Yes, I'm still here....

Hey all!

Sorry I haven't been keep you up to speed......there's just never enough time in the day.

So when we last left off I was just finishing anatomy, and I'm glad and sorry at the same time that it's over. Now we're back in the lecture hall four hours a day and to be completely honest with you I sleep through at least half of it. It was a lot more fun being in the lab even if it was smelly. Since the break, we have completed blocks in Embryology and Behavioral Sciences I, and have started Physiology and Histology. Behavioral Sciences was great, and given my psych background, I got 100% in it without even studying. Yay, at least I'm good at something!!!

Histology is so ridiculously boring that I can't stay awake in it to save my life. The good news is that in this great age of digital media, we don't have to spend hours looking at slides on the microscope. Everything I need to know, for the practical exam at least, is right here on my handy dandy CD-ROM. The class itself is not very difficult, it's just totally mind numbing.
Then there's physiology, and that is a whole different ball game. I used to like physiology in undergrad, but here they just suck all the fun out of it by making it so damn complicated. Trust me on this one: You're only getting half the story in undergrad physio. Believe it or not, I actually failed the first exam and that was definitely a wake up call. Luckily it was not because I'm stupid (I'm definitely not.....magna cum laude.....hahaha), but because I slacked off and underestimated the time I needed to put in. The sheer volume of the material was half my problem. But a lot of it is conceptually very difficult as well. Our second unit on cardiovascular physiology pretty much blew everyone's mind. But luckily I stuck with the program, put in the hours and passed the exam (barely). That brings me to the lesson of the day:

If you are one of those people who study twice a quarter and still get straight A+'s, congratulations. I'm sure that you will graduate with honors and that your parents will be very proud. Unfortunately, the people who are getting A-'s and have better study habits are going to kick your ass in medical school. You have two options. 1)Start working on your study habits now
or 2) Prepare to be very humbled

If you can't tell by now, I was obviously the first type. I came out of undergrad thinking that I was the greatest thing since the advent of microchips ("No, I don't have to study...I'm just naturally brilliant...."). But alas, medical school is full of brilliant people. If you want to shine, you really have to work at it. Currently, I'd say that I'm somewhere in the bottom quartile of my class. Ouch. In order to improve my standing, my study habits are going to have to improve.... a lot. If you're like me, do yourself a favor and start working on them now.

The highlight of my year thus far has been the six week elective I did in anesthesiology. Only one other student and myself were accepted to this elective (yeah, my grades aren't great but at least I shine clinically!), so it was very personalized attention from the attendings and very awesome. One day we got to participate in this airway management lab, where I learned various intubation techniques (on simulation manequins of course), including oral and nasal fiber optic intubation and bronchoscopy. Those fiber optic scopes are seriously the coolest things ever!!! I feel so honored, as a first year medical student, to have been allowed to play with fifteen thousand dollar toys....
Another day we were let loose in the emergency room to practice starting I.V.'s. I feel sorry for some of the people we had to stick three times, but in our defense they were difficult cases. Seriously, it was so much fun. Why can't all of medical school be so fun?

It's been a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs at some points, but my gut always tells me to hang in there and to stick with it. As much as I hate it sometimes, I know that there is nothing else that I want to do with my life. Three people in my class have already dropped out. I can only reason that they had enough doubts about medicine as a career that leaving became a feasible option for them. Although I've been to hell and back this year, personally as well as academically, I have enough faith in what I'm doing that I'm still here. I'm glad. I'm really glad.

By the way, I've been procrastinating for two whole hours now. Time to dive back in to the exciting world of the kidney. Sigh.