Desheveled

De.shev.eld (adjective)
1. hanging loosely or in disorder; unkempt: disheveled hair.
2. untidy; disarranged: a disheveled appearance.

Funny story....

I was sitting outside today studying in the sun trying to shove some antihistamine drugs into my head before I had to head off to bed, when some girl sat at the table beside me. She was all decked out! Man alive was she all prettied up.

Random girl's appearance: green dress, high heels (which were super cute), straightened hair pulled up, blonde hair, unchipped nail polish.

My appearance: humongous t-shirt and long shorts (for lab), hot pink flip-flops, hair that I threw up in a pony tail in my 20 minute spree getting ready this morning, unkept nails that are half chipped. All in all, desheveled.

Hehehe. :)

My reasoning for this difference in appearance: the other girl was a first year medical student, and I am a second year medical student (and am in the busiest part of the year to boot).

18 Hour Day

So today I put in 18 hours of work. Work in the sense that I did stuff for school and stuff to sustain my life for the past 18 hours. This includes:

• studying before my test
• writing a medical neuropharmacology test
• two hours of lecture
• assignment during lunch
• surgery lab (5 hours mind you!)
• eat supper/Skype home
• study cardiology and surgery
• get groceries
• study surgery and practice suturing/knot tying

Goodness, I can't wait until next Friday comes! A free weekend is headed my way :)

My Angora Sweater Vest

Every time I wore my angora sweater vest I thought how cute little bunnies had to die so I could get my clothing. Today I found out that I no longer need to be concerned:

They could always use a haircut!

almost have time to eat

Yup, I almost have time to eat, but not much time for sleep. I am so incredibily busy I don't stop from the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I go to bed at night. I am so, so, so thankful that I am only this busy for two full more weeks then things slow down. This is unsustainable. I really dislike being this stressed; I have to remember that I am never given anything that I can't handle. I just wonder sometimes why I was part of the lucky twenty students who got stuck with surgery lab/lectures during cardio and pharm. Such is life.

I can't, can't, can't, can't wait until October 8th when I can rest!!!!!!!!! Two weeks tomorrow :)

Until then, I am on the go and can't stop. So, I trudge on .... and will listen to one more lecture before I go to bed.

Lesson Learned

Never mention that you are stressed to a doctor.

I was in lab today and one of the doctors asked how I was doing, this is how the conversation went:

Doctor: "How are you today?"

Me: "Fine, a bit stressed though."

Doctor: "But aren't you all done with GI now?"

Me: "Yes, but I am now in cardio, pharmacology, and surgical skills, so I basically don't have a life right now."

Doctor, as if it was no big deal at all: "Yes, you don't have a life." ....like, duh!

So, now I will never, ever mention my stress to a doctor, because they have all been through it themselves...and probably worse. Lesson learned.

TGIF

Thank GOODNESS it's Friday!!!

This week was a crazy, insane, busy, sleep-deprived week. I started off last weekend still trying to recuperate from my Thursday test, and powered through and majorly studied pharmacology for my Monday test. On Wednesday I got to deliver a plastic baby from a dummy (as already mentioned) and promise to detail that experience, along with my neonatal resuscitation, on another day. Then I had an test this morning followed by my first surgical skills lab. I can't say I like it because it might jinx it, but I really enjoy tying the knots and being all anal retentive about how you move about in a surgical field. It is meticulous and clean, and I like that. One thing I can't stand and will have to work on is wearing that darn mask. I am so claustrophobic with it on that I can't keep it on for more than a few minutes at a time. I plan on studying with it on so that I can get used to it since I will HAVE to wear it in the future. Again, I will detail my surgery experience soon. But right now I need to sleep. Ciao!

-Me

Tired

I have two good posts to put up, but I am so darn tired that I cannot do it today. I have been going non-stop since 6:00 this morning. So now I am going to bed. One cool thing I did today was deliver a plastic baby! I'll have a more detailed post in the future (after Friday).

Off to bed for some much needed rest....

zzzzzzzzzz............

