One Month of Being a Doctor

As you can probably tell from my month-long absence from blogging, my first weeks of residency have kept me quite busy. After orientation I started off with Maternal-Child Health (which is just a fancy way of saying "OB & pediatrics") as my first rotation. Quite honestly, it's been such a surreal experience that thinking about it just now has perpetuated a revelation that I am actually a real-life doctor. It wasn't being in the hospital or seeing patients or anything else really that made me feel like a doctor because it's something I was so used to doing as a med student. What I think really makes it real is that I was the one making decisions for my patients. Which medications to give, which labs to order, when to discharge the patient.... all these questions were usually defaulted to the physicians I was working under, but now it's on me.

What's even more crazy is that I actually got to deliver babies! Seriously, I brought life into the world. Really, it was all the work of the amazing moms who actually had to do it. I was more or less just a glorified baby catcher. (They should design some sort of sterile catcher's mitt for doctors because those suckers are slippery when they come out.) Delivering babies is by far the most gratifying part of my job. It's one of the happiest moments in a couple's life and you're there to share the experience, and most of the time they're so grateful to you. I still tear up and get all sappy afterwards when I get to put the baby in the mom's arms for the first time.  Definitely made all the long hours worth it.

In addition to delivering healthy babies, I also got to take care of them afterwards. But with the good comes the bad, and unfortunately there were also some not so healthy babies. It's always hard taking care of sick people, but when they're tiny sick people it's even harder. Everything you do has to be that much more meticulous and you're constantly on edge, but the reward is SO much better when they finally do get better (and the majority really do get better). And then it's bittersweet when they get to finally go home.

I was really nervous starting out residency on such an intense rotation, but I'm really glad I did. There's no easy way to start residency. You just have to dive right in, not just getting your feet wet but getting soaked from head to toe. And now that I'm on a rotation where I actually have a bit of time to breathe (clinic and community medicine), I can really appreciate where I'm at right now. I'm a doctor. I'm really here, doing what I love at an amazing residency with some pretty awesome fellow residents. And even though I know the next three years are going to be pretty tough, if my first few weeks are any indication of what it's going to be like, then I have a feeling I'm going to love it.

Well... Here Goes Residency!

I officially started residency yesterday, although I have a week and a half of orientation, EMR training, ACLS, and lots of meetings before I actually start "working". It's hard to describe what exactly I was feeling when I walked into the conference room Monday morning to meet with my fellow residents and the residency director. I wasn't too nervous since I was quite familiar with the hospital already after spending two and a half months doing rotations there fourth year. I also met some of the other residents last week at a shin ding at my house. Plus, I already knew the residency director because I worked with him before.

When I pulled up to the hospital I got the honor of parking in the physician lot. You know you made it when you get to park in physician parking. Quite honestly, though, I really thought that I was going to walk into the hospital and someone was going to tell me it was all a hoax and I wasn't really a doctor. Thankfully, that did happen. After meeting the remaining of the residents I hadn't already met, the residency director started his welcome spiel. I knew it was going to be a great three years since he started off by playing the beginning of the very first episode of scrubs. (He said he was going to walk in and act out a scene from the first episode of Grey's Anatomy, but his family highly discouraged it).

I'm not gonna lie, the rest of the day was pretty boring. A VERY long morning of hospital orientation mumbo jumbo, followed by ACLS training. I had just done a course in January, but still had to do it. I didn't mind though, because honestly it was a good way to get to know my fellow residents a little more. We had to do another whole day of ACLS training today, which I'm proud to say we all passed! So feel assured that the family medicine residents are fully qualified to resuscitate you should you go into cardiac arrest.

My official doctor ID badge!

Though it's only been two days, I can tell already that I'm going to get along with my fellow residents. The program did a great job of picking a group of people that will mesh well together. And a huge reason why I even wanted this program in the first place was because I like the residents a lot and thought I would fit in well. If you're gonna spend three years and countless hours working with a group of people, it's definitely a bonus if you all get along and like each other. In the end I could really work with anyone, but I'd rather work with people who are my friends. So here's hoping to making many new friends over the next few years!

The Day I Became a Doctor

So it's been about a month since I've posted anything. As a matter of fact, my last post was the day before graduation. And since then it's been such a hectic past couple of weeks, I took a bit of a sabbatical from blogging. It wasn't just that we had to move, my husband had to work two weeks straight, and I had to get a bunch of stuff done to prepare for residency..... I really just wanted to spend all the time I had to be with my boys. Now I'm starting my first day of residency tomorrow, so what better time than to start blogging again!

To fill you in I have to start where we left off, which is med school graduation. I keep telling people that it felt like when I got married. There were years of preparation put into this big event, so much build up and excitement, and then it felt like it went by so fast. I tried so hard to just live in each and every moment of the day, but just coordinating it all was so distracting. You see, I had two graduations. The first of which was with the entire university (undergrads, nursing students, etc.), then we had what's called the "hooding ceremony". The hooding ceremony is the real deal. It's just for the medical students, and it's where we get "hooded" with this fancy piece of green velvet fabric symbolizing that we are officially doctors. 

