Happy Holidays!

Hi Everyone,
I apologize for the delay in this post. I wanted to thank everyone who was praying for me and for everything to work out at the University of Washington. God is so good. As I had said before they were telling me it would take 4-6 weeks to prove my residency status, well two weeks later I received an email saying I had been approved as a Washington state resident! In the meantime, they had also decided that my school's malpractice insurance would work until everything was cleared on the UW side if the residency status had been delayed. Thank you, Jesus, and thanks again to everyone who helped me with this process.

After that headache was behind me, I was able to start my first elective at the UW. It was in Pediatric Genetics at Seattle Children's Hospital. The variety of patients I had the privilege of observing was amazing. I had read about most of the diseases, but didn't actually expect to see any of them and there were even a few I had never heard of! The staff was extremely welcoming and I learned a lot. It gave me a new found admiration for Geneticists as well as Biochemistry as a clinical profession. Their ability to notice the slightest details and recognize a disorder or syndrome from them is phenomenal.

Then came Harborview ER. I had been looking forward to this particular elective for quite some time. I knew that it would be hard work, but I also knew that Harborview was known for it's ER since it is the only Trauma 1 center in 5 states. The hours were long and I felt like all I had time to do was eat and sleep, but it was worth it. I was exhausted by the end, but I definitely learned a lot and enjoyed all of the people I worked with. I guess it's a normal thing for Seattle, but I had never been allowed to call an attending by their first name before and at both Children's and Harborview that was the norm. It may not seem like a big deal, but feeling as though you are truly part of the medical team and not an outsider means a lot.

As an added benefit, I discovered that the UW is attempting to start a residency program in ER, so the fact that I was there during this pivotal time was nothing short of a miracle. I was able to interview for their inaugural class! We'll see what happens. At this point, I'm just trusting God to show me where I am supposed to be in the future and what I'm supposed to be doing. If I am supposed to do ER, the fact that it's now available in Seattle is truly a blessing.

I've also gone on a few Med/Peds interviews and have really enjoyed them. I have my next one on Monday in Lexington, KY and will fly onto Shreveport, LA from there. I currently have 14 interviews all over the country, but will probably cancel two of them since I'm not really interested in going to those areas. As you can tell this is a very busy time for me and I have a lot of hard decisions that will need to be made soon. Please keep me in your prayers. I truly want to do God's will.

On a side note, I was supposed to graduate on November 30, 2010 but because Ross did not receive my evaluations in time that has been delayed. I spoke with both departments at the UW today and that should be taken care of now, so hopefully I'll hear good news on Monday :o) God bless you all and I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful holiday season!