Summer Plans!

I have been (slightly) stressing about my summer plans for the last few months. I originally planned to do research for the summer, since that what it seems like everyone is doing. However, I also realize that this is my last summer break...ever! So, I started thinking that I wanted to go abroad. The only problem: Money! My current salary is NEGATIVE $70,000. So, I clearly don't have money to just go spend to travel the world. Thus, my predicament. Do I take out more loans to go travel or do I spend my last "free" summer in a lab?

Well, I think that I have lucked into the best of both worlds. Within less than a week of each other, I heard about two really great opportunities. First, is a 3 week trip to Peru, sponsored by CHM. Second, a paid externship here in Michigan. If I was accepted to the externship, this could help pay for my trip to Peru. It was a long shot to get accepted to both, but I thought it would be amazing if it would all work out this way. Well, I'm ecstatic to report that it did. :)

So, my summer plans are as follows:

1) Peru: Week 1- Shadowing/Volunteering in hospitals in Peru
              Week 2-Cleft Palate/Cleft Lip Surgeries in Peru (soo awesome!!)
              Week 3- Hiking Machu Pichu!!!!

2) Externship (Either 4 or 5 weeks...yet to be decided!) Each week, I will be working in a different specialty. The specialties I have selected are:
      -Pediatrics and Subspecialties
      -OB/GYN
      -General Surgery
      -Hematology/Oncology
      -Infectious Diseases

I can't believe everything worked out and I cannot wait for summer to begin! :)

Spring Break, Part 2

Does what happens in Vegas, really stay in Vegas? No. What happens in Vegas, ends up on my blog. :)

We left for Kelsey's surprise Bachelorette party on Friday morning (March 9th). Katie, Nichole, Morgan and I woke up bright and early and boarded a plane to fly down. Kelsey and Mary (who now both live in LA) were going to drive together. Kelsey still didn't know where she was going, but quickly figured it out once Mary started driving, since there really isn't any place that exciting to go except Vegas once you get on that freeway.

We arrived at 10 AM, got our luggage, took a cab to our hotel, checked in, got upgraded to a better room (score!), and began decorating right away! Katie and Nichole had bought a lot of decorations. So, we wanted to make sure the room looked ready for a bachelorette party before Kelsey arrived!

After we finished decorating, we still had a bit of time before Kelsey and Mary would arrive. So, we decided to head out of our room, walk around the strip, and try our hand at gambling! We pretty much all broke even, but it was fun for the little bit that we gambled.

Finally, our bachelorette arrived! We got all dolled up, including our bright Bachelorette party wigs, and headed out to Marquee Night Club at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Now on to day two. Let me just preface this with the fact that we are all very smart/respectable girls, but when our best friend is getting married... we are going to do everything there is to do to make sure her last "single lady" night is everything it should be. With that being said, our agenda for the day: A stripper/pole dancing class and the "Thunder From Down Under" show. :)

Finally, our last night in Vegas... We were planning on going to two night clubs: Trist and XS. However, we changed out plans to go to Cathouse in the Luxor, bacause we were given free bottle service! (Winning!) We stayed out way way wayyyy too late, but I think we all had a blast!

On Sunday morning, I had to wake up bright and early to catch a flight back to East Lansing. I had such an amazing weekend. I love these girls with all my heart and am so proud to say that we have all stayed such good friends, even though we haven't all lived in the same city for 6 years! I miss all of these girls dearly, but am excited to see them all again in 2 months for Kelsey's big day! :) 

Spring Break, Part 1

Welp, Spring Break is over...but, boy oh boy was it a good one. 3 Relaxing days in East Lansing, 3 fun-packed days back at home in California, and 3 (of the craziest days I have had in a long long time) in Las Vegas! I did so much this break, but it just went by way too quickly! Here is a photo journal of the first 6 days of break! (Vegas gets its own blog entry, obviously!)

Day 1-3: Relaxing in East Lansing! S and I got to lay around, watching on-demand movies, without having to study. This may sound insignificant...but let me tell you, this NEVER happens! Saturday night was date night. We started at a yummy Thai restaurant, went to a different restaurant for S'mores, and then went to see the movie "The Vow." Normally, I don't ask to go to sappy girly movies with S, because I know he hates them, but to my surprise, he actually liked it! S left my apartment on Sunday afternoon, so I had almost 24 full hours to clean my apartment, pack my stuff for California/Las Vegas, and get my life back in order. It was fabulous.

Date Night in East Lansing: Thai food for dinner,
S'mores for dessert, and a movie: The Vow

S enjoying his S'more

Day 3: My flight home! 

Airport Food: A Californian Club (I thought
that was fitting since I was flying to California) and
a Mai Tai (which knocked me out for my
whole flight..woo!) 

