countdown

Let the countdown begin!!! Less than a week and I will be done with my second year of medical school! My last day of lecture is tomorrow! We have pbl and review sessions on Friday. Monday and Tuesday are tests! That's, That's all, folks - I'm done! Assuming I pass endocrinology, ethics, and one other minor assignment.
That's 1/2 way to being a doctor! Seems surreal in a way and yet I've had very little time to reflect on the whole situation. There will be no break for me, because I roll right into studying for the Boards :( I officially feel like an adult, because this is the first summer of my life where I don't get a summer.

Below - pic of me last year before the white coat ceremony!

sun

spring, spring, spring - it's like a little song in my head. All day long it goes: spring, spring, spring


la, tee, da - the warm weather, the beautiful tulips makes me want to skip. la, tee, da


bright vibrant colors against the beautiful lush green background - make the colors stand out that much more.

spring, spring, spring - la, tee, da

too long

I've been a slacker. Haven't written in nearly a week. I was doing so good for a while, but I run out of things to write about and I imagine that you probably don't really want to read about what I've learned in repro or now hyper- or hypothyroidism. Not too much exciting in terms of school, which does occupy most of my time.

This weekend was a good break. Spring is officially here. I spent as much time outside this weekend as possible. It was a post-exam weekend, which meant I got to be a normal human being again for a little bit. Slept in (even though for me that's usually still before 9am). Went shopping - early bird special at Kohls, nothing exciting at Old Navy, and a dress at Target along with cleaning supplies. My room is clean and dusted. Still need to vacuum. My favorite soft serve ice cream place is open again - so had a fudge brownie, caramel cone and read a book at the park. Dad would be proud - took a mini nap while reading at the park. Made a yummy dinner - breaded tilapia with oregano, lemon, and garlic. Side of a veggie salad I made - cucumbers, bread, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, red wine vinegar, salt & pepper. And a few glasses of wine. Then chick flicks on TV. Painted my nails and then fell asleep on the couch. Simply wonderful.

Sunday was another lounge around day, with a teeny tiny bit of studying. Psych test on Thursday. Now it's back to the grindstone. Trying to figure out my Board's study schedule- which is harder than previously expected. There shall be a whole post devoted to this at a later date. Only 2 weeks left of class before the hard core studying really begins. I'm still in denial that Boards studying is fast approaching.

have to run - in class now. Just felt the need to post something, anything - it's been too long!

Family & Friends: missing all of you and thinking of you often! *Muah* much love

Recon mission

Just a little thing we med students do that adds to our obsessive pre-test compulsiveness. This morning Mel and I staked out a pbl room to study in. The only problem is that they don't put out the lists for what is going on during the rooms during the day. These are study rooms often have meetings, classes, etc going on during the day at random times. The jackpot is when you find a free pbl for the entire day. We were studying this morning, waiting for the lady to come put up the sheet outside the door to tell us if our room was free. It wasn't. We waited a little while to give her a few minutes to put up the signs in the other doors and then.... reconnaissance mission.

That's what it felt like anyway - or maybe that's just my nerdiness coming out. Anyways, we gathered a few things so we could stake our claim if we were lucky enough to find a free room. Mel with her gigantic purse and coffee mug, and me with my half empty backpack and binder. We leave and as any good scouting mission should proceed - it was understood that we would go in opposite directions and meet at the other hallway, hopefully with one of us being successful.


An example of pre-test studying. Not from today though.

Freeze

Freeze....hold it right there. I love those moments in life when you just want to stop time, for that moment and hold on to that feeling a little bit longer. A feeling of freedom or uninhibited laughter, or being wrapped in a blanket of love or the sun on your face the windows rolled down and the music blarring in the background. The moments where it doesn't really matter what happened in the past and it doesn't really matter what's going to happen in the future. Just this moment matters - right now, this feeling, this place, this person. It's a blessing to have these moments no matter how fleeting.

Here

Do you ever have those moments, where you step out of body for a minute and look at yourself from an outside perspective and wonder... "How did I get here?"
I had that distinct experience 2 times in the past few days. Both while driving in my car, sitting next to two of my best friends here. The thought passed through my mind of what had to happen in our lives to bring us together to this point in time. There are so many decisions that could have gone differently and yet somehow we both made the decisions we did and ended up here together.

Two separate life streams that ended up colliding here in Hershey, PA of all places. Not only that, but if you had asked me last year if I would be close to some of the people I am close with now - I would have told you that you were crazy. Yet I have learned some valuable lessons, laughed, and cried with these special people. I guess that's part of what makes life so beautiful and scary at the same time - you never know where you are going to end up.

I'm not suggesting that all of our fates are predetermined and that we have no say in what happens in our lives. I certainly believe that we do, but there is a level of fate or density that I think is present in our lives. We are presented with certain opportunities or introduced to certain people and it's our job and free will to make of it what we will.

Neuticles

I learned yesterday from my facilitator (a radiologist at the med center) in pbl about Neuticles.

(pbl is a small group class that we have a few times a week. There are about 8 people in a group, with a facilitator and we work through cases similar to how we would someday in practice. We get sheets that say - patient presents with pain on urination, shortness of breath, etc. Then the following pages give us a history, physical exam findings, etc. It is our job as a group to work through the diagnosis. We make "learning objectives" about the disease process, risk factors, treatment, etc and then next time we meet we discuss these objectives and then start a new case)

What are Neuticles you ask? Well neuticles are testicular implants for animals (dog, cat, horse, bull) of course. www.neuticles.com

I'm serious! We love our dogs, but I'm sorry I would not drop a couple hundred for my neutered dog to have fake balls implanted. Not sure if it's for the dogs psyche or what.
There are many different varieties. Different consistency/ firmness of the implants, different sizes, and of course different models. You can pay more for the deluxe version and have a fake epididymis too!


There you go. That's what I learned yesterday in pbl. That and I got an ab work out from laughing so hard. :)