Louisville Medicine Volume 65, Issue 6 | Page 32

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tions involved organized medicine . Advocacy was my background , so it seemed like a perfect fit . I ran for the position and got it , so I became a KMA / AMA Representative and that led me to GLMS .”

In her second year , Dr . Tailor became president of the KMA / AMA Student Association at UofL , in which she directly helped students get involved in KMA Committees . She even collaborated with GLMS to promote a concert benefitting student-run medical clinics .

Through those activities and many more , Dr . Tailor quickly bonded with other members of her medical class . Everyone studied together , and during rare free time , they went to community service events or festivals around the city .

“ My class went through a lot of ups and downs , and we became very close ,” Dr . Tailor reminisced . “ The analogy I always heard was that medical school is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant . That ’ s very accurate , but we depended on each other and I think it helped a lot .”

Almost every rotation was enjoyable , an exception being pediatrics , which Dr . Tailor had initially set her sights on as a career choice . “ It may have been a mistake to do a pediatric rotation in December . I spent most of that rotation sick . I liked just about everything else , but internal medicine was the one that made me think , ‘ Huh , I could do this .’ I liked the Sherlock Holmes aspect of the work , figuring out each person ’ s puzzle and making them feel better .”

In 2010 , Dr . Tailor moved to Gainesville for her first year of residency , to try something new . It was in Florida where Dr . Tailor had one of her first truly affecting moments as a physician .

“ I was very close to some of the patients I had in Florida ,” Dr . Tailor said , looking back . “ In this case , the patient was in her late 30s . She had a 10-year-old , had just gotten out of a bad relationship and tried to commit suicide by OD ’ ing on Tylenol . She had acute liver failure from the attempt , and so she was on our rotation because we were trying to rehab her liver .”

The patient had been in the hospital for several weeks before she met Dr . Tailor . “ She was ready to turn her life around . She was a teacher and liked art ; I ’ m named after a painting . So , I ’ d go in and check on her , and we ’ d end up chatting about art and other things . Before we could get her well enough to go home , she had a massive GI bleed . Liver disease is so volatile . She ended up dying , and it was one of the saddest moments . I remember seeing the upper levels resuscitating her , her mom crying in my attending ’ s arms … It was really hard ,” Dr . Tailor took a deep breath before continuing .

“ So many patients will affect you in different ways . I ’ ve had more stories since , and I ’ m sure there will more to come .”

There were happier moments during her time in Florida as well . Dr . Tailor and her cousin visited Disney World and even ran a marathon as Anna and Elsa from “ Frozen .” With her intern year over , Dr . Tailor was ready to go back to her Old Kentucky Home and finish her residency at UofL .

“ Residency is stressful . You ’ re on the go . But , when you see a patient as a resident , you can go to a wiser and more experienced doctor and say , ‘ Here ’ s what I ’ m thinking . Am I crazy or is this okay ?’ When you become a doctor , suddenly you decide what happens with the patient . You have days where you know exactly what you ’ re doing , and other days where you ’ re second-guessing everything . But that ’ s something else you have to navigate .”

After a year as chief resident , Dr . Tailor stepped out into the job market in 2014 . She promptly became faculty at UofL and began teaching internal medicine , not long after she ’ d been sitting in the students ’ chairs herself .

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