Officially a 5th Year Plastic Surgeon (In Training)!!!!

Officially a 5th year Plastic Surgery Resident!!!!

Ah, the happiness I feel when I log in to type up a blog post is unmatched! In trying to keep up with social media and what people want to see, I think I somehow forgot that the whole point of documenting my journey is so that I can have something to look back on to make ME happy. So with that being said, I'm glad to be back on this platform, and this post will pretty much be a recap on how the first half of this year has went for me. 

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JANUARY

I always consider January to be the best month because it's my birthday month, but this year it came with a little extra flair as I took on the role of becoming a (short-lived) professional model for Hypothesis Scrubs. So to give a little backstory, a production company reached out to me last September to do a major campaign for NYC healthcare professionals. As I am Miami-based, I politely declined, but told them to please let me know if anything arose in my area. Imagine my surprise when they reached out again in late December for a campaign in Miami! I scheduled my Zoom meeting with the company for early January, and I remember the interview vividly because even though I had scheduled it for late that evening, I was still in the middle of operating when it came close to my interview time. Luckily, I have an amazing attending who let me scrub out to take the meeting. It was quick and I wasn't sure if I would be picked, but about 2 weeks later I received the message that I was in and was given shoot dates for the end of the month. Of course, I had to ask permission to leave work for one day of filming, but considering that my residency pay is extremely low and this would pay more than I make in a month for only one day of work, I jumped on it without hesitation!

The shoot day was super fun. We started bright and early at around 530am, and I had both a hair and make up artist. I had already done my fitting during the weekend, so I knew what I would be wearing and how it would fit. Not even gonna lie, I hate paying for scrubs (especially when I'm in hospital-issued scrubs 95% of the time), but their scrubs fit and felt so good that I am still considering buying a few pair of my own. But anyway, back to the shoot. There was an entire crew and we filmed at the University of Miami, so there were demo operating rooms and patient rooms ready to go. As this was my first time doing anything modeling related, I had to get used to the lingo (ie reset means go back and do the same exact thing over again), but I loved seeing myself on the screens. Plus, the Amiga Studio production staff were all incredible. We shot videos and still shots and they all came out amazing! Click the pic above to watch the extended YouTube video and let me know what you think :) And if you'd like to buy a pair, feel free to check out the link HERE.

 

As for other photo shoots in January, I had always wanted to do a birthday one, so I did just that! I loved being a model and got some great shots. The crazy thing is that I had a really bad allergic reaction that caused my lips to swell up the day prior, and even though it was improving, my lips were still pretty swollen during my shoot so I received a ton of questions asking if I got fillers, lol. Nope! I just really wanted to do my photo shoot and wasn't going to let a little swelling stop my shine 😂 Overall, I ended up having a great birthday experience, and January was a fun month to ring in Chapter 38.

FEBRUARY

  

February also had it's fun and new adventures. I was with the same plastic surgery attending as the previous month, and he had just launched his new vitality drink, EUROKY, so of course there was a launch party. The party took place during my birthday weekend, so I counted it as a celebration for me since I wasn't allowed any time off for a real vacation. It was a great time and I actually enjoy the drink, so if you're into vitality energy drinks with a great taste and no jitters (I am extremely caffeine-sensitive, but this doesn't have a bad affect on me), then head over to Amazon and buy today!

I was also invited to VCOM-Virginia as part of the William G Anderson, DO Black History Month Keynote Speaker Series, and it was such an honor to speak with the students and staff of this wonderful institution! Getting to Blacksburg, VA was a bit of a feat with an almost near-death plane experience that included a diversion and a van shuttle in from a different state, but once I made it, I was happy to be there. The SNMA leadership made sure I was well accomodated, and being able to speak to over 200 attendees was incredible. 

Even before stepping foot on campus, I was absolutely floored by the level of professionalism and kindness of the faculty, staff, students, and VCOM-VA SNMA leadership. They gave me the opportunity to meet with the legendary osteopathic physician/surgeon, and civil rights leader Dr William G Anderson via zoom to hear his story personally from him, and when I arrived they gifted me with a signed copy of his book that reads "There's more room at the top...Go there!" 🥹 I truly hope my visit impacted them as positively as they impacted me.

