Hey y’all.
I am wrapping up my time here in Okie… it is bittersweet. Just as any place I have ventured over the last few months. My mind whirls around being pregnant, applying for residencies, working my hiney off in my showcase rotations… missing Dennis. It has been an emotional trip FULL of many crazy challenges.
When I arrived in Tulsa, OK, I was really nervous… this was one of my top choices for ER residency and I wanted to do well. I ended up staying with a gracious wonderful family… The Bloxhams. Brandon, Lisa, Shad, Chloe, Gracie and unborn Baby Bloxham ~20 weeks 
They made me feel right at home in their house… and it is so comforting knowing that there are good people living in the same house. I moved my stuff in (not all of it…) and got ready to work. I finished Kingman on a Friday, drove to Alb. NM (4hours) on Sat and then a 10 hour drive on Sunday into Tulsa… I arrived around midnight and had to be at work at noon the next day. This included finding my way in a bigger city that I wasn’t familiar with and working to impress, as I really wanted a residency in Tulsa.
After being there for a few shifts, there was talk that the program may not exist next year… I was SOOOO bummed. I was getting along with everyone SO well… they are all incredibly intelligent, funny and also laid back.. a perfect mix. Come to find out, most all of the attendings at the program in Tulsa graduated from the ER residency in Oklahoma City at Integris Southwest… a 90 mile drive west. These guys are the most knowledgable physicians I have encountered in my entire career… holy moly. It is SO inspiring listening to them teach. They know all of the most recent guidelines, protocols and treatment options in Emergency Medicine. AMAZING!
So the more I got to know the docs in Tulsa the more they started telling me that I should go rotate in Oklahoma City for a few shifts since there prob won’t be a program in Tulsa next year. So after one doc in particular started calling around and pulling strings in OK City, I was on my way there. After only 2 weeks in Tulsa… finding my way to all the great coffee shops, wandering through the Whole Foods, knowing where I was going in Tulsa, I had to pack up my car and start all over at a new site.
More stressful than I can ever explain. I just wanted to stay comfy in Tulsa… but gulped and sighed and was on the road 90 minutes west to start all over getting to know folks in a new ER and live in a new bigger city. I had heard from Tulsa residents how competitive the ER residency was in OKC and was incredibly nervous. I got to the student housing and found out I was the only girl! It was me, Patrick, Guy, and Paul… all really nice 4th years. They were all rotating in the ER too. The house was only a couple blocks from the hospital on the south side of OKC… kind of sketchy, you don’t want to walk alone around this area.
Southwest Med Center is awesome… it is the busiest ER in the state, and the ER residency is unopposed.. meaning there are NO other residency programs at the hospital. So we get to be first assist on our surg rotations, we get called to the floors and ICU for intubations and central lines. It is a big program.. 8 spots and HIGHLY sought after. I was a total outsider as most of the students there were from either Ok State or Kansas City. BUT! After only 6 shifts, I think I was able to show them that I belonged there. I held my own and worked incredibly hard…. especially being 8 months prego, I had my work cut out for me. But I did well and am proud of the work that I did there! Who knows??? Maybe I will get a spot!
The docs in OKC were just as motivating and inspiring… the residents BLEW me away! I can not believe how much they know and how good they are. One of the PGY-4’s scored 4th IN THE NATION on the EM Board Exams. SO impressive.
They were so much fun to work with and, though stressful at times with other great med students competing and rotating, I made sure they knew who I was and how much I love the ER.
Time will tell…. but now it is Thurs. and I am back in Tulsa for a few days with my Okie Fam hanging out until Dennis flies into OKC Sat night and we start the drive back to Colorado. I can’t believe that the last few months are finally over… it has been an emotional roller coaster and I can safely say that I have worked harder than I ever have in my entire life.
Hopefully my next post will be from Colorado! Wahoo!!
“I’m just an Okie from Muskogee”… who sang it???
Starts with a merle ends with a haggard.
Here are some random photos:
***My car that has been packed the same way since July… it has been this way from NY to Maine to AZ to OK and next to CO….
***Outside the Bloxhams’ house in Tulsa…
***A small surprise Birthday party I threw for Lisa!!! Happy 30th Sweetheart!!!
Gracie:
Gracie, Chloe and Lisa:
Gracie, Chloe, Lisa, Shad:
My room in the student housing in OKC (my own room! it pays being the only girl!):
