Sorry I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks. I’ve thrown
myself fully into the AWESOMENESS that is the third year of medical school! I’m
currently on my neurology rotation, and I genuinely believe this is what I want
to spend the rest of my life doing. The
future Dr. Meghan Brown, Neurologist.
Actually, as of right now I’m thinking of doing a neurology residency followed
by a stroke fellowship followed by an interventional neurology fellowship to
become a neurovascular interventionalist. That’s a total of 8 years AFTER med school…yikes.
Here’s what I’ve figured out – I learned more in 5 weeks in the clinic/hospital than I ever could
have in 2 years of classroom learning. I now fully understand diseases such
as Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy,
and so many more because every day I was seeing it. I can take a history and do
a neuro exam with confidence (and YES I can even tell if reflexes are 2+ or 3+
and whether strength is 4-,4,4+ or 5) and have learned how to navigate the
waters of difficult and even comatose patients. Some days are really long, and
sometimes you work for 7 days straight, but each morning I wake up and I’m so excited to be going back to the
hospital.
Trust me when I say I could go on for hours about how much I
love neurology and the amazing patient stories that I’ve seen and heard. It’s
really given me such a perspective on life and how lucky I am to be exactly
where I am. This year is such an affirmation of why I’m in medicine – I could
not imagine myself doing anything else. And sure, the hours are long and
standing for 11 straight hours is rough, but I couldn’t be happier. Don't let me fool you though, I walk around confused 70% of the time and make mistakes (never life or death ones though). [funny story... I actually mixed up room numbers once and saw the ENTIRELY wrong patient pre-rounds. I realized this of course after I was done and then went and saw the correct patient. At no point did the patient ask why she was seeing neurology though...]
All of this real life learning has significantly decreased
my free time – to the point where I only made it to jiu jitsu once every week
or so. But that’s ok. I know jiu jitsu
will always be there, and right now I’m focusing on becoming the best medical
student and future doctor I can be. And actually really enjoying learning!
We officially wrap up our neurology rotation on Friday with
our shelf exam (aka our NBME subject exam in neurology) and I move onto Psychiatry
next. I’ll be sad when I have to leave the amazing attendings and residents of
the neurology department behind, but I’m sure I’ll love the rest of third year
too! (So MAYBE I’ll get to train on Saturday!)
I'll leave you with the coolest word I've learned (and seen) on my rotation... neuroacanthocytosis.
Labels: medical school, neurology
Sorry I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks. I’ve thrown
myself fully into the AWESOMENESS that is the third year of medical school! I’m
currently on my neurology rotation, and I genuinely believe this is what I want
to spend the rest of my life doing. The
future Dr. Meghan Brown, Neurologist.
Actually, as of right now I’m thinking of doing a neurology residency followed
by a stroke fellowship followed by an interventional neurology fellowship to
become a neurovascular interventionalist. That’s a total of 8 years AFTER med school…yikes. 