MARCH

March was spent in Miami Beach doing a combination of aesthetic plastic surgery and hand surgery. I also completed my 4th annual plastic surgery in-service examination, and was happy to have another year behind me. Honestly, I think March was where I really started to resurface again after months of trying to be under a rock for in-service studying, work, and everything else, so I can't remember much else that happened during this month.

APRIL

The first weekend in April, I had the pleasure of visiting Newport Beach, CA for the Allergan Knowledge and Education for Young Surgeons (KEYS) program. I always love attending Allergan events because I learn so much with the plus of exploring new areas! As the meeting starts on the first day at 7am, I was able to fly in the day prior and take advantage of some much needed "me time" before the conference began. I treated myself to a massage and a day at the spa followed by a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Ocean 48. Apparently, this was a new and extremely popular restaurant, but I was able to obtain a last minute reservation at 430pm which for me was 730pm east coast time so it was perfect! They sat me at the best table in the restaurant next to a gorgeous pool and I had the best solo dining experience ever! I literally felt like Queen Latifah in that movie where she goes to a restaurant and orders everything on the menu to enjoy her last days.

As for the conference, I loved actively learning about breast reconstruction. They even had silicone breast models that we practiced markings on as small groups. There was also an injectable portion that went over the different available fillers, and I liked how hands on it was. It's crazy how much the conference covers in only one day, but the busy resident part of me truly appreciates opportunites like this that allow me to get away without affecting my work. I also enjoy interacting with residents from other programs across the country.

I can't end April without discussing my little one as this was also her prom month. My daughter was absolutely gorgeous in her dress! I actually never got to have the true senior prom experience as I was in college full-time as a joint enrollment high school student, and I didn't really know anyone since I moved so many times during my childhood, so it has been such a blessing getting to witness my daughter have experiences I never had. 

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My daughter also finally decided on a college in April and made her announcement. I'm so excited that she will be headed to my alma mater, Louisiana State University! 💜💛💜💛 I think I'm even more glad to be done with all the college visits. We had our final one to FAU at the end of February, but over the course of the past year, I think we had more than 5, so I was tired of the whole process. I'm excited that she'll be attending a school that I am familiar with and that will help get her out of her shell while molding her to be successful in life.

MAY

And continuing on with my daughter, I'm officially the mother of a high school graduate!!!! I was so extremely proud to see my baby walk across the stage and receive her diploma with distinction in May. Celebrating her and all her accomplishments made all the stresses of graduation and partying planning worth it for me. I had planned a mommy/daughter trip but cancelled it last minute because she said she wanted to hang out with her friends. She ended up not going out and staying up under me for the week, but it was great to have uninterrupted bonding together. I'm so extremely blessed to have such a great daughter.

Oh, and speaking of graduations, Larkin Plastic Surgery officially graduated its first class of residents! We had a beautiful dinner to celebrate our outgoing chief residents at the end of May. Which reminds me, we also had our 1st ever Larkin Plastic Surgery Women's gathering at the beginning of May, and we looked good, so sharing that pic above.

JUNE

The next month sucked as I was on transplant surgery, but it was my final month as a 4th year plastic surgery resident, so that was the highlight. I also met some awesome students that knew me from social media, so it was great being able to catch up with people in real life. I honestly don't have much for June other than working. I did get to do some nice liver and kidney cases, but honestly I'm happier with plastic surgery, and I'm glad that from here on out that will be my focus for life. I ended the month (and another year of residency), by attending the Jeezy TM:101 20th Anniversary Black Tie concert, so that was my fun highlight for June.

NOW

I think that pretty much sums up the first 6 months of the year. Ya girl is officially a 5th year Plastic Surgeon (in training) as of last week, and I couldn't be happier! There's not a day that goes by where I don't wake up feeling blessed to be in the position I am in. Yeah, I might b*tch and complain every now and then, but I am truly ecstatic to be actively pursuing my dreams with a MAJOR milestone in sight! Going back through this blog and seeing where I started versus where I am now is so surreal. 5 years ago at this time, I would have never imagined that at this time I would be living in Miami and training to be a plastic surgeon. Just goes to show how God truly is in control and how trusting in Him and His process will always cause things to work out for the best. 

