Sunday, November 11, 2012
LAUREN MILLER, PA-C
That's right folks...I PASSED PANCE (boards)! I cannot express how happy I am or the satisfaction that comes with it. I am so thankful for your many thoughts and prayers, I definitely felt them. THANK YOU! #Blessed.
Friday, November 2, 2012
PA SCHOOL: CHECK!
And here's some of the proof...
Our awesome research group!
Melanie, Me, Holly (our mentor), Lindsay, Bailey, and Heather
Melanie, Me, Holly (our mentor), Lindsay, Bailey, and Heather
Of course there will be more adventure! There is always more adventure :)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
IT'S HAMMER TIME!
All right, I need you! Boards are on Saturday. In less than 48 hours, I will have completed what is essentially the most important test of my life. I need your prayers, your happy thoughts, your rain dances, your good JuJu...whatever it is you do, please send it my way! I would love to be able to tell you when I leave the testing center how it went, but apparently they think it's entertaining to see us suffer until they decide to release scores. It will likely be a few weeks before I know anything, and don't worry, you will for sure know if I passed! Everyone who sees me that day (and probably a few days following...) will be informed. Whether they know me or not. Quite frankly, whether they care or not :) LET'S DO THIS! Ok, confession time...I am actually kind-of excited about the test (and NO...I am not intoxicated or drugged up! I may have lost my marbles, but that's nothing new). I mean, this is what I've been working towards for how many years, right? Once I get this out of the way, I can finally do what God has been preparing me to do. I can share my joy, my passion, my knowledge, my gift. And that makes me very happy. It makes me smile knowing it's all so close and it makes me proud to look back and see what all I've accomplished to get here. I am so excited to find out how He will use me in the months and years to come, and passing this test is the beginning of it all. See? Now who couldn't help but be a little excited? Confession #2...I'm also super excited about having time to finally clean out and organize our giant storage unit that is packed to the gills. That thing has my OCD all kinds of messed up. Ok, that's enough confession time for now. Well, one more...confession #3...I think I've had too much Red Bull. :)
Saturday, October 20, 2012
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?!
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?!
Monday, October 8, 2012
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 :)
Friday, September 14, 2012
WHAT NOW?
Ok, I know I still have these 2 classes to finish and boards to take, but I'm already starting to think about what to do after the dust settles and I land a job. I've been working day in and day out for the past 2 years, if it all suddenly stops after boards/before work...I'll go nutty! Here's what has made the short list: cooking, running, and horses.
I have been compiling a cook book as I try new recipes. If you have awesome recipes and are willing to share, please send them my way! Yall know I'm domestically challenged, so I'm doing my best here. On that note, none of the recipes are terribly difficult, so it's been totally practical. It's been kinda fun...some days, it's also been really bad some days! lol If it picks up steam, I'll try to get them posted...hey, new blog idea!
And running. You know I love to run and always have. I'm thinking about stepping it up a notch and to start competing. Starting small with 5K and 10K races, maybe one or two a month, maybe each one to raise awareness for a different organization (i.e. American Cancer Society, Diabetes Foundation, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, etc.). I'm not sure I care to be a marathoner or do triathlons, but we'll see.
Horses...what?! Yes. I took lessons and had horses when I was little. My sister and I used to ride. I've always wanted to get back into it, and Layla has been a huge help. I'm considering getting into the equestrian world and trying out this jumping or cross country business. But first, we need a house with room to keep the horses, and I need a job so I can pay for the horses! Ryan has also expressed interest in riding, but I don't think he cares to compete. He would want to do trail riding-type stuff and camping. But he did mention doing some volunteer mounted patrol work, and that seems interesting!
So that's that...any other ideas?
I have been compiling a cook book as I try new recipes. If you have awesome recipes and are willing to share, please send them my way! Yall know I'm domestically challenged, so I'm doing my best here. On that note, none of the recipes are terribly difficult, so it's been totally practical. It's been kinda fun...some days, it's also been really bad some days! lol If it picks up steam, I'll try to get them posted...hey, new blog idea!
And running. You know I love to run and always have. I'm thinking about stepping it up a notch and to start competing. Starting small with 5K and 10K races, maybe one or two a month, maybe each one to raise awareness for a different organization (i.e. American Cancer Society, Diabetes Foundation, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, etc.). I'm not sure I care to be a marathoner or do triathlons, but we'll see.
Horses...what?! Yes. I took lessons and had horses when I was little. My sister and I used to ride. I've always wanted to get back into it, and Layla has been a huge help. I'm considering getting into the equestrian world and trying out this jumping or cross country business. But first, we need a house with room to keep the horses, and I need a job so I can pay for the horses! Ryan has also expressed interest in riding, but I don't think he cares to compete. He would want to do trail riding-type stuff and camping. But he did mention doing some volunteer mounted patrol work, and that seems interesting!
So that's that...any other ideas?
(PSEUDO)GRADUATION!
Well believe it or not, graduation day is actually here! Interviews were back in February 2010, and it has been a whirl wind since. I'm so glad I was led to this school and to this program; and I'm glad I/we had the faith to go for it! It wasn't easy uprooting (again), leaving a job I loved, asking Ryan to move, etc...not to mention the extreme workload and chaotic rotations. But looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way :) I cannot thank you enough to everyone that supported us along the way...your support means the world to us!
Now, you may ask why the title has the word "pseudo" in it. With good reason. Pseudo technically means false, and that is about accurate for our graduation. Yes, we invited friends and family, donned the cap and gown, etc and walked across the stage, but we haven't actually finished classes. We have 2 classes through October (a board review type class, and a class to wrap up Master's projects), then our official diplomas will be awarded in December. Odd, yes. I'm fully aware. And I should probably leave it at that before we get going on another soap box moment.
And on that note...PICTURES!!!
Me with chairman Dr Rahr. I love this photo because it reminds me that I've come full circle...he interviewed me back in 2010. Thanks for taking a chance on me!
The gang (minus Melanie): Rachel, Heather, Me, Lindsay, and Bailey
The Baileys Clan!
The Hubs <3
The Miller Clan!
We tracked down Melanie!
Me with Lindsay at dinner
Look, I'm graduating with my Master's degree!
This is as rowdy as we get...balloons.
Hey, aren't we official!?
Mel!
This is what happens when they give us hoods (i.e...capes!)
And yet another way to accessorize...
Me with Julie, our class President (And she's from Wisco!) She has done a fabulous job.
The Other Miller! Me and Ansley...we make Miller look GOOD! lol
We found Melanie, but lost Heather... It's like herding cats around here...
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