This week flew by with plans of going home for the Fourth of
July weekend in the back of my mind. Three-day weekends are few and
far between, so when they come along I like to go back home to
visit friends and family. It was great to spend the weekend
grilling out and watching fireworks and just getting away from
Chicago for a few days!
Even though it is nice to escape school for a bit, it is always
good to get back to my little apartment full of books and school
life. It's funny how I couldn't wait for the day I would be done
with school. With graduation looming in my near future, it's hard
to imagine what life will be like waking up every day and not being
told what to do, where to be and what time to be there! Right now
it feels very safe being in school. My job and what is expected of
me is clearly laid out. Once I graduate the world will be my oyster
and it will be my decision what to do with my time!! I know it
sounds silly, but it is really scary!
To keep sane, I keep tabs in my head of the things I need to be
doing before graduation.
- Keep up with residency requirements.
- Keep on top of graduation requirements.
- Continue to look up naturopathic clinics to shadow.
- Figure out where to live after graduation, hopefully my
sister's house for free!!
- Plan out a study schedule for Part 2 boards.
There are four oncology residencies I have been keeping my eye
on. The closest one to Chicago is in Zion, Illinois. The other
three are in Goshen, Indiana, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Although I do not see myself moving all the way to
Philadelphia, I just found out that Dr. Michelle Rogers, my
Naturopathic Internal Medicine teacher, will be relocating to the
Philadelphia Cancer Hospital at the end of this trimester! Dr.
Rogers currently works at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the
Integrative Health Care Center. She completed an oncology residency
after she graduated from naturopathic school, which she says helped
her to gain the confidence to work in an integrated setting.
Dr. Rogers is always e-mailing us the latest studies on
naturopathic therapies as she is used to validating her treatment
plans to other medical professionals. She is always saying she does
not believe in "reinventing the wheel" - meaning that if she has
saved a study or handout that she put together, she is more than
happy to share it with others in the naturopathic field to
use.
Creating handouts that affirm the efficacy of naturopathic
therapies is something we do a lot of work on this trimester in our
business class. By the end of the trimester, we need to have two
15-minute presentations on a naturopathic modality, a web-ready
article on a naturopathic therapy for a common condition, and a
handout on a hydrotherapy treatment. I guess there really is a
reason behind all of the work that professors make us go through to
prepare us to market what we do as NDs!
This coming week should wrap up midterms and will allow for more
time to be spent in the garden and the pool, if weather permits! I
hope that everyone had a safe and Happy 4th of July!