Ever have one of those experiences where you find yourself saying, “Yep, that is what I’m supposed to do.” Well, I’m just now finishing my family medicine rotation and have had one of those such experiences. So much for the surgery thinking I had going into medical school. I love doing everything and all the other specialties are too limiting in their scope for me. I’ll have to say, it is a great feeling finally knowing for sure. Now here’s hoping I get accepted to the student elective offered by the Wilderness Medical Society next February.
Ob/Gyn – the unexpected specialty
It has been a while since I posted here and I thought I would catch up really quick. It has been a long few months, with lots of soul searching and questions. Finally it came to an end with the start of my rotation on Ob/Gyn. I am now at the end of it and can say that it was nothing like I expected. I know I went in to medical school thinking there is no way I could do Ob/Gyn but now I would have to say it isn’t on the bottom any more, it has jumped past Medicine, Peds, Psych, Surgery, etc. That isn’t saying much but I could definitely see a fellowship in Ob fitting in my plans. Wow, never figured on saying that. Oh well, minds change and my rotation has been filled with a bunch of great residents and attendings. I have a new respect for what they do and will say that delivering babies never gets old.
A break
It has been a long year that it is now coming to an end. With that in mind, I want to write a quick summary of what has taken place this last year.
End of M1 Year
January was the beginning of the end of my M1 year in medical school. I had just finished my first semester and completing gross anatomy. It was something very rewarding but I was glad to finish. The extraordinary amount of work required in lab was nice to leave. Histology was added and MBOD and Physiology picked up speed. Added in place of anatomy was the first class of my second year, Immunology (a subcomponent of Micro). It was an interesting class but was slightly overshadowed by my first year classes.
Beginning of M2 Year
After finishing my first year in March, we started four of our five M2 classes in April making up the first of three blocks. Half of my summer, starting in June, was spent in RI fulfilling my summer commitment to the Navy and the second half with family in PA and TN. My second year restarted in Aug with the second block and essentially went through the end of November when we had our second block exam. December marked the beginning of the third block in our second year with one assessment filling December ending on the 21st.
A look forward
Honestly, the farthest forward I look is the next assessment. Each one is composed of so much material that I dare not look to far forward. The only thing I do have scheduled in 2008 is Assessments 11-14, block 3 exam and step 1 of the USMLE. Lord willing they will all go ok allowing me to start my M3 year.
A walk
Ever gone for a walk and just walked until you were lost. Then turned and walked until you sorta knew where you were walking again. Well my cousin and I did that yesterday and
Nice change of pace from studying all the time.
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Assessments, Quizzes and Exams
In keeping with my new tradition of posting to my blog every once in a while, I’m posting about medical school, er should I say my life. Well, really I’m posting about what is in store for the next 2 months. First, official time off in medical school is a rarity but fortunately with our testing schedule we get every other weekend “off.” As I posted last time, since August every two weeks we have 60 question assessments and then every fifth week we have a “PCC/DRS” class week (more about PCC/DRS in another post). The major part of our second year examination come from block exams. We have 14 assessments split up into 3 blocks (each with an exam at the end of it).
The block exams are comprehensive and composed of 200 questions covering all the material covered since the beginning of that block. So, in the next 3 weeks, I’m gonna have the last assessment of this block and the block exam. So this Thanksgiving, I’ll be giving thanks by studying for my block exam on Nov. 30th. That is followed by an unusual three week long assessment (on Dec. 21st). If this seems confusing, as it was to me when I first started my second year, then looking at UT’s exams schedule might help.
I would like to post about something other then school and hopefully will in my next post. But other then singing in choir at church and running, I don’t seem to be doing anything other then school affiliated activities. I’ll have to see what I can come up with to post.
Med School, the second year (Cont . . .)
It is incredible how much difference a year can make. I am enjoying medical school so much more then last year. Everything we are studying is clinically relevant. This past Wednesday we learned how to do a spinal tap. Every week there is so much cool stuff to learn. We studied Dermatology this week and the previous three weeks we mainly studied the respiratory system. Before that we studies rheumatology, cardiology and something else I can’t think of right at the moment. It has been really
interesting to say the least.
Every two weeks this year we have a test over the material from the last two weeks. We have comprehensive exams with one in the end of Nov. and the other in March before we take the first step of the USMLE. It was weird already scheduling the exam. Just one year ago I was like a deer staring into an oncoming headlights and now am registering to take the first step of the USMLE. One doctor told me before I started medical school that it is like a treadmill and that it doesn’t stop until You come out the other end as a MD.
One thing I’ve come to understand is how differently the same thing can look to two different people. I’ve heard the medical school is like trying to take a sip of water out of a fire-hydrant. I’ve also heard it equated to your favorite dessert except you have to eat 10 helpings at every meal. Well, I found a video on You Tube that illustrates the point really well. If you haven’t seen “Finding Nemo” then you might not understand. But this video takes a really nice children’s movie and makes it seem like an action packed thriller.
All I can say, is I can’t imagine being anywhere else right now. Right life is med school and med school is life. What an incredible life.
The tractor is on fire!
Yes, if you want to get someone’s attention run into the house and calmly state like my dad, “Come quick! The tractor is on fire!” I know he said something other then that, but all I remember is “the tractor is on fire!”
One of the things I was able to do at ODS last month was fire fighting training. I never thought I would use it so soon though. It really proved useful knowing what type of fire it was and how to fight it. Only problem was we didn’t have enough of the right fire extinguisher. I would highly suggest everyone take some time this weekend and get their fire extinguishers charged and make sure you have the right ones. Anyway, I posted some pictures and a slide show of the little tractor that couldn’t any more.
5 weeks
What can happen in 5 weeks? In my case, I spent the last 5 weeks at Navy Officer Development School (ODS). It was very similar to the time I spent at Maxwell Air Force base when I was in Civil Air Patrol. I don’t know how to explain my time there other then a very regimented schedule with very little personal time built in. There was always something to do and if you were creative you could make some. I was able to fit in my 5 week a deep sea fishing trip, visiting the RI National Guard Air Show and visiting the Tall Ships in Newport. At the air show, I was taken to the VIP tent of the Blue Angels/Navy and had a great seat for the show. I’ll post some pics later and more info. But, I’m back if anyone wants to talk or e-mail, I can set my own schedule and I can wear a watch and use my cell phone anytime I want 🙂
Studying
Just so you know I’m still around, I’m just a bit disconnected right now through the end May. Have a 60 question “Assessment” (i.e. combined quiz in all four of the classes) tomorrow and another one a week from Monday or the 21st. Then two weeks (29th) from next Tuesday we have our first block exam of the second year (200 question, four hours to complete it). After that, then I can start thinking about the summer. Until then must learn – Amoxicillin, Pipercillin, Imipenem and many more.
Welcome IE 7 users
It took a while to get it working, but my site now looks the same under IE 7, 6, Firefox and Safari. Turns out it was one line of code that needed to be fixed, but since I didn’t have IE7 on my computer, I had to install windows which is what took so long. Anyway, I’ll update next week sometime about my first year in med school and the up-coming second year.