Day 4 (Tuesday): A morning full of doctors, including an eye doctor appointment. My big news: I now wear contacts/glasses. Medical school has made me very blind, so I'm glad to finally have something that will allow me to see again! After the morning of doctors appointments, I went to EGHS to watch a drill team practice...It was so great to come back and see all of the girls I coached last year! Finally, after practice, I drove out to Berkeley to meet up with one of my old roommates (Natalya). We started the night at our favorite Thai restaurant (I guess I ate thai a lot on break haha), went to Trader Joe's to get a couple bottles of wine, and then went back to her apartment to drink wine and watch the Bachelor "Women Tell All" Special. If you know me at all, you can just imagine how perfect of a night this really was. :)

One of my favorite visits at home: Visiting my girls at practice!
 Miss them all so much! 

Women Tell All Special + Wine = Perfect Girls Night

Day 5/6: Lots of fun things around town... Hot stone massage, facial, Jamba Juice drinking, pre-bachelorette party arts & crafts night, and hair dying!

Fulfilling a craving that I have had for months,
Jamba Juice!!
(I don't think these exist in Michigan!) 

Clearly this is not me..but, I got a lovely hour
long facial and hour long hot-stone massage
on break...that was just delightful! :) 

I also had "fun with dye" time. I died my own
hair AND my mom's hair! 

The "after" hair shot; I think I did pretty well! 

Getting ready for the bachelorette party!
Arts and Crafts Time! 

Kelsey's Surprise "Bachelorette" Sash

The sash's we all mad for the bridesmaids. They say
"Bride's Entourage" 

So, that brings us through Thursday of Spring Break.. Stay tuned for the rest! :)

Intubation Clinic

With the crazyness of my final week/start of spring break, I almost forgot to write about a really awesome Intubation Clinic that the CHM Emergency Medicine Interest Group put on. They invited one of the Emergency docs and about 10 of the Emergency Med residents to come teach a group of 30 of us how to do proper airway management/intubation. The clinic took about 2 hours and was split up into two parts. First, we were taught how to use proper airway adjuncts (Oropharynx Airways and Nasopharynx Airways). We were also taught how to use a BVM (Bag-Valve-Mask) to provide ventilations. Working as a CPR instructor for the last year, I can use a BVM with my eyes closed. Also, in my EMT class, we learned how to do oropharynx and nasopharynx airway adjuncts. So, this portion of the clinic was fun, but not something I hadn't learned yet.

Using an oropharynx airway adjunct

The second part of the clinic was much much cooler! We finally learned how to intubate! Let me tell you, intubation is MUCH harder than you would think. You start out by putting this massive metal light in a tiny little mouth; you have to use crazy arm strength to pry up the mouth, without cranking on the teeth; Finally, you have to make sure that you can crank back the mouth so much that you can slide a tube in the trachea, not the esophagus. It was quite hard at first. I intubated 5 times. My first and second attempts where big fat fails. After "breaking teeth" (aka hearing the mouth click to tell you that you are breaking teeth), I got the tube in, started ventilating and..........the stomach inflated. I intubated the esophagus, not the trachea....wrong. Then, on my third try, I finally saw the tracheal opening and count get the tube into the trachea! Success! It was so exciting.

Bobby intubating...I didn't get a picture of myself. 

It was such a great clinic! It was really fun to learn this skill and also really fun to work so closely with residents. It made me so excited for third year rotations and to learn actual skills that I will be using as a real physician! 

Spring Break Plans

I am half way through with the semester that many people say is the hardest of medical school...hopefully that is true! I am so happy to be on break...these last couple weeks have been killer. We have had 5 major exams, too many quizzes to count, and several other random required experiences (clinical skills, meetings, etc.) So, I am SOOOOOO ready to start this spring break!

I have lots of plans for this break...so many things to do, so many people to see, so many places to go... I can't believe it is finally here! I will be in East Lansing until Monday. My plan WAS to stay here to catch up on lectures (I am 11 hours of lectures behind...ughh) and study for Saturday/Sunday/Monday so that I wouldnt even have to bring books home with me. However, I know myself and I know instead of studying I will be watching HBO On-demand movies from now until my flight takes off on Monday night. Oh well!  Anyways, I am arriving back in Elk Grove, CA Monday night. Tuesday, I have lots of doctors appointments, which I am so thankful to finally have. Reading/staring at computer screens for 14 hours a day has made my sight horrible. I used to have such great vision, but med school has made me go blind..so I am so excited to go the eye doctor to get me some sight! Besides that, I am getting together with the other bridesmaid's in Kelsey's wedding to get bridesmaids dresses, (hopefully) driving up to Berkeley to visit one of my old roommates (Hi Natalya!) and then... KELSEY'S BACHELORETTE PARTY! I am so excited. She has no idea where we are going or what we are doing and I'm just so excited for everything we have planned! I will be updating this blog with LOTS of pictures from it, i promise! :)