HOI-- WEEK 18

my cousin's gorgeous courtyard in the Old Market

This week I...

-- spent extra time with family as we celebrated the life of my aunt. I appreciate how funerals bring families together and this week was no exception. We spent multiple evenings together talking late into the night - something we should do more often. T and I are truly blessed with fabulous families!
-- enjoyed General Conference - a weekend of uplifting and instructional talks our church broadcasts all over the world! It happens every 6 months and shares simple, inspired counsel such as:
    + "We need [women] who speak up and speak out." — Russell M. Nelson
    + "None of us marry perfection; we marry potential" — Robert D. Hales
    + "We do not need to be perfect, but we need to be good and getting better."— Kim B. Clark
    + "To all mothers in every circumstance, including those who struggle—and all will—I say, 'Be peaceful. Believe in God and 
         yourself. You are doing better than you think you are.'" —Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
-- did not have to work Saturday or Sunday - what a treat! It really helped my mental health because I am starting to feel suffocated by my career. 18 months of 80+ hour work weeks is starting to put a strain on other areas of my life. Thankfully, this weekend I was able to sneak in a couple good workouts (I'm loving my Les Mills subscription - Bodybalance and Sh'bam are my favorite!), cooked some real good, and a few friends came over for the Husker game-- I now feel more like my normal self. I also won an award at work that I've never heard of - but I'll take it!

xo,
Krista

Commencement Ceremony

The morning after Hooding, we gathered with all of the other UNMC students at Ralston Arena for Commencement! This ceremony included everyone: clinical laboratory science, radiation science technology, medicine nutrition, cytotechnology, master of perfusion science, cardiovascular interventional technology, diagnostic medical sonography, radiation therapy, master of science, doctor of philosophy, bachelor/master/doctorate of nursing, master of physician assistant, post bac/master in public health, pharmacy, physical therapy, and finally us! Doctors of medicine!

The "Conferral of Degrees" was my favorite part of the ceremony. Usually it was the Dean of each college that "presented" the students as a group to the Chancellor as qualified for receiving the degree of study. The group of students would stand as the Dean said something like "these students completed the necessary requirements and received their doctoral hoods in a private ceremony last night. They took the physicians oath and I now present them to you". Okay, that was nothing like what they said. It was much more eloquent and formal. But then the Chancellor would recite a few sentence acceptance and we would move on to the next program. During this part of the program was when I felt a wave of excitement. It was powerful to see how many healthcare professionals we were sending out into the world to do their part!

Then we suffered through each name being read individually -- much less exciting (especially since we had just celebrated the evening before at hooding).

I had a whole section of family members there supporting me again. But, this is the only photo evidence I have:

Couldn't have done all of this without these good friends:

UNMC Primary Care Program

And just like that- I'm a doctor! Of course we once again celebrated with food! But I must have been too busy eating & chatting to take any pictures... 

Hooding Ceremony

Our "hooding" was at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Friday, May 8th in the afternoon. I didn't know what to expect because I had never attended a hooding and I am unfamiliar with all the regalia of academics.

My brother's Snapchat

Our ceremony was great. It started with some formalities before the actual "hooding" took place. It was definitely my favorite graduation speech of any ceremony I've been to (and that says a lot!). I have a copy of the speech if anyone ever needs to feel encouraged/inspired! I felt more like a wizard than a doctor wearing our robes.. but there is definitely something fun about keeping long-standing academic traditions!

I loved that we did not have to sit in alphabetical order. I sat with my best friends in the front row - which was fitting because we sat in the front row for every medical school lecture as well! 

One of our clan is blocked by the curtain..

Here is what our group looks like sans robes:

The ceremony started with a few awards and acknowledging the top of our class (not me!). Then we all walked across the stage and received our doctoral hoods as our name and residency program were announced!

We then officially "signed out" of the book that we all signed at our White Coat ceremony 4 years previous.

We ended by reciting this oath (the modified declaration of geneva):

Now being admitted to the profession of medicine, I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity. I will practice medicine with conscience and dignity; the health and life of my patient will be my first consideration. I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, never using my knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity.

