Life out here

So... I love Montana. Did I mention that before? I haven't been this excited about a "place" in a long time. I am seriously asking Mike to think about this place as a possible place to call home in 5-6 years after I finish residency. Of course, a lot could change in that 5-6 years.

My rotation is going well. I am in the middle of my 3rd week of this 6 week rotation. I am getting a lot of suture time in! :) It is pretty cool.

I am getting more and more nervous about choosing a specialty. A lot of doctors say that I don't need to know yet, which is true... I just need to know by March-ish. Below are the many things that have crossed my mind:

Internal Medicine
Pediatrics
Pediatric Cardiology
Cardiology
Orthopedic Surgery
Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery
OB/GYN
Family Medicine (ONLY if in a small area like Whitefish, big city Family Medicine is stupid)

These aren't really in any specific order. The sad thing about all of this is that I have only done my Internal Medicine and part of the Family Medicine rotations. I won't even see Cardiology and Ortho until after I need to figure out what I am doing. The other thing to think about here is that these specialties are all over the map in terms of competitiveness. I would say that Peds is the "easiest" and Orthopedic Surgery is the hardest (and by hardest I mean that my Step 1 score may not be high enough for me to really feel comfy with my chances). Right now, in terms of lifestyle and specialty, Orthopedic Surgery would be my number one choice. The call schedule isn't too challenging (docs here take call by the week instead of day) and the pay-scale is pretty nice as well. I really want to be able to have a family and support the family well (not that I am discounting anything that Mike will be doing) without having to worry about missing a trillion dance recitals or soccer games.

I am just not sure what to do.

Whitefish, MT

Below is the link to my flickr account with photos of Whitefish. There aren't that many, but I think they are fun! :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j1h03hna/sets/72157607910483786/

Oh the frustrations!

I absolutely love Family Medicine! Just not in big cities.

Argh!

Anyways...

"Things" out here are going well for me. A few patients have said that I seemed better than other medical students they have run into in the clinic. It isn't that I necessarily want to compete with my classmates, but it is nice to hear compliments from people that have worked with other medical students and not just myself. The doctors seem to like me as well.

I still sometimes get that feeling that people will recognize me for who I am and realize that I am a fraud. I wonder when (if?) that feeling will ever decide to leave? Maybe it is good that I have it though; it keeps me honest and keeps my head at a size that my neck can support.

I love working with kids. :) It is so much fun! I have seen quite a few kid things in my first week here: a highly competitive teenage boy be told he can't compete in a tournament over the weekend because of a recently sustained concussion, a boy who came in with a 2 year limp (yeah, they were right on top of things) who ended up having SCFE, a baby that fell down a flight of stairs but WAS COMPLETELY FINE, and a bunch of other things.

I am also missing Mike a ton right now. All of a sudden, spending $280 for a weekend trip to fly back to Seattle isn't seeming too expensive.

Oh, and I haven't uploaded pics of this place because the internet connection is super slow... I don't feel like dealing with it.