June's post - just under the wire

Last day of June. Tomorrow I officially start my last year of residency.

June was a pleasant month overall. The only really bad part would have to be the terrible bronchitis I had for four weeks. In all, I had several weekends off. It was filled with many wonderful band gigs. Renegayde played for the Seattle Majestics (the women's full tackle football league). We played for Bat n' Rouge, the fundraiser for the LGBT Alano Group (12-steppers) which was a blast. One of my favorite Renegayde favorite pieces is our rendition of the hip-hop song, Low, by Flo Rida - we toss in little dances, and shout out a "hey!" or two and the piccolo's rock. We'll be playing it again, surely, at our Rat City Roller Girls gig next month.

The marching group marched in Solstice and for Pride the last two weekends. I missed a few other parades and will be missing a few more but feel lucky to at least make those two events since they are freaking awesome! and being a part of them was filled with unspeakable amazingness (so cool, I make up words!). The best part easily was when the band would put down our horns for the the Thriller dance in, obviously, Thriller, by the recently departed Michael Jackson. The roar over the crowd (even before his departure) was so deafening it gave me chills and kicked my adrenal medulla into high gear! I have a video of it a band-aide got for us that I'll try to post later. Some random folks have posted pics up us doing the dance on the web so if you google Rainbow City Band and Thriller you may get a few hits like this one!

The rotation I've been on is GYN/FPO. Which basically means a hodgepodge of gynecology stuffs and touchy-feely stuffs the residency makes us do so they can make sure at the tender age of 32, and after 6 years of back-breaking medical training, we still know how to write an essay about feelings. No, really, it's potentially a very good opportunity for making sure we stay in touch with understanding our patients and, probably most importantly, coming to terms with things we can't understand. Since, as doc's, admitting we "don't know" sometimes feels comparable to showing up to work without any pants on.

I feel I've gotten the most out of the gynecology component, however. I do really enjoy working at Planned Parenthood and I particularly enjoyed learning to do colposcopy and treating cervical cancers with excision techniques. I feel pretty good about my colposcopic skills and wonder if I'll want to do them in practice. I also put in enough IUD's this month to put the Mirena manufacturer's kids (and their kids' kids) through college, I'm sure.

Next up: 4 weeks of in-patient Medicine (q4 call of course, first call tomorrow), followed by 2 weeks of the back-breaking Nightfloat. I have to reluctantly admit that I'm kinda sorta maybe looking forward to the next four weeks of in-patient. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT excited about the hours, the lack of time off, the sleep deprivation, the lack of time to see my girlfriend, or any of those terrible things. But I am looking forward to a routine - in the mornings at least, because as a 3rd year resident my afternoons will be spent in the unpredictable no-man's land known as clinic as opposed to the more structured wards. Additionally, I will be the senior to a fresh out of medical school intern in his first week of work as an MD! It's a little exciting to help him be a part of that. It's especially great because it's too soon for them to be bitter or burned out, maybe I can soak up some of that fresh perspective and get to see my job through new eyes again! Remember my first month of internship?

Additionally this month, I travel to Chicago for 30 hours or so (on my Golden weekend, getting there by plane, train and automobile). Which hopefully will be productive for myself and GLMA. My mother also visits which should be fun and we have that Roller Derby gig I'm thrilled about! On a sad note, Shilo will be leaving. For the next year at least, so there's a possiblity that this may be the last month I will get to spend time with her. I try not to think about it however and have been out to see her as much as possible in the month of June. That horse saved me when residency was about to break me. I owe her a lot (and of course her owner, who recognized a horseless rider when she saw one).

(photo credits: Michael Clark for the first, official Bat n' Rouge photographer for the second, and me for the third!)