M2 year in a nutshell

I’ve obviously neglected this blog…I mean, are blogs even the “cool” thing to do anymore? Seems like video blogs are taking over. Regardless, thanks to Austin reminding me that my life is not all that boring, I’ve decided to start blogging again.

From the top, M2 year began too early (in July) with pharm and path. We then moved on to “systems” starting with derm and ended in April with musculoskeletal. Throughout the year, I shadowed a pediatrician and can honestly say that my negative views on dealing with kids have changed. For example, dealing with a 3 y/o boy that is flipping out, screaming and crying about an impending shot is no longer a defying feat. In fact, my physician mentor taught me that there is no need to deal with “child-like” tantrums, and calmly tell the child and accompanying legal guardian that either that boy needs to stop fussing or we will not administer the shot. That being said, the job of calming down the child has been handed rightfully to the legal guardian and you are no longer left to deal with it. If anyone knows of a better method in dealing with crying kids, please let me know, but this one is fine by me 🙂 Even better are the kiddies that are sick, they’re usually to tired and lethargic to fuss.

Back to school, I had my OSCE’s which is a standardized patient exam. This 3 hour exam consists of 6 stations. 5 are patients and one is a diagnostic lab. With the patients, we had 15 min to interview/examine  (H&P) the pt and 10 minutes to do the write-up which included labs and differential diagnoses. The diagnostic lab station included lab values, ekgs, and urine analysis results that we were supposed to analyze and diagnose. Overall, this was probably one of the most exhausting and stressful exams I’ve experienced. The 3 hours flew by, but there was always that one antagonizing minute that they you give you for a break in between patients that just made you suffer.

Over spring break I had the opportunity to go to Ecuador on a medical mission. I feel that in itself is worthy of a separate post..with pics! So I’ll be sure to do that soon.

At the present, we’re done with school. It’s board studying time!! I’m taking the COMLEX June 24th and have signed up for the USMLE but am unsure if I’m taking that yet.

As for personal me, I’m living with three other amazing chicas that make the apt life enjoyable. However, I’ll be moving out at the end of June for an apt in Miami, ughh, i know… I’m currently in a relationship that was wonderful but is now slowly and heart wrenchingly spiraling downwards. I’m not sure if the change was because of the stress of impending boards or he just stopped caring. Either way, I’ve learned making relationships work with zero time and 100% stress is hard. I guess it just comes down to whether you think it’s impt enough to make sacrifices for.

That being said, my 2nd year officially ends this Friday and I’m “officially” 1/2 a doc! Craziness… Having summarized the year, I guess I’ll be focusing and writing more about the present and daunting future. For those that still tune in (austin), thanks!

Feminist Rant

A break…ahhh! I will now cater to my much neglected blog.

“smart women become doctors, smarter women marry them”

Last semester, our class was split into groups and assigned to random middle schools throughout Broward County to spread the news that cigarettes are bad! This was a for our Tobacco Cessation course and in order to pass the class, we had to do a 50 minute presentation with videos and games on the dangers of tobacco use. My group included two others and we were stuck in a ghetto middle school with a grumpy old lady that obviously hated her job/life for 5 class periods/the entire day! So there’s the setting, here’s the rant.

In one particular class period, we ended our presentation about 15 min early and decided to open up the floor to these rowdy group of 7th graders on any general questions. I began by asking, “So how many of you all want to grow up to be doctors?” To which a perky girl that obviously hit puberty way to early in her life, replied, “I don’t want to be a doctor, but I want to marry one!” I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was, so here I was trying to pull my thoughts together to tell her she was a pathetic excuse for a young woman give her encouraging words on how women shouldn’t have to rely on men for financial stability in their future, etc, when another chick pipes up with, “Yeah, I’m definitely marrying rich.” Jarod, my med school buddy/partner is loving this, as he replies, “That’s my girl!” The teacher takes over at this point and asks bimbo girl #1 what she plans to do with her life while her doctor hubby is at work saving lives. Bimbo girl #1 replies with, “Well, somebody has to spend all the money he makes, I’ll stay at home and decorate the house.” Which then turns into a full blown discussion on interior decorating between bimbo girls #1, #2, and friends. Jarod turns to me and remarks, “They start goldiggers young these days.” The bell rings, everyone leaves. I’m appalled. A.) The teacher did nothing to remedy the situation, to explain or empower these young impressionable minds. B.) That girls this young are still in that “male provider” mindset. I really believed that upcoming generations would be over this antiquated way of thinking and it’s sad to see it still exists. I didn’t have this experience with any of the other 4 classes, but one experience in itself was enough. I went back home and hung out with the girls as we traded stories on whose “tobacco cessation” experience was the worst. I brought up my story and the girls were startled, but not to my point of shock. Ingrid provided the point that maybe the financial setting may have had something to do with it, in that, these girls’ mothers, unhappy with their current status/way of life bring their girls up to look for something better, embedding them with ideas on marrying rich. Not gonna lie, yes, that’s an easy way out, but what about doing something for yourself, getting an education, working hard, striving to succeed, doing what you want to do and whatever makes you happy. But then again, who I am to judge, as long as these girls know they have an option. If they are educated on these options and they still want to marry rich, more power to them. Male docs beware!

