What a month it has been. It was quite a shock to me when I stepped into the hospital around 6:35 thinking I was starting my primary care rotation but I couldn't find anyone. I bumped into one of my classmates and he asked me if I was excited to start internal medicine. I laughed and said I was on primary care. He stared at me confused and then asked if I had gotten the email because I was on his team for internal medicine starting that moment. I panicked inside. I checked my schedule and sure enough, I was on internal med. Luckily, I had showed up early enough that I could get the required reading done before we started. I was very confused that I hadn't received the email too. I later found out it had been sent out to a different Hausmann.
We hit the ground running. Internal medicine is a notoriously difficult rotation because of the tough cases, long hours, and lots of paperwork. For the first week, I think I came home crying most days. Mostly from being over tired and hungry. We really didn't have time to eat most days. I would eat in the morning during rounds and then I wouldn't eat again until I got home closer to 9pm. Drew was amazing and had dinner ready every night when I got home. One night we had steak and sushi, the next was filet mignon and asparagus and on and on with wonderful meals to fill me up before I crashed in bed. It was like this the entire first week of the rotation. I was learning a ton though. I got to even scrub in on a liver biopsy procedure! Drew and I ventured out after I discharged my patient to the Art on the Square. It was great to get out and do something fun together after a super stressful week!
The following week was a little less crazy. I was able to get home earlier and get a bit more rest. I ended up having to work through the following weekend as well but I did get part of Saturday night off to have a mission trip reunion! I was great to catch up with friends from my mission trip two years ago and meet new friends that were on prior trips.
After two whole weeks, I was done with internal medicine. I learned so much more than I thought I could in two weeks, but I was relieved to have a change of pace. I began my shelter medicine rotation! I woke up that Monday morning feeling a bit tired than usual. I attributed it to coming off of internal med and not being able to really catch up on sleep. As Monday continued on, I continued to feel worse and worse and I realized I was running a fever. I pushed through it and worked with my classmates to examine shelter cats and dogs that were having diarrhea or eye issues. By the time I got home, I was running a 102 fever and my lymph nodes were swollen. I, of course, just took some ibuprofen and went to sleep thinking I could sleep it off. I continued to feel terrible the next day, but I pushed through because I was at the wildlife center helping with animals they were admitting and rehabilitating. It was super hands on and I loved every minute of it. In the afternoon, we examined more kittens! There were so many kittens! When I got home on Tuesday, I immediately got into bed. I woke up around 7 in terrible pain. I decided to go look at my throat in the mirror and as soon as I did I went to urgent care. I knew I had strep throat. The NP even said my throat looked awful. Relieved to have a diagnosis and a prescription for antibiotics, I thought I was out of the woods. The next day, we went with Pets for Life to treat and examine animals for free in the poorest zip code in Milwaukee. It was a great experience! All of the people we met were so grateful and excited to have us come and take care of the animals that were such an integral part of their life. We couldn't do everything, but the little we could do meant the world to the animal and their human.
Even after a couple of doses of antibiotics over the next two days, I was still feeling awful. I was pushing through it so I wouldn't have to drop out of the rotation, but I was not performing anywhere close to 100%. I went back to urgent care to get a new antibiotic. I started to feel better Friday, so Drew and I decided to set up a double date with Emil and Ashley. We went to a pizzeria across from the Wisconsin Brewing Company. It was a great night with lots of food, beer, and laughter!
I had to work at the shelter over the weekend, but luckily it was shorter hours so I could catch up on rest. I think Drew enjoyed it too because he would come visit the shelter and see all the animals while I was finishing up paperwork in the back. I ended up sleeping most of the weekend when I wasn't working. Luckily, I finally felt like myself by Monday. By the second week at the shelter, my classmates and I were getting very good at neutering kittens and puppies, doing targeted exams, and writing up cases and treatments. This gave us more time to cuddle puppies and kittens (social enrichment for both the animals and us). Some people think that vets get to cuddle cute animals all day but we really don't. So the days when we can cuddle cute puppies and kittens we cherish every moment. It was good that my following rotation was away from Madison because I would have brought at least one kitten home.
During the week nights, I was making an effort to catch up with friends. My next rotation was at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. This left me little time to pack, so I scrambled to do that Friday evening before I drove home to New Berlin to switch cars. I got to spend the night with my mom and sister. It was nice to be home and relax even if it was only for 8 hours. I hadn't had a full 24 hours off of any on call or patient duties for 6 weeks. The problem with relaxing is you really find out how tired you are. I was super energized from everything I had been learning but the lack of rest had caught up with me. I was so grateful that Drew had arranged his travel plans so that he could road trip with me down to Atlanta. He and I took off Saturday morning after a breakfast of state fair cream puffs and coffee. We switched off driving until we got to Nashville. We had plans to go downtown to get dinner and listen to music, but when we got there it was raining and we were exhausted. We ended up going to a BBQ restaurant just down the street from the hotel. IT WAS AMAZING!!! We weren't super hungry so we only ordered an appetizer and a main dish. It was enough food for 6. We ate ourselves basically to sleep.
Atlanta was only 4 hours from Nashville. Having Drew in the car made the time go by so much faster. We were also listening to an audiobook which kept us entertained. We stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs and get a picture.
We made it to Atlanta in the late afternoon. Drew was craving pizza, so we headed down by the aquarium to grab pizza from Max's. It was really good pizza. We got our bearings of the downtown area before I dropped him off at his hotel. He flew to Costa Rica the next day while I started my externship at the Georgia Aquarium. I got settled in at the home I am staying at while I am here. I was greeted by 3 purrifect cats, so I felt right at home before my big first day.
I have now been at the Georgia Aquarium for almost a week! It has flown by! Everyone is incredibly kind and great teachers. I am learning so much from the techs, vets, and animal caretakers/ trainers. I can't go into detail about the cases I am seeing, but I can share photos from the public side of the aquarium. The great ocean tank (Ocean Voyager) is absolutely breathtaking. I was so proud of myself that I didn't cry in front of the tech when she took me to go see it for the first time. Stay tuned for the next post with all the animal pictures!
