The First Day!

Whew! My first day was a long one, or at least it felt that way. I was only in the clinic from 8 until about 4:30, so it was a pretty normal day, but I was so tired and nervous (and hungry) that it felt much longer. But, it was really interesting!

My actual preceptor wasn't in the office today, so I was with the other doctor in the practice, and she was really great! Since it was my first day, I mainly followed her around during all of her visits. I did, however, get to listen to the heart and lungs on two patients, and also work the ultrasound wand on another. I was also able to feel a breast lump that was most likely a cyst. But even though there wasn't a lot of hands-on stuff for me today, I still got to see a lot.

Most of the appointments were for prenatal visits at varying stages, so I got to see a lot of pregnant people at various stages in their pregnancies. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought that this many people in rural, coastal Maine would be pregnant! It was really interesting to me, as someone who hasn't been pregnant, to hear what they had to say about what they were experiencing and how their pregnancies were progressing. Quite a few of the patients were even substantially younger than me and were on their second or third child, and I was amazed at how calm they were about everything and how mature they seemed. I got to do an ultrasound on one patient, and it was amazing! I had never seen one before, and it was really cool to see the baby's little face and fingers in there!

Other visits I saw included a woman with a breast lump (turned out to be just a cyst), and two women who were looking to have their tubes tied. Nothing too exciting or earth-shattering there, but still interesting. Tomorrow I'm going to see a delivery! A woman came in today with PPROM, so they are going to induce her tomorrow morning, I think. So ... that will be interesting! I'm definitely glad I have a little bit of a heads up - at least I know that I'm going to see a delivery tomorrow, so I can prepare and it won't be a surprise. I'm excited!