I hate it when I haven’t blogged in a while because I always feel like I need to make an excuse for not blogging.  I always wonder that am I just that busy that I don’t have time to blog? Actually, the truth is most times when something exciting/interesting happens during my day I can’t blog about it soon enough and so I forget and when I think about blogging I sometimes just don’t have anything interesting to share so I just don’t.This past weekend I went back to Minnesota to spend time with my family. I had missed my 1 year old nephew so much that I thought about my reunion with him several times during my flight.  When I got home, he was already in his bed but he was just sitting.  It was dark in the room and I walked in and said “Hey Ayo” he tried to make out the person saying his name in the dark and when he did he reached out to me that was so special.  It was such a warm welcome.  I can’t wait to see him again.

Before I left last Friday, I was discussing with two of my colleagues at LICH about picking a specialty for our medical careers.  One of them mentioned that she had taken a personality test online. I thought it was kind of interesting so I decided to answer the 131 questions on http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/ and see what my results would be.  JIC you didn’t know I am strongly thinking about specializing in nephrology.  Nothing else has really piqued my interest yet but I am keeping an open mind.  So, it took me about 25minutes to answer the questions.  I wanted to do it pretty fast so that I wouldn’t really have time to second guess myself.  I was very surprised when I read my top 3 suggested specialties: 1) Urology 2) General Surgery and 3) Orthopedics.  I couldn’t believe it especially because I really didn’t enjoy my surgery rotation. Don’t get me wrong I worked my hardest and I learned all I could in those 12 weeks but the experience wasn’t a joyous one for me. Some of the attending I worked with were really great. I just didn’t feel surgery fit my personality at all.  I was even very surprised when one of the residents I was working with said to me that I would make a surgeon.  I just thought to myself, you don’t know me well enough to say that.  Over the weekend, I wondered how the people around you while you are doing your rotations really influence what specialty you do end up in.  The people I am referring to are those that you come across with on a daily basis during the rotation.  During my surgery rotation, I didn’t particularly care so much for the OR staff.  A lot of them just seemed so bitter.   This might be because I got yelled at a couple times I am not sure.  I got yelled at my Dr. S a couple times as well but I really enjoyed working with him.  I didn’t expect to be an expert in the operating room as far as preparing for surgery but I felt that the OR staff did.  I wasn’t the only one that got yelled at.  Granted, some of us did deserve it but most of us didn’t. In trying to teach someone, I don’t believe yelling enforces anything. It might even cause the person to build some sort of a resistance to what you are trying to teach.   During my 2 week orthopedic rotation, the residents were marvelous, even on their bad days.  They were always kind to medical students and they just seemed to be happy with themselves and their chosen specialty.  I had a nice experience with my urology rotation as well.  I actually briefly thought about it but then was discouraged when I found that to become an urologist you are required to do a couple years of general surgery.  When I thought about being a medical doctor, infectious diseases was what I always thought about doing but after my second year I couldn’t even stand the thought of it.  So, it is a good thing that we have our clinical years to really help us decided where we think we fit the best.

Nephrology at LICH has been really great. I almost feel spoiled.  I feel like I am given enough responsibilities to actually get the most out of this rotation.  Dr. K is a great teacher even on days he’s not in the best mood.   Today, wasn’t bad at all I was supposed to do a consult first thing this morning and being the diligent student I am, I was there early enough to do the consult before fellows started arriving.  Unfortunately for me there was no longer a need for the consult because the patient expired last night.  My fellow made a comment saying at least the patient thought you about contrast induced nephropathy before he expired.  This was true as I had to read about it before I actually saw the patient.  The two other patients I was called to do consults on today both her nephrotic syndrome and I am still in the process of picking which diagnosis among my differentials is the best fit.   All this I said was just to let you know that I am still enjoying nephrology and hope to continue to.

BTW, #10 on that personality test was Psychiatry.  If I had to rank psychiatry it would definitely be #46 which was the last no on the test.  I was very emotional during my psych rotation and I couldn’t quite figure out why.  I was usually on the verge of tears after interview my patients.  The attending and residents were great though. So that’s all that I have going on now that’s interesting.  I hope something more interesting comes along tomorrow so I have a reason to blog.

Stay Blessed!

I always hate it when I haven’t blogged in a while. I usually would ask myself “have you really been that busy?” and the answer to that is usually no. I am on the plane on the way back to New York from Minnesota. Wanted to see my mom one more time before she headed back to Nigeria. It was nice to go home but I don’t like very short trips or very long ones. While on a short trip I always feel rushed and whole on a long one I always feel like I want my me time.

