Closing Out 2015!

NYE 2015 Happiness :-)

Wow! I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2015! It doesn’t even feel like a whole year has flown by. This has been an extremely busy, yet rewarding year for me, and I am super happy to end it so that I can see what amazing things 2016 has I store.

If I had to pick one word to describe me in 2015, I would have to choose “blessed.” It’s probably something I say every year, but there’s just no other way to describe it. I was blessed to be able to continue on my journey to becoming a physician, blessed to continue to have a healthy and happy child, and blessed for the many experiences and lessons learned throughout the year. Every year just gets better and better, and this year was no exception. I just pray that I can continue to learn, grow, and inspire in 2016 and beyond.

Tonight, I plan on ending the year by entering into my happy zone which involves a good book and a bottle of wine :-) I honestly can’t remember the last time I was able to read for pleasure, so I am super excited for tonight. The book I will be reading is called In Stitches: A Memoir by Anthony Youn, MD. It took an extensive internet search, followed by a visit to my local library to get it, since it wasn’t in stock anywhere in the area, so I hope it’s worth the read! Tomorrow I will make the trip back to my parents’ to spend the new year with them and my daughter before bringing her back to our normal routine, but tonight, I relax.

Wishing everyone a very safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve and an even happier, wonderful, and prosperous New Year! 

The Weeknd Fall Madness Tour, Star Wars, and Rotation Results!!!!

Sisterly Love!

The past week has been absolutely crazy, but soooo much fun!!!! A few months ago I got some really good tickets to see The Weeknd, and since my sister loves his music just as much as I do, she jumped at the opportunity to come to town and see him with me. The only catch was she had to stay the entire week and bring my daughter back with her to my parents’ house since I have exams this week and the little one doesn’t have school. She didn’t put up much of a fight on that one though, and it was great having her here. It really is amazing how much my daughter leaves me alone when my sister is around, and I really enjoyed having her here. I’m currently trying to convince her to come live with me (free babysitting!!!!), but she absolutely hates the Atlanta traffic, and won’t budge :-( Anyway, the concert was great and I included my favorite pictures at the end of this post :-)

Embracing My Inner Princess Leia

On Thursday, I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I took it as an opportunity to embrace my inner Princess Leia. I think I pulled it off very well….What do you think? Lol The movie was great, and I won’t ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but I highly recommend it. After that, I locked myself in my room for the entire weekend and my sister took the little one out of town so I could focus. It definitely paid off, because today I received a great grade on my endocrine exam despite all the fun I had last week.

The Med School Study Grind!

In addition to having a great exam today, I also found out where I will be next year for clinical rotations! This was something that was stressing me out, so I am happy that I finally know. I’m even more excited that I got my first choice, which was the Northeast Metro Atlanta area, and I don’t have to move!!!! Rotation spots were done by way of a lottery, and I was so worried that I would have to find a new place, have my daughter change schools, and figure out how I would handle being on call next year and not knowing anyone in the area who could swing by and help when needed. I was also stressing about moving expenses (which the school does not provide) and the fact that I would most likely have to handle all of this around the same time I take my board exams. It literally feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders! This was something that I knew I had no control over, so I just prayed about it and put it all in God’s hands and it worked out perfectly. I know I would have made the best of anywhere I was assigned, but this definitely makes life a lot easier for me, and my daughter was really happy about the news as well.

6 Months Away from My Medical Board Exams!

But anyway, that’s about it for me. I have a small exam tomorrow, and then I’ll be officially free!!!! I started my board study schedule two weeks ago though, so I’ll be staying on top of my questions throughout the break. I am now 166 days away from my first exam date, and I’m not taking any chances with these exams! I’ll try to do another post before I drive to my parents’ house later this week, but if not, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and overall Happy Holidays!   

The Weeknd Fall Madness Tour

The Weeknd!!!!

The Weeknd and Travis Scott

Halsey!!!!

Travis Scott!!!!

It's My Two Year Blogiversary!!!!

I can’t believe it has been two years since I first started this blog! Yep, another year has passed, and I still haven’t run out of things to write about! LOL I just wanted to give all my readers a huge virtual hug and an even bigger thank you for continuing to stick it out with me these past couple of years. I started this blog with the goal of inspiring and letting other people out there know that it really is possible to accomplish any dream, and I hope I have done and will continue to do a good job of that. Even though my schedule is a lot more hectic (which leads to less frequent posts than when I first started the blog), I still look forward to the moments when I can get on here and type out all my random thoughts. Blogging makes me happy and reading all the uplifting comments I receive from my readers makes me even happier :-) So thank you, thank you, thank you, and please keep reading!!!! I look forward to continuing to share this journey with you all. 