That's about all I have to say, but if you've read this far, thank you for much for continuing to follow along on my journey. I'm still here, still kicking, and can't wait to become your favorite plastic surgeon 😁

2024: Another Year of Happiness

December 17^th marked 11 years since this blog has been in existence, but for the first time ever since its creation, I managed to go the entire year without a single post! I've honestly thought about discontinuing this blog and not paying for the domain anymore, but out of all my various social media accounts, I find blogging to be the most therapeutic and writing brings me a ton of joy. Plus, it's crazy to believe that when I stared this blog I was just a premedical student and now I am 4th year Plastic Surgeon in training accomplishing things that I had never even dreamed of.  I originally started writing this post on the day of my actual blogiversary, but as you can see, life has been super busy and I never got around to finishing it. So with that being said, and today being New Year’s Eve, I'm going to use this post to give a recap of 2024 :)

January

During my last post, I was in Orlando, Florida completing my pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgery months. January was a continuation of my Orlando experience with Pediatric Surgery. It was a great month operating on newborns, babies, and children. I was definitely ready to return back home to Miami though. Luckily, my program called a mandatory in-person team building meeting on the last day of the month which also happened to be my 37th birthday :) We also found out that our residency program had recently received full ACGME accreditation (we were brand new when I started), so we celebrated both with cinnamon rolls and our program coordinator also gave me the sweetest birthday sign. My significant other also surprised me with surgical loupes, so it was a great end to an already fantastic month.

February

I was glad to be back home in February, but this was also the month where I tried to stay under the study rock as much as possible and used my free time to prepare for the upcoming plastic surgery in-service exam that we take every March. During the month, I was on a plastic surgery rotation that combined aesthetics, hand, and reconstruction, so it was good to be exposed to everything. I did find time to have a tiny bit of fun that month though and used it to try out the true Miami lifestyle for a night. When I moved here, I thought that nightlife was dead, but I just realized I was doing things too early lol. In February, I decided to see what the hype was about, so on a weekend I wasn't on call, I worked all day Friday, came home around 8pm and went to bed, woke up after midnight, got dressed and made it to the club at 2am and got to see Jeezy perform front in center. I had definitely been missing out!

March

March was a significant month because it was my last time ever having to rotate on General Surgery ever!!!! If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know I basically completed a General Surgery based intern year. On top of that, the first two years of my plastic surgery residency were very general surgery heavy. It felt so good to know I will never have to remove a gallbladder or appendix again, lol.

As for other March highlights, I was able to attend the Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC) of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), and celebrate the SNMA's 60th anniversary. I am proud to have served the organization as its 54th National President (and I was the first osteopathic medical student to ever serve the organization as national president), so it was a joy being back in the conference setting and seeing thriving premedical and medical students. It was also great being able to catch up with old colleagues, and I ended the trip with my first ever cooking class! I now know how to make New Orleans style eggs benedict, pralines,  shrimp etouffee, and crab cakes :) 

As my in-service exam was finally complete and I had room to breathe. I also took some time to hang out with my daughter in March. I'm sure we filmed a random TikTok video on her account that never got shared, but as always, we had great mommy/daughter bonding time. 

April

I started off April operating on a great abdominoplasty case with my attending Dr. Adam Rubinstein. He had an observing student with him who captured some great pictures of me working, so of course I had to include the above one in this post. Since we don't do official rotations with him until our 5th year of residency, it was great getting the chance to work alongside him for a few days in April as I was on the general plastic surgery service and we had enough coverage for me to be able to leave and join him.

Because I was not allowed any PTO for most off the first half of my 3rd year of residency, I was finally able to put in a request for April. I took advantage of the time off by taking a trip with my SO to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where we stayed at an all-inclusive and had a great time. I probably ate and drank my weight in food, so there's not much I can recap about the trip other than it was amazing.

Lastly April was the month of my daughter's junior prom and she looked absolutely amazing!!!! The picture above is just me being a proud mama, but since a lot you have been following along on this ride since she was in elementary school, I'm sure you can appreciate the growth.