Don’t be fooled like I was for almost a year I thought this two individuals were the same person.  If you know me very well you know there are certain things that I am very proud of myself for besides my educational accomplishments that is.  I pride myself for knowing so much about celebrities especially actors.   I can always remember a name, movies they’ve been  and stuff like that.  I remember last  year while I was still in Grenada and I watched the movie “no country for old men”  my roommate asked me if I knew who was playing the part of Anton, I could have sworn she said it was the guy from Grey’s anatomy Jeffery Morgan.  I was so impressed by his transformation I had a little bit more respect for him whenever he made an appearance on Grey’s.   Since then I have also seen him in the movie with Uma Thurman called the Accidental Husband.  Anyways, I was giving him all this respect and applauding him for his oscar win for No country for old men until today when I watched the movie Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.  As I watched I was thinking to myself this guy’s good, he’s an American guy playing a Spanish guy in such a convincing way.  I once again couldn’t believe the transformation.  So while watching the movie I decided to google this movie and found out the name of the guy in this movie was Javier Bardem.  I was thinking that name doesn’t sound familiar at all.  So I google ‘No country for old men’ and saw that Javier Bardem also played in that movie.  I then decided to google  ‘Javier Bardem in Grey’s anatomy’ , in one of the results that came up I saw celebrity look alikes Javier Bardem and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  I couldn’t believe it.  I had been fooled.   I even remember asking my sister to guess who played Anton in No country.. and ofcourse she couldn’t guess so I told her it was the same guy from Grey’s anatomy.  Hehe.  I called Gilda when I found all this out and she had a good laugh and said you know they do look very alike.  in the picture on the top left to the left is Jeffrey and to the right is Javier.  Wow my realization was so funny I had to blog about it before I finished the movie Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.

At grand rounds right now and the speaker is talking about chronic constipation. As interesting as that might sound I can’t help falling asleep. Is it that am tired or am I just bored. It’s probably a little bit of both. So in order to stay up I decided to write a blog.

This morning when I walked out of my apartment it was snowing. I remember very cold temperatures in the forecast but I don’t remember any mention of snow. Oh well it wasn’t a great walk to the subway. I hope it doesn’t snow over the weekend or on Monday because Monday is a holiday- Martin Luther King Jr. day.

I have been pissed off soon much by the school financial aid because of a delay in my finds. As u all know most graduate students are on loans and with most medical students they actually live off their loans. My money is about 3 weeks behind and it’s starting to get really annoying. This morning when I called the last actually yelled at me saying they mailed the check and won’t put a stop on it until after 2 weeks have passed. I asked her to stop yelling and I wasn’t asking for them to stop a payment but rather if there is any way to track it. I was so pissed that she jumped to stopping a payment after two weeks which I think is also ridiculous. Customer service has gotten so bad in the last few years it’s just a terrible shame. Well to end that story I got my money today in the mail.

At work today we also had hypertension clinic. It wasn’t busy at all probably because of the weather. It was kool though. It’s just interesting that people that not compliant with their meds expect their blood pressure to be low. So when you tell them it’s high they tell you the bp monitor is lying and have u repeat it over and over again.

Just before we left work today we heard about the us airways plane that crashed/landed on the Hudson river. It’s not clear what happened but Thank God all 154 passengers and flight crew all survived.

Stay Blessed!

It was very cold today. The weather guys say it’s going to get even colder. I have been wearing my thermal wear to keep warm. The walk to the subway and back home has gotten do much longer since this summer. By the time I’m half way my toes are frozen and legs ready to give up especially when I have my slacks on. Well I have no choice, it’s gonna be even worse when I start my Ob/Gyn rotation bc I will be wearing scrubs. I will be alright though. Thank God winter only lasts a few months.

I am glad that I bought the book ‘Acid-base, fluid and electrolytes made ridiculously simple’ for this rotation. After reading it a couple times I am pretty sure I will have a better handle on fluid and electrolytes. It can be so difficult at times.

Shamiere is coming to town this weekend the plan is to have some fun, I hope I will be able to figure out what we should get into.

In the news recently they have been talking about a surgeon who is suing his wife to get the kidney he donated to her back because she cheated on him. What kinda crap is that? I thought it was so ridiculous and I wasn’t alone based on what the headlines in the paper had the following day ” kidney loaner” it’s just annoying that they even give it amy airtime or pages in the paper amidst other major issues and here I am giving it some blog time hehe.

Watched the movie ‘The Express’ yesterday. It’s the movie about Ernie Davis the first black man to receive the heisman trophy. He was drafted into the NFL but never played a single game. I was so inpatient while watching the movie that I just went on wikipedia to get the scoop on what exactly happened. I know that’s kinda bad but I will catch the rest at a time when I don’t have study on my schedule.

Nothing else is going on right now. Recently reconnected with some high school friends on facebook and that was pretty cool.

Stay Blessed!

I have to admit that nephrology is pretty interesting to me. Just using the physiology of the renal system everyday allows me to like it even more. The question is do I want to do a residency in internal med and specialize in nephrology. Well… Donno yet but it’s certainly an option. I have only done my surgery and psychiatry which I know for sure I have no interest in it. I still have of ob/gyn, pediatrics and internal med. I will see how I feel after that. So many things to think about before it’s time to make decisions. I will decide soon I hope. I have been reading a lot about electrolytes and it seems as if no matter how much I read about or how many times I read it, it just slips away. I am enjoying reading about it but I just wish I coils retain it once and for all. I had to give a presentation on acute kidney injury aka acute renal failure. I think I did very well. My next assignment is to present hyponatremia. I hope when I present it will make sense.

Stay Blessed!