Medicine & Manicures

Friday 5: Catching Up

It’s FALL, y’all! We have now entered my favorite season of the year and I have no shame in being “basic” with my plaid scarves, leggings, and PSLs… bring it on! Let me first apologize for the radio silence around here, but life has been a little crazy lately. Not a little… A LOT crazy!! This was a little unexpected week off from blogging and I have missed posting as well as reading everyone else’s posts so today’s five on Friday we’re playing a little game of catch up 🙂
One

I have officially moved back to Charlotte for good!! Cue the happy dance! Over the weekend I had to pack up my car with as much stuff as it could hold, and make the drive back to Charlotte… but for good this time!! Apart from a board review week and graduation week, I’m officially a full-time Charlotte resident again and it feels SO good. As y’all know, I’ve been dying to be back in one place but I will still miss my roommates- especially Sarah and our Grey’s Anatomy binges. Our goal is to get caught up with all the seasons by graduation.

Two

Along with packing and moving comes the dreaded… unpacking. It will be the death of me. Our place is still a mess (yes, even after a week… don’t judge me) so my mission for this weekend is to declutter and organize. We’re already working with limited space and let’s be honest… I come with a lot of baggage! Literally.

Three

I’ve started my 11th rotation in PA school, how crazy is that?!? I just finished my first week in dermatology and as you could probably guess… I LOVE it! I mean, I knew I would, but now I’m 100% sure I’d love a career in derm. I have THE best preceptor (who’s actually the PA that I see) and the offices are so nice. I love seeing all the different skin conditions and am already getting an eye for spotting bad moles and growths. Don’t forget to wear your SPF!!

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Four

Ryan & I are finally getting our engagement photos taken next Monday!! I feel like we’ve been engaged for quite a while now so it’s officially time to get some cute professional pictures and start picking out save-the-dates. You’d think I’d have something to wear by now… but I don’t. It’s stressing me out and I don’t know why. Oh and to add to that stress, the location where we were supposed to shoot called me and said they have a wedding that day so that’s out… and it’s supposed to rain. The thought of coordinating my photographer, hair, makeup, AND weather gives me a major headache. But still… I’m super excited and can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Five
Now that I’m officially 77 days away from graduation (woohoo!!!), it’s time to get serious about finding a job… and studying for the PANCE (the PA board exam). It’s still pretty early in the game to apply, but in a perfect world I’d like a job offer before I graduate. I’m open to practicing in several areas of medicine and am applying to everything that I can. Wish me luck in this process!
As for this weekend, I have a few plans but not anything major. We have had something going on every night this week so tonight, I’m ready for a date with my fiancé, our couch and the TV. I also have some exciting news to share with y’all next week but more on that later! Hope y’all have a fabulous Friday!
Linking with Amanda, April, & Karli.





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Mountain Weekend


Happy Monday, y’all!! Today starts the last week of my surgery rotation and I seriously feel like I just started. Not that I’m wishing my time away, but the end of this rotation means this is my last week living in Raleigh. I’ll be back for our board review week in October and for graduation week in December but as of next Monday, I’m officially in Charlotte for good!!! I have been looking forward to this day for soooo long. Anyways, I’m linking up with my girls Biana & Meghan so let’s jump right into my weekend recap 🙂











This weekend, Sarah and I hopped in the car and took a little 4 hour road trip to Black Mountain, NC. Our friend Randy’s parents have a timeshare in Montreat so a bunch of us took advantage of a fun little mountain getaway. It was much needed! 









We arrived just in time to enjoy some yummy food including hamburgers & hotdogs and one of the guys even made his very own mint chocolate chip ice cream cookie sandwiches. OMG they were sooooo good! We were going to go out the second night, but opted to relax instead and decided to order in. The pizza from My Father’s Pizza and it did not disappoint. 

















On Saturday, we went hiking on one of the nearby trails and then hung out by the rocks in the creek. It felt so good outside- the temps were in the low 60s (compared to high 80s in Raleigh) so we definitely embraced the beginning of fall. We even saw a few leaves starting to change!














