“YoU LiGhT Up tHe RoOm”

Today we began the day by talking to our Tier IV mentor. Only one out of the two was here today, it was the amazing Kayla. She is super nice and always offers us great advice. We talked about clinical rotations and how they went for each of us. It is interesting to hear the different experiences we each had in the same rotations. For instance, Landon really enjoyed the slow aspect of his family medicine rotation, while I didn’t. I know that something a little more paced is something I would prefer working in long term. We also talked about highs and lows and of the tier so far and we mostly talked about the highs. The high for all of us was the time we get to spend with everyone. We all love each other so much and are really sad for the tier to be ending so soon.

Next we got in our great collaboration groups and got to work. Without disclosing too much for the other team to see, my group and I feel a lot better about where we are now with our points. We were hesitant to argue our side at first but after talking to Dr. Epright we solidified our points even more. We made a slides presentation and we were ready to talk to the other group an hour in. So we had a lot of extra time and we used it to get to know each other better. We talked about fraternities and sororities and then a lot of other random things.

After a yummy salad for lunch, we got back in our great collaboration groups but this time we were joined together with the opposing team. I honestly thought it was going to get very dramatic when each side was arguing their points. However, both teams argued their side in a very civil way while still getting the points across. My group and I already had a few compromises to start the discussion and luckily the other group was able to understand our points. We argued against physician-assisted death and one request we made for the other team to think about is the age limit. We wanted to raise the age restriction from 18 to older, and although it took a lot of convincing we eventually settled on the age being 25 years old in order to partake in physician assisted death. Another thing that took a lot of discussion is the requirement of psychiatry involvement. We all agreed on involving a psychiatrist when deciding the patient's capability, however, it was deciding on whether or not the patient should be required to follow up with the psychiatrist, and if so, then how often? We decided we would make it a requirement for physician-patient follow ups once every month (since physician assisted death is usually for those who are terminally ill with a 6 months prognosis).

After a very good discussion, we had another enjoyable talk. Dr. Enrique Urrea, a Parkinson's specialized neurologist, was really funny and enthusiastic. Neurology is the study that focuses on the brain and spinal cord, focusing on the central and peripheral nervous systems. One thing Dr. Urrea was asked when he was choosing to go into neurology was, “why would you want to offer nothing to the patients but painkillers?” However, this is not true whatsoever. Neurology is more than just prescribing painkillers; it's about improving patients’ quality of life. We saw a lot of before and afters of patients who suffer from Parkinsons and the apparent difference wasn’t just in the shakiness of their hands, it was in their overall new enjoyment of life. They looked a lot happier, more confident, and more independent. Although neurology is an extremely difficult field, I know it is also extremely rewarding to see your patient's quality of life improve tremendously.

Okay this last part made me want to SOB. In the best way possible, I wanted to sit in the corner and just cry because of how much these people mean to me. Okay that’s a little dramatic but we had a designated hour for writing notes to each other. I took it upon myself to write a note to every single person in the tier, even if they weren’t here today. I somehow finished writing everyone a note, including the interns, and delivered them with time to spare. This is because writing to these wonderful people was so incredibly easy. Thankfully, I feel like I have a genuine connection with almost every single person in this tier so I was able to either draw on from that or give them a word of encouragement. Because I had a few extra minutes, I decided to check the notes that were written to me. The way I was both laughing and crying at these notes made me really emotionally unstable. I was just walking around hugging everyone and felt gratitude I have never felt before. I was never the child that was seen growing up, whether that be in school, church, or even in my own house. So being in a place surrounded by people who notice me and push me to my fullest potential, is something that I will be impacted by forever. Again for the 100th time I am ending my Wix by bragging about how I get to spend my summer with the most amazing 43 people on earth all in one room. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! I also have the honor of being the graduation’s speaker and can not wait to brag some more about these people and about all that MedEx offers us.

Can't wait for tomorrow!!