May

I started off the month of May performing my first circumferential body lift, and even better, I hit the milestone of having MY FIRST ACADEMIC BOOK CHAPTER PUBLICATION!!!!! Under the guidance of my wonderful attending Dr. Christopher J. Salgado, I was able to participate in a chapter titled "Aesthetic Male Genital Surgery" in Advances in Cosmetic Surgery. Up until this point, I had published my own book and was included in various publications through my previous research, but I had never had an academic book chapter. This was a major goal for me, and I'm super thankful I was able to accomplish it.

I also took a few more days of PTO in April and spent it on a wonderful Virgin Voyages cruise. I sailed to Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas while enjoying unlimited food and great drinks. It was another great reprieve, and a fantastic end to the month.

June

June came with even more accomplishments as one of my articles discussing gender affirming hormone therapy was published. That article can be read HERE. But we didn't just stop there! I was fortunate enough to have another academic book chapter published under the guidance of my attending Dr. Tarik Husain. This chapter was one that we actually started during my intern year and submitted when I was a 2nd year plastic surgery resident, but the process was soooooo long!!!! I was so happy to finally see it come to fruition. I don't have a free PDF to share, but if you're interested in the book, you can buy it HERE.

Another major highlight of June, was being able to have the first resident clinic patient of my program and operate on my own patient. We performed a mommy makeover that included a breast augmentation, liposuction 360, liposuction of the arms, and an umbilicoplasty. I have one happy patient and it was a great experience having autonomy but with the guidance and direct supervision of my attending to ensure great results. I have so many great before and after pictures too that I received permission to share, but I don't know the full rules on what I am allowed to share under my resident status, so for now you'll have to stay tuned. Since I was very close with the patient, I will say that operating was super scary and also nerve racking because I’m not used to being close with patients or them having constant access to me. It was definitely a lesson learned in trying to avoid that, lol, but then again, I'm happy it was with me :)

July 

I officially became a 4th year Plastic Surgeon in training in July! I am now a more senior resident and with that comes more responsibility and the growing fear (and excitement!) of knowing I'll be on my own in a few years, but I'm loving every moment of it! In July, we welcomed our new interns and we had a great educational/fun night at Top Golf where we learned about wound reconstruction and ended the evening showing off our golfing skills. 

August

August was a super busy service as I was back doing microsurgery, general reconstruction, aesthetics, and gender affirmation surgery. I think we had two phalloplasty procedures and two vaginoplasty procedures just in August alone! One case alone took 16 hours to perform, and I believe I only scrubbed out once or twice to use the bathroom and eat. Although this month was super busy, I loved it because it was both challenging and fun at the same time. Plus, I learned a lot and could really feel and see myself growing as a surgeon.

 

September

September was a continuation of the August service, so it was completely busy as well. The major highlight of the month for me was being invited to attend the annual Osteopathic Medical Education Conference (OMED) as a keynote speaker for the Student Track of the conference. This was HUGE for me because the other keynote speakers for the conference were Montel Williams (one of my favorite 90’s talk show hosts) and Dr. Kevin O’ Connor (longest serving physician to the United States Presidents). I was floored that I would be considered to be a speaker at such a prestigious event, and I loved my time there! Although I was a virtual speaker with my idol Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee at OMED few years back, I had never actually attended in person until this conference. I loved interacting with my fellow DO colleagues and learning new things.

Conference season didn’t end there though as the following weekend I was in San Diego attending the annual Plastic Surgery Meeting (PSTM). It was such an insanely good conference, and I met sooo many amazing stars in the field of plastic surgery. A recap of that would make this post way longer than it should be, but please check out my Instagram post HERE so you can read about why I was so inspired.

 

October

I don’t have much for the month of October, so it was likely very busy, but I did get a chance to kick off the month by speaking to the medical students from the SNMA chapter of the University of Miami School of Medicine. I always love interacting with students, so it was a great experience.

November

November started off immediately in mommy mode as the first day was my daughter's Senior Night at school. She has been involved in band and color guard for years, so it was great  being able to walk the field with her as she was recognized for her accomplishments. I also always love seeing her perform.

