Thank you, Madame L!

Everyone's favorite Bay Area-based skeinster, Madame L, has truly gone above and beyond in the Generosity and Hospitality department. Lady M would like to thank her for the surprise shipment of San Francisco-themed goodies -- she was delighted! And imagine my surprise to receive an honest-to-goodness congratulatory...singing telegram! I had no idea that such services still existed. Madame L, your thoughtfulness is charming and touching. Thank you, soon-to-be-neighbor.

¡Yendo a México!

So much going on these days. Last week: the Match. This week: preparations for a month-long clinical rotation in Veracruz, Mexico. Very exciting, especially since this will be under the auspices of my good friend Dr. R. I'll be staying with him and his wife, and Lady M will be joining us for a couple of weeks as well! I bought a camera in preparation, so get ready to see this blog flooded with amateurish pictures from the Gulf coast.

A wedding in Kabul

Major events for lots of folks in our extended blog family during these past few days. True to his recent scattered but largely unheeded clues, Tom did, in fact, get married this weekend! Congratulations to the happy couple, and I've gotta admit that Tom cleans up good....

And there was much rejoicing...

Lady M and I have been walking on air since finding out the Match results yesterday; I didn't anticipate how exciting all of this would be.

For those of you who like to read the notices in the paper the next day, the College of Medicine has the lowdown on this “strange mix of free will and predestination” featuring a shot of yours truly modeling the official Iowa Emergency Medicine Match Day jersey. Our very own Iowa City Press-Citizen also weighs in with an account of the proceedings. Finally, the UCSF-SFGH EM Residency Program has already posted pictures and bios of the inaugural intern class on their home page. (It's the first time that I've seen my name with those hard-earned initials after it -- even though it's still a few weeks premature).

Huge thanks to all of you for your support and good wishes this week and all along the trail. And keep watching this space -- there'll be a lot more news coming very soon....

Match results

I matched at the University of California, San Francisco!

Starting a new life

Tomorrow is the big day -- Match Day. In June of 1999 I sat down in a lecture hall for the first day of a freshman chemistry class. Since then I've spent nine years going to school (including several stretches when I had to drop out in order to earn money for more school). I gave up a whole other career, racked up enormous amounts of debt, endured endless hours of brain-busting studying, worked at various labs and institutes, competed with much younger and more energetic fellow students, moved halfway across the country to go to medical school, worked in hospitals and clinics around the state, experienced the sleep deprivation and occasional humiliations of being a medical student on the wards, shared intimate and dramatic life experiences with patients and colleagues, spent more time studying, traveled all over the country interviewing for residency positions, and learned what a trooper Lady M truly is. After all of this, tomorrow I find out where I'll do my residency. I'll still be a trainee but I'll finally be a doctor, and after all of this preparation I'll finally start to be the one responsible for my patients' care.

We start a new life in June and tomorrow we find out where it will take place.

Matched!

It's official -- I'm going to be an emergency medicine doctor. Today there was a meeting for all of the fourth-year students where we got our envelopes and I got the official news that I matched to a residency program. However, the small detail of where I will be a resident is a mystery that will have to wait until Thursday, when there will be another meeting and another envelope.

And the Oscar for Achievement in Closing Credits goes to...

...Michael Clayton.

Rear end

Lately I spend my days roaming the hospital as part of a white-coated, infection-fightin' posse. As the medical student, and thus junior member of the team, I generally walk at the back of the group, following those with more advanced training at a respectful distance. I am the caboose on the train of medicine.

Bugs & Drugs

My latest rotation is on the Infectious Disease consult service in the hospital. It's turning out to be a great experience -- fascinating cases (although sometimes a bit harrowing, since many of the patients are very, very sick), pleasant people to work with (something you can't always take for granted in medicine), and tons of information that will go straight to the bottom line next year in the ER.

However, next week is the Match, when we find out whether and where we get residency spots, so truth be told it's kind of hard for us fourth-years to think about much else these days....

Nobody expects the Spanish Armada!

Did anybody catch Cate Blanchett's latest turn as Elizabeth? It had one of my favorite lines from a recent screenplay. As the Spanish Armada approaches, Elizabeth's astrologer, John Dee, predicts the imminent fall of a great empire. Understandably, Elizabeth would like some details about precisely which empire he's talking about. However, Dee cannot say more, explaining that unfortunately "astrology is still more of an art than a science."

I once visited Hatfield House, where Elizabeth was briefly imprisoned. There's a great portrait of her there -- the "Rainbow Portrait" -- wearing a gown decorated with eyes and ears (because the queen sees all and hears all in her realm). Turns out that some of the film was shot there.