Go together well

{Dad, third from right, breaking ground at the site of his clinic, ~1987.} On June 24, I graduated from family medicine residency and became the fourth family physician/general practitioner in three generations of Dorwarts. A week later, on July 1, our family gathered in Sidney, Nebraska, to celebrate my dad's retirement after 35 years as a family physician there. I couldn't be prouder of the work my dad has done throughout his career, his dedication to our hometown, his persistence through difficult times, and his unwavering insistence on doing the right thing even when it's not the easy thing. Even though I considered forays into surgery and gynecologic oncology (among other things), I am happy to have found my way to family medicine and to my father's footsteps. Although my dad worked long hours throughout my childhood, I never felt like I was missing out because I appreciated the importance of what he was doing. My perception was that he was spending his d...

I will blame residency for another lapse in posting! The days (and many of the nights...) have been full, and as I move from one rotation to the next, I am increasingly pleased with my match in family medicine. It is very fulfilling, though at times overwhelming, to be a witness to the full range of the human experience. I get to be the first person to hold a newborn baby, to support a family through the dying process, and to be there for people at every stage in between. There are daily reminders both of how difficult and of how great life can be. Every day is an adventure! A few updates:  After 30 fracture-free years, Chris has broken both his collarbone and his right thumb this year, on separate occasions... In spite of his fragility, he has had a great time working as a junior high teacher. I'm more than halfway done with residency, which is crazy! I was elected as a chief resident for next year. Tessie is still awesome. Vermont has been super cold but with great ...

{Lake Champlain sunset} The summer was busy, but I made it to my second year of residency! I'm enjoying an outpatient procedure month and working on a few different projects, including Health Care Shares  and a group working on expanding the number of people with advance directives . And Chris got a job teaching junior high at a Catholic school that's 10 minutes from our house! We've gone apple picking twice so far this fall, and we're looking forward to the fall colors. Although I spent most of my summer in the hospital, there were a few highlights: {a new niece! adorable Zoey Elizabeth} { Vermont Brew Fest } {visitors, hiking, and a concert  (with free ice cream )!}

{Family Medicine residents at American Flatbread } My intern year has flown by (to the point that I haven't had a single post since November )! I've managed to make it through 9 of 13 rotations so far: ER, labor & delivery, inpatient cardiology, NICU/newborn nursery, urgent care, inpatient family medicine, general surgery, outpatient pediatrics, and inpatient pediatrics. Tomorrow, I'll start back on labor & delivery -- week 37 of my intern year (I'll be delivering babies conceived at around the time I started residency)!  The year has definitely been challenging, and I couldn't be more grateful to have the support of a fantastic group of residents  and attendings ! Wednesday was our spring retreat, and we got to spend the day doing yoga, eating pizza, and cross-country skiing -- I think I'll stick with the downhill (read: faster) version, but it was fun to try something new!   Match day is coming up very soon, and I'm looking forward to findi...

I finished up my L&D month with 20 deliveries*! And one of the chief residents told me that my cervical checks were "good all along," which was lovely to hear, although I do have my doubts as to the veracity of that statement. *or "I caught 20 babies"--some people get touchy about doctors/midwives saying, "I delivered a baby," because they want us to say, "I caught a baby." I just think it sounds weird to say "catch a baby"...so I don't say it. But in saying "I delivered," I am not implying that I somehow did more work than the mother. By no means! The mothers do all the work! I just don't want to start saying "catch babies," because it sounds weird and overly colloquial to me... I will miss the amazing  view of Burlington, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondacks from the labor and delivery lounge (most cardiology patients are a few floors down from the L&D floor...with a less impressive view). I can...

So...I made it through my first day in the emergency room. I arrived 45 minutes early (just to be safe), and the day went fairly well overall. Of course, I was far from perfect...I accidentally introduced myself as Michelle to the first few patients, occasionally forgot that I am allowed to make medical decisions (transferring a patient, giving medications, etc.)...and forgot my pager at home (so when the radiologist was attempting to reach me to tell me that the ultrasound I ordered to rule out a DVT [blood clot] had actually   ruled in a blood clot...I didn't respond, and he angrily called my attending. Oh well. At least I was obsessively checking the ultrasound result so that I had already known what he was paging to tell me! I hope that I managed everyone appropriately and that everyone I treated today is safely home and doing well. I can't believe that the first prescription I ever signed was for a narcotic, but...it was.  On the home front, we had our storage unit de...

The end of my "last weekend" before starting work is almost here...it continues to be surreal. Our living situation has continued to be somewhat transitory also: we stayed in a hotel Thursday and Friday nights so that our kind landlords could get moved out without an anxious black lab following their movers around (Tessie doesn't like when people pack and carry boxes around).  On Friday, the family medicine interns did a scavenger hunt of the hospital and clinic to learn our way around. I learned that the hospital (like most academic medical centers) is a maze of buildings of various ages connected by ad hoc hallways...so that should be an adventure! On Friday evening, Chris joined me for the "Hail & Farewell" ceremony at the Burlington Country Club . He got to meet my attendings and fellow residents, and we ate some delicious smoked salmon.  Yesterday, Shwu and Cam moved out of the townhouse. They had a couple of cleaning crews come by, and then Chris a...

Residency orientation started on Tuesday, and so far it has been very school-y: sitting in lecture halls, meeting all the other new residents, hearing about benefits and protocols and policies. I've gotten to meet all my fellow family medicine interns, and I think they're all going to be really great. Fletcher Allen  seems to be a very friendly place...and judging by the fact that our future landlords (a cardiology fellow and a hospitalist, both at Fletcher Allen) have let Tessie and me stay in their home for the past week and a half (while they are still there!), I think the friendliness is genuine.  {new ID badge...the baby rattle means that I am allowed to deliver babies (at least that's what I'm assuming)} I'm getting a little nervous about Monday, when I'll see my first patients as a "real" doctor in the Emergency Room. It is so surreal to see my new ID badge and to think about introducing myself as "Dr. Dorwart." Yikes! Shw...

I just got my rotation schedule for my first year of residency, and I started thinking...I'm going to be starting my first real job in less than two months! How am I going to look like a doctor?! My first rotation will be in the emergency department, followed by labor and delivery, followed by the critical care unit, so there's a good chance I'll be wearing glorified pajamas for the first three months of my first   real job as an adult--which is fine, except that unisex drawstring scrubs were not made for women who are over six feet tall. Even in cinched-up XXL's, I still look like I'm waiting for a flood... and I run a serious risk of losing my pants if I try to clip a pager on them... Somehow I thought I would reach a point in life where I would look (and feel)  like a real doctor/adult. That point has not yet come. But once we get settled and I get a few paychecks (yay for a real job!), I plan to act on my long-held fantasy of actually purchasing a few of the i...