So much has changed even since the last time that I wrote to you all. I officially moved to St. Louis and completed my first rotation at SLUH (St. Louis University Hospital). We have visited several churches and are making progress towards St. Louis feeling more like home.
I was very blessed to attend the American Academy of Family Physicians National Conference in Kansas City, MO, a couple of weeks ago. My time there was super refreshing and a huge motivator as we approach this interview season for residencies. There are speakers and social events, but the main focus of the conference for students is the "Expo Hall." There are roughly 300 residency programs from all over the country that set up booths. The booths have lots of information about the program and the area, but most helpful is the residents and faculty that stand at the booths to interact with students. I spent a lot of time with each of the three programs in St. Louis. They were all very nice and I think I have some really great choices in this area. I will apply a bit wider as well, going back to Tennessee for a couple of programs and maybe a few others. I am excited about what God holds for the next season.
I have been busy the past three weeks with a rotation in Otolaryngology, or Ear, Nose, and Throat. Even though that is not what I want to go into for a specialty, I learned a ton about the patients and pathology in the field. A lot of outpatient family medicine will focus on dealing with problems of the ear, nose, and throat, and it was a wonderful opportunity to hear what the specialists have to say about the problems. I learned a lot about when to refer patients and what strategies to try in my clinic first to save the patient and the specialist time. Handy information.
I am about to embark on a very different sort of adventure as well. I am going to Serbia for a week with several members of my church family in Memphis. We are helping facilitate a camp for families whose children have been diagnosed with cancer. We are excited about the opportunity to provide a fun and supportive environment for these families. My part will be mostly working with the children of the families to facilitate activities and conversations. While the foundation of the trip is mission work it will be much more about showing the love of God to these families rather than a lot of out right preaching. My team and I crave your prayers for this week of fun and service. While it is a crazy time for me to leave the country, after praying a lot about it, I decided if I didn't take time my fourth year of medical school to do this... the trajectory of incorporating mission work down the line is not good. I am very excited about this opportunity and will keep you all posted.
Finally, it has been almost a year since my surgery! Crazy! I will actually be in Serbia to celebrate my first "Heart-iversary" (Garrett loathes that term). What an amazing picture of God's provision for my life than celebrating this way. I can't imagine a better celebration than giving hope and joy to kiddos with medical struggles. :)
Next up for us is application season for residency! My classmates and I are preparing our applications to send out in the next couple of months. Then there will be (Lord willing) interviews, ranking, and then match! Super crazy that it's almost all here.
Garrett survived his ICU month and continues to be busy at the hospital of course. He is actually on a calmer month right now working with the pulmonology (lung) consult service. Next month he will be working with inpatients with cancer and then regular "internal medicine wards" for the foreseeable future after that.
Come to think of it...I don't know if I ever explained the medical training pathway which I didn't actually understand until probably last year. It can be helpful if you know someone going into medicine or if you are ever a patient at a teaching hospital. So for those of you who are non-medical outside of Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs (real life is much much much more like Scrubs)...I will quickly outline the training process for clarification:
Step 1: Undergraduate degree (4 years - mine at ACU)
Step 2: Medical School (4 years - I am here. At then end, you get your M.D.)
Step 3: Residency (between 3-7 years depending on speciality. At then end, you take more exams for your "Board Certification")*
Step 4: Fellowship (Optional - Garrett wants to pursue Pulmonology [Lungs] and Critical Care which is a three year fellowship that will board certify him in both)
Step 5: Be an "attending" physician.
*Caveat - The FIRST year of residency is INTERN year. Garrett is an intern or PGY-1 (post-graduate year 1). Interns have different responsibilities than the other residents. Basically interns do the ground work supervised by the residents who are supervised by the fellows/attendings. Both Garrett's (Internal Medicine) and my (Family Medicine) residencies will be three years.
The simpler hierarchy:
1. Attending Physician, M.D.
2. Fellow, M.D.
3. Resident (PGY2-7), M.D.
4. Intern (PGY1), M.D.
5. Medical student, B.S. or B.A.
Anyway, I hope that's useful.
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the prayers for all of our upcoming adventures!
Kate
