Ready…Set…Holy Sh*@

Chess all mopey because it's moving time...

Alrighty, so I have reached my insanity point.  J/k.  Well not really.  Can you believe it?!  In these last 9 month-ish, I have gotten engaged, interviewed all over the US, went to Ecuador, planned a DIY wedding, looked for a house, planned a honeymoon, matched!!, gotten 2 dogs, survived family wedding drama, bought a house, and finished up my last year of medical school.  Wooohooo!

It's moving time!

And now, crammed in the next 3 weeks in no particular order, we’re flying back to inspect the house, getting MARRIED, RMK is leaving for a 1 week hiking trip to the  middle of NOWHERE without cell phone or internet only to land 4 days before the wedding, leaving on our honeymoon, closing on the house, packing, moving to Denver, adopted a puppy, graduating from medical school, unpacking and preparing for residency in 4 days, and finally…starting residency.  Whew!  That’s right…we live life by the seat of our pants.  RMK says before he met me, his to-do lists were never this long.

You see that smile...of either the smartest man or the....well the smartest well-made pre-wedding plan.

Sooooo, I am going to be on hiatus from my readers for the next month.  I am back-blogged, but they have been edited and scheduled to release while I am gone.  Enjoy!  The next time I am on, I will be Mrs. K.  and Dr. K!!!  Yupeeeee!!

Match Day!!

Trying not to look like we want to vomit when we open the letters!

Match Day!

And we've MATCHED!

Dinner with our medical school family! So sad to be leaving them and happy we matched at the same time!

Fourth Year Advice: Cerebral Atrophy

I am on my last rotation of my medical school career!  Whoo hoo!  Personally, I have checked out weeks before the match.  After all the aways and the interviews, I think I physically turned off my brain.  And I have never felt it more until this rotation with a few peppy, gung-ho 3rd years.  Oh, they’re super nice and well…to me super smart.  Was I ever that energetic and smiley?  I believe I was, and I believe I must have been annoying.  I have the feeling they think I am the laziest, dumbest medical student.  Don’t get me wrong: I was a good student, had great reviews, and I naturally feel guilty when I am not giving my 100%…a perfectionist at heart you could say.  Notice the “was”?  I just never knew I could be like this:

Attending: Hey guys, there’s an interesting LP later on in the afternoon.  You guys should definitely check it out.
M3′s: Yeah!  Sure!
Me:  empty smile  (I have seen so many.  Thank you for that surgery rotation not at a teaching hospital.  No residents = awesome!)

Later on I run into them in the elevator as they catch me taking my badge and stethescope off.

M3′s: You coming to the LP?

Me: Uhhh…no.  See you guys later. (smiles)

How lazy have I really become?

M3: Hey which patient are you going to pick out of the list so we [the third years] don’t see them too.

Me: What are you talking about?  I wasn’t planning on….(picking anything)

And how dumb?

I was looking at the labs, and I see CK.  I, for the life of me, mega-brain fart, could not remember what CK stood for.  I mean, when was the last time I even looked at an CMP with CK?  And no worries, I got a good grade in IMED so I know it’s somewhere.  But shit, where?!

Me (whispering to the M3):  Hey, what is this CK?

M3: Seriously?  Like seriously?

Me: Well…hurry up.  What is it?

M3: Uhhh…creatinine kinase. (giving me the most “she is forever dumb” look)

Me: Hmmm…sounds very familar this creatinine kinase.

And how encouraging?

M3′s: hey what should we put on our 4th year schedules?  Do you recommend anything?

Me: Uhh the easiest are blah, blah, and blah.  And definitely computers in medicine.

M3′s: No, but we really should do ICU, SURGERY, and blah blah.  We really want to learn.  Just before intern year.

Me: Ohhh, but you don’t.  Seriously.  You think you do, but you don’t.  And learning…it will be forgotten by January.  Ok, December.

Come on.  Let’s be honest.  The last 3 months…you’re counting down.  The gunner in me, if he/she ever existed, the work ethic: it’s saving itself for the ass-whipping to come.  No one cares about fourth years, whether you are there or not (unless you’re doing radiology or derm or path rotation–yeah you thought easy cheesy right?)

They will come to this period in their life, and do what we all did: change their damn schedules.  And develop a case of Alzheimers.

Say what?

Where I Have Been

I decided to map out where I have been since the beginning of November, and some of them are multiple trips.  This isn’t including our trip to Ecuador in a few weeks or our honeymoon across both oceans.  I racked up some miles…that’s for sure.  And major lbs from the amazing food!  Worst flight: Austin to Newark to Manchester to Detroit to Houston.  4 interviews…6 days.  Whew.  Let’s hope, Match Day March 17th…this becomes all worth it!  Crossing my fingers!

So many cities...so little time.

Couples Matching: My Incurable Ulcer

 

I stole this from Bos U because we don't post our looks of shock online.