We didn’t do anything too fancy- just hung out, ate lots of food, hiked, and played some games. A lot of games actually- Heads Up and Phrase Party sure made for a lot of laughs. Playing board games (or phone games these days) is something I always look forward to when traveling with a group of people. Before we left yesterday, Sarah & I stopped at the cutest little restaurant for brunch and it hit the spot… the French toast was on point!















Of course I’m sad that the weekend is over and I’ll be squeezing in some more surgeries and LOTS of studying this week since my end-of-rotation test is on Thursday. Hope y’all had a great weekend as well and thanks for stopping by 🙂









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Surgery: Life in the OR

Goooood Morning, Friday… it’s great to see ya! It has been a hot minute since I have done a rotation recap so today I thought I’d share some experiences from my general surgery rotation. We mostly do abdominal surgery, breast surgery, and also some excisions of skin masses. It has kept me busy but I’ve really enjoyed it so far! I like the variety of surgery (office time and OR time) as well as the procedures. Time has really flown by this month and I can’t believe I only have 4 days left!




On a typical morning, I will arrive at the hospital pretty early to pre-round on patients. Usually around 6:45 (yea, it’s rough). I see anyone that we’ve done surgery on that is still in the hospital as well as any new consults (if we’re on call). This means, for example, if someone comes through the ER for something like abdominal pain and the provider thinks it could possibly need surgery, then they request that a surgeon come down and evaluate the patient. Until my surgeon comes by (usually around lunchtime) they get to see me! After I read up on the patient’s chart and evaluate them, I prepare a little oral presentation that I give to my doctor to let her know their status.





3 days out of the week we do surgery… at least. I really like being in the OR and it’s cool to see how the surgical team works together like a well-oiled machine. It’s even better to see how quickly the patients can turn around after surgery and feel so much better. Here are some of the cases I’ve assisted on so far:





Laparoscopic cholecystectomy– Where we take out the gallbladder through the belly button (note: this is the most common surgery performed in the U.S.)





Laparoscopic appendectomy– Same as above but with the appendix.





Umbilical & inguinal hernia repairs– Basically when you get a little hole in your abdominal wall that looks like a bulge. We fix these so they won’t go on to become strangulated (when the bowel gets stuck and there’s loss of blood flow)… that could cause some real problems! 





Lumpectomy & sentinel node biopsy– Where we remove a lump/breast cancer tumor out of a breast and biopsy a lymph node to help stage the cancer and see how invasive it is.





Nissen fundoplication– This one’s a surgical treatment for people who have GERD (acid reflux) that has not been helped by medication. The top part of the stomach is wrapped around the esophagus and tightens that sphincter so they won’t have so much acid come back up.





Mass excisions– We’ve cut out lots of benign tumors, masses, and lipomas. Oh, and sebaceous cysts and abscesses of course!





Colonoscopies & EGD– Whether it’s screening or because a patient has symptoms, it’s always good to get a look inside the GI tract and see what’s going on. Colonoscopies are a great way to detect colon caner early or even prevent it by removing pre-cancerous polyps. Prevention is key!




One day this week I also got to hang out with a vascular surgeon and assist with some different types of surgeries. Let me just tell you, diabetes is a horrible thing. It’s sad to see how far it can progress to the point that people lose limbs. Take care of yourself now and always go for those yearly preventative physicals… and I’ll step off my soap box for now! 




Anyways, some of those surgeries included a below-the-knee amputation (I got to break the fibula… a little gory, I know), a skin graft (we took skin from the thigh to help a non-healing wound from diabetes), and a toe amputation. I also got to go on the floor and watch the surgeon put in a chest tube!


Me in the OR thinking about Grey’s Anatomy haha 🙂

After this I only have 2 rotations left… then graduation!! The end is in sight and it has been so fun sharing this journey with you guys. Thanks for reading along and have a great weekend 🙂
Linking with Amanda, April, & Karli.





