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.

Reflections on anatomy

Our anatomy final is tomorrow and it's so surreal to think that gross anatomy is finally over. It felt like such an impossible task when we first started 11 weeks ago.

I remember stressing out about the three muscles we learned in the first week. "I have to know the arterial supply as well? How am I ever going to remember the transverse cervical artery?!" That actually happened.

Towards the end of our first block, we learned the entire leg in 4 days. That seemed ridiculous and impossible.

But now, the seasoned medical students that we are, we did the entire head and neck in under two weeks. No one batted an eye at that. It just seemed normal.

I wish I had learned some things better. The pelvis and perineum still confuse me. The details of the poop cycle are also lost on me. All in all, though, I have a pretty good grasp on how our bodies are put together and I'm okay with that.

It's not surprising that I glossed over those areas because I've never found them interesting. Similarly, it makes sense that I enjoyed learning the anatomy of certain parts of the body (muscles, lungs, and eyes) because I've been interested in that stuff for a while.

Some things surprised me, though, like really nerding out on the autonomic nervous system and cranial nerves. I don't think I'll end up in neurology, but the logic-puzzle nature of the disease processes has been really fun to work through.

I'd like to say that I'm taking it easy tonight and taking the evening off because I need to do very, very poorly on the final exam to fail the course. But like a proper over-achieving medical student, I'm not satisfied with the pass. Instead, I'll be doing more review questions until my brain tells me to stop.