What a weekend to celebrate! This post is going to be a long
one, so be ready to scroll!
As I sit here in the Orlando airport awaiting my flight back
home to Seattle (via Chicago), I can’t help but feel insanely fortunate for all
the opportunities I’ve been given and all the fun and exciting events in my
life in the past year.
Friday marked a transition for me – they even called it the “Transition
Ceremony”. At first, I thought it was kind of silly. I mean after all, I
already had a stethoscope ceremony and I will have a graduation ceremony in
2016. How many ceremonies does a medical student need? But, after having
attended the ceremony—it meant more to me than the day I got my acceptance
letter, the day I received my stethoscope or the day I took my last final. It was
a big moment, a bigger moment than I thought it would be. I am not a classroom-goer
anymore. I will be taking care of patients starting July 7th, 2014.
I can’t believe it!
The celebration began (for me anyway) on Thursday afternoon
after I finished my last final.
I went down to the waterfront with a few of my
friends as they rehearsed the music they were going to play that evening at a
end-of-the-year class celebration. We toasted to a great end to a great 2 years
with some mimosas.
I sat in the sunshine and soaked in the harmonies of the stringed
instruments while Anna popped the champagne and got a little surprised by how
quickly the bottle opened up.
I sat in the sunshine and soaked in the harmonies of the stringed
instruments as they played a rendition of “Time of Your Life”, an altogether kitschy
song that somehow still makes me feel nostalgic and bittersweet.
Then, I moved on to a lunch-date with my mentor for the past
year (Dr. Lisa Erlanger) as well as my college-morning classmates. These guys joined
me each Thursday morning in the hospital from 8 AM – Noon to learn clinical
skills together. While waiting for one of my classmates to finish up his
one-on-one meeting I kept track of his ADORABLE pooch named Sable. Isn’t she
sweet?
Sable loved to eat all the grass in the shade but struggled
to get the stragglers off of her nose :)
Then, the end-of-the-year celebration took place at the “med
frat”- a house that has been rented out by medical students as they come and go
for at least 15 years now. It’s right on the water and s gorgeous view of the sunset.
We looked out over the water as we said goodbye to the 80 degree weather, to
the med school across the Montlake cut, and to each other.
We toasted good times in coffee mugs (because what 10
bedroom house full of students is appropriately stocked with the right kind of
dishware you are looking for anyway?).
Lastly, the performance I had seen a preview of earlier that
afternoon took place. Nearly 100 of us gathered on the porch and joined in song
(when we knew the words). It was such a wonderful moment!
The next day my dad arrived from Missoula and we spent the
morning eating a terrible breakfast
despite hearing good reviews of the restaurant. Portage Bay Café will not be
receiving my business again no matter how many friends tell me it’s delicious.
Anyway, soon enough, it was time to head to the HUB for the ceremony.
There were TONS of photos being taken all day and here’s a
few of the good and not so good ones.
These girls were my study-buddies for almost the entire 2
years. Hilary, Anna, DeeDee and I called our little get-togethers “wine and
magazine parties.” I think we had wine and magazine at only one of literally HUNDREDS of
study sessions, but Tom gave us the nick-name when we first started studying
together and it stuck. Also, somehow when we all saw “Wine & Magazines” (or
“W&M” for short) on our Google calendars it made the idea of studying more
bearable. I don’t know how I would have made it through Microbiology without
these ladies!
After the ceremony, we joined Ann, Paul and Julia at a local
Italian restaurant named Cantinetta for dinner. I didn’t manage to take a single
picture while at dinner. But suffice it to say that after they accused me of
“being at the wrong restaurant” because they didn’t have our reservation on
file (despite my ability to show direct proof of my reservation on my phone
while being accused), we had a lovely time. The staff and the food wasn’t the
reason for the good time (although the gnocchi nearly made up for the rude
staff) – it was a great time because I was surrounded by the people I love and
who love me and we were celebrating together.
To top off the evening Tom, my dad and I polished off the
cream and butter consumed at dinner with some more cream in the form of gelato.
Delicious!
Tom
looks good in my white coat too don’t you think?
The next day I took a red-eye flight to Orlando, FL for the
American Urological Association conference. With nearly 17,000 attendees I felt
a little out of place at first, but as soon as I started meeting some folks and
catching up with my advisor as well as the students I worked with on my project
this summer I started to feel more at ease.
I was there to present my work with the Raven robot again.
