#i also feel like i havent fully woken up tbh which again used to only last an hour or two max

[natandacat]

Had sleep paralysis for the first time since getting long covid, and damn is there an interaction between sleep paralysis and chronic fatigue? Genuine question, I feel really weird even several hours later and I'm curious

[enchantedpendant]

internal medicine

nearly 2 weeks ago now i finished my IM rotation. sure, it was only the second rotation i fully got through (bcs covid and all that)... but tbh, it already seems like the best. i have a few reasons for that.

the first thing would be how i, at this point, am actually most interested in IM as a specialty, as in i actually do wanna become an internist. i even have a subspecialty in mind — endocrinology! and for this i think i’d have to give a shoutout, with utmost respect, to one professor, an endocrinologist who gave several classes back in preclinical. he was just... very smart, which of course not that im saying others aren’t as smart, but his teaching method is just very effective. his classes were among the few which i’d actively take notes for, thats how invested i get. he was probably the first one that got me thinking “huh... IM seems interesting” when for years before that i thought i wanted to be an OBGYN.

aside from that wonderful teacher, allow me to elaborate more on what i like from IM. all the complex cases with long lists of comorbidities that some would complain about? listen, i love them. not in the sense of “oh theyre easy”, obviously theyre complicated and difficult, but like thats the fun! everything connects and the discussions could become endless. it might sound pessimistic when i say that somehow it would feel like no matter how much i study there would always be something i dont know, something others would know better about... but i dont mind that — the things to learn about are endless. IM is vast, dare i say it’s a large portion of medicine. the patients we come across are extremely varying. i love how these complex cases could feel like giant puzzles. i love how you get to work with other specialties or maybe even subspecialties among the internists for each cases — i love how its like a team game. and the workload feels like it hits a perfect balance — as in, i get to ‘directly’ save lives (hopefully... i mean, dealing with possibly mortal cases could be scary but also very rewarding), but on the other hand the chances of being forcibly woken up at 3AM for an emergency are far less (than, lets say, the surgical specialties... im sorry OBGYN).

last but absolutely not the least, i would like to say thank you to my preceptor throughout this 9 weeks rotation. the coolest dude ive ever known. my senior in junior high and senior high (10 years my senior, to be exact), the dude who went through the same trajectory through school as i did (started school at 5, skipped 2 years, got into med school at age 15)... ive heard a LOT about him (“OH you started med school at age 15? youre just like Alex then!!” i get that from nearly everyone yes his name is also Alex) but this was the very first time i actually got to interact with him. dude’s so smart, he became an internist at age 27 bruh holy shit dude what the hell and he could really teach. dude treated us coffee on our first and last meeting, greeted us on Whatsapp with “gang”... believe me when i say that we were truly shocked bcs... nah mates attendings just dont do that😭 i could go on and on about him, ive bored my mom by talking endlessly about him lmao all on how cool he is, but i’ll spare yall on that. he told us a story on how he decided to become an internist (after initially wanting to become an OBGYN!) and his story made me go... hey.... yeah i could relate to that. i sent him a message earlier today, a nice lil thank you and that im really happy to have him as my preceptor and i hope i could be just like him within the next 10 years. he responded along the lines of “awww! i hope our discussions were helpful, i wish we couldve had more but too bad we dont have enough time😞 see you on top, doc! ideally you dont need 10 years, you have lots of potential👍” which deadass i sent my mom the screenshot of it and i said “look at him and these white lies hdjskdjsksks omg how do i respond” i havent even opened the messages bcs idk what to say🥺😭 tl;dr knowing him has been very inspiring and i feel like ive learned a lot, more than just in an academic sense. i dont get all inspired and motivated often... but he did that.

okay yeah this post is long enough, ive said plenty i think! lol but i think IM deserves this.

imma rate Internal Medicine 9/10... the only 1 its losing is bcs i wish i had spent less time napping etc etc and spent even more time studying😭 like i still couldve done more i think😕 and like holy shit this is wild yall you dont often get to see me retrospectively wishing i studied more and of course with covid and all, we had no night shifts, we were discouraged from doing certain invasive interventions to the patients, so we still werent getting the Full Experience™ you see... but oh well

thank you IM (and doctor Alex!) — i hope i’ll see yall again☺️