August 1, 2008

• Parting Thoughts

  Tomorrow marks my last day of GI consult service, and my last day in SoCal, at least for a while. If i remember, I will take and post some hospital pics so you can all see what I have seen. Well, architecturally speaking anyway, I doubt most of you would want to see all of what i saw this month. Unless you are GI aspirants.

  But I digress. What have I gotten out of this month?

  I have learned, perhaps most importantly, that while I still enjoy internal medicine and GI, it really is a silver medal for me compared to ophthalmology. I like it, I can do it, but I dont LOVE it. Prior to doing my ophtho rotation at cook, I was not aware of the difference.

  However, i have become more competent in management and identification of most GI problems, and ideally, when the appropriate and inappropriate times to consult a GI service are…which will hopefully keep me ahead of the curve as a resident next year.

  I have learned that I like LAC-USC hospital and I will doubtless apply here, but as things stand, I am still not sure if Southern California is my number one location to match at the moment. Sure, its nice being near family, and the weather is great, but LA is not a city like those i have become accustomed to, and while many residents seem to like the program and learn a lot, there were also many sub-voce mutterings about the malignancy of the program in how residents are treated

  In what is a recurring theme in this blog (no not zombies or cannabalism, but hey thanks for following!) i have learned that I really did pick the right career path. I may not love every minute or every day of medicine, but I cant imagine myself doing anything else, and given some autonomy rahter than forced lecture attendance, the time really does seem to fly by, even when i dont get home til 8 or 9pm

  So saturday morning bright and early I will be driving up to eugene oregon to do an optho rotation for the next month and see if anywhere else on the west coast is worth living.

  • 12:30 am
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