Third Test-Check!

I am finally done my third test in medical school. Oh man am I happy to still be breathing (jj). In all actuality, although it was super, uper, duper hard, I could still keep up and do well. I am well above the mean in biochem (and in behavioural med); this is good. Enough bragging.....

I have learned more this last week studying for my metabolism exam than I learned in all biochem / metabolism related classes put together in undergrad, isn't that amazing?? Scary, but amazing! Although it isn't fun to be sleep deprived or constantly have a sore brain from the massive amounts of information I stuff into it, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else with my life. In fact, the 30 hours I spent studying this past weekend (this includes Friday mind you) was so beneficial to my basic science knowledge that I can barely put it into words. Quite amazing!

Since I put everything I had into preparing for this exam, I gave myself an evening free of any schoolwork whatsoever. After classes finished I had a lovely nap (I caught about 45 winks....if ya know what I mean) :) And then I went out to supper with one of my roomies. Afterwards I went to a pub with this same roommate and another guy from our class. He was super nice and great to hang out with. I tell ya, medical students after an exam leads to pretty amazing partying. Actually, NOT!!!! We all met up around 9PM and we had a drink then we all had to go home because we were so incredibly tired and we have mandatory class at 8AM. So here I am in bed getting ready to consume some oh-so-needed zzzzz's..

zzzzz...................^infinity

Successful Week

Well, the week is drawing to a close. Actually, let me rephrase this, the week is over only to reveal an even more hectic 'weekend'. I can't officially call it a weekend because my Saturday and Sunday will definitely be filled from morning to night with biochemistry. I can hardly wait to tickle my brain with a hundred-billion metabolic pathways. Doesn't it just sound like a joyful way to spend a weekend? :) Actually, I hope that I can stuff all of the pathways (and the associated material) into my brain by Monday morning at 8:30AM. Then I will be able to have my 'weekend' and take the rest of Monday off from studying. I can hardly wait!!!!

Now to the point. I have had a successful week. I managed to survive my first (standardized) patient experience. We have these labs called SPAL (for Standardized Patient Assessment Labs) where we are paired with an actor patient and we have to learn how to respond as a physician. It was fun to play doctor! I felt so professional in my new white coat :) Awesome. Except for the fact that my patient decided to uncontrollably cry for my entire 15 minute appointment with her. My initial reaction was to get up and give her a hug. Can you just imagine your doctor jumping out of his/her seat and hugging you when you are crying? So yeah, it didn't happen. But I fumbled around for words and could barely think of what questions to ask. It was pretty stressful. I was all sweaty after! Hopefully I did alright. I have to watch my video that the coordinators taped and assess myself within the next week. That'll be good to see myself and see where I went wrong and what I did well.

I wrote and got my second exam back today. I had a behavioural medicine exam this morning. I was really nervous about it but it ended up alright. I was 10% above the class average so I am pretty pumped! Well, I should go head on over to campus to get some studying in before I crash and reach my maximum-amount-my-brain-can-handle-get-me-into-bed point.

Until next time,
Me

Palpation

The title of this blog basically explains the major highlight of my day. That is above and beyond the hours of biochemistry and behavioural medicine studying I had the pleasure of doing today.

Here at my medical school we get additional training in manual manipulative therapy. I have never had any exposure to this before and am quite amazed at how interested I am in this course. It is great to get into the lab and do things with my hands. It gets my nose out of a textbook and away from the computer.

Today was our second lab and we were learning how to palpate specific anatomical landmarks. There are A LOT of them! I haven't taken anatomy for a number of years so I think that it might be easier if my anatomy knowledge was a bit more sharp (thank goodness anatomy starts tomorrow morning at 8AM!!) Anyway, back to my original point, I learned how to find so many different anatomical structures; it was really neat. When I say anatomical structures, I mean everything from head to toe. That's right, we even got to feel our lab partners ishial tuberosity and pubic symphysis. If you don't know those exact boney structures, it's all good....let's just say we got real close with our lab partners. Luckily for me, my lab partner couldn't find my coccyx (tailbone) and she had to get help from the fellow who proceeded to find my coccyx then guide my partner down there too. Great fun! lol

I am learning so much that I can barely keep up. But I am managing alright. We'll see how the next two tests go (this Friday and upcoming Monday) and then I'll be able to tell you more about how well I am managing. But I've put a long day of classes and studying in so I am off to Neverland...

.....zzzzz......

P.S. There are way more landmarks than the picture shows, I just thought the picture was appropriate :)

White Coat Ceremony

I have been officially inducted into the medical profession via the White Coat Ceremony.

It felt so great to don the short white coat, walk across the stage to sign the student honour code, and recite the oath to publicly accept the respect and responsibility that comes with entering the medical profession. I was overwhelmed when I was reading the oath; I gave myself goosebumps from head to toe. Amazing. I think that it was so amazing for me because it felt so official - I have actually made it here and know with every fibre of my being that I want to be the best doctor I can be. The future seems so unknown and so exciting that I can hardly contain myself :)

I spent the entire day with my parents who drove all 11 hours from home to see me. They are absolutely the best! I couldn't ask for a greater support system. They have been nothing short of perfect! I definitely don't deserve such great parents. Both Mum and Dad are my best friends and saying good bye today was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Just knowing that I won't be able to see them for three whole months seems like an eternity. But, almost every other physician had to, at one point, leave home. It is a natural process and it is what the Lord wants me to do to be able to follow my dreams. With hard work, determination, and His help, I know that medical school is going to be an amazing educational experience and am looking forward to what the future holds.

1st Medical School Exam

Yup, yesterday I had the pleasure of experiencing my first medical school exam. Sarcasm is difficult to detect in writing, but to clear things up I wouldn't say that taking a biochemistry exam was at all pleasurable. It was doable, but not fun.