Dr. Doane, my hooder. Such an amazing physician! 

After spending over three hours and listening to over 1,000 names get called at the first graduation, I was anxious to get on to the hooding ceremony. What was so memorable about it was that it's full of all this old school tradition. From the entrance music, to the actual hooding, to the oath we all recited at the end. We're talking YEARS of tradition. Each and every doctor who graduated before me essentially went through the same thing. What was especially great, was that we could pick a physician to hood us who we knew personally. So I asked one particular doctor who I did my third year family medicine rotation with, who was really the one to inspire me to go into family practice and has been a wonderful role model for me.

UNECOM class of 2012

Got my diploma!

When we first walked into the auditorium, I remember just looking all around and being completely overwhelmed with emotion. All these people surrounding us were the people who supported us throughout the last couple years. Our parents, family, friends. Then looking at my fellow classmates and feeling this sense of camaraderie, and being grateful that I hadn't gone through it all alone. As I walked up onto the stage to get hooded, it felt very surreal. Was this really happening? I was in school for so long (especially after taking an extra year) that it felt like a black hole that I would never get out of. And here I was, five years later. I was finally a doctor. To prove that the whole thing wasn't some hoax, they actually gave us our real diplomas afterwards. Seriously! There was no taking it back. I officially graduated. 

I can't even express how memorable that day was and how blessed I felt to have my family and friends there to cheer me on... my parents, husband, Killian, my cousin Chrissy (who's my best friend), and Dr. Doane (who hooded me). All of them have played such an important role in helping me get to this point. When I was just a little girl, I told my parents I wanted to be a doctor and from the first time I said it, they have always supported me and told me I could do it. Then there's my patient husband, who has stuck by me and supported me throughout it all... long nights of studying, moving a billion times, dealing with my anxiety and freak outs, and being such an amazing dad that we could actually have a child in the middle of it all. Speaking of my little boy. Despite the struggles of raising a child, he's been my source of balance and grounding throughout it all. If I had a rough day, just coming home to him melted it all away. 

My wonderful, supportive, loving family!

Even though it's been a crazy last five years between being a medical student, getting married, and having a baby, I wouldn't change a thing about it. I say all the time that everything happens for a reason and I KNOW that I wouldn't even be in the same place I am today if I hadn't done it this way. Quite honestly, I don't even know if I would have made it through school without having my son. You see, after I had him and took time off, it gave me time to really put thought into what specialty I wanted to do. Plus I think the time away from it all helped me to reboot and refocus when I started back up again. Not that having a newborn was at all relaxing or anything, but I love being a mom. And I loved that I made a conscious decision not to delay having a family just because I was becoming a doctor. 

So fittingly, I have officially changed the name of this blog. Because I have actually survived medical school. Now I'm back on the bottom of the totem pole as a first year resident, and my next challenge is to survive three years of residency. I'm sure it'll be hard, but I'm really looking forward to it. And who knows what'll happen along the way. If medical school was any indication, I'm bound to be in for a crazy ride. But I'm right where I'm supposed to be and doing what I love to do. Life truly doesn't get any better. 

The Day Before I Become a Doctor

You may think that even though I've finished all my required credits, fulfilled all my hours of rotations, passed my boards, and signed a sweet residency contract that I'm pretty much already considered a "doctor". Well, not quite. Tomorrow's my graduation day and as far as I'm concerned, I won't officially be Dr. Boylan until I walk across that stage. 

It has been a whirlwind of a week, coming back up to campus for all the graduation week events. Dinners with the class, meetings with the Dean, a big fat envelope from financial aid telling me I basically owe a gazillion dollars..... And finally my family will all be arriving this evening. I am overwhelmed with emotion and excitement. Even just sitting in Panera right now writing this post, I'm looking around thinking, "Here I am just an ordinary woman, but in 24 hours I'll be a doctor."

Anyways, I have lots to go do (like enjoy this gorgeous weather we're having up in Maine). I just want to thank all my friends and family in advance who are taking time out of their busy schedules to come celebrate this exciting event with me. I love you guys!

My last time on campus as a medical student.

Wordless Wednesday: Five Years of Becoming a Doctor

So I'm packing to head up to school for graduation week. With all this nostalgia floating around my head, I thought what better than to just post some of my favorite pics from throughout my five years of medical school. Enjoy!

Happy as a clam at my white coat ceremony first year!

My proud family. Little did they know how rough the next five years would be!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk 2007

AMA conference in Hawaii 2007

Medical Spelling Bee! 

Me and the bestie at the Spelling Bee!

Winners of Osteostache 2009

Me and Ken after I did his hair for Osteostache!

Judging the Osteostache competition and showing off the prizes!

Portland Seadogs game spring 2009! 

Bacteriology review. I was Mycoplasma. 

Mycoplasma Pneumonia

Got our numbers for "the lottery"... to find out where we go third year.

Two of my favorite med school pals at my wedding summer after second year.

The wonderful third year crew at Lakes Region Hospital.

Last but not least, my last day as a medical student!

Graduation pics to come :)