I will hold in confidence all that my patient confides in me. I will not permit are, religion, national, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient. I will follow that method of treatment which I consider to be of  greatest benefit, and never hesitate to confer with my colleagues on my patient's behalf. I will learn to distinguish when to treat aggressively and when to restrain my hand in the face of great power.

I will maintain the honor and noble traditions of the medical profession. I will recognize hard-won scientific gains, and share my knowledge with those who follow. I will treat with respect all others in my profession. Those promises I make freely and upon my honor.

 I had some fantastic family members that were there to support me:

And of course we celebrated afterwards with good food and conversation!

SI-- FINAL WEEK

It's official! I earned my medical degree! And before you even ask:
(1) No, it doesn't feel real.
(2) Yes, "Doctor Stoecker" still sounds strange.
(3) No, I cannot write prescriptions yet.

I should be writing a beautiful post about all the festivities this past week/weekend... but honestly? I'm tired. It was a fantastic weekend. But, instead of throwing together something quick just 'cuz,  I am going to post a few pictures to tie you over until I have time mid-week to write a proper post. If any post deserves some time and reflection, it's this one. Right?

my rock

my best friends (often referenced as "charlie" and his "angels")

and in our "wizard outfits" as I referred to them all weekend

hooding @ the Holland

the Primary Care Program before commencement

Picking just a few pictures was so much harder than I thought! But hopefully you get a little feel of a few of the events. I'm planning to write a few more detailed posts later this week - so stay tuned. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy time with my grandma and keep reminding myself that this all really happened -- it's not a dream! Thank you all for all your love and support throughout this journey. It's been a wild ride! Mwah!

xo,

Krista

SI-- WEEK FORTY FOUR

I can officially say I am "done with school" -- though that statement does not feel real. Besides a couple quick clinics in May to see my pregnant ladies (which are always fun visits anyway) I am on vacation! I jumped right into it with a trip to South Dakota for a relay marathon with friends from my class.

It was the perfect weekend! The weather was BEAUTIFUL. We were a group of 12 with 5 people running as team, "We'd Rather Be Running a Code". Obviously the team name was submitted by the future ER doc of the group -- the future psychiatrists and neurologists definitely did not agree.  Although the trip was too short, it was pretty close to perfect.  Here is the whole group at the finish line:

The "Jery Head" was a hilarious surprise

Yes, we were definitely those people with obnoxious neon signs. We were also those people who cheered at the handoffs, out the car window alongside the runners, and at multiple stops in each person's route. We had a blast running around the city cheering each other on! The "Jery Head" was a total joke - but it was actually really helpful at handoffs so our runner could see exactly where to meet the next runner.

Note my sign AND our teammates running beside our runner cheering him on

To end the relay, the rest of the team jumped in with our final runner:

And we were the 1st place Co-ed team!

I have never been at the finish line of a marathon but I really enjoyed hearing the little blurb they announced about each runner. This race is a Boston-qualifier so there were some really legit runners. Many people included in their bios that they were running the Lincoln marathon the next day! Yikes. One young girl announced she was working to complete a marathon in every state. I don't know how other courses compare, but Brookings had a nice mix of scenery for the runners (downtown, suburb, and wooded trails). 

It was the perfect trip to cap off medical school. We had lots of time for good conversation on the drive to & from Brookings and we laughed a ton. It's so bittersweet to be at this stage because many friends will be moving in the next few weeks. BUT, until then, we'll celebrate! 

This next week is totally stacked with catching up with friends and preparing for graduation next weekend. I've already received a few cards addressed to Krista Stoecker, M.D. Totally wild! Have a great week.

xo,

Krista

SI-- WEEK FORTY THREE

I officially completed my last over-night / 28hr shift as a medical student! It was also (by far!) the best call night we've had this month. What makes a call night a good one? The admissions we had were fairly evenly spaced through the shift, I was able to eat dinner at a time most people would consider "normal", our last admission was around 1am or so, new patients were generally aware of the medical problems and medications, I was able to take a 1 1/2 hour nap on the couch in the lounge before morning rounds, no one left "against medical advice" or required "medical holds", no one that wanted an attempt at resuscitation died, and the other patients in the hospital had very few needs!