#StayMadAbby but I'll Stay Great :-)

I skipped my senior year of high school and attended Kennesaw State University full-time as part of their Joint Enrollment Honors Program. I had a baby my sophomore year of college, went through a divorce, and STILL managed to graduate with my class with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and a minor in Chemistry from Louisiana State University. Later, I received my Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Saint Joseph. Now, I am 2 years away from receiving my Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine - Georgia Campus. So, how's that for a slow track? ‪#‎StayMadAbby ‪#‎ByeScalia

If you follow me on any form of social media, then you’ve already seen the above picture and comment that I posted in response to the Supreme Court case involving Abigail Fisher and the University of Texas Austin. Typically, I’m not one to post anything political or news-related to the blog, but I just couldn’t help myself when it came to this issue.

In case you are not aware of what I am talking about, Abigail Fisher was rejected from UT Austin back in 2008 and decided to sue the school on the basis that she was rejected because of her race (she’s white), and the school’s affirmative action policy allowing a minority to take what she believed to be her spot at the school. Never mind the fact that she didn’t actually have the GPA or stats to get accepted into the school in the first place. In the case of Justice Scalia, he cited a brief earlier this week that said something along the lines of blacks should attend “slower track” schools where they can have a chance of doing well. I won’t get into all the specifics here, but what I have written is to just give you an idea of the background. You can Google the rest if you’re interested.

So why did I feel compelled to put in my two cents? It’s simple really. Most of my life people have thought most of my accomplishments have come from being given a hand up due to my race. This is probably especially true now when people learn that I am in medical school despite having extremely low undergraduate stats. If you've been reading my blog from the beginning, then you already know that there is a lot to my background that contributed to some of my low stats, and that my numbers don't even tell half of the story. But to hush up all the naysayers, I’ll just say this: All my accomplishments are the result of hard work and dedication, so for anyone to think I made it this far by taking the spots of "more deserving" people is pure BS! My stats may have been low during my undergraduate years, but I was doing more and going through more than most people. Find me a person who can raise a child as a single mother (without the help or money of their family), work two jobs, stay heavily involved in extracurricular activities, AND maintain a high GPA while pursuing one of the hardest degrees at their university, and I’ll shut up, LOL. There is nothing “slow” about the track that I have been on, and if anyone feels that I might have taken their spot either in college, grad school, or medical school, then they should probably take a second to stop and check their unspoken privilege at the door. So go ahead and stay mad, Abby, because I am going to go ahead and continue to be great. 

Happy December!

Took advantage of the holiday to dress up a bit

Happy December!!!! I have two exams next week and I've finally put together a decent board study schedule, so it's going to be an extra busy time until I take the exams in June. Blogging makes me happy though, so I decided to take a quick break to update everyone. 

First off, I hope everyone reading this had an awesome Thanksgiving! We started back classes last week, and even though I had the entire previous week off for vacation, last week was even more relaxing. Since I dropped my daughter off at my parents' house for the week, I was able to focus on studying, got to semi-sleep in, and it was just really nice having no major responsibilities outside of class and studying. Driving back for Thanksgiving would have taken a lot of time, so my family said it would be fine if I missed it this year as long as I agreed to spend Christmas with them in a few weeks. Plus, my daughter was having so much fun that she didn't really care that I wasn't there. I used the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving day with an old college friend who lives in Georgia, but will soon be moving back to Louisiana, and we had a blast. I also got to eat some good food, meet some new awesome people, and I really enjoyed reflecting back on our college days and the growth that we've both achieved over the years. The rest of the weekend was just as enjoyable, and it was really nice having some true "me" time for a change.

A Night of Orthopedic Fun! (One of these days I'll buy some green scrubs lol)

My sister brought my daughter back Sunday night and she agreed to stay for an extra day so that I could attend an arthroscopy workshop on Monday evening at the Atlanta Medical Center. This was an event put on by the Ortho Club at my school, and the current orthopedic residents took time out of their extremely busy schedules to teach us how to do bone reductions and the like. We got to use the same tools that they use in the OR, and there was a rep there to explain how everything worked. We also got to have one-on-one time with all of the residents and get their advice on boards, rotations, and just about anything else that came to mind. I was happy to see that they have a female resident in their program, and I definitely used the opportunity to get a female perspective on the field. Outside of that, the best part for me was getting the chance to learn how arthroscopy works. There was an actual cadaver shoulder and knee available, and the residents showed us the different landmarks and how to navigate through each section. It was an extra cool experience and it coincided with the musculoskeletal sections that we are currently covering, so it was a double win :-)   

Future Surgeons in the Making!

I think that's pretty much it for the updates. Outside of studying, my daughter's school will be having a holiday lunch tomorrow, so I am looking forward to attending that, and I have a few things planned in the coming weeks that will make this month extra fun. Of course the studying will come first, but I tend to do better in classes (and keep my sanity) when I take the time to have a little fun every now and then. I'll try my best to keep up with my weekly posts this month, but don't be upset if I skip next week because school comes first! Until next time :-)