Mad studying this afternoon. I MUST get through nephrology this week and complete GI by the first part of April, ID by May, and cardiology the end of May. That leaves July and August for reviewing all of it – rheum, heme-onc, endocrine, pulmonary, general internal medicine, dermatology and neurology. Ugh, how did it come so fast???

1. I got about 3 hours of sleep last night before two patients became troublesome and demanded my attention for the rest of the night.
2. I really dislike the fellow that I was working with last night. I think most of the fellows right now are lazy, condescending and (relatively) ignorant, but this one has been especially grating. Reminders of why I’m happy to be leaving are refreshing, as this person would be my attending next year if I stayed – blech.
3. Clinic this afternoon was actually enjoyable. I manged to get some good sleep this morning, a couple of my patients canceled and I had a couple of interesting diseases that I had to think through and come up with treatment plans. I got all of my notes done, plus 1-2 old ones (less than 10 to go!!) and one of my patients hugged me. I’m getting just a little emotional that I’m leaving.
4. I got me the doctor’s appointment that I need! And labs ordered so I can prove that I did have chicken pox when I was a young’un. It’ll all be done before March 10th, which is when I’m supposed to have it turned in. *pats self on back*
5. An abstract that I wrote got accepted for a national meeting! Woot! The meeting is in Arizona in May, so I can spend time with my nephew and gestating nephew (I’ll probably be unsuccessful a second time convincing the kid to come early)! It’s at the same time as neurology retreat, my favorite time of the year, though (I’ve been really, really looking forward to the 1 hour long massage…) 🙁 I’ve never done a poster presentation and I’m kinda more than a little nervous about it. But it looks great on the resume.
5. I really want to learn how to knit. It seems like the thing right now and I’m getting jealous over all of the scarves and hats that I see on my friends blogs. Anybody have any good suggestions on where to start?
6. I’m craving Ramen noodles tonight. Specifically, beef flavored. I don’t think I’ve had ramen noodles in at least 5 years, so I don’t know where the urge is coming from. Luckily my laziness and null desire to go back into the cold is winning this round.
7. Women’s History Month project died out on Day #1, just like all of my projects. You all were no help. *pout*
8. I don’t know why my spell checker keeps thinking that “women’s” is misspelled. Can a month be possessed by a plural that doesn’t end in s?
9. Obviously I’m getting to the punch-drunk-crazy part of post-call sleep deprivation. Always a fun time.
10. All lists should end at 10.
11. But this one is going to end at 11. Just because I’m contrary like that. And because I miscounted, and it’s really #12.
13. Maybe I should start doing the Thursday Thirteen memes? I mean, I’m doing a great job of it tonight. 🙂

As I mentioned, I’m back on neurology (4 more months!), where I’m on call overnight in the neurointensive care unit and it’s just been one little irritating thing after another. The patient sign-out was, as always, ridiculous. These are the sickest patients in the hospital, but you wouldn’t think so given the 1 liner that I had on each of them. And of course the two fellows were rolling their eyes when I was asking for more details. There is certainly no remorse with the decision to go elsewhere for fellowship tonight.

What’s truly annoying me is the fact that because the schedule was only finalized yesterday, my clinic schedule didn’t get cancelled tomorrow. I took today off work and took a nap, but tomorrow, instead of enjoying a long day off slumbering, I get to go to clinic. On my schedule is a patient who wants disability forms filled out, another who is questioning why they hasn’t recovered from their illness they just started treatment for today (yes, today), and another who I just saw last week. I’m already tired and cranky.

In order to distract me from the winter gloom, I’m trying to honor Women’s History Month on my facebook by featuring an awesome woman from history a day. Yesterday was Clara Barton, today is nobody, since I can’t access Facebook from work. Who would you want me to highlight? I’ve got a dozen, but I need more, so send me your ideas.

And now, off to try to get a little bit of fractured sleep.

I have unofficially finished the internal medicine portion of residency. Officially, I still have clinics on Thursday afternoon and graduation isn’t until June, but I am done with medicine wards. It seems like I’ve been doing this forever; residency has certain dragged on and seemed endless at times, and yet, these last few months have slipped past so quickly that I’ve hardly registered their presence. Suddenly I’ve four months away from graduation. Four months!

I’m starting to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I need to complete before July. The house situation: moving, fixing, sell vs rent, property management vs realtor, etc, etc. The paperwork for the new hospital. Getting a doctor’s appointment so they can confirm that yes, I’m up to date on my immunizations. Finding a new place to live. Can I afford to fly out there and scope it out? Evaluations to complete. Need new glasses and a dentist appointment. And did somebody say that my Boards are less than 6 months away? I should be studying every second that I am awake! Maybe I should go to bed listening to lectures… Right now, it’s all I can do to not bury my head under the pillows like an ostrich – I’m in avoidance mode, as I often get when I feel overwhelmed and despondent.