Done with first year!

I just finished my last exam of the first year of medical school. That's crazy talk.

I remember the first week as if it was yesterday. I was so overwhelmed and exhausted even though in hindsight we really didn't do that much. I questioned my decision to go to medical school and seriously considered taking it all back. If the first week was so hard and everyone says it only gets worse, I couldn't comprehend how I could (or wanted to) handle the next decade of my life.

Obviously, I've stuck it out. I got used to the course load and I've (somewhat) found my people. Most importantly, I've gotten to see and do some incredible stuff.

Last week, a Parkinson's patient turned off her deep brain stimulator so I could see the untreated symptoms of her disease. The change was immediate and quite shocking.

Tomorrow, I'm going to perform physicals and clear high school students for summer and fall sports.

And next week I'm going to scrub in and assist in putting a rod into a patient's leg after it was shattered by a bullet.

Even though I'm still convinced I know nothing, I'm starting to speak the language of medicine. I recognize and make sense of diseases that were a jumble of words just several months ago. Things are starting to make sense and it's so exciting to be able to understand some of the mechanisms behind the most common medical issues.

I've also experienced the power of the white coat. Within three weeks of starting school, I was being thanked by a woman for participating in the care of her husband who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Little did she know that I had just met my preceptor 30 minutes ago and was listening to the biopsy results with the same deer-in-the-headlights look that she and the patient had. The only difference between us was the white coat on my shoulders and three weeks of anatomy, neither of which prepared me to speak with any sort of authority on her husband's condition. But that white coat made all the difference.

I've progressively become more comfortable in my role as a medical student, but seeing the change in people's reactions whenever I wear the white coat hasn't gotten any less weird. Whether it's a patient and their family treating me like an equal member of the medical team when I walk into a room, or a car stopping for me at a crosswalk instead of gunning it through the light. It all still trips me out.

All in all, it's been a wild ride and I cannot wait to see what the future will bring!

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P.S. Although I'm no longer an M1 (first year medical student, in med-speak), that doesn't mean we're off for the summer quite yet. We have one M2 block remaining before we break until August. It's apparently three weeks of torture, especially after this last block which was affectionately called "Neurocation". And neurocation I did.

Making impressions on the OR staff

Last week I managed to impress the scrub tech in a very unique way.

I went to scrub in on another ortho case.* Prior to the case starting, a few residents and I were looking at x-rays on a computer in the OR. One of them needed a pen, so I dug out my purse from its awesome hiding place to get one.

Long story short, in this particular hospital, there are no locker rooms. So there is no place to store personal belongings such as backpacks, wallets, keys, etc. The residents tend to bring them into the OR and stash them under a table in the corner of the room. By stash, I mean hide them from the OR staff and attendings. I'd been instructed to do the same, albeit a bit more stealthily since I'm even lower on the totem pole than they are.

Before I could put my purse back, I got caught red-handed.

Scrub Tech: "What is that?"
Me, panicking: "I was just getting a pen for Dr. T."
ST: "Is that a pocketbook?"
Me: "Umm..."
ST, seemingly amused: "You are the first person I have ever seen bring a pocketbook into the OR."

She had a point. I did look rather ridiculous with a cross-body shoulder bag over my hospital green scrubs standing in the middle of the OR. So even though I failed at being stealthy, at least I gave them a good laugh.

The funniest part of this is that I bought my first purse only last year. I never used them before.

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* In the fall, I got hooked up with an awesome ortho resident who has taken me under her wing and has introduced me to the wonderful world of surgery. With her, I've scrubbed in on several cases and I try to go in as often as I can. This was yet another great case. More details on this in a later post. It's been an incredible experience.

Lifting each others' spirits

We have a couple of big exams this week, essentially the medical school equivalent of finals for physiology, histology, genetics, and biochemistry. To say people are stressed out is a gross understatement. But somehow we find the time to make each other laugh.

Like most medical schools these days, ours has a group on Facebook where we share resources, reminders of important deadlines, and sometimes (nay, oftentimes) comedic relief.

On the eve of the first "final", one we've been cramming for all weekend, came a few gems from my classmates:

And another. I wish the shelf exam (med speak for "final") was this straightforward:

I'm sure the inside jokes (neural crest cells being the answer to every confusing question in embryology from way back when) and direct application to what I should be studying now made this even funnier for me than it is for you.

On a similar note, a few weeks ago I was leading a tour for applicants at the end of their interview day. One guy asked, "When was the last time you guys took yourselves seriously?" I honestly couldn't think of an answer, even though we had an exam coming up in a few days. I ended up saying that probably the first week of school was when people were last worried/stressed out/serious. After that, we got used to the pace and learned to enjoy ourselves.

With this, I hope you get an idea of the atmosphere our class creates for each other. Because of them, this year has really flown by as stress-free as medical school could actually be.

A very quick update

A reader asked today about how I was doing since I haven't posted here for a while. I figured I'd let you all know that I'm still alive and haven't forgotten about this blog. In fact, yesterday I was thinking about how I should write something. Much has happened and I'd love to share it with you all.

Anywhos, onto the very quick update. School is going well, my plan for studying has been successful, and for the most part I'm really enjoying this year.

We have a couple of big exams coming up in the next two weeks, but I should get some posts out towards the end of the month. Stay tuned!