That first post pretty much explains what happened with my health and diagnosis, however gives no insight into what else was going on with us around that time. I thought a little context might give a more full picture of what our lives were like around that time. I had just finished my third year of medical school and last written Medical Licensing Exam I'd have to take to graduate. Our beautiful little Pearl was born on May 24, the first Monday of my 3 week break in-between 3rd and 4th year. (It could not have been planned any better)
Mid-June I started my 4th year of med school with an OB/GYN rotation. This was a rotation that I needed to do well in since I was still considering it as a profession. It was a fairly stressfull rotation, but not as much so as the ENT surgery rotation that I did through July. ENT is a lot more competetive field and I had to be on the top of my game if I wanted to learn a lot, impress the residents and attendings, and receive good letters of recommendations. The hours were long and it was a rather strenuous month, but I did very well.
In August I started a rotation in anesthesiology, the last of the fields I was interested in and able to do a rotation for. This rotation was a little bit more laid back, which gave me the time to start working out as well as getting going on my residency application. Ultimately, I decided my family and I would find the best fit for us in the field of anesthesiology. It was a whirlwind getting all of my letters of recommendation and the rest of the application in on fairly short noticed, but I managed to get it all submitted in a timely manner.
This and the next several months were extremely complicated by the stress of Pearl's condition. She had developed a severe case of silent reflux, which robbed her mother and I of much needed sleep, not to mention changing her whole persona from such a happy, easy going baby to a very needy, fussy baby who gave her mother the worst time with eating. We love her more than anything, but that was a dark time. Seeing your baby wake up in the middle of the night screaming and not being able to calm her down for hours, then when she finally falls asleep only to awaken as soon as she is put down. Insanity thrives on such situations. Her mother is a saint! Because of my schedule, illness, and Brooke's love I was spared from much of the pain of those situations.
My load did lighten, which allowed me to help more with Pearl and get some much needed R&R (3rd and 4th year of school were strenuous at times). I took an anatomy course in Sept. that allowed me to finish quickly so we could take a trip to see Brooke's family in Utah. We had a great time seeing family, friends, and just relaxing. However, by the time we left my abdominal pain was almost at it's peak: keeping me up at night, affecting my appetite, and even bothering me to the point of needing ibuprofen during the day.
During October I had a rotation dedicated soley to tutoring medical underclassmen who needed some extra help. This was a good rotation to have since it was not all that time consuming and allowed me to seek the medical attention I needed without postponing any rotations. October also marked the beginning of interview season for residencies.
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