Here I am in Dallas, TX with very little to do, so Amy suggested I blog about my recent experiences in my third and fourth year rotations. In case you are not aware, the first two years of medical school are spent in classes, while the last two years are spent rotating with different specialties every four weeks in hospitals and clinics. Last year, I completed my core rotations: psychiatry, ob/gyn, internal medicine, family medicine, cardiology, surgery, and pediatrics. My only two "electives" were required to be a primary care and a rural rotation.
Most of these rotations were around the Phoenix area, but others had to been done out of town. In October, I traveled to Tucson to complete one of my two internal medicine rotations at the University of Arizona. Luckily, my school has several apartments available in Tucson for which they only charge a cleaning deposit. I stayed in a four-bedroom apartment by myself for the first two weeks. The next two weeks, a fourth-year student came to stay for one of his rotations. Now, we are not allowed to have visitors stay with us, but this guy had his girlfriend spend an entire week with us! I felt like telling Amy to come stay with us too and to bring Gabriel along! I was able to go home twice during the month to see my family. Anyway, Tucson was a decent city that reminded me a lot of Provo; it is a college town that is surrounded by mountains and has its upper-class areas in the foothills and its lower-class areas in the valley.
My next "out-of-town" rotation was not as far as Tucson; it was the Gila River Indian Reservation south of Phoenix. I was able to stay at home for this rotation, but it took about an hour to travel there and another hour to get home. This was a family medicine rotation that seemed more like an urgent care. I saw lots of diabetes, drug abuse, alcoholism, and noncompliance. Who knew that Native Americans living on government-granted land with government-funded health care aren't very proactive at managing their health and their lives?
For my rural rotation, I decided to travel to Yuma in February. We can choose whatever specialty we want, as long as it is in a rural setting, so I chose to do anesthesia. Although my school doesn't have any housing in Yuma, the hospital offers temporary housing that is almost as cheap as my school's housing. Apparently, Yuma has a huge influx of residents during the winter and a mass exodus of residents during the summer, so the hospital has to manage their staff accordingly. My preceptor in Yuma was great! He let me manage our patients almost completely by myself! I always thought that I wanted to do anesthesia, and my time in Yuma confirmed my decision. I was even able to visit Amy and Gabriel on the weekends.
My next "vacation" was spent in Philadelphia for one of my board exams. In June, I scheduled my COMLEX-PE exam, which involves performing a history and physical exam on 12 standardized patients. The exam is only given in Conshohocken, PA. I flew out to Philadelphia for a few days for the exam, and, while I was there, I decided to visit some of the historical sites. I spent the first day taking my exam, which went well (I found out several days ago that I passed). The next day, I traveled to downtown Philadelphia where I visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, the house where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin's grave, and several other historic sites. Amy insists that I mention the weirdo at the Revolutionary War Soldier Memorial. This man was basically wearing his underwear and some scarf-like rags wrapped haphazardly around his body. In addition, he was balancing on top of a two-by-four piece of wood and using two longer pieces of wood in his arms to maintain his balance. He had some hand-written sign in front of him about why he was there, but I wasn't really interested in reading it. I was more concerned with getting away from him as fast as I could! Overall, it was an amazing experience. It was inspiring to stand where our Founders stood as they debated the possibility of American Independence and the framework of a new Constitution. I have been reading books on US History for the last few years, and to finally see these locations where so many important events took place was incredible!
Now here I am in Dallas for my first audition rotation at UT Southwestern. I flew out here because my hotel offers a complimentary shuttle, but this means that I have no car to go anywhere on the weekends. I'm spending all my free time in my hotel room watching tv, using the internet, and reading. Because there are only two anesthesia residencies in Arizona, I am looking at several programs in Texas (Amy has gotten used to the warm weather). I plan on rotating with the University of Arizona and Mayo Scottsdale later this year, so I will only be away from my family for one more month before I'm done.
That's my travelog. If you are around Dallas the next three weeks come visit me at my hotel! Otherwise, please do what you can to help Amy take care of Gabriel and Elisa.
