So what's up with me otherwise? A quick summary:
I passed USMLE Step 3! Woohoo!! Really, the odds of me passing were vanishingly slim but you always worry on test day. I was amused that I did worse as the patients in the questions got older. Definitely affirms my training in pediatrics, lol. Also my highest sections were Behavioral/Emotional, Musculoskeletal, and Immune/Infectious Diseases. Fascinating, because it leads me to . . .
I'm like 95% sure I'm going to pursue fellowship in pediatric rheumatology. It's definitely one of the least "sexy" subspecialties because: 1.) there aren't many procedures, 2.) it pays less, and 3.) it's not well understood. But I find it fascinating. It commonly affects joints (as you'd expect), but it can really affect almost any organ in the body. And I seem to be one of the few peds residents who kinda likes (or at least doesn't mind) teen patients. It's also a rather "rare" subspecialty, there only being 26 fellowship programs in the country (for about 60ish spots). There's an estimate of about 1/2 the number of peds rheumatologists in the country as there needs to be. As one senior resident described to me, doing this fellowship is basically a golden ticket to practice anywhere in the country that I so desire. Yeah, I'll make less money. But to echo one of the peds rheumatologists that I worked with, "I didn't come from money. So this pay is pretty good to me."
It's astounding how stress and sub-optimal nutrition leads to weight gain! I seriously gained like 15 lbs in residency so far. No bueno! I just started working out and slowly ramping things up. I'm woefully out of shape, but that's what I get for being on inpatient rotations for 5-6 months in a row, working on average 6 days/week, and up to 80 hrs/week. Where in there is there time for working out, much less healthy eating?! For the first time in many months, I have the time and there wherewithal to realign my health to where it should be. I've been a poor example for my patients.
Today I was eating lunch outside with one of my co-interns. And she remarked how nice it felt to have the wind blow on her face, how normal it felt, and how sad that she was thinking that in the moment. But it IS sad. This residency thing is not something I'd wish on someone else. Fuck that, if I could re-do things, I wouldn't re-do this. But I've already come this far and I'm going to see it to the end. Because at the end of it all, I have a chance to regain normalcy.
Recently got into a new show, Looking. It centers around 3 gay friends in SF. It's entertaining. About halfway through like the third episode, I realize that one of the main characters, Patrick Murray (played by Jonathan Groff), is basically me in a lot of ways. He wants to have a good sustainable relationship, but sucks at it. He's conservative in his actions and tends to thinks before he acts (sometimes too much). Anyway, a good show to check out. :-)
4 comments:
Great that you're interested in what you seem to be well suited for, and that getting there seems feasible.
That's great that you find a specialty where you already have passion. Work will feel less like "work" when you are motivated by more than a paycheck.
Have you ever considered working in something with diabetes? From the growing obesity rate, there will be continual demand in this area, whether in practice, research, pharmacology, etc.
Lots of type 1 diabetics are kids, so you could continue to do something in pediatrics.
Congrats on passing the Step 3! Must be a huge weight off your shoulders. I must say, between you and my roommate (she's a med student doing surgery rotations right now), I've been given plenty of reason not to be too disappointed for not getting into medical school, haha. But I'm glad you're managing, and also glad that you have an interesting sounding specialty in mind that will give you some geographic flexibility!
Congrats!!
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