So…a friend from my Watson year (and beyond) recently commented on this blog and I realized that it still comes up when someone Google-searches me. I haven’t written here in quite a while (since October???!), and I thought that maybe this was a good time to resuscitate “Sirens and Lights,” especially as I’m finally going to be seeing patients as a “student doctor” rather than as an observer with a slightly more than passing knowledge of medicine (i.e. has slaved over cadavers and observed a handful of lumbar punctures while interviewing patients for studies)!
Here at PSU, we have the Student-Clinician Ceremony for incoming third year students to officially commence the clinical portion of their medical education. I have to admit that I was slightly dreading attending another ceremony in stiff white coats, but the ceremony turned out to be nice. In particular, one fourth year reflected on her experiences transitioning to third year. In the course of her speech (which was both funny and insightful), she commented on the degree of intimacy patients bestow (that’s not the right word…it’s been a long week) upon their physicians…and it reminded my of my pre-med days, and what brought me to medicine in the first place. I was a Psych major once upon a time, and always loved the idea of being able to not only share a window into others’ lives, but to be able to do it in a way that would be helpful to the other person–not just feed my love for hearing people’s stories! Her speech reminded me of that, and I found it reassuring to remember how much I love that feeling, particularly now amidst the all of the minor anxieties of debuting on the wards (which basically come down to (a) will I enjoy it? and (b) will I be good at it?, with the obvious overlaps in even those two questions).
The reason I’m writing this now is that I think I have a “new” use for this site, though in reality I suppose it’s a continuation of what I had meant to be doing during the Watson year; I want to use it as a way of documenting my patients’ stories. I realize this is tricky in terms of confidentiality and will do my best to respect those I meet as professionally as possible…we’ll see how it works out as I try out this new project.
P.S. Thanks to all of you who thought of me last month as I was studying for the boards*, including those of you who just thought of me randomly (despite not having seen me in over a year!!!)… I’m slowly catching up on emails and voicemails now (especially those ones for which I’m attempting to revive my Portuguese and French!), and it’s wonderful to realize how much support I have out there, good vibes from just about every continent (still missing Antarctica…someone move there just so I can get good luck emails and feel special ;)). In the end, the month was long and taxing, but also very gratifying having so much time to focus on what it is I need to be my best. It’s a rare opportunity, and I’m certain it’ll help out over this next crazy crazy year. Força (Portuguese for “strength/power/effort”) was my motto for boards time, and I think I’m going to maintain it through third year. 
*the “boards” usually refer to the first part of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam. There are three parts, the first of which is taken between second and third year of medical school.
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