It's amazing how different it feels when you get a nap overnight and you work at a fairly normal pace! I came home and only need a 2 hour nap before I was able to get up and be functional. Instead of lounging the rest of the evening on the couch, T and I were able to go out for dinner and spend some more time researching the cities we will visit next month. I think call nights must give me an extra appreciation for food because these are a couple of the iPhone pictures over the past 24 hours since my last shift:

late-night snack  |  Salween Thai

One of our big debates on our trip is whether to visit Piazza dei Miracoli & climb the Torre pendente di Pisa:

Has anyone been? Is it worth the day trip from Florence? Or should we maximize our time there?

It's still so crazy that this Thursday will be my last day I work as a student. Although I've been essentially functioning as a resident for this past year, it's still surreal. I am so thankful I've had this "tweener" year to better prepare me for June 1 when I start signing my own orders and writing my own prescriptions. I've never been one to appreciate graduation ceremonies, the post-ceremony celebration has always been where I find closure, but I'm starting to look forward our hooding and commencement ceremony. I'm even more excited that my sister will complete her degree at the same time! She is such a hard worker and will make the best Speech Language Pathologist

Have a great week!

xo,

Krista

SI-- WEEK FORTY TWO

You guys! You are all too nice. So many of you reached out to me this week with words of encouragement after hearing about my long house. It actually made me a little nervous to hear how many of you read my blog. yikes. I thought it was just my Mom and Grandparents...

This week was soooooo much better than last week. We didn't have any weekend 24hr calls - so therefore our patient list didn't suddenly grow by 10-14 patients - so then our mornings didn't have to start so early to have everyone seen by 8:30am. THEN, on top of that goodness, my supervising resident volunteered to work Saturday by herself so the rest of us could take the day off. I already had a scheduled day off this week, so I ended up with two full days to myself. Some of you may be giggling because most of the normal world has two days off every week -- it's call the weekend. But in my world, it's a good month if you get ONE "golden weekend" (a consecutive Saturday/Sunday off) and it's not unusual to work 7-9 days straight before a day out of the hospital. It's just a new normal around here..

So how did I spend my time off? With a mix of active + lazy + friends + family + planning + relaxing. I celebrated at two different baby showers, T and I did some shopping for our cruise, I worked on some paperwork for when I'm a doctor next month (crazy!), got caught in a rain shower, ate some delicious food, played Pickle Ball with a friend and got caught up on a few things around the house. It was nice to have some down time to reflect on the last four years. Because, wow! We're almost through this stage of the game. That's incredible. I'm going to try to make myself sit down and write a post or two summarizing this journey.

T's dinner @ Dixie Quicks

Finally, a few fun things to announce (sorry dad, no grandkids yet!):

+ T got a promotion at work! For a while now he's been working a mixture of personal and business clients. He has always preferred working with small businesses and now his entire job will be with business accounts as a Business Specialist! He is also excited that he will stay at his current location because he really enjoys his coworkers. 

+ This is a sad time of year in our neighborhood because many good friends start packing up their townhouses and prepare to move on to their "real jobs". Our next door neighbors are one of the families moving this year, and this week I was stoked to find out that one of my favorite people in the whole world is buying their place. I'm already dreaming of more dinner parties and BBQs (T says I'm not allowed to be a creeper). I think learning Morse Code is totally legit..