This time though, the presentation meant a lot more—not because I got more time
to present, but because I was presenting at such a prestigious meeting with all
the big-wigs of urology in attendance. I swear the conference center is 2 miles
long—I got my exercise in just walking to and from the different sessions.
I was giving a poster presentation that was moderated. Tom
thinks that I ordered my poster to be printed too big—I think he may have been
right… :)
I was told that I would have 60 seconds to give brief synopsis of my work (limited to 2
power point slides with results and conclusions). I prepared for this
accordingly but when I arrived I learned that I had 3-5 minutes, not just 1!
So, at the last moment possible (literally 10 minutes before I was to go on
stage), I met up with my advisor and tried to adjust my slide deck so I could
give a more thorough presentation. Well, despite all the stress to adjust the
slide show, the AV guy tried to load the new slide deck on the computer and it
DIDN’T WORK! So, I had my original 2 slides and my memory to lead me through
the presentation. I had a mental list of things that my advisor told me 2
minutes ago that I needed to cover and that was it as I walked up to the
podium. It was a great exercise in maintaining calm and composure when you’re
stressed out because your slides are working, your presentation looks nothing
like everyone else’s because it’s only 2 slides and your advisor who paid for
you to be here is in the audience ready to introduce you to the leading
urological surgeons after you present (who are also in the audience by the
way).
Well, I managed to talk slower than I’ve ever talked
before—which, if you know me, is something I’ve been working on all year! It
went great! I was approached at the end of the presentation and asked to submit
additional slides for a “highlights of the session” presentation that is taking
place tomorrow. So, I won’t be in Orlando to see it, but I’m told that I’ll be
featured in the highlights of robotics section—so that’s pretty cool!
Needless to say, by the time day 1 of the conference was
over, I was breathing a big sigh of relief. Slitting by the pool from 6-7 pm
while I waited for the rest of our group to head out to dinner at 7:30 was just
what the doctor ordered :).
Day 2 of the conference was busy and full of all sorts of
incredible talks, videos and experiences. The “science and technology hall”
completely blew me away! This place was HUGE and felt a little bit like Vegas
or something because of all of the flashing lights, big signs and fancy booths
I was spoiled by the freebies (including TCBY and a fresh
cannoli), the amazing lectures and the video coverage of surgical techniques.
There were even several live surgeries being broadcast.
I got to test out the new da Vinci Xi (as opposed to the Si
that I worked on this summer—I think the marketing department needs to branch
out their creativity!).
My favorite booth was this one below where I got to sit on a white leather
couch that no one could ever keep clean in their homes, scan the QR code on my
badge and place an order for a (free) chai tea latte and a crepe and have it
delivered to my seat while I watched some docs putting on the putting green
next to me. What is this place?
The conference was not without its share of ridiculous genital related jokes like this one- a t-shirt that reads "got girth"? Apparently urologists are required to think that's funny...
Last night I also attended a UW Alumni happy hour in the
Hyatt hotel across from the convention center. Everyone kind of dropped their
jaw and raised their eyebrows when they discovered that I wasn’t an alumni but
rather a 2nd…I mean 3rd year… medical student! They
couldn’t believe it and said that they didn’t even know what urology was until
their 4th year of med school. I chatted with the residents and
attendings I had met before in an OR at either Harborview or UW over the past
year (they kind of remembered me, but I look different in business clothes than
I do in over-sized scrubs). I gleaned some pieces of advice from them about
approaching my third year and got to listen in on all the happenings of
everyone else that I never met before.
This was a whole different kind of exhausting and I was
tired and hungry by the end of it. My advisor had other dinner plans and my
colleagues had already gone home, so I was on my own. I decided to check out
the neighborhood by my hotel and was delighted to find that there was an olive
garden just 0.4 miles away. $8 later I had soup, salad and breadsticks in hand
and I settled in to watch some HGTV home renovation shows for my diner
entertainment. How spoiled am I?
This trip was truly great and I’m so glad that I took the
chance to come down and present. Not only do I have another notch in my belt in
terms of being able to speak in front of a room full of my superiors, I got to
experience the culture of Urology to further add to my database of information
as I approach third year and have to pick a specialty. I had no time to even
thing about studying for Boards and I just had a great time.
So, goodbye palm trees, goodbye 80-degrees-by-10-AM-weather
and hello Seattle and a 5.5 week push of studying for the biggest test I have
yet to take. All the while, Tom will be getting in a car less than 32 hours
after I get home to start his trek to Atlanta for a summer of adventure. Times
are changing, we are learning and growing and I couldn’t be more excited about
all of it!
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