Spinning plates

Ok, ok, so I know it has been a while since I blogged last. But I have a good excuse, in fact, multiple ones.

1. My first block was my Medicine Sub-internship. It is one of the three required 4th year rotations, so it is not your average everyday "elective" that presents little challenge. During this rotation, I was expected to care for patients on my own (well, sort of -- I still had an upper year resident to watch my back). In this respect, I was treated much like an intern, hence the name Sub-internship. I guess being called "below" an intern is somehow better than being called a 4th year medical student.
2. My current block (block 2 out of eleven, not that I'm counting or anything) is Radiology, which is really called Diagnostic Imaging, because it includes ultrasound, MRI, and nuclear medicine, which are different than just plain x-rays and CT scans. More about that in another post, maybe. The important part about this elective, is that Radiology is my career choice -- it is the residency that I will be applying to in the next few weeks and where Jess and I will be for the next 5 years. Needless to say, it would not be a bad idea to get a good grade, say... honors? It also wouldn't hurt to learn a little radiology, since that is what I want to do. So attendance, and participation are key, since I want to make a good impression. So even though there is only one night of call (which I did on Monday), I am still getting in early and staying late, trying to learn as much as possible. At least I can say that I am enjoying this field very much, and I am glad that I am choosing a career in Radiology.
3. APPLICATIONS!! Last week I had to meet with one of my letter writers to go over the important aspects of my MSPE (Medical Student Performance Evaluation, aka Dean's Letter). The meeting went well, and I feel like I am doing at least a few things right about my application. I have my personal statement just about completed; just needs some tweaking. Also I now have two of my LORs (letters of recommendation) submitted to the application office. Now all I have to do is enter all of my personal accomplishments, achievements, awards, stats, hobbies, interests and such into a big online application which will be electronically submitted on Sept. 1st to whatever residency programs I choose. Then I must wait... for invitations to interview with said residencies. Feels like I have been through this before with medical school. I'll keep you all posted here. We've only just begun!!

In other news, I got my grade back from Ob/Gyn -- and I got, drumroll please, High Pass. My evaluators also made some rather nice remarks, too. So that means that I got a perfect record of High Pass grades for third year. Let's see if I can't up the game a bit and score an Honors or two this year.
Until next time.