PGY 2 Reflections

So it’s officially August, which means we’re EIGHT months into 2021 (how did that even happen though???) One of my New Year's Resolutions was to update this blog at least every month (lol), but hey - better late than never, right? 

Keeping on trend with my procrastinator habits, I had a brief recap of my PGY2 year that I wrote a month ago and am finally getting around to sharing. For background, I started writing residency letters to myself on June 30, 2019, the eve before starting residency. I figured that by the time I finally (inshallah) graduate in 2026, I’ll have some mementos to look back on, to see my fears my doubts my accomplishments my dreams along the way and to see how far I’ve come. While those reflections are immensely personal in nature and not up for perusal, I figured I’d share some other tidbits about year 2/7 of neurosurgery residency. Enjoy!

329 - OR cases/ procedures I did this year

93 - number of 24-hour call shifts I took

90 - average number of minutes I’d sleep on call

90 - number of post call days I made plans anyways

11 - new grey hairs I found

1500 - dollars spent at hospital cafeterias

500 - dollars of the previous that were spent on breakfast potatoes, probably

3 - times I actually cooked dinner for myself

33 - pens I’ve “borrowed” from med students

0 - pens I’ve returned to med students

5 - times I accidentally picked up my personal phone and instinctively answered “Neurosurgery”

2 - times I’ve cried in the hospital 

6 - patients I pronounced dead

1 - time we moved to a new hospital

1 - time it took for me to pass USMLE Step 3 

0 - number of times I passed the in-training ABNS neurosurgery board whoops

12 - new pairs of shoes I bought

1 - new pairs of shoes I bought for hospital wear

7 - times i’ve actually sat down and cavi wiped blood off of my hospital shoes

4 - number of SLU Patagonias I now own

2 - white people weddings I went to! (my first, ever)

6 - dates I went on with new people

2 - heartbreaks had (one romantic and one friendship)

3 - times I was able to go home to see my family

2 - vacations I was able to go on (after March 2020 though)

200 - number of N95 masks I went through

4 - number of times I thought I legitimately had COVID

0 - number of times I actually had it, alhamdulillah

2 - COVID vaccines injected into my left deltoid

5 - years I have left of residency, let’s goooo