Writer-in-Training
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Sahr Yazdani is a fourth year medical student at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois, and is a member of the Class of 2022. In 2018, she graduated from University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Evolutionary Anthropology. She enjoys exploring new cities on foot, watching reality TV, and baking ginger cookies in her free time. After graduating medical school, Sahr would like to pursue a career in pediatrics.
She sat on her bed in a bright magenta shirt covered in glittery animals, with her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her green eyes were trained on the muted television broadcasting Disney cartoons, and her bed was strewn with coloring books and crayons. This scene looked quite different from the other overdoses we had been consulted on. Still, our attending calmly walked up to her bedside, introduced our bustling team and asked the universal question,
There is a darkness that lingers above. / Alive and breathing, / Short shallow breaths.
We often find inspiration in our ability as humans to create anew. I too fall prey to the promises of New Year resolutions and birthday candles, beckoning to us with the allure that our future rests in our hands.
In the pediatric ICU, a call was received from another hospital to give sign out for a patient already en route. The child being transferred had experienced a traumatic brain injury. The child was intubated after receiving every sort of therapeutic management imaginable in a desperate attempt to salvage any remaining brain function, but the prognosis was dire.
Upon meeting the new children I was babysitting, the little girl Elason immediately asked me if I brought my stethoscope. Her mom had told her that I was a medical student. In the eyes of Elason and Kaje, that made me a superhero. It didn’t matter that I was at the bottom of the food chain in the medical world.
She came alone / Messy auburn hair with curls flowing / Tiny and silent / Taking up a third of the bed
mom, what’s loo-skeem-ya? / oh okay — does that mean I’m loo-skeem-ya?
I always thought the goal of medicine was to cure an illness. But, the memory of this little boy continues to remind me what it is like to see the eyes of someone without a future or hope.
Ria Pal, former editor-in-chief of in-Training, has matched into child neurology at Stanford University. Today, she shares about the interview process, medical school and more!
Melanie Watt, curator of the Match Day Spotlight series for 2017 and 2018, recently matched into internal medicine-pediatrics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Read on as she shares advice for clerkships, the interview trail and more.
Kshama Bhyravabhotla, an in-Training medical student editor and contributor who recently matched into the internal medicine-pediatrics program at Tulane University School of Medicine, is sharing today about medical school, the interview process and more.
On inpatient pediatrics, I helped care for a young boy admitted following urological complications after surgery. I first heard about him during morning sign-out: he was in severe pain, and his Foley catheter kept getting clogged and needed to be flushed repeatedly.
Contributing Writer
Albany Medical College
Linda Paniszyn is a third year medical student at Albany Medical College and aspiring future primary care internist with a passion for service. Besides chatting with patients, she is rejuvenated by spending time with her friends and family, baking, and staying active.