 

Oh, oh the bane of my existence right now.  I carry around an updated calender at all times in any pocket I can find, and we have a “couples” calender.  Oh yeah, we’re that corny.  Nah, to survive the pinnacle decision of our career, it takes organization, tons of time, and chewing Rolaids.

Just to explain to everyone what is the Match (I am going to italicize it because it’s so important): every year, tons of medical students interview nationally for positions in a residency of a field of their choosing.  There is a competitive battle of numbers, rankings, scores, back-stabbing (I kid but I am sure it happens), checking your email every 5 minutes so you don’t lose an interview slot, calling and begging.  Now, the Match, as we call it, is usually a day in March where people all over the nation line up and wait for this dreaded yet sickly desired white envelope that states where you will spend the next 3 to 10 year of your life.  Oh, and if you don’t match, you shed tears of disgrace and enter the Scramble.  The Scramble is when you vie for positions leftover that nobody wants now in a field not of your choosing in some cases.  It is the fear that every 4th year medical student harbors, having to Scramble.

Now if you’re not in the field of medicine, you just don’t understand.   Most people shrug and wish you good luck.  It is what we have worked this long for, the end of the line where the books in a sense stop, and the start of trying really hard to not kill anyone begins.  It is where M.D. gets placed behind our name, and all of a sudden, we can sign orders, hold the scalpel, and get sued.  It is the major fork in the road where going reverse is extremely difficult.  But still, leave it to mom to set the bar:

My mom: “Call me and tell me where I have to visit to see my grandchildren.”
Me: “MOM!  You have to come to the brunch!  It’s so exciting.”
My mom: ” I have nothing to wear.  Besides, it’s an envelope.  You can read if over the phone.  ”  (She has a major fear of not having the right outfit.)
Me: Sigh

Anyways, right now is interview season, coming in full swing.  If you’re couples matching, especially with someone going into an extremely competitive field, it’s an investment of $10K or more when all is said and done.  Couples matching is when you link two people’s application together.  It is the cause of major headaches, though in the end, it’s in the survival of your relationship.  If he gets an interview in City A, I have to wait, and wait, and call, and wait, and call and email to see if City A’s 3 other programs will grant an interview.  Or right now, they roll in by the multitude, and his field is granting them 2 weeks before the interview dates.

Forget trying to schedule interviews together.  That went out the window weeks ago.  And what if he loves City B, and I canceled City B because I couldn’t wait any longer and wanted to go to interview at City C.  But then his interview at City C went really badly.  Everyday, its a game of scheduling and balancing and chewing Tums.  And making decisions on programs based on non-objective opinions, because quite simply, we can’t go to all of them.

The Mayo Way

Well, time has gone by so quickly!  The month at Mayo was awesome, as we were expecting.  I am not going to say anything about the programs since I no longer know who reads my blog.  However, I will say, Mayo is called the “Ivory Tower” for a reason.  Or should I say reasonS.

The nurses here are the highest caliber you can find.  Hands down.  They are the nicest, most educated, and non-gossipy nurses you will ever find.  Mayo only hires RN’s, even their surgical techs are RN’s.  They feel no threat from medical students, and many of them are nurse practitioners who can write prescriptions.  Mayo gives them a lot of well-deserved power.  If they or any physician want anything change, it happens overnight almost.  They can cancel labs, but usually they call the resident beforehand.  They present cases at report just like a medical student, and they usually know what they are talking about.

NO ONE wears short coats here.  You can’t tell who is who.  Which is why everyone is respectful of everyone.  I couldn’t tell who was the student from the intern; we’re all pimped the same and addressed the same.  I comes out in the minor details like who can write scripts and which level questions you get asked, but I never judged anyone in or out of a suit.  You just can’t plain tell.  The suits push the professionalism environment to the max.  There is a dress code committee, which you would think is stifling, but really, everyone just does it.  It becomes the norm.

And the rules are followed.  Suits are worn by physicians for the most part except those in scrubs.  Scrubs are not allowed outside of the hospital.  It’s pretty much frowned upon and rarely does someone do it.  Though it makes sense since the scrubs are meant to keep the outside environment outside.

Everyone, I mean everyone, is absolutely respectful, of each other and their patients.  You don’t talk about patients badly, you don’t talk about other specialties badly, and everyone smiles and says hello as you pass.

Patients come FIRST.  In everything they do.  The patient elevators are faster;  the patient parking lots are closer.   There isn’t a thing that doesn’t pass quality control for the patient at the end of the day.  By the way, if you could see this campus, it’s impressive.  Every building is like a museum.  And the subway tunnels are works of art.  The Gonda building has blown glass ceilings, and the Siebans has a huge Greek statue standing over the most impressive view of the Mayo building.  People walk in masses in white coats and scrubs among the patients at the junction of the subways.  It’s madness in the morning and amazing to see.