I also ended up in Las Vegas at the Allergan Surgical Solutions Symposium where I participated in the breast surgery. There were amazing panels and discussions which included preoperative planning and live patient markings, reimbursement guidelines, managing complications, and even lectures on GLP-1 weight loss medications and how plastic surgeons can adapt to treating these patients. My favorite part of the conference was getting to practice markings on anatomic models and then putting the work in action as I got a chance to perform an augmentation-mastopexy (breast implants with a lift) on an actual human cadaver!

My daughter also turned 18 in November! Yep, I’ve officially been a mommy for eighteen years and I am so incredibly proud of the young woman she is becoming. We celebrated by traveling to New Orleans during her Thanksgiving break where she got a chance to check out Bourbon Street for the first time and be horrified, lol. We also toured a couple of colleges on her list (she currently has quite a few acceptances, and I am one proud mama!). Lastly, We saw Justin Timberlake perform in concert which was her only birthday wish, and through the most random occurrence ever, he said her name twice during the concert. Of course she lost it and started crying tears of happiness, so it was even more beautiful to see so much joy in her.  

December

December has been a whirlwind! Like the others, this month as been super busy and with a lot of interesting cases. Reading through this post now, I’m honestly shocked at how I’ve been able to manage studying, operating, traveling, and everything in between. Right now, I only have the time to write this post because I put in my PTO for the last few days of this month as my next two months will likely be super busy. I truly love what I do though and operating makes me so happy. Plus, my program director recently commented on how much better and faster I’ve gotten in the operating room, and that made me smile.

This month, I finally had the chance to attend the annual Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida and it was a great experience. As always, I learned a lot and the location was beautiful.

As for fun moments this month, we had our residency holiday party, and it was nice being able to spend a fun evening with my colleagues. I actually started writing this post about an hour before the party, and then never got to finish it until now. The day after our holiday party, I had a chance to see Usher perform and it was a great experience. I was originally supposed to see him perform on a Saturday in October which was a lighter month work-wise for me, but because of the hurricane that month, his concert was moved to a Wednesday in December. I debated going because I worked a full day and had another full day the next, but I am glad I went. He is a great performer and it was definitely worth missing a little sleep.

I think that pretty much sums up 2024! The next two months will be spent working hard and studying even harder as I prepare for our annual inservice exam in March. I haven’t quite taken a moment to fully reflect and map out my goals for 2024, but one of our medical students recently gifted me with a beautiful gratitude book, and I plan to write something in it daily. I’ve also decided that I will start taking bigger leaps, being more unapologetic, and truly embracing this beautiful journey in 2025. If you can believe it, since starting residency I’ve really been trying my best to lie low, but playing small just doesn’t cut it for me. I am about to enter into another beautiful era of life, and I want to continue to inspire, shine, and encourage others with my light. So here’s to another year of good vibes, new goals, and growth!

If you’ve managed to read this far, thank you so much for reading and your continued support. I wish you nothing but joy, happiness, and success in 2025 and for years to come 😊

 

March 2023 Updates and Features

Perfecting my craft!

Happy March! I don't have much in terms of updates over the past month as I was busy returning back to reality from my recent trip, as well as studying for the plastic surgery in-service exam which I completed a few days ago. I finished up a great plastic surgery rotation, and ended February on a high note. The picture above is actually the last day of last month's rotation, where my little sister came for a visit as my patient :) Right now, I'm taking the time in-between work duties to get caught up and relax a little. This post will be a quick update and share some of my recent features along with my most recent YouTube video.

For my most recent update, I completed my second ever plastic surgery in-service exam! This exam is taken annually by every plastic surgery resident in the country, and it is used the assess  our knowledge. We are also all scored against all plastic surgery residents within our year. It feels good to be done, and while it was a rough one, I now have a better idea of things I need to work on knowledge-wise. I recorded the above YouTube video on the day of the exam, and it basically shows my quick morning routine and my immediate post-exam thoughts. Please check it out, give it a like, and subscribe to my channel!

I'm also beyond honored and thrilled to be currently featured in this month's issue of The DO (official magazine of the American Osteopathic Association). I am always happy to share my story in hopes that it will inspire others, so feel free to check out the article HERE and let me know what you think!

