Good luck to all my friends studying hard for their exams this week!

I remember in elementary school that we had a large bulletin board in the cafeteria for Random Acts of Kindness. If I remember correctly, the teachers would give us stars that would go under our grade if we performed any random acts of kindness. It was a running battle between all the grades. I am not sure who won the end, but I guess that is not what really matters. Today, I witnessed someone performing a random act of kindness and it brought back all those memories....

I was driving down I-35 on my way to school when I saw everyone was stopping and/or slowing down ahead of me. When I got closer I noticed a large black dog dodging between cars. I came to a complete stop as the dog walked right in front of my car. The car in front of me pulled over and got out of his car. He started yelling for the dog. Just a stranger on his way to some place trying to save the dog's live and maybe someone from a car accident. Did he have to stop? No. Did he stop? Yes. I give this stranger kudos for his random act of kindness.

One of my all time favorites...

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of
him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in
diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open
areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course,
the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an
unanimous -- yes.

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar -- effectively filling
the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important
things - your family, your partner, your health, your children--things that
if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be
full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your
house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued there is no room for
the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your
time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things
that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to
your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work,
clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the rocks first -- the things that really matter. Set your
priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, There's always room for a couple of
beers."

Saw three patients today:

Patient #1: A old biker who was on disabilty. We talked about how bad the Royals were, how he hated reality shows, how he had dated three Karen's (Karen #2 twice) and how all the trees were being cut down on his streetand he was taking them to get cut and going to make stuff out of them. We also talked about medical stuff, but that wasn't as fun.

Patient #2: Under lots of stress taking care of a niece who had a stoke. Found out she was only taking her blood pressure meds every other day or every "couple" of days because she couldn't afford it. She said she would call her son and have him send money so that she could actually buy her meds after we stressed how danergous her BP was. It was really sad and there was nothing I could do for her.

Patient #3: In such bad of pain when he sat that he paced the room while I interviewed him. (He had also been in the hallway pacing, so I had seen him several times when seeing my other patients.) He has lost his job because he was in such bad pain and had no insurance or money. He told me that he couldn't believe a man that had worked 20 years for the city would only qualify for food stamps and nothing else. He too was not taking his meds like he should. Nothing we could do to help him either and he didn't appear like he had anyone to get any money from either.

Tons more of our patient's stories are like 2 and 3....
Sometimes we all forget just how lucky we really have it......

I skipped one of my first ever classes today. I think the only other time was freshman year when we (all my friends) all decided we were too hungry to go to Micro and went out to eat. Anyways, today I was sitting in the lecture hall and I was tired and I knew there would be no chance of me paying attention the lecture for 2 hours. I told Lauren, Chris and Keith about my woes and they told me to skip, so I sat for about 2 more minutes and pondered it. Then, right before class started I left. I felt so much freedom! Luckily on my way to the car I met a fellow classmate who was skipping as well.....that made me feel much more confident about my decsion.

Test went okay. We had a review session yesterday and we got a bunch of questions thrown out of the test which is always nice. Only one more test, two autopsy reports, a CPC, and Chairman's left.
Last day of Path: May 17th!

Keith and I watched Shawshank Redemption last night. It was a awesome movie!! If you have not seen it, you should! Below are some of the quotes I found interesting.

Red: [narrating] I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.
---------------------------
Andy Dufresne: Get busy living, or get busy dying.
---------------------------
Red: These walls are kind of funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized. They send you here for life, that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways.

TEST Day! Oh Boy!

How the system works

I get a lot of questions about how the MD system works. Maybe this little chart helps.

Personally for me:

Year 4 : Take pharmacology, Finish BLA (Bachelor's of Liberal Arts), take Behavioral Science, do a Family Medicine rotation, do an Internal Medicine rotation, Study for and take Step 1 of UMSLE Boards

Year 5: Core rotations in OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Surgery, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine and a rotation with a doctor in a rural/underserved community

Year 6: ER rotation, Internal Medicine rotation, electives, study and take Step 2, study and take Step 2 Clincal Skills test, apply and interview for residency.


For everyone:
In March all the graduating students find out where they were accepted to residency.

