It has finally happened: I am in the clinic seeing chiropractic patients! This has been a long time coming, and I live with a visual depiction of exactly how long I have been back in school as I watch my daughter grow. I came to National to finish up my prerequisites with a 5-month-old squishy little baby in tow, and now she is a 5-year-old, super-sassy Kindergartener. It is incredible to see how much we both have grown.

It’s the beginning of week 3, and I have become highly aware that there is a lot of work to do this term. Some of the students in my cohort will be taking board exams in addition to their coursework and clinic time. I will be pushing mine back until the spring, so that I will only have to worry about seeing patients and preparing for boards. Trimesters 9 and 10 will be jam-packed with board exams, as I take the three tests needed for my Acupuncture license, followed by Parts 2, 3, 4 and PT for my Chiropractic one. Come July next year, when the last one is completed, I will need to take a vacation.

: )

So far, in the clinic, it has been a slow start. I spent the first week of the trimester attending clinic orientation. Last week we followed some of the 9th and 10th-trimester students during their patient visits to get the lay of the land. This week I will get to see patients of my very own! Even though I have been seeing patients for a while now as an acupuncture student, there is still a level of uncertainty and excitement. I now need to think about their cases and treatments differently. Comfort in what I am doing will develop over time. The next time I write, I will have to let you all in on how it is going.

Photos: My daughter when I first came to the school, then all of us at my white coat ceremony, and one more from a few weeks ago when we visited the zoo!