25 February, 2009

It's exam week; do you know where your child is?

Little things that make me happy
1. Yesterday, Chris made me an egg and cheese quesadilla. It was fantastic.
2. Chris is getting up early especially so I can practice physical examination skills on him.
3. I thought I needed new underwear, but then Chris and I found like four packages of underwear that mom sent me in August.
4. After my objective clinical skills examination, I think I'll go to the gym for a little while.
5. On Friday at 5 pm, I get to burn my scrubs.
6. It's (near) impossible for me to fail biochem; in theory, I can go to the biochem exam drunk. I won't though.
7. Monday means new classes.

22 February, 2009

Too much to learn, too little time. Today I forgot the word "nose." Seriously. Yesterday, I forgot the word "pen." Med school makes you dumber. I also occasionally forget how to conjugate verbs in ENGLISH, a language I have spoken since I decided to speak at age 2.

You have a pterygopalatine fossa. Does it make you think of dinosaurs?

We've started making "Silence of the Lambs" jokes in anatomy lab. Does this mean we're nuts?

I've had a disembodied hand in my hair.

20 February, 2009

1. It's weird to study a condition that you actually have.
2. It's frustrating to figure out how to study for a class just as it's ending. At least I'm passing everything.
3. I wish that it wasn't so difficult to get used to the idea of passing being good enough.
4. I wish I could high pass stuff.

17 February, 2009

A day in the life...

5:00 am - alarm goes off. I glare at it.
5:03 am - crawl out of bed.
5:03-5:30 am - stare at the internet in an attempt to wake up.
5:30-6:00 am - gather all of my stuff together, wish I had started this earlier. Trip over the cats. Hug Chris, who is still in bed.
6:00 am - leave for school.
6:15-7:30 am - gym time.
7:30-8:00 am - regroup and get ready for class. Breakfast of some sort.
8:00-12:00 - class of some sort. Breaks given every fifty minutes so I can run up and down the stairs.
12:00-1:00 - lunch time, maybe go to a club meeting if I feel ambitious. Usually eat lunch with Matt, Gil, Cathy.
1:00-5:00 pm - classes again. This varies somewhat; sometimes we only have class til three. One day a week, we finish at noon because we have clinical experiences in the afternoon.
5:00-6:00 pm - study, then home time. Unless it's Wednesday, which means I stay at school until 8:00 or 9:00 pm.
6:00-7:00 pm - food with Chris.
7:00-9:00 pm - sometimes studying fits here; other days, Chris and I hang out.
9:00 pm - fully intend upon going to sleep. Watch some tv program with Chris and snuggle.
10:00 pm - really considering sleep at this point. Maybe even brush teeth. Wind up talking to Chris, studying, or watching more tv.
11:00 pm - we both crawl into bed, snuggle, and pass out, thinking that we're going to try to get to sleep earlier tomorrow.

15 February, 2009

Med school tidbits

In lab, we use the expression "pimp" when someone is pointing to structures on a cadaver and quizzing us relentlessly. Only recently did we learn that, at least according to someone, "pimp" is an acronym for "put me in my place." It's pretty accurate, at any rate.

The other night, we were in lab, studying the pharynx. I have been really working my tail off in anatomy, and so when D pointed to the pharyngeal tonsils, I excitedly named them and mentioned that an inflamed pharyngeal tonsil is called an adenoid. He looked at me like I was insane.
D: That's ridiculous. Don't ever let a clinician hear you say that.
Me: Ok, but Dr. H mentioned this...
D: Well he's wrong.
Me: But it's his class...
D: and as long as you're in it, when he says something you say, "please sir, may I have another." Just remember that he's wrong.

10 February, 2009

In the next two and a half weeks, I have to:
Take an anatomy practical exam
Take a histology practical exam
Take a clinical skills practical exam
Take an OPP practical exam
Write up a take home exam for medical humanities
Take the epic written block exam of doom
Write up an H&P

...at this very moment, I hate med school.

Random

Chris: so I'm thinking of putting any tax return into an IRA.
Katie: sounds good.
*confused pause*
Katie: what's an IRA?
Chris: it's a retirement fund.

Also, I think I may have accidentally signed up to help run an event. And I found out that I was on a committee yesterday...because one of the committee members came and found me and said, "Yeah, so I wasn't sure if you knew you were on this committee cause you're kind of a free spirit."

06 February, 2009

Status = too much to do, too little time

This block has been surreal, primarily because I am exhausted about 75% of the time. I have bronchitis; granted, it's better than it was, but I'm still coughing a lot at night, even with cough syrup, and my chest is still tight and icky. Today in particular was weird, though.
1. We found a Netter with a Hanson sticker on it in the anatomy lab. Our class has a few older students in it, students who were not in middle school when Hanson was popular. For those of us who were familiar with them, though, it was pretty strange. One of the omm/anatomy fellows started singing one of the songs. We threatened to throw a brain at her (yes, we have them.) and she stopped.
2. There's a portion of tissue on the back of the pharynx called the pharyngeal raphe. A large part of lab was spent trying to figure out how to say it. Do you say "wraith," or "rape" or "raffi," or what? No one seemed to know, but when someone said "raffi," one of the fellows and I immediately thought of Raffi the singer, who children love and adults hate. He sang a song called "Baby Beluga" that most parents heard and then despised. Well, the fellow and I started to sing it, thus incurring the wrath of our peers.

05 February, 2009

Harry Potter

I really enjoy the "Harry Potter" series of books. Yeah, they're written for children, but I figure I'm at least partially a child. Anyway, when I was reading them over and over and over again, I sort of imagined which character I would be. Throughout high school and college, I was the most like Hermione. Spent too much time with my nose in a book, knew really weird, obscure things. I kind of hoped this would continue to medical school, that I would somehow be able to balance my relationship with Chris and maintain my Hermione-esque bookworm nature.

I forgot that I'd be going to medical school with lots of other Herminones. There's enough of them that I am no longer a Hermione. I'm Ron. Even on days when I feel like I'm balancing Chris and school fairly well, even on days when I'm doing ok in classes, I'm still Ron. I can't pull down the "Outstanding" grades Hermione did in the books. Heck, I can barely make the "Acceptable" grades that Ron and Harry made. I'm almost Neville.

Damn.

03 February, 2009

So it's official. Having a panic attack before, during, and after a quiz will most certainly affect your ability to high pass a course. It's great to prove the obvious to myself by accident. Let's never do that again, shall we?