It's been TOO long!

It has been FAR too long and I'm not sure anyone checks this blog anymore but I thought it was time to resurrect it from the dead! I now live in Chicago, the suburb of Hinsdale to be exact. I have lived here since August and have signed a 12 mo lease so the plan is to be here until August of this year. I am officially a 3rd year intern and have already completed two of my clinical rotations!! My first was a 12 week rotation in Internal Medicine. I completed 6 weeks of outpatient care at my physicians clinic. It was a great experience and an excellent way to get my feet wet for my first rotation. They were an extremely busy clinic and many days I was at the clinic from 8 am to 8:30 pm or later. I worked frequent weekends, saturday mornings at the clinic and rounding in the hospital on saturday and sundays. For the second 6 weeks of the rotation I did inpatient care at two different hospitals and four nursing homes. I enjoyed this a great deal, more so than the time spent in the clinic. I loved going to the nursing homes and taking care of the residents there. I also enjoyed rounding on patients at the hospitals. It was a fast paced environment and every day was something new. I was able to see some fascinating cases and take care of very ill people. I learned so much from the experience and my attending physician was a very knowledgeable and kind man. My most recent rotation, which I just finished on Friday, was Family Practice. I worked in a clinic about 15 min from where I live. I worked in the clinic Monday, Wed, Thur and Fri and on Tuesdays we rounded on his patients in the hospital. The hours were MUCH better during this rotation and many of my days were only 5-7 hrs. I did not have work weekends (score!) so I felt very spoiled :) I have enjoyed all my encounters with patients but this was not one of my favorite rotations. My attending physician was an older gentleman biding his time until retirement so the environment was very laid back. On Tuesday, Feb 19, I begin my next rotation....PEDIATRICS! I had some experience dealing with pediatric patients during my family practice rotation and I loved it so I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks. I know very little about the attending physician I will be working for so I am anxious to get started! I will try to be better with updating this blog, things just got a little crazy there with moving and settling in here. So far I love living in this area, it is a beautiful suburb and feels nothing like "city living" so for that I am thankful. I am grateful to have Jake here with me and he has made this transition go so smoothly and has been such a comfort when days have been difficult. I LOVE being 4.5 hrs away from home and being able to drive up for the weekend if I want to. 4.5 hours seems like nothing after living on the east coast and before that, in St Kitts. If anyone is out there still reading these, sorry for the delay but now I'm back! Hope this message finds you happy and healthy :) Love, Ash