Hellooooo, anybody there?! If you’re reading this, I commend you. It has been over a year (wow!) since I’ve blogged on here. Yikes. So many updates, but I’ll start with the biggest one:

I am in my FINAL year of medical school.

Wow! Legit. Final. 4th year. Best year. As in I’m bout to be DONE in a few months. Scratch that, I am about to be someone’s DOCTOR, a full MD in 261 days. Maaaaaaan, that is wild.

If you’ve been following my blog since 2014 when I stopped being anonymous, or even 2013, when I started it, you know how huge this is. This journey has been looooong. Filled with so many curve balls, lots of triumphs, and obstacles, but I’m here. We’re here. Almost at the finish line…

Mama I made it!!!

Almost.

Right now I’m in the middle of my residency application season. Which leads me to my other big update: the specialty I’m going into.

I’ve pondered for years what specialty I would end up in. I even wrote a blog post about it back in 2014. I started medical school being open minded, but quickly found myself gravitating towards procedural based specialties. I shadowed in different surgical specialties during my first two years – ophthalmology, general surgery, urology, obgyn, orthopedic surgery…I mean I was trying to get as much exposure as possible (see my blog post here). But ultimately I didn’t find the best specialty for me until third year. And even more interesting, it was one I never would have thought – funny how life works uh? So not to delay any further, the specialty I’m going into is….

Drum roll….

Anesthesiology!

And I am so pumped about it. I found a specialty that fits me – my interests, skills, personality, AND has the most awesome people in it. Forreal. I plan on writing a blog post on how I decided on anesthesia, because y’all that was definitely a curve ball I didn’t see coming. But I’m glad things worked out how they did, and I got exposed to this field, fell in love, and well, now the rest is history.

I mean present. I still have to submit my ERAS application (electronic residency application service). This process is just like applying for medical school all over again. Similarly, it’s writing a personal statement, having those letters of recommendations, filling in the application with my work and research experiences, you know the whole shebang. Except now there’s more at stake.

I need a J-O-B.

This will be my first “doctor job” and where I’ll spend the next 4 years training as an anesthesiologist. I hope to blog the whole process similar to my medical school application journey, so please comment, interact and hold me to it. This season I’m in is exciting, truly. I am expectant, ready for this next phase in my life, ready to reap the harvest and fruits of my labor; I mean I am just READY.

In the words of Beyoncé, “It’s time already, shine already.” When I first heard this song, the first thing that came to mind was this medical school journey and getting ready to apply to residency, interview at places, and MATCH at my dream program. It’s time already, and shine I must!

Till next time folks!