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Fall Florals: Wear Now & Later

I take it everyone had a good Labor Day weekend?! Mine consisted of Grey’s, more Grey’s, trying out a new restaurant, a little shopping, a fun girls night, and some pool time. Sadly, we had to cancel yesterday’s beach trip because it was calling for rain… all day. I was sad I couldn’t squeeze in one more beach day but at least I was productive yesterday and have a short work week to look forward to 🙂
This weekend, I picked up this fun little floral dress from Nordstrom. Shout out to the juniors section!  The floral pattern caught my eye and I thought it would be the perfect easy dress for fall. It’s lightweight, flowy, and you can dress it up or dress it down. Note: Yes, I was sweating during some of these photos and it started drizzling so my hair suddenly turned to frizz BUT the good news is that we got out of there before the torrential downpour! Things could have gone south verryy quickly. Anyways, let’s take a look and see how to wear this dress two ways.
WEAR NOW…
I actually wore this look to meet some girlfriends for dinner this weekend. I think all my people in the south can agree that we’re in that weird time period when we’re over our summer clothes, but can’t bust out the sweaters quite yet. Cue the transitional pieces! I paired this dress with my go-to leopard clutch (pattern mixing for the win!) and finally busted out my new pointy suede heels. Y’all… they are seriously so comfortable. They have a slightly smaller heel (3″) and a pretty amazing footbed. I feel like I could walk in them for hours! 

Lush floral dress // Kendra Scott “Elle” earrings // Clare V clutch // Ivanka Trump suede heels
WEAR LATER… 
We’re talking transition so of course that means layering! Ps. This is when things were starting to get a little toasty haha. When the temps start to get a little cooler, this dress will be perfect underneath a boyfriend cardigan and a colorful scarf. Instead of heels, you can go with a riding boot (and tights when it gets really chilly). You could also opt for a crossbody bag instead of a clutch which dresses down the outfit, making it more cozy casual. I’m loving the fall florals and this dress will be on some serious repeat this season 🙂 
Lush floral dress // Rebecca Minkoff “Mini MAC” bag // Frye boots // similar scarf // LOFT cardigan
Am I the only one who struggles with what to wear during these weird weather times? What are your favorite transitional pieces? It has been in the high 80s here during the day and I am so ready for the low 70s… who’s with me? 






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Weekending: Last of August

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Ahh, Monday. Does anyone else have a relationship with their coffee like this girl, because I know I do (especially on these early mornings). I’m pretty sad that the weekend is over but it’s back to the grind and today marks the start of my 3rd week in general surgery. I can’t believe how fast the time is flying!! Also, tomorrow is September which means fall is just around the corner. PSL, anyone?? Anyways, let’s jump into today’s short & sweet weekend recap!







Ryan came to visit this weekend and this is probably the last time he’ll come to Raleigh until graduation, since my next 2 rotations are in Charlotte. I made reservations at Babylon because I had been telling Ryan about this place for quite some time and I knew Friday would be a great night to dine al fresco. The weather was absolutely perfect and so was the food! Highly recommend the lamb skewers. The night wasn’t complete until we went back home and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies 🙂









Saturday morning was spent having a big breakfast, lots of coffee, and doing some cleaning around the house. Super exciting… I know, but at least I got to spend it with my favorite person. Later, I attended a Southern Blog Society meet-up at Wendell Falls right outside of Raleigh. It was great to meet some more local NC bloggers and I’ll have more details on that in tomorrow’s post!






Saturday was also my friend Rachael’s birthday. Sarah, Ryan & I headed over to her house that night for celebrations with her friends and family. She and her boyfriend have the cutest little house with the best front porch, complete with a swing. We enjoyed lots of yummy food and even a light show with glow sticks- our friend Eric has mad skills!



He likes me, I swear

I wanted to say thank you again to everyone for all the sweet comments on last Friday’s post, Ryan & I could not be more excited to build our first home together! It’s funny how all of a sudden the wedding talk has shifted to house talk and I actually offered to go to Lowe’s yesterday to look at paint colors and closets. Who am I?!? Haha, it may take a while, but the home decor posts are coming!! Hope y’all enjoy this last day of August 🙂
Linking with Biana & Meghan.




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