Our experience was nothing short of impressive.  There is a reason why people donate millions of dollars to this institution every year, and why the wealthiest people in the world come here just for a physical.

To me, there is no Mayo of the South.  There is only one Mayo.

Rochester, MN

Our little midget was exhausted after the festival.

We have arrived, and boy did I not pack correctly, as always.  Cold…like low 40′s during the night sometimes.  RMK told me, “Pack shorts! It’s like 80 up there!”  And like a blind person, I followed.  The neighbor told us, it starts snowing some years in October.  Get ready!!  But the fall here is absolutely GORGEOUS.

One part of the Methodist

When we landed, all I saw from the air was farm land, and thought, “oh hell, Temple-lite again.”  But out of the nowhere after driving from the airport, an amazing downtown area with the most beautiful campus ever.  Perfect weather to run in, and parks and trees galore.  And you have more gourmet restaurants, wine bars, and farmers markets than you could count.  People walk and bike everywhere, in suits I might add.

RMK and I decided to take the kids out to the Thursday on First Street, which is a art/craft/music/and food festival with a Farmer’s market.  It was so much fun and absolutely exhausting for us.  Their energy level only has 2 bars: none and high.  We had a great time, and people kept staring at them and then us, thinking how in the world did we make blonde and Hispanic-looking children.

Jin at the Park

Monday, here we come!

Nervous yet excited!

Temporary Break

Sooo it’s USMLE Step time again.  Unfortunately, our school makes us take it early, BLAH!  There will continue to be posts now and again, though more spread out.  All my posts are usually scheduled, and I just place them randomly.

See you in a month!

Hello Fourth Year!

Pot Luck Frenzy!

YES!!!  We are 3/4th done, 75% complete, 25% to go, a short 12 months from the words, Doctor!  Scary, but exhilarating at the same time.  It has been a wonderful, memorable 3 years.  It could not be done with all the amazing, supportive friends and classmates.  We are so blessed to have such a close, family-like class who help each other out when the going gets tough.  A look back at the wonders of medical school moments, at the least the ones I remember:

Chow Chow and her Dating Advice:
“Remember, keep your crazies on the inside.  Let a few out at a time, like your farts.”

Delicious Way to End the Year!

RMK Trying to Get My Number:
RMK: So I was wondering if I could…
Free-Food-Where?: YO!  RAMROD!  WHASSSUPP!!
RMK: *uncomfortably* Hey.
Free-Food-Where?: DO YOU KNOW WHY THIS GUY IS CALLED RAMROD!?
Fabio: YO!  TRIPOD!  COME TAKE A SHOT!
RMK: hey.
Free-Food-Where?: THEY CALL HIM RAMROD BECAUSE…HE RAMS his ROD…!  Ha!  GET IT! *punching my shoulder
Fabio: NO, WAIT…LET ME EXPLAIN TRIPOD…
RMK:  No!!   I think she get its…

I still gave him my number <3

OBurg and our First Cycling Class:
Oburg: I can feel the BURN!  Can you?!
Me: *not catching my breath* yeah…sure
Oburg: Man, this is amazing.  Let’s turn up the heat. I LOVE 80′s music.
Me: *huffing* I don’t hear any music…is it normal for you ears to ring?
Oburg: I just love this feeling of wanting to pass out!  Let’s to turn it up!
Me: Uh huh.  (And the whole time, I was turning it down)

Thank You Mrs. Pres for All Your Hard Work!

V2-the G and Alcohol
V2G: 6 beers.  Tonight, 1 hour, 6 beers.
He comes back with 8 beers in hand from the bar.  We held them like lunatics on 6th street for like 2 hours.

Summer Fun!

First Clinical Rotation-Internal Medicine
Dr. Dread comes in and draws a stick figure on the board.
Dr. Dread: “Do you know who this IS?!”
Odwalla: Uhh…a stick figure.
Dr. Dread: Don’t get smart with me!
He draws some box-like items on the figures arms.
Dr. Dread: Do you know what this is?
Me: Boxes?
Dr. Dread: You name is now Worthless Number 1.  On good days, I will call you slacker.  And this figure is you.  You carry the charts and my white coat.  See you tomorrow.

We Worked Hard for This Pic Ladies!

It was a memorable 2 weeks, that’s for sure.  It was so nice to work with people in the class you had never talked much with.  I spent more time with Odwalla that month than with RMK.  I, again, apologize for the accidental text!

We had a great end of year celebration and I wanted to thank everyone who has been there for me.  It has been a pure joy.

Yippeee!!

And to my one and only…life wouldn’t be the same without you.

Congrats Class of 2010

Last weekend was as usually, a weekend of mayhem.  Lots of things to be done, but more importantly, Revved Up’s Graduation!  Congratuations to all the MD’s!!

Congrats Revved Up!

Jin's Water Frenzy

SunLi Cutey