My Last Day as a Medical Student

Pic of me on my last day as a med student!

Four and a half years ago I stepped onto campus as a first year medical student. I vividly remember everything about that day... Getting a tour of the campus, getting my picture taken for my ID, getting sized for my (short) white coat. One of the most exciting (and scary) days of my life. Little did I know that it was only the beginning of the hardest, yet happiest, five years of my life. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours of studying, long days in hospitals and clinics, all mixed with getting married and having a baby.

So for the first time in five years, when my alarm went off this morning I woke up with a smile on my face. Today was my last day as a medical student. As of today I have sat through every hour of class, completed every exam, finished all my required clinical rotation credits. Today was the final time that I would introduce myself as a "medical student", and the last time I would have to wear the short white coat.

Smoothie time!

I started my day off like any other: getting some morning snuggles from my little man, followed by showering and getting dressed, having a smoothie for breakfast, and then off to the hospital. I met up with the attending in the ambulatory care center where we did a diagnostic colonoscopy on a patient with metastatic colon cancer, an upper endoscopy, two liver biopsies, and another colonoscopy. Then my day was done. I walked out of the hospital for the last time as a medical student, and if I end up returning to the same place for residency, then I'll return as a physician. Quite fitting if I say so myself.

Snuggling with my little man.

So now I'm home hanging out with my boy and basking in the fact that I get to spend the next few months just being a mom. I don't think it's actually hit me yet that I'm really really done, but maybe after The Match tomorrow, reality will hit me a little harder. Or maybe it won't even be until graduation (see countdown ticker on right side of page). Either way, the next time I step foot in a hospital, I'll be a resident physician. I'll get a tour, get my ID picture taken, and get sized for my (long) white coat. Sound familiar?