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.
Specializing in Disappearing
Well, it has been a long, long year and one that didn’t give me much to blog about but one that will give me a great story to tell. I’ve sorta disappeared this past year and it has been a good thing in getting thing done. I’ll be posting more often now that I’m in my 3rd year and have gotten other things worked out. I’ve started a new website since I’ve had some downtime with some great contributors. Check it out, I called it Galloping Galapagos. Anyway, starting my OB/Gyn rotation so I look forward to learning in a great environment here at UT Medical Center in Knoxville. More about my weird year later
Alive, but swamped
For all my friends and family that haven’t heard from me in a while, I am still alive. Just a tad bit busy with med school. Nothing much interesting to post about right now. Just lots and lots of studying i.e. get up study and then go to bed. I really don’t do anything else right now (except I made a DVD for the M4 class as a graduation gift). I’ll post more about that later. First order of business is passing all my classes.
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.
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.
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.
What a year
Well, it is official. Finished my first year in medical school. We are still considered M1s by the school until end of May but we started our new classes last Monday. I think this year is going to be much better in terms of interesting material. Everything we are learning now is clinically relevant making it much easier to study. The only problem is the quantity of material covered. We started four new classes for this block Pathology (9 hrs), Neurology (7 hrs), Pharmacology (6 hrs) and Microbiology (6 hrs) for a total of 28 credits. When we come back next fall we will add another class Pathophysiology (12 hrs) for a total of 40 credit hours. With all the book work, it is hard sometimes to remember why I came to medical school. It is hard to remember that there are stories of patients on the other end of every question, case and lecture. To not disconnect all the information from the thought that someone is affected by this or that disease. I guess the time will come for connecting and remembering why, right now the task is to learn it.
Last week
Brief post today. This week is the last week of block classes for my M1 year only 2 and 1/2 weeks left. Gotta hit the books!
Hum, just noticed something weird with my archives, all my old posts have the wrong year. Oh well, no time to figure out why.
Anyway, I was going to say something about school, but forgot what I was going to say. Hope that doesn’t happen next week during exams. Maybe I’ll post my physiology groups powerpoint after all presentations Thursday, only problem is next years class isn’t allow to look at it since it would be an honor code violation for them to look at it I’ll have to check with my group but ya’ll might find it interesting plus I really think the PPT looks cool. Maybe if I remove the conclusions. . .
Ten more weeks . . .
Yes, it’s hard to believe that in 10 weeks (including spring break) I’ll be done with my first year in medical school. Only one block left before we start our second year the 3rd week of April. Time has flown by. It’s really hard to believe. But that’s life in medical school.
This past week was spent taking exams, er, I should say this past week was spent study intermixed with 3 exams. Waking up this morning I felt like I should be studying or something. I felt like I wasn’t doing something right. Like I was getting behind. But no, not this morning.
I still woke up before 6am, but I slept in. Yep, I slept in until 5:20ish. It was really nice getting 8 hours of sleep and not having to study from 4am to 9pm. In a way, however, I really enjoy the studying. Yes, there is a disconnect with reality living like this; but, I’m not in reality right now. I’m in medical school. My purpose it to become a Doctor and that is what I’m doing. In 3 year, 3 months maybe I’ll get back to reality.
Oh wait, that is when I get to start residency. I guess I need to be catching up on life or something like that now.
Well, back to cleaning the Apartment and then to a friends house to play some games.
I’ll be posting more about life in medical school later.