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!