+ I have a new favorite flavor of ice cream that is totally old news, but ya'll, its so good. And while we are chatting about food, this salad is my new favorite dinner-overnight-at-the-hosptial meal:

The countdown is on! 18 days until the hooding ceremony and 19 until commencement. Not gonna lie I'm worn out from this month but, at the same time, I feel pretty invincible knowing that it all ends with a bang in a couple weeks! Now it's early to bed for me tonight.. Have a great week! Love you all!

xo,

Krista

SI-- WEEK FORTY ONE

I'm trying to not start this post with another whiney statement about being busy.. but ya'll.. I worked over 100 hours this past week. YIKES. I don't normally tally my work hours, but this week it helped me feel better about the minimal work I was doing around the house. I felt like I was hardly home because I was hardly home. T has been incredible - he's holding down the homefront and enforcing a "bedtime" because my tendency is always to stay up late (especially when I've essentially just gotten home!). So, life is good. And I'm eating a lot of Subway sandwiches in the hospital cafeteria (and Twix ice cream bars when I need a pick-me-up). Now on to the good stuff!

I'm going to spend the rest of this post bragging about my crazy-talented brother:

If you are local, you need to get yourself over to RNG Gallery (connected to Dixie Quicks) to FIRST - eat a delicious meal (for brunch I recommend the apple brie omelette. For any other meal, my mom raves about the veggie melt sandwich) and SECOND peruse the gallery because my brother is showing his amazing art there through the first week of May:

So, naturally, we all had to be there at the opening to see it for ourselves:

The show, titled "Spung Werks", will be my brother's last before he moves to NYC. It was fabulous to be there with him and see the fantastic turn out for the opening! I'm so proud of him. My favorite part of the show was hearing about how the pieces for this show came to be. It was fascinating that this art was created completely freeform -- sometimes starting with the bold outlines, sometimes starting with the colorful shapes. These paintings were also created with the goal that they would be more striking in person than by photograph. He accomplished that goal with metallic, color-changing, and glow-in-the-dark paints. 9yo M was completely star-struck by E. It was so sweet to see him walk her through the gallery, showing her the different paints, and asking her what she saw in the paintings. Also, by the time I left at least a few of the paintings had a sold sticker on their title card!

As far as this coming week, I'm looking forward to another typical work week. This month I'm working at UNMC on the general medicine floors with a half-day per week of my own clinic at Nebraska Medicine - Bellevue. Speaking of clinic, this is the scene I found when I went to leave last week. I'm hoping that April got it out of its system...

Have a great week! And FYI, we are less than 30 days until graduation!

xo,
Krista

SI-- WEEK FORTY

Whew! What a busy week. But first, Happy Easter everyone! I spent the last 28+ hours at the hospital so I missed out on most of the Easter festivities with my family. As much as I wish I didn't have to miss out on time with them, I do feel it's a great privilege to do what I do. Unfortunately people are still sick on holidays! I'm feeling a little drained as this rotation has less overnight call but the days are longer/busier/more stressful. I also set a new personal record for least sleep on a call night (just a quick 20 minute nap at 4:30am!). One positive to this month is that, according to my iPhone, I walk way more than I do on other rotations (7+ miles yesterday alone!). I totally believe it! Nebraska Medicine is a combination of a few buildings of patient rooms so you spend the day scrambling between them all. It seems like the patient you need to see is always across the hospital :) I've been craving more exercise (I spend way too much time in a computer chair charting!) so this is the perfect start.

Today I got home from work in the early afternoon, grabbed a few hours of sleep, and then had a spontaneous dinner outside with my family:

It was the perfect post-call night: family, good food, fresh air, and games (Mom and I were definitely the canasta champs!). I decided that Easter is my new favorite holiday for browsing other's family pictures. Besides Christmas cards, Easter seems to be the next best day for coordinated family photos (all dressed in their Sunday best!). I'm loving browsing through everyone else's family pictures on Instagram :)

Finally, a few more fun pictures from this week! Travis was a good sport this week -- he agreed to take the city bikes for a ride over the pedestrian bridge and along the river. We also caught the Husker v. Creighton baseball game in Lincoln, and had a game night with friends:

Nebraska is having an absolutely gorgeous spring and it has been the perfect balance to my long hours. I feel like I've been whining a lot about my hours - but it's been a big transition for me! I'm definitely looking forward to May and having the month off to play! Love you all!

