5 pair of hose, 4 interviews, 3 hotels, 2 black shoes and 1 match

This week I have bought: 5 pairs of nude hose, two pair of knee highs, one leather portfolio holder, travel sized shampoo, conditioner, lotion....Sigh. I hate Carms!

Do you know how difficult it is to fit everything an eczemic needs for skin care, plus the standard hair care and make items that are liquid into:
All containers not to be larger than 100ml, and all containers must fit into a 1L clear ziploc plastic bag that can be sealed

Those are the security measures that must be complied with to take things carry-on. I decided it was worth the effort, so that I can know the wearabouts of my luggage at all times! Next week would be a really really BAD time to have lost luggage!

And now for Interview Practice Questions... Please feel free to post what you think are good anzwers to the following old interview questions (most of these questions I think are ridiculous, but they are actually old interview questions!):
1) Teach me something non-medical in the next five minutes
2) Tell me a joke
3) What would you do if you were the medical student on the team at at a code you saw the senior resident slip a vial of fentanyl (a potent narcotic) into their labcoat pocket?
4)How would you react if you were faced with reviewing an admission while on-call with a senior who had a hint/smell of alcohol to his breath?

Finished General Surgery

I am officially finished my general surgery rotation! I still will have to do my surgery exams after my surgical selectives, but no more waking up at 5:30 to be at the hospital for rounds!

And, the most exciting of all--no more call as a JURSI!!!! I dont have call for the remainder of my rotations, so the next time I will have call will be in July as a first year resident. It will be SOO nice to be a little more normal for a few months.

As of today "interview" time has officially started. I am now a little nervous, it seems more real. Tomorrow we are packing up our suitcases and heading off to Saskatoon. I have one week to buy last minute travel sized supplies and to prepare my answers to interview questions. It always seemed so far off in the distance, interviews, and now they are here! I cant wait until they are over!!! By the afternoon of February 12 I will be finished the interview process, and I think that will be a really great feeling. I seriously cant wait for interviews to be finished. Its like a really bad exam week, where the only way out it to get through it, one day at a time, and one morning you wake up on the other side.

Please pray for Eddie and I that we interview well, have favor with program directors and that we match to exactly where God wants us to be next year!

I will keep you posted!

Overwhelmed

Today I feel overwhelmed. I have felt this way enough times before throughout JURSI to know not to let this feeling consume me, enough to know it too will pass. Nonetheless, today I am overwhelmed.

As I reflect back over the year I see a strong correlation between the rotations where I am sleep deprived and the rotations where I am overwhelmed. Obstetrics, ID, and now Surgery.

Somehow by the grace of God I will get the things I need to get done done, but today I cant even remember basic things that I used to know off the top of my head. Somedays I feel like I my brains ooze out my ears in my sleep.

Nine more days of general surgery to go....

The pre-interview scene

So we are officially into the next phase of the long drawn out process that is applying for residency positions for next year. Eddie and I both got several invitations to come for interviews--he got 8 and I got 7, but we only have a few invitations in common cities, so that is where we will be interviewing. So now rather than "we could end up in any of the major cities in Canada", the number of places we could be next year is: four. And they are in no particular order:
Halifax, St John's, Montreal and Saskatoon. There is still a minor possibility that we may get to interview in Winnipeg, but that is slim--one of us is on the wait list for an interview spot there.

It was really strange the way it shaped up---there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which school offered us interviews. Yet, I am happy with my schedule, I have all my interviews in a week, with one day between each to travel between the cities. Eddie's schedule is tougher, he does them all one day after another, so he is travelling and interviewing everyday without a break.

So we will see what happens!

Surgery

Well I am back in the saddle, in a manner of speaking. This week I started my general surgery rotation. This is definitely coming back from vacation with full steam ahead! I am enjoying that the surgeons keep me busy, and are willing to teach as we plow through the day, this much is good. Man oh man though, I am NOT built to be a surgeon! I am at the hospital by 6:20am and havent left until 6pm so far this week, and after standing in the operating room for a four hour case I was almost dead! Who knew standing perfectly still being a human retractor would be so tiring?!

Ah well, its only four weeks, and I will be able to do it for four weeks, and hopefully learn something while doing it!

And we have new JURSIs, yay! The third year class had their induction, er rather orientation, to being JURSIs this week, and as of Monday they will be on the wards with us. Its always nice to have more bodies to distribute the work load on, and fresh blood will be appreciated --its good for moral. Tim and Erin just moved here as well because Tim is a new JURSI, so I am excited to hang out with them more often.

Thats all for now, I am going to go try to catch up on some sleep after a night of open bellies and holding intestines in my hands.