Happy New Year!  My sincerest apologies to the powers-that-be that regulate the blogging world--I have been a bad kid. I know, I know, I've promised I would stay on top of it...but this time, I really am going to. I have so many good reasons why I have been MIA...and they all start [and end] with...M3 year.

To get up to speed, I spent the 2 months before the holidays [late October to mid-December] on my Surgery clerkship. Not gonna lie, I have been pretty nervous about this 2 month block since I started med school.  It ranked right up there with taking Step 1, etc. for things I worried about when I started this whole journey. Now that I have had a few weeks away from it, I have perspective on those 2 months.  They were hard.  Long hours, a brand-new specialty...but they were great too.  The ability to diagnose a problem, intervene, and have the problem be solved...it's simply brilliant.  For example, we had a patient with a small bowel obstruction [which is bread and butter for General Surgery].  He had been obstructed for days, and he wasn't getting better.  If we hadn't operated, his intestine would have never unblocked.  That's cool.  Am I going to be a surgeon? Probably not. Do I appreciate surgery? For sure.

After an oral and shelf exam [eek], my glorious 24-day break began. It came at the perfect time.  It was a time of relaxation, food, spending time with Sarah, our families and friends, and a cruise [see picture].  It also gave me time to read good books, catch up with old friends, and look back on the last 8 months. It has been a wild ride--learning, trying, failing, succeeding--I have experienced a wide range of emotions. And through that process, I have learned more about myself too. What I'm good at, what I'm bad at, what makes me happy...and I know I will be a better person and a better doctor for it.

Anyways, I'm on Family Medicine now and it's a blast. I feel like an actual doctor--seeing patients by myself, diagnosing their illness, coming up with a plan, and then moving on to the next. I have great attendings, great residents, awesome staff--it's really been an enjoyable first week.  Then it's a month of Neurology, 2 months of Peds...and I am a 4th year medical student.  Life is good.

PS: A shout-out to Dr. Sheets of Family Medicine for being awesome.