It's been a very busy month. I have officially completed my intern year of residency. I am no longer the "lowest" on the totem pole. I also no longer have the buffer of safety around me where i can say "I am not sure, but I'm an intern." People are now beginning to expect me to know things, to make decisions and to be more independent. It's exciting and terrifying. I'm not sure I knew what to expect out of intern year, therefore I can't say that I'm altogether surprised with how the year went. What I can say, is that just like medical school it was one of the fastest, longest years of my life with long days and blazing-ly fast months.
Now to catch you up on all that went down in the month of June! It was one of the hardest months of residency for me in terms of energy and stamina because it was so jammed full of extra-curricular events that made it hard to get enough rest. But, it did make for some amazing memories.
First of all, we caved and got AC units. After going through one summer without any, we decided it was well worth the investment online to get a few units, one for the bedroom and one for the upstairs office so that we could actually work and sleep comfortably. Sleep, as we all know, is way to important to be compromised because you're too hot!
The weather in Rhode Island officially turned from 50's and pouring rain to SUMMER, basically overnight. Tom and I snuck in a few hours of sunshine at the beach in the early weekend of June. It was our first trip to the beach for the summer and it made me realize how much I don't take advantage of it here.
Then there was the once-every-two-year event, called Paul-a-palooza. A graduation party hosted by Dr. Paul DiSilvestro, the head of the gynecology-oncology department. The party was complete with yard games, a live band, bonfire for smore's making, and an all-around good time.
Next up for the month, I turned 30! I honestly didn't even remember it was my birthday on the morning of because of how much I had been working that week. I heard Tom rustling around in the kitchen at 5 AM and was so confused why he was up so early and rustling the pans. Then it finally dawned on me that it was for my birthday! He surprised me to my favorite breakfast before heading off to work by 6 am. As usual, I can't believe how spoiled I am by him!
I was spoiled later in the day by my pappa who sent me 30 gorgeous gerbera daisies TO MY WORK on my birthday. They were incredible, and walking to the car with the bouquet definitely put a smile on my face at the end of the day!
That evening Tom and I dined at Hemenways for some lobster bisque and salad but Tom told me then that the real birthday celebration was to occur the following weekend (when I wasn't on call and had my first "golden weekend"..aka both saturday and sunday off in a given weekend...in over 2 months!)
As usual, it was delicious.
The next evening was graduation for the outgoing 4th year residents. It was our big promotion to becoming second years (although we didn't officially earn the title until June 23rd).
As we welcomed the new interns at the graduation ceremony, it was like we blinked and we had been transported one year forward. We have learned a lot and been exposed to a lot. And so you can't be surprised that we responded to the moment like this:
The out-going residents always had a tradition of holding up the guy in their class, so we tried to replicate it. And, let's just say it was a big, big failure (although we have two guys to carry):
After the graduation celebrations I had a full day of call, but then we got to complete something off of my bucket list: create a back patio out of our driveway since we don't have a backyard. You decide if it was a success or not
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
Thanks to my parents and Tom who helped fund the project and create a little oasis in our driveway.
Next up, we got to enjoy a mid-week boat ride with our program director as our "prize" for winning the simulation olympics. Little did we know the "interns always win" as tradition would have it, so really it was just an excuse for the interns to go out on the boat.
It was a gorgeous evening and we all left there saying "you know what, we need to embrace RI more." We all knock it for it's small size, it's public beaches where you have to pay to visit, the pot-hole ridden roads, etc, but we're here for another three years, why not embrace what we've got?!
You certainly can't argue with some of the views at dusk and the wonderful feelings that come with warm summer evenings on the water.
Let me tell you, the week we were all having was a ROUGH one (because the residency as a whole was functioning without the senior class and also without the new interns, so we were a skeleton crew). The sleep deprived, yet smiling faces tell it all.
Finally my "birthday weekend" arrived. All I had been told by Tom was that we were having a getaway weekend in Boston. Little did I know that the whole intern (I guess now 2nd year) gang was in on it and surprised me at our hotel in Boston!
We geared up in the air conditioned hotel and were off with baby Ali in tow for a day of exploring the city.
We had such an incredible time!
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| Lobster rolls at Luke's Maine Lobster |
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| Meri, showcasing how DELICIOUS the food was! |
It was so fun to play tourist for the day and stop by all the iconic sites
It was HOT but so fun to tour together as a big group. We even had time to sneak in a power-nap before dinner in the park :)
I thought that having the group join us for the day and dinner was the surprise, but Tom had more up his sleeve (shocking!). I had no idea but we quickly refreshed at the hotel before heading off to the Boston Opera House to see the show Wicked!
Some of you know that this is not my first time seeing Wicked, but I swear i could see it at least 5 more times and not get sick of it. Plus, it was a first for some of the members of our group which made it even more special.
The surprises didn't stop after the evening ended. I learned after we got back from the show that the rest of the crew was spending the night at Meri's parent's home in Burlington, MA and we were meeting up with them the next morning for a home cooked brunch by Meri's mom, Sanbina. Meri is from Bosnia and I have heard nothing but amazing things about her cooking. I was NOT disappointed. There was food for days!
The main menu item: stuff freshed toast with a homemade berry sauce and bri filling. In my opinion, it should be the next menu item added at the Gibson Mansion B&B :)
We even had some musical entertainment for the morning. It was an incredible end cap to the weekend.
I can't even get over the joy I felt this weekend and how wonderful it was to share it with my new-found family from residency. We have grown so much in the last year and have so much more to do! I start a new rotation tomorrow on Urogynecology and officially step into the hospital in my new role as a second year, or PGY2. Whew! Wish me luck, here I go. And hopefully I'll post again before another month flies by.
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