Welcome back!

I know, I know. I said I’d be a better writer this summer. Well as it turns out, I lied. I was busier than I thought I would be and sitting in front of my computer by choice wasn’t high on my list of ways to spend my free time. But now I’m back. For real, if somewhat intermittently. But you’re used to that right? I’m going to try to add the RSS feature to my blog so that you’re prompted (if you want to be) when I do actually post something new, because this year is about to get a WHOLE lot more interesting! This summer was great. I spent a month in Vancouver in an interdisciplinary course on palliative care which I really enjoyed and has me seriously thinking about that as a future area of focus. Then I spent a month up-island in Comox doing my family practice rotation. It was a great little town with a hopping small hospital. I had the chance to spend a couple of days in the OR and at least realize that I wasn’t going to pass out during surgeries (which was nice to know before I start that rotation) and with a couple of other specialists. I spent a day with another doctor interested in integrative medicine who does some acupuncture and palliative care, so that was pretty cool. And my main supervisor (called preceptor for some reason) was great, I really liked his style with patients and he welcomed me into his home at lunchtime to eat my lunch on his beautiful backyard deck. In August I spent a week in Quebec City with a bunch of Newfs, having a fantastic time, even amidst the wind, rain & chilly climes. Had a weekend in Toronto and then another weekend on Hornby Island. I think I managed to make the most of the good weather as it feels like now it has definitely “turned”.

This week we’re back at it, easing into our year of rotations with a week of orientation. This year is the start of what’s called our clinical clerkship. I have 2 years of classroom learning under my belt and now is the start of the 2 years in which we actually start to walk around the wards and learn by doing vs by memorizing. (well, I think there’s a hefty bit of both actually) I’ve been quite nervously anticipating this year since before I applied to med school actually, having heard the stories from former med students of grueling hours on call, little sleep, and those always popular moments of learning by humiliation. In fact, until this week I haven’t been thinking positive thoughts about this year but more steeling myself up for how I’m going to get through it. However, this week’s orientation has helped me to shift my attitude a bit and start to get excited. I know there will be really difficult times this year (likely sooner rather than later given my front-end loaded schedule) but it’s kind of exciting too. And the material will be SOOO much more interesting now that I’m looking up Crohn’s disease because patient Bobby has it and I’m trying to help him vs because I need to know it for an exam.

So, I expect I’ll have some interesting (and from time to time, gross) stories to tell in the weeks ahead and ….I can’t wait. Hope you had a wonderful summer & like me, are starting to get your head around September starting on Monday.