firsts

This week I took my first patient history (with a real patient, isn't that scary?). At least this time the fourth-year medical student did the interview. We just took notes, but next time we have to come up the questions ourselves - I'm terrified. You would think it would be easy, but just randomly asking a person about how they feel with no medical knowledge is really intimidating. I'm sure I will write more about this later, it's amazingly complex.

My lab group removed the lungs from our cadaver (after sawing open the rib cage, which almost made me faint - and I'm not a queasy person). We also got lectured for not being able to tell the difference between arteries and veins...oops. In fact, they look extremely different. Veins are really thick and dark in cadavers because they don't have the musculature that arteries have, so the blood was never pumped out of the veins after the person died. After the professor showed us what an artery looks like, I felt really dumb. Oh well, now I know.

Other random firsts: I took a tango class for the first time. I made stuffed peppers for the first time. I also tried Peruvian fusion cuisine and Bosnian food, both firsts. I skipped my first medical school class - you might be able to guess it - Histology! (Studying for an hour instead was way more effective, I should add.)

Life is good, though really busy. I think I need to slow down a little bit, but it's hard when life's this exciting, isn't it?

trust me, I'm a med student

A day like today is the reason I'm in medical school. I know I didn't admit it earlier, but last week was pretty draining. A whole bunch of basic science lectures all in a row = super boring. I had trouble sitting still, and as one of my best friends describes the sensation: "I feel like a 5 year-old boy who's told to sit still in Kindergarten, but just can't do it." But today, I experienced my first anatomy dissection and learned how to take blood pressure.

Today I made my first incision into human flesh. Today I was put in charge of my first patient, my cadaver. He donated his body, the place where his "self" once resided, for me to learn and to become a physician. I will learn intimate details about him - details he himself did not even know about his muscles and vasculature. The organization of the human body is impressive. Also, there is a difficult pull between wanting to respect and care for the person who donated their body for you and wanting to distance yourself from the reality of the dead body in front of you. It is easier if you just allow your desire to learn to take over. I think it will take me a while to continue to process this privilege that society has afforded me, a privilege very few are given. It might take me equally as long to remove the smell of formaldehyde from my hands. 

I also learned how to take my classmates' blood pressure. Carrying around my stethoscope, I feel like I'm just "playing doctor." It took less time than I thought to be able to hear the sounds, but my readings are highly inaccurate - don't trust me to diagnose you with hypertension any time soon.

accomplished.

Finished with my first week of classes! This week we had histology three times because we're not starting anatomy until Monday, so I'm really glad this week is over. (Needless to say I don't think histo is going to be my favorite subject.) Although my histo TA is extraordinarily gorgeous. Like, super hot. Today he told me my observation was "astute." Frankly, there's nothing better than a really attractive man saying that you just said something intelligent. At least in my world there isn't. (Maybe this is why I had to come to med school.) Unfortunately, the ring on his left hand indicates that I must admire from afar... Well, he is welcome to come by and look in my microscope any time.

The other really fantastic thing about medical school are the free lunch talks. This week, I had pizza, Chinese food, Jimmy John's, and Indian food. All for free. And all I had to do was sit and listen while eating. At least I know I won't have to worry about feeding myself with my student budget!

learning ahh

Things I have learned in my first three days of medical school:

1. Mast cells, macrophages, and plasma cells all look the same to me under a microscope.

2. In four years, I will have a narcotics license, so apparently this means I have to grow up now.

3. Clown doctors actually do exist. And I can take a class about them.

5. Doctors with beards are actually supposed to wear huge helmets over their heads when an N95 protection mask (in the case of certain infectious diseases) is called for.

6. I am in love with my Macbook Pro. Every time I open my computer I enter this joyful world of bliss where everything makes sense. 

7. Medical students are way more interesting than you'd expect. Maybe too interesting... In general though, I have met some pretty awesome people that I am excited to spend time with over the next four years.

The list could probably go on and on (and begin to include some very boring information) so I'll leave it at that. 

50 percent?

It is the day before my first class and already I am blogging to avoid my reading for class tomorrow - this is probably a good sign for my blog, but not my study habits.

As I began reading about electron microscopes, I was plagued by a quote from a dean during orientation: "By the time you finish your medical training, 50% of what you learn here will be obsolete. I just can't tell you which 50%." It is pretty impressive (and perhaps a little defeating) to think that 50% of the humungous volume of information I will learn in medical school will change in such a short period. It is inspiring to think that medical knowledge is expanding so rapidly, but it's also intimidating that I am beginning my journey into a constantly changing profession.

On the other hand, I hate microscopes so much, I don't think it matters whether or not these particular type of fancy microscopes are still used when I'm old and wrinkly - I doubt I will choose a specialty where I stare at slides all day. Anyway, I'm still excited about my first day of class tomorrow, although I do feel sorry for my histo lab partner. Wish me luck!

cpr certified

Today we had CPR training as part of orientation. Many people complained because they are already certified, but I haven’t learned anything about CPR since a babysitting class at eleven, and my only memory from that class is being petrified of babies dying from SIDS. I think the first few times I babysat after that class, I just watched the babies sleep the whole time, afraid they would randomly die at any moment. Anyway, I am now CPR certified, but I definitely would not be able to just save a random person dying on the street. First of all, I would have to carry my CPR mask around with me all the time… I guess we got the “professional” version of training, which assumes I will only encounter unconscious people in hospitals. Considering I will spend a large portion of the rest of my life in a hospital, I guess this is a fair assumption. My favorite fact I learned today is that compressions should be performed at the pace of the songs “Staying Alive” or “Another One Bites the Dust”, or 100 bpm. I personally prefer “Another One Bites the Dust” because that’s definitely what would happen to the poor unconscious person whom I encounter on the street at this point in my career.

wilderness

My medical school experience started off with just what you’d expect – a wilderness retreat! Being the very outdoorsy girl that I am (not), I secured a spot in the coveted “rustic lodge” (which turned out to be a motel room with a barely functioning shower head), which was still way better than sleeping in a tent. I thought the second years would make us learn something medical, but luckily our survival skills were only tested when it rained while trying to grill burgers.  Even though I got rained on and muddy, I met a bunch of cool people. It is comforting to have a number of familiar faces going into orientation tomorrow.

beginnings

I am starting this blog for a few reasons:

1) I’m blatantly copying off the very inspiring blog agraphia.net, written by a current ER resident who has documented his entire med school experience and beyond.

2) I have trouble keeping in contact with everyone who I would like to tell about my life, because I tend to get a little swept up in studying. Hopefully this will be encouragement for me to communicate little tidbits of my life I might otherwise forget to share with my friends and family, even while I’m sucked into the med school vortex

3) If I can actually keep this up it will be an awesome way to look back

I hope you will find my musings somewhat interesting. I’ll try not to drone on (too much) about the really exciting facts I can’t wait to begin learning.