Clinical Year

Today is the last day of my last call backs. This is significant because it means I have completed my clinical year of PA school. Wow! That certainly stirs up some emotions. This week has been crazy busy, as are all call backs. I had an exam Monday, OSCE Tuesday, case presentation Wednesday and my CV is due tomorrow. In addition to school, I have been prepping to leave for Cambodia. As my mind is less distracted with school deadlines I am beginning to realize I am leaving in only two short days!

As I am completing my CV and reflecting on the past two and a half years of my life, I am so grateful for this journey. I have learned so much about medicine, life, and myself. As I watched Elizabeth (one of Dr. Fullerton's medical assistants, who also provided me a place to stay during my last three weeks in Austin and who I foresee will be a lifelong friend) prepare to take the MCAT and apply to medical school I remembered what it was like being on the other side of fence. I remember completing my applications, waiting to hear from schools, interviewing, being accepted to Touro, my first day of school, my first day of clinical rotations and all the fear, tears, happiness, and laughter that was part of the journey. It has been pretty amazing.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
   - Laozi

"As you move through this life... you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you."
   - Anthony Bourdain

Cap, Gown, Hood

Today I ordered my cap, gown, hood and graduation announcements. I also received an email from a classmate announcing the time until graduation... 4 months, 5 days! Thursday will be my last day in clinic as a PA-S (Physician Assistant student). Thats right, next time I am working in a clinic I will be a PA-C (I will graduate as a PA, however I do not gain the "-C" until I have taken and passed the board exams and become certified). I will also be paid for my labor!!!  I will no longer be paying thousands of dollars for the pleasure of working.

Last night I chatted with one of my classmates I will be traveling to Cambodia with, I am so excited to be spending six weeks with several of my classmates. After a year of moving from place to place, being isolated from my family, classmates, and friends, and always trying to connect with a new staff, I am so excited to spend the next four months on campus and six weeks traveling with classmates. I will be doing work in Cambodia, but I will also be exploring the area and traveling on the weekends. As I prepare to travel abroad for the first time, I am a little stressed, but mostly excited. This time in two weeks I will be at the airport!

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
- Augustine of Hippo

The Road

Quote for the day...

"What appears to be the end of the road may simply be a bend in the road."
- Robert H. Schuller

Journey

This week I had a meeting with the classmates I will be working and living with in Cambodia. It still doesn't seem quite real that I will be leaving three weeks from today. Three weeks.... So much still needs to happen in my life before then. We also received our contract from Mother's Heart, the organization we will be working for, which outlines our responsibilities and their expectations of the work we will be doing. All of which I am very excited about. We will be performing a needs assessment in an area the organization would like to expand its services to. This area houses several factories and beer gardens where many women and girls work. These are the women we will be interviewing and conducting surveys with.

In the coming three weeks I will be:

• completing my last clinical rotation
• traveling back to California for callback week on campus
• taking my last end of rotation exam
• completing an OSCE (objective structured clinical examination)
• giving a case presentation to my class
• completing and turning in my CV for review
• finishing all my travel vaccines
• packing for summer in Cambodia
• leaving for Cambodia! 

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." 

 -- Enerest Hemingway 

Experience

Today as I sit in a coffee shop in Austin, well not just any coffee shop, but my favorite coffee shop, I am working on my CV. As I am writing about all of my clinical experiences from the past year, I am reflecting on what a crazy year it has been. I am excited to be completing my last clinical rotation this month, but I am also fearful of what this means. In less than six months I will be a graduate of Touro University and preparing to sit for the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam).

Here is what I have been up to for the past few weeks.

I moved to Austin for my last clinical rotation with Dr. Fullerton, the physician I worked for during the two years prior to starting PA school. I had the luxury of having a week off for Christmas, which was really nice. I have been gone from Texas long enough that I forgot how big Texas skies are, I love every sunset I have watched over the past three weeks. They are just stunning. I am so proud to call this place home.

I am also preparing for my public health field study, which will be from February to mid March. I will be traveling to Cambodia to work with an organization that provides crisis pregnancy counseling. This will be my first trip traveling abroad and I am so excited! It is certainly proving to be expensive to prepare for, but I know it will be well worth the experience. I am also hoping it will be the first of many trips abroad for public health and medical missions.

I applied for graduation! Which makes it a little more real that I am nearing the end.

A quote I find appropriate as I continue to realize how little I know about medicine, but am excited by the prospect that medicine will always be teaching me more.

"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn."
  - C.S. Lewis