Friday, February 26, 2016

End of February

Today was the last day of my Allergy & Immunology rotation. I'm so sad to leave the AMAZING clinic at University of Chicago. It was such a blast spending time with my brilliant Attendings and the most capable, efficient, caring, and funniest RNs ever.

Most exciting of all, I think I may have found my (gasp) future career!!!! I LOVE ALLERGY!!
Who would've thought!!

A snowing, windy day after work. University of Chicago Medicine - what a wonderful, beautiful place to be!

I'll miss my badge!! This is probably the one badge picture where I look not too shabby.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Introspective Extroverts

I have and always will consider myself an introvert. (No matter how many times I take the Myer Briggs Personality test, I always end up as an ISTJ) Though after reading this article, should I maybe think of myself as an introspective extrovert? Most people who meet me for the first time would probably say that I'm an extrovert. In fact, my good friends at med school definitely think of me as an extrovert until I tell them otherwise. My sister also says that I'm really good at faking being extroverted, which fortunately, actually has its advantages at times.

Some points from this article that describes an introspective extrovert:

1. You constantly feel too introverted for the extroverted crowd but too extraverted for the introverted crowd.

Yes, kind of true. For those who are true introverts, I don't fit in perfectly there. For those who are true extroverts, I absolutely don't fit in there.

2. You connect quickly and easily with a wide variety of people but are careful about whom you invest in as a friend or romantic partner.

Yes!!! SO yes. I can make immediate surface-level connections with pretty much anyone but very few people know the personal parts of my life.

3. Though you enjoy bouncing ideas off those around you, you need to reach all major decisions independently.

Though this is true, I imagine most people are like this no matter if you're an introvert or extrovert. It's always nice to bounce ideas off of other people but most people will ultimately make the final call themselves.

4. You accidently end up being everyone's therapist.

Don't know how it happens or whether it's a part of being in medicine, but very true, especially in recent years.

5. People drastically under-estimate the significance of you asking for help. 

Hm, not sure if this is totally true. I think my best friends realize the significance if I'm asking for help or sharing something personal about my life because I don't do it often but maybe most other people don't? Not sure!



Thursday, February 11, 2016

Rotation #5 The University of Chicago Medicine

Wow!! I kicked off February at Comer's Children's Hospital at The University of Chicago doing an elective rotation in Allergy and Immunology. What a cool experience this has been so far. I think I've added another future possibility on my ever expanding list of possible fellowships and future job careers. I think I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy doing outpatient clinic. At the same time, you still get consults in the hospital without being too swamped like most of the other major specialties. You get to see all the very, very common cases like rhinitis, asthma, food allergies, atopic dermatitis but you also get to see the very, very uncommon cases of things such as common variable immune deficiency (CVID) and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). It's definitely a pretty interesting spectrum.

Throughout this year, I've also found that it's incredibly easy to fall in love with a particular rotation when you love the people that you work with. It makes me wonder whether I really, truly love that specialty or that I love the specialty because of the people I'm surrounded by. Every single Allergy/Immunology attending at U of C have been so wonderful to me. I'm expected to see my own patients, suggest a plan, and write my own notes. Sure, I don't know everything but when I'm wrong, they correct me, teach me, and teach me more. At the same time, I also love all the nurses in the clinic too and it helps that we all sit in the same room so that I get to know them really well!



Two weeks in and enjoying every day. The best part is waking up and not dreading going to work :) Only dreading going outside because it's freezing cold these days...but I shouldn't complain because it's been much, much worse in previous Februrarys!