790 DAYS

Yup, I spent 790 days being a student at UTMB. Granted, my adventure started before that with my application and interview. Remember how I didn't even wear a suit like everyone else? I threw on slacks and a sweater, and pulled my hair back because it was frizzy and awful. I fussed about having to drive through Houston, fussed about the humidity and rain, and said that UTMB was probably not going to be my first pick. Well, God had a little something else in mind. How about "quit your whining, see that this school is great for you, and take this opportunity...and TRUST me." So I did. I got the email a day or two after my interview, and hit the ceiling with excitement because I was actually being given this amazing opportunity. My dreams very well could have been squashed at that moment because little did I know, I wasn't going to get into any of the other schools I applied to. It was a huge leap of faith for me and Ryan to uproot yet again and move off for my school. No jobs, no friends, absolutely nothing secure or familiar at all. Everything we knew about our lives would change...except 2 things: our little family is just the way it was when we left, though maybe a little brattier; and I still have my little tank of a car. You realize I've had that car longer than I've had Ryan, right? :) They are both troopers.
So you can go back and read my posts for the details, but here's the summary: we moved in classic "Lauren" fashion with a little chaos on the side. I dove in head first...and was quickly overwhelmed. We made new friends, Ryan got a new job. I got more overwhelmed. This was the first time I've relied on financial aid, so more unfamiliar territory and less control...and I was more overwhelmed. Andrew and Kelly got married, Layla visited. I was still overwhelmed, but a little blissfully happy. I saw my first "real" patients, and that reminded me why I was here, and I really felt happy again...until I went back to class and got overwhelmed again. With a whole lot less sleep, I managed to survive the first semester. Then, Grandma Hill passed away after her grueling battle with breast cancer. My break and Christmas kinda sucked. But even at wit's end, she managed to do me a favor. She waited for me, waited until I got there so I could hold her hand and tell her how much I loved her one more time. My last final was on Friday, we drove up over the weekend, and she passed on Tuesday. I know she's up in heaven dancing, cooking, and probably telling God and all the other angels what to do. She always laughed so hard at my craziness, my obscurities, my chaos...so I can't help but smile and laugh when I get myself into shennanigans.
We'd better move on...second semester was a little better. I got a new computer! I got it after I passed first semester, almost as a reward. Yall remember my Fujitsu laptop, the one that I'd had for about 6 years! When the battery life was 20 minutes and you had to hold the charger in just the right place for it to work, it was time to get something a little more conducive to PA school. So I caved and 1-spent the money on a new laptop, and 2-joined the Apple/Mac world. And I admit, this thing has been pretty awesome! The work load of second semester was different and not as difficult in some ways, but still very challenging. Ryan got another new job because the other one sucked. I started coming back around to the real world. Great Syndromes (a class) in late spring was...interesting. I only had class a day or two each week, and the meetings really weren't all too bad. But the Exam was plain awful! The class and meetings are with med students, so the exam is more their style than ours. I wasn't expecting that! I had just studied the wrong way, I guess. I still fared better than some others and I came out unscathed, so I count my blessings and move on! So from start in August 2010 til now (April 2011-ish) was 8 or 9 months.
Now, it's time to shift gears...thank goodness! Now, we start to prepare for clinicals and start our research projects. Do that for about a month, then head out for a year of clinical rotations! New clinic/preceptor/specialty every 4 weeks and either a paper, presentation or a test for each month. I've been everywhere from Texas City to Houston to Anahuac, then to Dallas and Nacogdoches. I've been in clinic, ER, and surgery. Specialties from primary care and pediatrics to orthopedic oncology surgery then to delivering babies in OBGYN. We moved out of our apartment and into a house with roommates, and Ryan got yet another job...in DFW! Yes! The shift back home has begun! We tried to expand our family with a little orange puff of a kitten named Cheeto, but he passed away after 11 days which was just wretched on our whole family. My favorite picture of him is still where all one-pound of him is set upright on his hind legs with arms spread wide, about to pounce Maverick, the 100-pound guard dog. That little guy had so much personality and spunk, but was also still such a lovebug. I haven't heard a purr like that since Tig was a kitten. And more tears... Ok, then we had Thanksgiving at the house which was a first for me! Ryan and I visited San Francisco in December and it was awesome! Christmas was better this year. I entered the last half of rotations, then my Grandma Baileys passed away. She had been living in a nursing home due to her dementia, but was otherwise pretty healthy, especially for 86 years old. It was still pretty unexpected and sudden. It's somewhat ironic that my next day on rotations after her funeral, I was delivering babies. Full circle kinda. But all the emotion just catches up with you, and I can't help but cry every time I do a delivery. Not quite sobbing, I've moved past that, but just a tear or two. OBGYN, pediatrics...and DONE. Yes, didactic year and clinical year are now complete and we are in June 2012. We work on our research projects, and being to study like madmen for boards in November (medical boards, the single exam that gives us our certifications to practice or not...PANIC mode).
Research project poster presentations were yesterday, and I am officially Lauren Miller, MPAS. There have been some serious ups and downs, great friends made, and many lessons learned. In particular, I learned that I am stronger and more flexible than I ever thought. We have all grown and have been prepared to be AWESOME clinicians :)
Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. Thanks to my husband for enduring this with me and standing by my side. Thanks to UTMB for taking a chance on me and for the hard work it took to get me here today. And most importantly, thank you God for the opportunity and the journey. I am truly blessed!
But hey, it's not over yet! Boards are still in November, then there's that whole J-O-B thing. Plus, I ate at Pei Wei the other day, and my fortune cookie said I had yet another adventure in store...are you ready?!

THE HOME STRETCH

Less than a month until PANCE...EEK! Yup, the past 2+ (well, really 26) years of my life are about to be summed up in one 6-hour test. On that note, I will be hibernating/studying until November. Leave a pop-tart and some chocolate milk outside the door for me. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers (and Ryan...poor guy...). See ya then!

Oh ya, HAPPY PA WEEK! Go find a PA and tell them how awesome they are :)