Sex and Medicine

I’ve found that med students are all uber huge pervs. We hide it well, because we are now professionals and that is what professionals do. In classes, professors use the penis as a metaphor for mitosis, specifically during the step of anaphase where the separating chromosomes are “erect like tiny happy penises” and then eventually “become limp and tired” during telophase. Our anatomy professor, during a lecture on breasts, slipped us something about the “bounce factor” of breasts which can be used to tell if they are real or have been surgically enhanced. (That didn’t go over well with some of the females in our class. I, personally, thought it was kind of funny.) In our Osteopathic Principles and Practice Lab, we are paired up with a person and in one particular lab we had to feel the skeletal bony landmarks of our partner. We had to palpate the pubic symphysis. Don’t know where that is? Let’s just say you’d have to buy me dinner and drinks before you could ever come near mine. Luckily, I had a female partner so it wasn’t as awkward. In anatomy lab, I noticed that my group is now more comfortable not only with each other, but with our cadaver, Sven. Comfortable to the point of being able to make some racy jokes…I won’t get into it, but it’s just interesting how our attitudes have changed. I wonder if we are all pervs at heart and then the desensitization of body parts allows us to be comfortable and therefore express our inner pervs. Does that make sense at all? Well, you can analyze this yourselves and get back to me. I have to continue studying for my SPEs (simulated patient exam), where we have 35 minutes to perform a full history and physical to a patient actor while a facilitator grades us. Mine is on Sept 20th, Molly’s is Oct 4th. Wish us luck!

Exam Time

Our first biochem exam was this past Monday…needless to say the weekend was spent at the library downing red bulls and going over amino acids. On test day, it was mandatory to wear our white coats. I, knowing I would forget, left mine on my chair so that I would remember it when I left in the morning. Of course I forgot it anyway, but luckily my roomate hadn’t left the house yet, so she brought it to school for me. The test was fine, although they the profs tended to ask questions on things they had never mentioned/taught in class. Overall, I had this blase attitude on how I performed. I have yet to check my test results. That night, there was an event at the Park at the Hardrock for the M1s and M2s. The thing I like about our med school class is that they always seem to throw some sort of party/event the same night after one our tests. I feel that the balance between academics and a social life is quite necessary. There was some Mr. NSU contest that night, kinda like our Mr. Honors College, which we pretty much missed since we were so fashionably late. We pre-gamed at chili’s with some of our M1 friends and dental students. Perle and Bnall came out that night as well and later, we all got crunk at the Park. Funny thought: As I was looking out at the crowd that night, full of crazy, drunken students with lit cigs, drinks in hand, dancing up on poles, I was like, “wow, they’re going to be someone’s doctor one day.”  Kinda scary, huh?  Overall, my mission was to get Molly “very happy” again and my mission was accomplished. What a great way to celebrate the completion of our first test.

Sona’s Schedule of Studying

(or lack thereof)

Consists of:

8am-5pm- Class, and how can you study while in class? You should be paying attention….So no studying done here.

5pm-6pm-Errands, errands, there are ALWAYS fricking errands

6pm-7pm- Eat…so impt..While on the subject of eating… I am lazy and I can’t cook. I can try to cook, but I am lazy. I really miss Ali, Trin, Meg, Bryan, and the various others who would cook/feed me amazing meals back at the HC. I now realize how lucky/spoiled I was. This may shock you, but I have actually resorted to frozen TV dinners!!!!!!!! i know, i know, so sad. But the convenience of popping a $3 boxed meal into the microwave for 5 minutes for instant nourishment is hard to beat. I’m trying to stay “healthy” by buying the south beach diet, lean cuisine meals, etc. Sadly, I see this being the norm for a while…

7pm- Study, chill w/hicks or molly or by myself

Slightly idealized schedule to my day, but I honestly understand what people mean when they say there aren’t enough hours in the day. I come home exhausted and worn out every night (and this is just from being at school, lab days are worse) and all I want to do is have a glass of wine and sleep.

The pics Molly posted below were taken this friday at our little wine and cheese soire, which turned into an impromptu house party…let’s just say the guest list was very ethnic! We had a good time! Molly and I, being the nerds we are, came up with a medical “gang sign”…ya, no scoffing. We can cut you up, bitches! FYI, my bday is coming up and I’m throwing a house partay fri night, sept 1st. All and more are welcome!
Back to the present…we are currently sitting in class, learning the art of taking vital signs, we will be needing volunteers to practice on 🙂 Our first major test (biochem) is coming up on Monday, so needless to say, we will be hardcore cramming until then. In the meantime, here’s a fun fact we just learned…ATLEAST 40% of Americans are overweight…so get your big butt off that computer chair and hop on the treadmill, son!

