first. One of the most important aspects of being in the OR is the separation of sterile vs non sterile items, and one of the most common “rookie” mistakes is to touch that isn’t sterile when you are scrubbed. But, after this month I can say that I know my way around pretty much any OR, and I didn’t break sterile once! Woohoo!
I also got to see some pretty awesome procedures. My personal favorite ones to be a part of were an Achilles tendon repair and a subtalar joint fusion! The Achilles tendon repair was a speed bridge technique, you can watch a video of that here. You can watch a subtalar joint fusion here.
Oh my gosh. I feel like I start every blog post the same: “Time is flying by. I can’t believe it’s already fall! Where has the time gone?”
So we gotta catch up!!
My parents came to visit! We had so much fun showing them around Cleveland.
We went to Oktoberfest in Cuyahoga Falls the other week, it is such a cute town. Also ladies, if you don’t have a pair of red boots get some! I have never gotten more compliments on my shoes in my life.
Most importantly, I saw a lot of patients, learned a lot of radiology, and started a simulated patient rotation!
I am about six weeks into third year… and so far it has been really difficult. Balancing being in clinic AND taking classes AND studying for exams AND driving all over Northeast Ohio to different clinics has been overwhelming.
In between commuting and study though, some pretty exciting stuff has happened:
I found out I passed boards!!!
I saw my first patients! My first rotation was at the Cleveland VA, which has a pretty high patient volume. I learned so much about interacting with patients, and got to see some interesting cases.
I survived another round of exams! It’s pretty crazy to think we only have three exam cycles left!
Sorry I’ve been MIA, I’m gunna post a “Day in my Life” later this week. To give you guys a better idea of just how busy I have been 😅.
Last Wednesday, I took my first Board exam! I find out my score in a few weeks.
Most people are dreading the wait, but I am pretty happy not to have to think about it for a while!
A few of my friends and I drove down to Columbus and took the test, then our husbands/ boyfriends met us for some Fourth of July Festivities.
If you know me, you know that I am the most patriotic person EVER. I always cry when I hear the national anthem, and I am basically just obsessed with America. So, the fourth is one of my favorite holidays!
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!
On the Right Foot 