Meghan, M.D.

Saturday was graduation.  It was pretty awesome.  It all actually began on Friday with our Senior Banquet.  We got all dressed up and had a fancy dinner at the Indiana Roof Ballroom.  That place is sweet.  Then we had a keynote speaker (one of our biochem professors), teachers got some awards, then students got some awards.  Here are some photos from that event (the first two are courtesy of Jon Huskins):

my mom and I

Then Saturday was the actual ceremony.  We “processed” in, had some speaking, then did the official stuff.  As I went up, my new name, Dr. Meghan Leanne Miller, was read then I was hooded by Dr. Matthews, then I shook the Dean’s hand as he handed me my empty tube that one day soon will house my diploma. (I still have a May rotation and have to write a little paper, but then I get it.)  O, I forgot the part where we all had to get hand sanitizer squirted on our hand so we wouldn’t spread Swine Flu, I mean H1N1 in doctor-speak.  They had sent us an email that we weren’t going to be allowed to shake hands with the Dean and that was going to stink, so I guess they thought this would be safe enough.  Haven’t heard of any outbreaks yet!

“Dr. Meghan Leanne Miller”

getting hooded

Dean Brater fixing my hood for the photo

the hand shake

in reference to the previous post, here is the “distinguished” look of a newly adorned M.D.

There are many more photos of me & so-and-so on Facebook here and here to check out.  Thank you everyone for all your support, encouragement, and prayers.  They were definitely needed!  Now I am on to St. Vincent for a residency in Family Medicine.  I start orientation June 19 and become official on July 1.  Look out sick people, here I come!

beware of the creepy bathroom…

Anyone female who went to Indiana University School of Medicine and spent her first two years in Indianapolis knows what I am talking about.  There is a bathroom in the basement of the Medical Science building that is just downright creepy.  I visited there again today and it did not let me down.

There are a couple things that make this place weird.  First, when you go inside it is like stepping in to a time machine.  The building all around it has been renovated, but this particular haven of vintage remains.  Maybe they designed restrooms differently back when this building was originally built because for being a massive restroom, it only has two toilets and two small sinks.  It has a foyer of sorts lined with couches (not the nice pretty ones you often find in womens’ restrooms but weird plastic-y ones that were probably drug there when abandonned by some renovated area of the building).  Then you go through a portion with abandonned lockers, although I wouldn’t be surprised if someone decided they wanted to use one.  I say this because without a doubt, whenever I go into this restroom, someone is sleeping in it.  They go all out too, usually covered by a jacket or material of some sort serving as a blanket.  It is not the same person every time either.  I would venture to say that everytime I have gone in, it is someone different.  These are not medical students, either.  Sometimes they are janitors?  Other employees?  I don’t really know, nor do I linger to find out.  Other times these people are eating in there.  This is a restroom, for goodness sake!!!  It is very strange and very creepy.

it’s all good in the hood

Last night my cap, gown, and hood came in the mail.  Of course, I immediately tried them on.  The instructions were a great start to this experience: “Upon receiving your gown and academic hood, you’ll want to put it on to admire your distinguished and refined look.”  This is followed by several steps on how to “properly wear the hood” as it is “an essential part of the overall prestigious look.”  This is a nice way to say “I know you are about to become a doctor, but you are not smart enough to figure this out.”  Jeff and I fumbled for at least 10 minutes trying to properly arrange its flowingness.  It did not help that the billowing gown below had lost me within it– that thing is huge!  I could fit like 20 bags of marshmallows in the sleeves.  I think we finally figured it out though, and boy did I feel prestigious.  I will save the more distinguished photos for when I actually graduate, but here are some for now…

check out those guns!

that crazy hood…

ahhh!  we finally figured it out!

something amazing I guess…

This blog is borrowed, if you will, from Pat Ockerse who is in my Leadership in Medicine class, completely without his permission, but I don’t think he would mind.  We all had to give presentations about anything that we could relate to the class- so anything tying in to leadership or just generally being a good person, so about anything.  Pat gave his presentation on TED lectures, and more specifically Nicholas Negroponte.  TED (Technology Entertainment Design) lectures are really cool (if you are in to Discovery/History/TLC channel learning kind of things) free online talks given about just about anything.  They can be found at ted.com.  Check it out.

This particular talk is about this guy who started One Laptop per Child.  I don’t know if you have heard about this, but I think it’s pretty awesome.  The video can explain it better than I can, but if you don’t want to take the time to watch the video, it is basically the idea that this guy came up with to challenge laptop makers to make a $100 laptop that could be given/bought for children in developing countries that can’t get that great of an education even if they can get to school because of general lack of funding, quality educators, etc.  They hook up to the internet and connect with each other.  It’s really cool.  So, without further ado…

And in case your wondering, I did my presentation on the concept that we all long to be a part of a story that is bigger than ourselves with a lot of random references to various books and movies.

Match Day!!!

So most of you probably already know, but I matched at St. Vincent hospital in Indianapolis.  It is on the northwest side, where we are now, so we will not move far.  We are now on full force house hunt patrol though!  Match Day was a lot of fun and I think most people were pleased with the results.  Now we just have to graduate!  I put together a little video from the festivities.  Not all of my friends read where they were going into the mic, but I tried to catch the ones who did.  The theme was superheroes with mustaches- some participated, most did not.  I am some sort of silver superhero (I did not wear my cape due to general lack of participation) and Jeff was my mustache :).  Enjoy!