Every summer/fall, final year medical students across Canada embark on what is colloquially known as the "CaRMS tour". We pack our stethoscopes and white coats, board planes or trains or cars, and make our way to hospitals and clinics across the country to scout out potential programs and living places, secure reference letters, and hopefully … Continue reading The “Definitive” Guide on Packing for Electives →

You don’t know (and won’t know that for many years yet) that this feeling you can’t find words to describe –the excessive guilt, the lying awake ruminating on things long past, the somatisation (those stomach aches, those headaches) – is depression. You’ve always heard that you’ve periodically been an “anxious child” but this will only … Continue reading On Depression, to my Thirteen-Year-Old Self →

We're getting married in under a year (!!) and my medical school graduation is about 12 months away. It's a hectic time right now, what with wrapping up my core clerkship rotations and wedding planning, and naturally I'm looking ahead to what comes after - my graduation trip and our honeymoon! Deciding where to go … Continue reading 12 Day Dubai + Maldives Itinerary (from Toronto) →

*Quote images are taken from Pinterest; images and content not mine.

In human medicine, we can generally talk with our patients and ask them: what’s wrong, where does it hurt, what do you need, what can I do for you? It’s infinitely harder when there’s a communication barrier - when they can’t tell you where it hurts, when you can’t tell them why you’re doing all … Continue reading On loss, grief, and letting go. →

For years, I watched my 23rd birthday approach with some trepidation. As a child I attributed much significance to signs and symbols, and reaching the age of my day of birth seemed particularly impactful. As I grew older, I made plans - I'd go to Vegas, hike the grand canyon, try my hand at the … Continue reading Champagne Year →

I don't really do New Year's resolutions anymore. I'm very much all-or-nothing when it comes to goals, and this combined with my propensity for setting entirely too many or some that are just unrealistic has meant that, in the past, I've started out the year all gung-ho and ready to go, only to burn out … Continue reading Oh hi, 2018 →

i. For a while I’d convinced Myself that I couldn’t Feel Anger -A while. ii. I hope to never feel rage Like that Again. (It’s unbecoming.) -The hurt. iii. You tore me Apart Bit By Bit And all at once (I think that I Left a piece of Me Behind) -On unbecoming. iv. I wish … Continue reading Various States of Decay →

The rain beats down hard and heavy against the living room window. We expected it two days ago, two days that were instead spent chasing down the best frozen yogurt, walking along the boardwalk, and drinking beer on patios. It's welcome now, in the stillness of a day intended for cleaning the house and sorting … Continue reading How To. →

I am inarticulate I find myself incapable of justifying my positions. I am too moderate I can’t advocate for one side without also plugging for the other I am sympathetic I can’t help but try to understand other perspectives But this, this ignites something deeper within me I am a woman I am white, I … Continue reading Inarticulate woman. →