Recap: Rotations

I have been meaning to post for awhile now. In fact, about 3 - 4 months. Either way, I have quite a bit to get caught up on. Brace yourself for tons of pics and short explanations. I will try to zip through my last 3 rotations, including two months of Family Med and one month of Surgery.

My two family med rounds were down in Midlothian. I shared the facility with another PA student. We would alternate weeks doing rounds at a local hospital.

Welcoming early mornings at St. Francis Hospital. This facility had marble everything, but then it contained casino carpet. Rumors were that the insides were originally chosen for a Las Vegas casino, but for whatever reason it all fell through. 

I believe I shared this on FB. A patient drew a smiley face on the bottom of a UA cup for us. Rather comical!

A few things I learned from family med: most people want a miracle pill for their busy, yet complacent lives.  Wait, did I say that?! Seriously, we only had a handful of individuals that were truly working on their pre diabetes, diabetes and cholesterol. Some patients told me to 'shut up' when I asked them about their smoking or eating habits. They wanted to go through the routine just to get their next prescription.

On the other hand, expect the unexpected!  You never know what d/o or disease you will see that day.  You absolutely have to be on your toes and have a good differential diagnoses prior to seeing the patient. Some of the interesting d/o I witnessed: Bell's Palsey, cellulitis, Angioedema and symptomatic hyperkalemia.

I feel that the biggest skill I took away from family med was how to properly write a SOAP note. Document, document and document.

Can't skip out on the vacations!  We hit up Philadelphia!

Anyone who is anyone will know this character and his great fictitious story. However, this fairy tale gives this city big hope and makes for a great movie! Of course, we then ran the same stairs Rocky courageously scaled.  

The Liberty Bell. What a great piece of history!

Statue of George Washington. And, of course Grace's goofy act! lol

This is Benjamin Franklin's grave site. There is a tradition, if you through a penny through the fence, onto his gravestone and it stays, you get good luck. A kind, elderly gentleman handed pennies to our girls. We then saw Betty Ross's place. 

After wrapping up Family Med and Philly, I started my never-ending hours of general/bariatric surgery rotation. 

Wait...Yes, a huge toilet. The picture doesn't do this justice. The seat is a double wide for the large-bottom patients. The largest individual I saw as a 28 year old who was 511 pounds! We ended up doing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and sleeve gastrectomy on her. 

This is a patch used to repair a hiatal hernia. 

This was my last case I scrubbed in on (I'm in the middle of the left.) This was an open cholecystectomy. I greatly enjoyed my surgery rotation. Though, I didn't sleep much. An average day was 14 - 15 hours spent at the hospital, not including the study time post hospital hours.  

I was able to practice my suturing, laparoscopic camera skills and staple wounds closed. Furthermore, 'pimping.' I was constantly asked medical questions by the residences, but I learned a ton this way. 

After 3 rotations and some testing we headed up VA beach: 

The Hurd Selfie!!!

We enjoyed the boardwalk to a certain extent. They charge to walk out on the pier! How lame is that?! Either way, we hit up the beach the next day. The beach always brings back memories of growing up in Cali!

This is my beautiful family! 

Now what? I'll fill you in on my peds rotation next time.  O, and I only have less than 4 months left in PA school!!!