Hey there! Good to see you again, I missed ya! 😄
So I'm sure that by now, you've already noticed that there have been a “few” changes to the layout of the blog. Okay, a little more than a few; the blog looks completely different and I love it! 😊
It's been a long time coming though. Lol it's okay, you can admit it too. I actually wanted to change the layout a couple years ago but I just couldn't seem to find the “perfect” layout…so I just kept chugging along with what I had. But now that I've transitioned into a new phase in my medical journey, I figured that now was as good of a time as any to switch it up! It took FOR-FREAKIN'-EVER to find a layout that looked good with my content…but I finally found one that I really liked, which is the one that you are now seeing today. It definitely looks more sleek and professional than my old layout, and I'm finding that I like it more and more every time I come back to my blog. I hope that you like it too! And if you don't, well…..I don't know what to tell you. I guess you can share your feedback with me. I'll listen, nod and smile. And then the next time you come across my blog, you'll be greeted with this same layout. So you better get used to it. 🙃
Don't worry though, it'll eventually grow on you. Or you can copy and paste my posts into Word and read them from there. Or you can just stop coming to my blog. My feelings won't be hurt. Okay, maybe a little. But I know y'all wouldn't do that because y'all are my friends. ☺️
Okay let me stop blabbing. Honestly, I'm really just happy to be here typing up another post and sharing some life updates with you all; it has been forever since my last post! Three weeks may not seem like a long time to you, but because I usually post on a consistent basis, it felt like almost an eternity to me. My eagerness to get back to blogging definitely surprised me. 😅
Quite a bit has occurred in my life since my last post. When I talked with you last, I had just graduated from medical school, had just gotten engaged, was in the process of packing my apartment up and was getting ready for my vacation in Mexico. Well, I finallly finished packing up that weekend and was thankfully able to move all of my stuff to Chapel Hill in one trip! 🙏🏿 So I'm now officially a resident of Chapel Hill. 😁
Also, my vacation in Mexico was splendid. 😎
The eleven of us stayed on an all-inclusive resort, where we ate and drank an unlimited amount of whatever was made available to us. If you know me personally, you know that I love to eat. So as you can imagine, I made sure to get my money's worth lol. We were able to make the most of the beautiful tropical weather by laying on the beach (if anyone has ever told you that Black people don't get sunburned, they telling you a bold-faced lie. My peeling skin is definitive proof 😭😭😭), chillin' at the pool, riding on jet skis, snorkeling, turning up on a boat on the Caribbean Sea, and more! We also enjoyed the various night shows that the resort had to offer (they had an amazing Michael Jackson tribute show that impressed the hell out of me) as well as the nightlife around us. With the palm trees, random rainfalls, blazing sun, humid atmosphere and clear blue skies, I almost felt like I was back in Miami. It was awesome!
Well, minus the sunburn and the traveler's sickness I ended up contracting, even though I was annoyingly careful with everything. But whatever. C'est la vie. 🤷🏿♂️
After getting back from Mexico, I spent the following week completing paperwork and modules for my residency program as well as getting ready for the graduation party that my parents were throwing for me in the D.C. area. I also took some time to brainstorm what the future of my blog would look like and I'm happy to say that I came up with some cool ideas that I'll hopefully roll out in the near future, so stay tuned! 😉
After making a quick stop home in Virginia, I headed up to D.C. in the latter half of this past week. I spent some time at both the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with one of my brothers, and also played a ton of FIFA with one of our cousins. We spent the majority of the next day preparing for the graduation party that took place that night. The actual party was full of great vibes, Cameroonian splendor and overflowing happiness. I saw friends and family that I hadn't seen in such a long time, some of which I hadn't seen in over a decade! There was a ton of pictures taken, a lot of songs sang, some moving speeches given, and quite a bit of champagne popped. All in all, I am truly touched and honored that so many people came out to celebrate this milestone in my life with me. I didn't end up going to sleep that night until dawn! 😅
Now that the grad party has come and gone, it is time for me to begin my Orientation activities. As a matter of fact, I actually started my first activity as a resident yesterday! 🤩 I participated in Neonatal Resuscitation Training, where I learned how to, well, resuscitate a newly-delivered newborn. I also finally got the chance to meet some of my co-interns! 😄
During the course of this training session, we discussed the critical importance of teamwork and communication and reviewed in detail the necessary skills that were needed to adequately resuscitate a baby. These skills included intubation, placing a laryngeal mask airway, placing an umbilical venous catheter, administering epinephrine, operating the newborn bed, and a few other things. We then participated in several mock scenarios, where we had to put our skills and knowledge of the resuscitation algorithm to the test. We all took turns being the team leader and luckily for me, I ended up having to lead my team through the hardest case of the day. But to be honest, I lowkey surprised myself at how well I held myself and my team together. I really felt like everything I was actively learning was sticking in my brain, which was a wonderful feeling. The way in which we were being trained was highly effective for me. Plus, the fact that there would be a time in the near future where I will be in a real-life scenario that required me to know this material definitely helped motivate me to effectively synthesize this information.
Overall, I think that it was a fantastic learning session and I already feel my knowledge base and confidence growing! We have a PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) training session tomorrow, where we will learn how to adequately perform life support manuevers on pediatric patients. I hope that this essential training session will be just as effective in teaching us the learning material as yesterday's session was! 🙏🏿
As I'm sitting here finishing up this post, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed to be in the position that I'm currently in. These past few weeks of my life have been nothing short of both surreal and spectacular, and I'm doing my best to take it all in. I know that when an older version of me reflects back to this time in my life, he will deeply appreciate what I'm currently going through and will find himself lost in the glorious memories that I'm actively creating each and every passing day. Also, after recieving my ID badge from UNC yesterday, I found myself staring at the MD behind my name in pure excitement and wonder. I'm truly a real-life physician. 😲
Although I don't feel any more different than I've felt these past few months, that MD definitely gave me a confidence boost. Alongside that confidence boost came an overwhelming feeling of humilty and honor. I've worked and prayed incredibly hard to get those two letters behind my name and now that they will be there for the rest of my life, it's difficult to articulate precisely the emotions and feelings that I'm experiencing. However, one thing that I can clearly articulate is feeling that I need to put an incredible amount of effort into making sure that I live up to the title of “Medical Doctor”. Although this clearly won't be an easy task, I do feel prepared to take on the challenges that await me in residency and beyond. I might as well feel prepared to do so, because I'll eventually have to face these challenges whether I'm ready or not. Sooooo bring them on!!! 😈 (We'll see how I'm feeling by November though 😂)
Those are all the updates I had for you, so hopefully you feel all caught up now! I'm definitely looking forward to meeting the rest of my intern class this week and to all the activities that we will be participating in these next couple of weeks before our first day of clinical work on June 24th! 😄😄😄
I hope that you have a delightful rest of the week!
“Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events, but rather the inner reorientation or self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won't work because it doesn't take.” – William Bridges
– Black Man, M.D.