July 1 or so after you graduate, you start your first year of residency. This year of residency is also called your internship year and you are called an intern. You work at least 80 hours in the hospital during this year and do all the scut work. At the end of your intern year, you must take the last part of your boards exam, Step 3. After completion of this you can be a REAL, practicing doctor.

For the remainder of your residency you are called a resident. You still have to work upwards of 80 hours a week, but have interns doing all the scut work. Residencies last anywhere from 3 years (internal medcine, pediatrics) to 5 years (surgery). At this point, most take their choosen area's test to become board certified.

If you so choose, you can do a fellowship after your residency to specialize in something in your field. Some examples include: cardiology, GI, endocrinology, hematology/oncology, etc. Fellowships last 2 to 3 years. At this point again, you take the specialites test to become board certified.

Once board certified, you must do continuing education yearly to maintain "boarded."

Well, this is the journey ahead of me. Hope you find it helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions!

Only for cat owners.....

Quote of the day from my cat calender:

"No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens."
-Abraham Lincoln

Summer Fun!

I know I do not up-date my blog very often, so I will try to do a bit better.

Funny story from clinic yesterday.....

In my CUES class this semester they have been teaching us about communicating with patients about all sorts of topics and how understand them on an emotional level. Last week, we learned about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) patients and the the week before about sex. One of the things that was brought up was the importance of asking the patients, "Are you sexually active with males, females or both?" So, anyways, yesterday after reading that my 71 year old patient had a gonnorhea and chylamdia screening last year, I decided she was a great candidate for my first full sexual history. I walked in the room and she was a cute little old African American female. We discussed what brought her in today, concerns for our meeting, etc. Then, it came time for social history.After the standard job, smoking, alcohol, and drugs, I asked the woman if she was sexually active. "Yes," she was sexually active. Then came time for the question. She looked at my dumbfounded, so I asked again. The second time she understood the questions and a very loud, "MEN," was exclaimed. Then she said, "Oh God! I thought at first maybe you were asking about girlfriends, you know, like the ones you go shopping with, but NO you meant sex. Yes, only men. I am a Christain women and God made a woman and man for a reason..........." Satisfied with my answer, I nodded several times and then moved to physical exam all the time the old woman continued to preach about how homosexuality was wrong. Oh Truman patients.....

P.S. If you were wondering, my experience with this lady didn't scare me away from asking at all.....it has probably encouraged me to ask more.

No History of Rock and Roll for me....

Bummer news today for my future fall semester, I found out History of Rock and Roll doesn't count for my bachelor's. I am going to have to fill that spot in my schedule with another Humanities course. Right now it looks like I am going to have to take speech in order to keep my classes down to only two days. I am not looking forward to having to write speeches and perform them. My other choices include an advanced English class or Philosophy. The English classes seem like they would be difficult and time-intensive and philosophy seems strange. Both of those don't fit into my nice little schedule. Any thoughts??

Note to those unaware: I am finishing my bachelor's degree in the fall and have to take 12 hours. In theory, I will need to start studying for Step 1 of boards during the fall as well.

Been awhile....

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. My computer crashed last week. In the end, it looks like it was a virus that caused my problem. Brian fixed my computer though after hours and hours of work and it is good as new. Thanks a lot to Brian for fixing it!! I am amazed sometimes just how complex computers are.....and how much I rely on it!!!

School is going okay. Seems like I just got done worrying about a test and time to move onto worrying about the next. The exciting news is I only have to suffer for about a month more and then Path will be over. We learned Leukemia/Lymphoma last week and this week we will be learning about the GI tract. Leukemia/Lymphoma seems kinda hard at the moment, hopefully after more studying I will be able to master it (or at least know it enough for the test).

It has been awesome weather in KC lately...mid-70s. My summer clothes bin has come out of hiding and it is great! I love being able to put away my boots and get out my cute sandals. I am still a Floridia girl at heart. :)

Saw a lot of movies this week including: Guess Who?, Sin City, and Fever Pitch. Guess Who? was quite funny and cute. Sin City was strange and yucky. I did not enjoy it much at all. Fever Pitch was great! I highly recommend it.

Well, back to studying. Hope everyone is doing well.


39 days till Las Vegas!