Missing Medicine

I never thought I would say this... but I am going to miss medicine in my year off. The realization didn't hit me until finishing up this year, but it's true. I am going to miss seeing patients. I'll miss the challenge and the connection. I'm also a little worried that my brain might turn to mush. All this hard work and I'm sure I'm going to forget at least half of it. The UNC students that stay and do their Masters in Public Health (MPH) often work at SHAC (remember the place we raised money for with that calendar?). They work Wednesday nights there to keep up their skills. I'm going to have to find a place up in Rack City where I can do something similar. Something clinical. Not sure I want to jump back into research again... but we'll see.

Being the planner that I am, I've already been thinking about the clerkships I'll be trying out fourth year. I have the opportunity to start back next June, which is the prime time to do a rotation back at THE BIG HOUSE. First of all, all the fourth years have cleared out, and often there are no third years on the services. So it's your time to shine. It's also a great time because the residents are almost a full year in, so they know what they're doing. July can be a total cluster (never get sick in the summer). The new interns are trying to find their way around, and the residents are figuring out their new roles and responsibilities. So I am considering coming back to THE BIG HOUSE for a surgical rotation, or heading back to Asheville to get back into the swing of things with a Family Medicine - Acting Internship (AI). Since Family Med arguably encompasses the most medicine, this could be a great way of drinking from the fire hose again.

After that, I have some mandatory rotations: Critical Care (back in Asheville), a rural rotation, Clinical Anatomy (time pass the Thorax and Abdomen exam... for the first time), Radiology, and Anesthesia. I think all of these will set me up well for Intern year. After that I want to throw in Palliative Care (surgeons could probably use a strong background here), Dermatology, and/or maybe something else. I just have to back in Rack City during the month of January 2014. Camping for a month with Ronnie is another must. We'll see how it all lays out, but I'm already thinking ahead.

In the meantime, I'll miss medicine.

Don't get me wrong; there are a lot of things that I won't miss too. This year off will be great for a lot of reasons. For starters, I won't have to...

• Wear a short white coat.
• Live on Beaucatcher Road.
• Feel like I should be reading something... anything... UpToDate?
• Study for 8 hour tests.
• Sit for 8 hour tests.
• Perform pap smears.
• Be turned down after telling a patient I will be performing their pap smear.
• Wear "contact" and "airborne" precautions during RSV season.
• Laugh at unfunny jokes.
• Use the word "Shelf," unrelated to something that hangs on a wall.
• Be spotted multiple times at the same coffee shop because being at home is worse than paying $2.11 for a few hours of internet. When studying for 8 hour tests is better than being at home, something is wrong.
• Worry about grades.
• Tell patients my height and what I did instead of playing basketball.
• Dread sitting through 4 hours of lecture every Wednesday.
• Sit through 4 hours of lecture every Wednesday.
• Read about cervical ripening, the vaginal vault, or mature teratomas.

So I guess there are indeed some things I will NOT miss. Feel free to add more.