xo,
Krista

SI-- WEEK THIRTY NINE

I just awoke from my last post-call nap of the month! Now that is a great feeling. Hopefully that means I'll have less of these resident-loung-breakfasts next month (next month our calls are only overnight on the weekends - no more every 4 days!):

I don't typically drink soda or caffeine - maybe one per month
but today I wanted to go to church with T before I napped.. so this diet Pepsi did the trick

This month, as tiring as it was at times, was super educational. Not only did I learn a lot about critical care medicine like ventilator settings, broad empiric antibiotic coverage, and how to track loss of strength in patient with progressive neurologic diseases. But even more important, I gained a new confidence that I could, in fact, function on nearly zero sleep.. that I am capable of answering (most!) of the questions nursing staff page to ask.. that I can use my brain for 28 hours straight and stay sane.. all of these things are small tasks but I haven't been challenged with them before!

I also learned more about  myself as a physician. We had a lot of end-of-life issues this month. I've always found people and their different belief's fascinating (and respect everyone's right to make critical decisions that are compatible with their beliefs!). So, I always imagined I would be willing to guide patient's and their families through these tough conversations but this month was my first real exposure to being the person to have these conversations as opposed to being a part of the team at the family meeting or whatever. I wouldn't say I enjoy these conversations.. but there is an aspect of satisfaction knowing that you, the provider, are helping this patient & family navigate through this tough time. I get uncomfortable when these conversations are delegated to anyone else because I'm typically attached to my patients and want to make sure they are done right! Is that prideful? It's not that I don't trust other providers.. It's more that I am just a little bit of a control freak. No new news there!

My biggest issue I still have to work on (okay, probably not the biggest, but important to my sanity) is how to fall back asleep after, for example, I'm awoken at 0400 and called to a patient's bedside. At least I get a fair amount of reading accomplished on call nights because of this issue! I typically just hop back into bed and open iBooks on my phone until I doze off or I get another page.. whichever comes first. But it's not uncommon for me to lay in bed for another 30-40 minutes before I fall asleep (even when I've had next to none so far that night). I am incredibly grateful that I can function on these long shifts with pretty minimal effort, but, it would be even better if I trained myself to sneak in a little more sleep!

Alright, enough of this post-call rambling. Outside of work right now, T and I are loving dreaming about our trip to Europe. We spend our downtime researching tour companies and looking forward to time away. My dad officially retired Friday!! That means we are one step closer to celebrating with my parents on our big trip!

We're hoping to snag some time outdoors in the warm Spring weather that is predicted this week. I love this beautiful time in Nebraska where the weather is gorgeous and fresh -- and the humidity and bugs have not yet arrived :) Love you all!

xo,
Krista

PS - if you're looking for something to put you in the Easter mood, I love this video:

MATCH DAY

This weekend was FANTASTIC. I intended to spend a decent chunk of today writing an epic blog post about all the fun - but life happened. You all understand that, right? Instead of spending time isolated in my office composing the perfect post (what I would consider a good activity)  I chose what I would consider better activities and enjoyed quality time with friends and spent my evening volunteering/helping friends in my neighborhood who are going through tough stuff. I love that I've had this blog as a journal of the roller coaster called Medical School but I never want to miss out on experiences because of it.

Let's chat about MATCH DAY! First, to summarize, the day was fabulous. Being in an untraditional program, I wasn't sure how it would feel. I couldn't relate to my classmates who truly were surprised to see what program was tucked in their envelope. I'm getting ahead of myself.. let me explain the day..

The ceremony started with refreshments at 10am. There are four of us in my class that are especially close - so we made sure to arrive early enough that we could grab seats together. The ceremony started with a few words from the important people of our medical school. Then, we were all invited to come up to the stage to get our envelopes -- but we weren't to open them yet. Many schools have their ceremonies with each student opening their envelope onstage in front of the audience, but at ours, we had a few minutes to open our envelopes in our seats before heading up on stage to share with everyone where we were headed.

(Our families were like paparazzi.. so excuse the lack of camera coordination)

Three of us opened our envelopes and celebrated staying together in Omaha a little while longer (though in different specialties: Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Psychiatry). The fourth friend peeked at her residency but made her husband, family, and us friends wait until she was onstage to announce her program.

