'Twas The Night Before . . .

It's official, day one of intern year begins in t-minus 9 hours and counting!    While graduation was months ago, people jokingly call me "Dr", I've made the move to Charlotte, and 10 days of orientation are under my belt, there's nothing like receiving a pager to get your heart pumping as you face the reality of the next phase of your life!

For those of you who don't know, I'm starting a 5 year orthopaedic surgery residency in Charlotte, NC.  The past two weeks have been spent listing to many lectures, becoming certified in basic, advanced, and trauma life support, trying to find my way around a new hospital, procedure simulation labs, and lots of paperwork that comes with starting a new job.  After spending all of this time getting "oriented", I'm more than ready to get on with the show!  I feel like I've asked lots of questions and gotten endless advice and stories about what to expect, but I really just need to experience it all for myself.

The first year of residency is referred to as  your "intern year" and for my particular program, consists of twelve month-long rotations in various surgical sub-specialties.  My year looks something like this:  pediatric surgery, general surgery trauma, ortho trauma, ER, plastic surgery, ortho surgery, medicine, neurosurg, trauma ICU, general surgery, and general surgery trauma.

I'm beyond excited to finally begin this next step of my career!  I'll admit that it's certainly intimidating to suddenly be responsible for patient care (especially after a wonderful 4 month vacation during which I worry my medical knowledge rapidly evaporated from my brain).  But the reality is that they call it the "practice" of medicine for a reason.  Every patient is a teacher with a lesson to be taught, and I have a LOT of learning to do.

My bag is packed, white coat is ironed, and pager has a fresh battery.  Time to be a doctor!