On My Own

I've finished two weeks of my first real job. So much has happened, yet so much is the same. My life is a cliche.

I took my Infectious Diseases boards, which nearly killed me. I am not sure if I passed. It was extremely difficult, and I left there feeling like I missed more than I got right. That's a normal feeling, I know, but it's still unsettling. It's not the end of the world if I don't pass. It would be embarrassing and a pain to have to study again, but I could take it again next year. Needless to say, it would be much better if I didn't have to. I should know in the next 2 months.

The job has been good. I've realized that out-patient infectious diseases is much more difficult than in-patient ID. In the hospital, people are super sick, and you do your best to help them get through their infection. But, in the clinic, these people are, for the most part, pretty well. They might have a non-healing wound or a weird rash, but they can walk and talk. They want a diagnosis. They aren't just going to be happy to survive, like the patients who are in the hospital. Those patients don't need a name for their infection, they just want to live; for the most part, they do. So, out-patient ID has been unexpectedly challenging.

Most of my patients, so far, are general medicine patients. They have diabetes and arthritis. They need pap smears and colonoscopies. Those patients are not as interesting to me medically, but they are quite interesting people. I enjoy talking to them and hearing about their lives. I do wish I had more HIV patients. I have one set to come in next week, and I'm supposed to meet with the ladies at the health department about referring any new HIV patients to me. I have gotten a fair number of Hepatitis C patients, which has been good. I hope to get everything set up to do liver biopsies in the next few months. So, all in all, the last 2 weeks have gone pretty smoothly.

I have had some interesting patients. I hope to get diagnoses and then post about them soon. It's always more interesting when I can figure out what's going on.