My name was called probably about half-way through the ceremony. T and I walked up to the stage to the chorus of Michael Bublé's "It's a Beautiful Day" (this song from 1:19-1:45ish). Then I announced to the audience something like: "I'm Krista Stoecker and this is my husband Travis. I am in the Primary Care program and we are very excited to complete my Family Medicine training in Grand Island, NE". 

Photo credit: UNMC photographer

There were a variety of announcements from simple, serious explanations to athletic references like "I'm taking my talents to ____" (then they put on that schools hat). A few students (like my friend I mentioned before) waited until the were onstage to open their envelope. Others turned around a took a selfie with the crowd in the background or brought a family member onstage via Skype.  After you made your announcement, you placed a dollar in the basket (the last person announced gets the cash as traditionally that meant they were the last person to find out where they were headed next year), placed your pin on the map, and were given a glass of bubbly.  It was really fun to hear all the different specialties and training sites! If you want to see pictures of the other students in my class, you can see the school's pictures from the day here.

I think my favorite part of the day was simply the time I spent with my parents before the ceremony and afterwards at lunch. Time just the three of us is so rare and so wonderful!

After lunch, my mom and I snuck over to the outlet malls to shop for some clothes we've both been thinking about for our trip to Europe! Then Friday night our class had a party at 1316 with drinks/appetizers/photobooth/DJ.. but my favorite part was spending time out on the deck chillin' with our good friends:

That was all Friday -- I haven't told you about all the fun from Saturday and Sunday! But I have to get to bed.. so I'm forced to just leave you with a photo collage:

(1) can you believe that beautiful woman turned 92?!
(2) the cabin is extra beautiful this time of year with no mosquitos or humidity!

This week I am going to try to do it all.. I have another long shift on Tuesday and Saturday so I'm going to make the most of the hours when I am away from the hospital. Life is beautiful :) Love you all and hope you have a fabulous week! Thanks for you all your love and support on Match Day!

xo,

Krista

SI-- WEEK THIRTY SEVEN

What do you want to hear about this post? Want to hear about my work week including my nearly completely sleep-less night in the ICU? Or about the picnic T and I had with our parents at the cabin this afternoon? A little of both? How about we start with the excitement that is coming this next week:

MATCH DAY!
what: 4th year medical students find out where they will go for residency
when: this Friday, March 20th at 10:30am
where: all medical schools across the country! But ours is on our campus in the event center
how: the seating at our ceremony is very limited - but anyone who is interested can watch live via this link: http://hog.unmc.edu/clients/channel1/channel1.html (The link should be active at least 10 minutes before)

We also snuck out to the cabin this afternoon for a relaxed afternoon in the sun. We had a picnic lunch (pretzel bun sandwiches, pasta salad, and fruit) and walked the nearby campground. We also crept on the work crew cleaning up the train derailment - T was itching to hop in one of the bobcats and move the steel around himself.. It felt so good to be outside in the warm sun and fresh air! I needed this afternoon to balance the long shift I'll spend at the VA tomorrow..

Photo credit: paparazzi mom

I was planning to wrap up this post by writing some feelings about this past week in the ICU including a couple "compassionate extubations" (families following their loved one's wishes by removing the ventilator when it becomes clear the patient won't recover)... but now I'm not feeling it. Maybe another time? I'll just say simply that I believe it is an incredible honor to walk with families through these incredibly difficult moments. I feel extremely privileged that I can be a part of comforting families and patients in their final walk of life. 

And to end on a lighter note.. a few pretty pictures from this past week: 

- Gram's pasta salad -- you can find in under the recipe tab
- $3 fresh flowers to brighten up the kitchen
- The typical callnight scene between answering calls from nurses
- I picked a pair of shoes for Europe! I'm still in shock I spent so much..

This week will start busy with a long shift tomorrow but I have a lot of fun planned at the end of the week. Love you all! Have a fabulous week!

xo,

Krista