Everybody quick, get in shape

We had our first OPP lab (Osteopathic Principles and Practices) yesterday. The attire is: gym shorts for guys, sports bra and shorts for girls, socks optional. That’s right. No shirts. Yesterday we focused on “the art of observation and palpation,” where we had to get with our partner and check for body symmetry/asymmetry.

Then we moved on to palpation- very “hands on.” A bit awkward at first but after 2 hours I was ready to race around the room in my sporty little outfit. Who cares? We’re going to be doctors in 4 years; we’re going to see people naked all the time- all shapes and sizes of people. It would be difficult to tell what is abnormal, if you don’t have enough experience seeing and feeling what is normal.

I’ll Call Him “Sven”

Sidenote: I’m posting whenever I get a chance, but the dates I post do not actually correspond to the date of the event.

8/8/06

Human cadaver dissection: a very significant event in the life of every med student. I’ll admit, I was rather reluctant to begin the dissection so soon… it was only Day 2! I didn’t have the dissector manual or the atlas- so underprepared was I. We were told to wear alternate scrubs to lab because the smell would never leave whatever it was we would be wearing. I was scheduled for Group A which starts the dissection after lunch on Tuesdays (yummy). Needless to say, I ate light. We entered the room and found blue body bags lying on surgical steel tables. The information given on each body was just their sex, how they died, and whether after use they would be cremated or returned to their families. There are 5 people in my dissection group and our guy was a rather chunky 73-year old who died of renal failure and cardiovascular disease. OMG, i forgot to mention the smell!!!! Right when you walk into the lab, you’re knocked back by this overwhelming smell of formaldehyde and a bajillion other chemicals. By the end of lab, your throat is raw from breathing it in and you can’t smell anything else. Back to my cadaver. He didn’t have a name, so I suggested that our group name him Bob, which was vetoed immediately due to lack of originality. Then someone said Harold….yeah, that was tossed. I then suggested Sven! We loved it, so it stuck. We started the dissection by uncovering Sven and turning him so that he was stomach side down. The first incision was made midline down his back. I had the great pleasure of making lateral incisions to the midline and removing his endless amounts of yellow, gooey fat! I’ll spare you the details of the rest of the dissection but we uncovered the superficial muscles in Sven’s back and left him for the next dissection group.

On the social side, I’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing. Perle and Mani (who drove all the way from J-town, thank you boys), Hickory, and I went out to this place called Tijuana Taxi Company on Wed night. The place is like Hooter’s meets Mexico. The chicks wear short shorts with pantyhose. The food is your typical Mexican fare, but the margaritas are fantastic! (make note, Ali). We ran into a “very happy” Molly out with her roomates. Speaking of, I’ve invited Ms. Molly to be a guest writer on this blog. Although she already has a joint blog with Luke, she has graciously agreed to partake in this endeavour. Molly blogs-coming soon!

p.s.- This post was finished while sitting in the back of the auditorium while the speaker rambles on about ethnocultural medicine and the certification of interpreters, bleh!

Is it too late to switch my major?

It’s 8 am. Picture a large stadium-seating auditorium with the lights dimmed. A professor at the front drones on about the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, the influence of hydrogen ions on biological systems and introduces us to “gasp” nucleic acids…ya…. i’m falling asleep as well. Day 1 was overwhelming. We started in this auditorium that will be the setting for most of our classes, except for labs. All 239 of us med students (M1s) were dressed in ceil blue scrubs and white coats. I, of course, opted for business attire and wore a skirt (cuz i’m special). I found Ms. Molly immediately and we took our seats together. (side-note: thank all deities and higher powers for Molly. I don’t know what I would have done without her!) Our first class was biochem and we were handed our note packets. After 2 hours of that, we moved on to Clinical Practicum, the course that basically teaches you how to be a doctor. But I’ve noticed they’re teaching us to be elitists. I may be exaggerating a little bit, but during orientation I remember a speaker saying that because we entered medical school, we were now a step above in society. Yeah, shocking. But more on that later…Gross anatomy came afterwards and we received yet another packet, over 100 pages, and just on the anatomy of the back and upper extremities!! Yes, they really do spoon-feed us our notes as M1s, but the fact is, we still have to memorize every word on every page. Woo! It’s overwhelming, but definitely do-able (note: study every night, forever and ever until you die). Oh yes, I forgot about lunch, our little reprieve of the day. Lunch is the same time for all health professions division students, dental, optometry, etc. Needless to say, it was packed. I’m going to have to start bringing my own lunches, gosh this feels like highschool. At the end of the day, I come out overwhelmed and ever so slightly stressed. Yet at the same time, it’s hard to describe, but i was really really happy…to be where i was and doing what i was doing. Tomorrow is my first dissection, i’m psyched…until then, i sleep.