October has been a fun whirlwind of a month - those of you who follow on Instagram and Snapchat get a peek of it all but I figured it'd be nice to post a little update on the blog too!!
Life:
We moved! And I seriously could not be happier. I've alluded to the Miami move being harder than expected, I pretty much dislike Miami very much lol (although I should say disliked). The area we moved to though just wasn't right for us - full of lots of rich privileged flashy people who will beep at you when you're crossing the street with your children (and have the walking sign)! And we didn't have a car yet either which meant I was relying on Uber to get to work (which was actually super cheap with Uber pool, usually $2-$3 a trip), but led to so much daily frustration! And our condo itself was just not right for us - it always felt cold and outdated and no matter what changes I made my feelings about it weren't changing - never mind all of the necessary repairs that were promised by the property manager and never taken care of - needless to say we had every right to terminate the lease early and we did. And found the most perfect house in the cutest neighborhood with a huge playground across the street (and a shopping center, etc). And got a new car! The move was a bit hectic since we could only move out of the condo on weekdays (the condo rules are ridiculous), but even in the chaos it's already been such a relief! I'm calling it our #freshstartMiami and so excited for it all! And in case you missed it in the midst of it all the girls and I made a super special trip back home the week before the move that was the perfect recharge we needed before taking on the move!
Our kitchen! I love it! And a front view of our cute little bungalow the day we first saw it! It definitely needs some yard work but we love it! And below our living room (and all the boxes surrounding us lol)!
Style:
Dressing the bump has been fun; for most of the month I was still on my inpatient rotation (read more below) which meant I had to dress in business-casual every day! Which honestly gets a little tiring when you have a special accessory like a 6 month baby bump! My favorites were comfy pants paired with easy tops, and especially sleeveless stretchy sweater dresses! Sweater because it's technically fall, sleeveless because it's still like 80 degrees hahaha (although we have had a few "cooler" days where the humidity has let up and the breeze kicks in and it honestly is glorious)! Loving the price point and fall color options of this dress (and this grey one is almost the exact one I have)!
Left: top, pants, shoes, watch; Right: top, leggings, shoes (I am obsessed with this pointy-toe version leopard flat and it's been taking all of my powers of minimalism to convince myself not to buy them - they look really comfortable too)!
Medicine:
This month I wrapped up my inpatient rotation - my program is the only dermatology program in the country where dermatology actually admits patients (not only inpatient consults) - we admit everything from infected wounds from our wound clinic to drug reactions to scheduled admissions for photophoresis for cutaneous T cell lymphoma or IVIG treatments. It was a great month full of learning (we also handled all of the hospital consults, and over the weekend carried all 3 pagers for 3 separate hospitals, so it was always busy)! My first year as a dermatology resident was very front loaded - I started with our VA rotation which is where we get most of our surgical training (and the first year carries the VA pager 24/7, so you can never leave town), and then I started inpatient, the other heavy month! But this week I started one of our "normal" rotations that means I'm pretty much just in clinics during the day with a couple mornings of surgery, and then I'm free on the weekends! It's a nice change that's for sure! Sharing a few photos below from some interesting consults - warning some of it may be graphic so don't scroll down if you may be squeamish! All of these are photos I actually took from online and not my actual patients to protect their privacy, but these are nearly identical to the presentations I saw!
The first case on the left was probably the craziest - I got a consult for a patient who came to the Emergency Room for right sided weakness, imaging of his brain concerning for metastasis, and a growth like this on his back. I biopsied it and sure enough it returned as an amelanotic melanoma (pretty much one of our scariest diagnoses). The top right was a woman who came in admitting to recent cocaine use - this was levamisole-induced vasculitis - levamisole is a cutting agent in some cocaine that can cause this horrible vasculopathic purpura. The bottom right was a classic case of erythema multiforme, likely from HSV infection (herpes simplex). We see so many cases it's insane! Hope you guys enjoyed it!