Lastly, I almost forgot to mention that last month, in celebration of Black History Month, I was also featured alongside 15 other phenomenal Black osteopathic physicians in an article that can be read HERE. If you've been following my blog from the beginning, then you might already recognize Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee and Dr. Octavia Cannon, both of whom I admire and had the chance to interact with. I am also quite fond of a lot of the other DOs mentioned in the article, so it was quite humbling to see my name mentioned alongside so many phenomenal individuals.

That's pretty much it in terms of updates. So far, I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping my goal of posting to YouTube weekly, and I'm still enjoying the hustle and bustle of residency life. As always, I appreciate you for reading and wish you a wonderful week ahead!

Check Me out on YouTube!

 

        

Happy New Year! Remember in 2017 when I attempted to start a YouTube vlog of my medical journey? Unfortunately I didn't keep up with it, but I'm hoping this year will be different. With that being said, here's my first post of the year! Please check it out, like, comment, and subscribe if you want to see more!

I still plan to write regular posts on this blog, but I figured having a video format of my journey would be helpful as well. It's definitely been a bit of a learning curve for me, so the videos will improve as I learn more. I would like to produce content that everyone finds helpful, so any and all topic suggestions are greatly appreciated. Wishing everyone a wonderful week! 

Here's the link to my YouTube channel (subscribe for future videos): https://www.youtube.com/@minoritydoctor

Wrapping up 2022! (Residency Life, Mom Life, and Blog Milestones)

Last Blog Post of the Year!

Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of 2022?! This year has flown by fast! So fast in fact that I've been too busy to keep up with my blog the way I've wanted to, but I'm here and ready to catch everyone up as we head into what will hopefully be an exciting and fulfilling new year :)

My daughter turned 16!

My last post was in October, so I guess the biggest update since that time is that I am officially the mom of a sixteen year old. Yep, the little one turned 16 in November! Can you believe it?!?! She'll be getting her full drivers license soon and we're already talking about ACT/SAT prep with hopes to plan out college visits soon. <insert shocked face> I'm just seriously so blessed to have such an amazing daughter and I'm even more so grateful that I was able to spend her special day with her and celebrate in a way that she wanted. The festivities included a birthday dinner, an escape room experience, and a very small home gathering of pizza and movies with some of her closest friends. It was memorable and just as sweet as she is.

Celebrating my 9 year blogiversary!

My other major update is the "Aspiring Minority Doctor" blog is now 9 years old! Even though my posts have become less frequent, I'm still in disbelief that I've kept up with this thing for nine years. My original plan was to type up a blogiversary post on December 17th, but that day I was participating in a full day aesthetic injection workshop and I was too tired to type by the time I got home that night. It was a pretty awesome day though as I got the chance to have my little sister as a patient and my results came out pretty awesome :) 

Surgery is life

In terms of residency life, nothing much new has occurred since my last post. I continue to work and learn daily and not a day goes by where I don't feel incredibly blessed to be in the position I am in today. I was actually surprised in November during my hand surgery rotation with how much I enjoyed it, so I'm continuing to keep my mind open on my future practice plans. Plastic surgery is such a diverse field, so I don't want to miss out on something great by hyper focusing on one aspect of the specialty. Plus, I still have four more years to make up my mind. 

Thankful for you!

Other than that, I just want to end the year with thanks. I continue to be grateful for each and every individual who takes the time out of their busy lives to read my blog. It truly means a lot to me, so thank you for reading. And as for the upcoming year, I'm not sure the direction I want to go with continuing to share my journey, but I'm definitely going to aim to make it to the ten year mark with this blog. I'm also thinking of venturing out into other realms to share my journey and insights, but for now you'll just have to stay tuned ;)

Happy Holidays!

I am excited for 2023 and for the wild ride I'm sure it will take me on. Every year that goes by, I learn more about myself, and good or bad, I enjoy the growth that comes with every year. To everyone reading this, I hope you had a very happy holiday season and I wish you an incredible New Year filled with love, joy, and accomplishing feats you never thought possible. See you next year!