How Doctors Think

I once read a book titled: "How Doctors Think." It was a great book about how certain medical errors could have been avoided had the doctor made different decisions; basically it was about avoiding linear thinking in medicine. It was really interesting and I quite enjoyed it. But how do doctors really think? Quite honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea!

Today I had my first 'real' simulation experience. A doctor was in the next room acting as the voice of our dummy, as well, others were controlling the vitals and what the dummy was doing (ie changing breath sounds, heart beats, stomach distention, etc.) Let me tell you it was quite the experience to say the least. My role was to perform all physical examinations on the "patient". This didn't consist of much since it was a GI case. But, I felt like I just stood there whilst everybody else did work, thinking, etc. There are two people in my group that, honestly, I don't know how they know what they know! It has got to be previous clinical experience because, well, let's just say, my clinical thinking skills are not at that level yet.

It is quite frustrating to go into a room with a group of peers and then feel like they know more than I. I realize that this is my very first time attempting to apply the knowledge I have learned for my exams EVER, but it is still disheartening to think how much I still really don't know. This will come with time, but right now, this simulation learning experience was a tough one to swallow (partially because I was overwhelmed and partially because our patient coded, went unconscious, and stopped breathing....which subsequently caused all of the students to stop breathing in fear our 'patient' had died!) It is scary to think that one day that will be a real person in front of me coding, but, at that point, I certainly hope I know what the heck to do.

So, all in all, I have to learn how to think clinically and learn how to apply my book knowledge to medicine. It is unfortunate though, that reading the book, "How Doctors Think" doesn't really give you any idea how doctors really do think. I suppose some time I will figure this out.

Today I Tried to Break My Tibia

So every morning, instead of skipping across the street and using the front doors of the school, I walk around the side of the school, around the clinic, to use the back doors of the school so that I can get a bit of fresh air and burn a handful of extra calories. Today was no different. I had a tupperware full of watermelon and coffee in hand and headed toward the library to study. So I was ready to go up the staircase inside the school, and missed the first step completely. My coffee went flying along with my watermelon, I rolled my right ankle and whacked my shin on the hard, marble (?) stair in attempts to break my tibia. Holy crow did that hurt!!!! It immediately swelled up, but I was so made I stomped to the bathroom, got some paper towel to mop up my precious caffeinated beverage off the stone stairs. But, at the time, I didn't care about my coffee because my shin hurt so much! I even had to go ask the ladies at the coffee shop for some ice in a plastic baggie so I could ice my shin in the library as I studied. All I can say is thank goodness nobody saw me! It would have been a sight to behold.

So now, I nurse a sore shin, sore back, and slightly achy hips. I am in great shape!

Thinking's the Game

I have been sitting on my bed for hours and hours studying and have come to the conclusion that I like to think better than I like to memorize. This, perhaps, could be the problem that I have to face in the remainder of my gastrointestinal block. Honestly, I understand the information presented, but then the doctors who submit the questions for our test decide to pick out the most obscure details and expect us to remember them. I would consider myself a fairly good memorizer, but sitting for hours and shoving details into my head is more painful than sitting for hours and remembering how things work and why certain drugs are better for certain situations.

Conceptual things are more fun to learn.

For example, anything that has to do with the heart is more interesting than the GI system, only because if you effect one thing in the cardiac system, it results in different, logical, effects upstream or downstream from the initial pathology or problem. Where as in the GI, I have a hard time seeing it.

Needless to say, I may find it slightly refreshing to switch from GI to cardiac pharmacology for the next hour before I head to bed.

It Made Me Smile :)

One of the pediatricians who was lecturing on neonatal hyperbilirubinemia had this cartoon in the slide set and thought it was funny:

Sigh

I have been feverishly trying to learn as much as I can and I think that I have hit a wall. I have studied all day and can barely keep quinidine, lidocaine, propranolol, verapimil, adenosine, etc. straight in my head. And I've been doing this for hours. Blah. I am sure that it is in there somewhere, but I'll have to go back and look at it when I am fresher.

On the positive side, I am going out to grab some food with some friends this evening for an hour or so as a study break. It'll be good to get out and not study for some time.

Ah the life of a second year medical student.

Sigh....