I had studied soooo much. Probably spent way too many hours on my preparation because my notes were all over the place because I took a good majority of the first week of classes figuring out how the heck to take notes. So I had to get things organized in a manner in which I could study.

Despite the difficulties in preparing, I got a good mark on my first exam. It wasn't super, duper, awesome, but it was above the class average and I am absolutely thrilled with that :) I can't wait to take a look at my exam and see where I made my mistakes. I am certain a couple of the questions I guessed on were incorrect. As well, I betcha any money that I made some stupid mistake on a concept that I actually did understand. Oh well, as long as I learn from my mistakes and am able to build upon my knowledge in the future, then this learning experience has been a success.

Well, now it is off to the university to study some more biochemistry. I am trying to keep up with my school work so that I can take all day Saturday off because my parents are coming here to see my White Coat Ceremony (which I am super excited for). I picked up my very first white coat two days ago. It even has the school's emblem on it!! I feel so professional! :)

Bye for now!!!!

Figuring Things Out

I am still surviving my medical school courses so far. Needless to say, I have to figure out real fast what does and does not work for the way I think. I feel like I have to learn how to study again, learn how to take notes again, learn how to keep my attention on one thing for more than five minutes again, basically learn how to do everything over again. Yup, that's what I am dealing with now.

It is pretty overwhelming to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I love that I am here learning information that will help me to become the best doctor I can become, but man it certainly is a lot to swallow. Having EVERYTHING in one's life changed is quite an adjustment and I am doing my best.

I have a biochemistry exam on Wednesday. Eeek! I don't think that I am as ready as I could be yet because I wasted the majority of last week figuring out how to take notes and what works for me. So I've been trying to catch up, but it's so darn hard when things are put into fast forward.

Aside from biochemistry, the behavioural medicine class that I am taking is pretty interesting. We have physicians lecture on how to treat a patient with respect and get the most change and action from a patient as possible. It is so doctor-ish and I love it. It's just a hint of things to come!

Now tomorrow I have my first lab. Maybe I'll write about it here (that is, if I am not cramming too much tomorrow night for my biochemistry exam in the morning).

Peace out!!!!!!!

4 Days of Medical School

Well, I have officially survived 4 days of medical school classes. I still have a several hours of studying ahead of me for today, but I guess I should just get used to it. Because the life of a med student = studying all of the time.

I am knee-deep in biochemistry right now. I can't believe how much material is covered in such a short time. It is barely fathomable. It is pretty intense. I've been warned how difficult it was going to be, but there is no way that one can prepare for this except by experiencing it first-hand.

I have yet to find a study group that I feel like I can benefit from. My roommates are biochemistry majors and supposedly already know all of the information that we are being given. I find it hard to beleive, but maybe they are extremely gifted and remember everything they studied in undergrad. I know I am not one of those lucky people who remembers everything I see. So, I guess that parking my butt in the library is the only way to get through this. I hope that I find somebody who has to do the same so that we can motivate each other. But for now, it is just me, myself, and I sitting here in the library learning about enzymatic allosteric modulation. Sounds so much fun, right?

Orientation-Check....Classes-to begin

I have officially been orientated into medical school. Meaning, I have had lecture after lecture on professionalism, responsibility, honour code, study skills, etc. What I found amusing was that when each person got in front of the class to speak, each and every person said congratulations and welcome to medical school. I bet that each day of orientation I was congratulated 5 times by different speakers. Haha, go figure. But it is kind of a big deal, I mean, we are the healthcare providers of the future.

One instance that I will always distinctly remember from orientation, is when I gave myself goosebumps just thinking that I am actually here in medical school, sitting amongst my fellow students. I have worked my butt off to get into medical school and it is about to start. Sweet!

I am sure that my excitement and naivety is amusing to some, but I am pretty pumped to be here. I am aware that fear and stress will quickly come to head once things start rolling. I got my biochemistry handout that includes 40% of the information we are responsible for, and this package is only 290 pages. eeeek! That's a heck of a lot of information!!!! But, if there's a will, then there's a way, right???

Another update is soon to come.

Cheers!!!

Orientation

Well, it's official...I've started medical school. Although classes don't start until next week, we have started orientation and now I can say that I am officially beginning my journey to become a physician. How cool does that sound??

Yesterday there were many boring lectures on professionalism and social responsibility. As well, we had our computer training for hours upon hours. Not extremely informative but necessary none the less. Today we all got registered and got the final documents signed. I even got my medical student badge! It looks so cool with my name, picture, and underneath my picture it reads "Medical Student". That is pretty sweet! I've planned so long to get into medical school and now it is actually here. Scary and exciting!!!!

Looking forward to the rest of orientation week and to starting biochemistry lectures on Monday. (Well, more nervous than excited about biochemistry since I picked up my course package and, whoa, there is a TON of information!!!!!)

Pre-Orientation

I have two days until orientation starts. I am getting pretty excited and nervous. I would say that I am experiencing equal amounts of each. On one hand, I am almost excited to start learning again (yes, I am a freak!), while on the other hand, I hope that I my best will be good enough. I've heard time and time again that people who get into medical school are so used to being at the top of their class and when one gets to medical school that it is often hard to adjust to not being the best. All I truly want is to do my best so that I can learn enough material to not only pass the classes but to help me become the best doctor I can be. Sounds simple, right?? lol

I now have my roommate moved into the townhouse while the other roommate has her stuff in her room but isn't officially moving in until she gets over her cold/flu that she has acquired. It is better that she stay at home until she gets better so as not to share her illness with me or my roomie!

Well, that's the scoop. Nothing terribly exciting. It feels as if I am waiting around for orientation to start so that I can start on with this process. I've been looking forward to starting medical school for more than half a year now, and now that I am here, I'm ready to start!