Waiting for the Night

Well, the test actually went rather well. I was expecting to be crushed by this exam, as even after studying for 3 days straight, nearly 18 hours a day, I did not feel fully prepared. However, the questions were much more basic than anyone expected, and I actually feel that I may have managed to pull off an A. We shall see.... apparently our next test is going to cover FORTY-FIVE LECTURES! Also 3 labs. I thought it was hard enough to get through the 26 lectures that were covered on this exam, I can't imagine learning 45 in 3 weeks. Thankfully none of these exams are cumulative like they were last semester, although that doesn't provide much of a reprieve. The class is visiting Northgate tonight, so at least I can stop thinking about all of this for a few hours....

Swallowed in the Sea

Even with a 3-day weekend (due to MLK day), getting caught up has proven impossible for most of our class. The lectures are so long and detailed that we don't know where to begin. Thankfully there was only one lecture on Tuesday, which dealt with how microbes are able to build resistance to antibiotics. In the afternoon we had our first humanities session with Dr. X, which was very interesting and had to do with how commercials affect a patient's mindset. Wednesday in clinical skills we learned how to test for hearing loss, as well examine the eardrums, nose, and throat with our otoscopes. We then had a double lecture over autoimmune diseases, which was pretty cool, except the professor tried to cram 60 pages of notes into this lecture. Way too much material to pull only 6 exam questions from.

Thursday, we had a pediatrics lecture over the health maintenance of school-aged children and adolescents. This was followed by our 3rd 2-hour POPS session, this time on lupus. We then had a review of all the pediatrics lectures we have had over the past 3 weeks. Friday, we had a biochem lecture which went into the chemistry of autoimmune diseases... it was pretty painful. We ended the week with a series of case studies concerning various immune reactions and autoimmune disorders. I've already forgotten the material from the first week, so I will have to review that before going on and studying the newer lectures. I have a feeling that there will be very little sleep this weekend.

Your Head Is on Fire

SO MUCH TO DO. Holy crap... I stopped going to lecture this week because I am so far behind that the new lectures don't even make sense, and all they do is read from the slide set anyways. I discovered that I benefit much more from getting a decent amount of sleep and then watching the recorded lectures at my own pace. Wednesday began with clinical skills; this time we learned about examining eyes. We practiced testing visual acuity with the letter chart, measuring pupil dilation and reactivity, as well as testing for other ocular ailments. We also learned how to examine the inside of the eye using our ophthalmoscopes, which is rather difficult. There was only one lecture, which was the second part of our genetic disease lecture. Thursday we had a 2-hour POPS session on hypersensitivity reactions, specifically to bee stings. These practical, clinically-oriented sessions are probably the most interesting thing going on right now. Friday we had a lecture over how vaccinations work, followed by a double lecture on toxicology (drugs, poisons, overdoses, and how to treat them). There is so much material that was piled on this week, that any chances of catching up in time for next week are slim.

Long, Long, Long

Things are picking up steam quickly. Yesterday we had another lecture about how the immune system recognizes foreign antigens, followed by a lecture over how inflammation occurs, as well as how hypersensitivity (allergic reaction) occurs. This was followed by the first part of a 2-part lecture on genetic diseases, which was very interesting. This morning we had a pediatrics lecture on health maintenance issues for infants and preschool children. This was followed by 3 intense and tedious lectures over T-cells and regulation of the immune system... the general idea is pretty interesting, but the level of detail they go into is painfully boring.

In the afternoon we had our first humanities session, which is much different this time around. Basically there are 10 or so different "selectives" that we can pick from, and we will be going to this class every week until we switch to our next selective after a few weeks. The selective I got into first is "Media, Health, and Medicine", which is taught by a fellow named "Dr. X". He is quite a character, and I have a feeling that it is going to be infinitely more entertaining than the terrible humanities group sessions we had last semester.

Red Red Wine

Well this weekend was nice and relaxing. I actually managed to go over all the lectures and got caught up in time for tomorrow. Friday night we went to a wine bar called "Downtown Uncorked"... it was fantastic. They had a special deal where you can get 3 half-glasses of any 3 wines on the menu for $18, and they had wines that were $20 just for a single glass as well as $200+ bottles. We ordered a cheese platter that had several types of amazing cheese as well. A very relaxing and sophisticated evening indeed.

Injection

Wow, quite a busy week.... Wednesday morning began with clinical skills, during which we learned to take basic vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, etc). In the afternoon we had 3 pathology lectures that gave a basic idea of how cells adapt to stress, get injured, age, and die. Thursday was a great day, as we only had 2 lectures in the morning and had the afternoon off. The lectures dealt with how antibodies work. Friday morning we had a lecture on how B-cells (part of the immune system) are activated. This was followed by a 2 hour POPS (patient-oriented problem solving) lecture about tetanus vaccinations, which was actually pretty awesome. This weekend should be fun, and a bunch of people are going to a wine bar downtown tonight!

A Sort of Homecoming

Hello blogspot, it's been a while...

The break was relaxing, it was nice to not think about school for 2 weeks. While away, I learned that I passed the NBME - although we don't know what grade we got. I saw a lot of family over break that I hadn't seen in a while, and I probably gained 10 pounds from the never-ending dinner parties. For Christmas I mostly got cash and clothing, which is perfect. I also got the Inception bluray and an 8 GB ram upgrade for my notebook from my parents. The highlight of the break was spending 3 days out on the ranch... the weather was perfect, and although I didn't shoot anything, it was therapeutic to get out of civilization for a while.

Monday we jumped right back into things. They gave us an overview of the next year and a half... Phase II will be quite different than Phase I. First of all, we must pass every single aspect of the phase, and anything that we fail must be retaken. Also, it will be more fast-paced, there are no more labs, and most of our classes will be in the morning. We will get 3 months off for summer, which I plan to take advantage of in its entirety. As for classes, the next few months will be a block entitled "Intro to Disease". This will be followed by our neuroscience block, and then we take another NBME exam and are off for the summer. Next year will be broken into blocks according to the remaining organ systems. Our first lectures of the block were in immunology, which seems like it will be a cross between histo and biochem (a terrible combination). The first lecture was over innate defense mechanisms, followed by organs and cells of the immune system. Not very difficult, but who knows how long that will last...

This morning began with an intro to pediatrics, which consisted of how to examine and take down a history for pediatric patients. This was followed by a triple lecture in pathology... While it was pretty grueling to sit through a 3-hour lecture, the material itself was quite interesting. We basically went over all of the things in the environment that can kill you: everything from common poisons and physical trauma, to external factors such as temperature, electricity and radiation. The presentation was accompanied by tons of pictures that demonstrated various indicators of the cause of death, which was very cool. Tomorrow we start clinical skills again, although this time we will be focusing on performing physical examinations instead of taking patient histories.

You may have noticed that all my blog posts to this point have been named using a song title... As it is getting more difficult to find appropriate titles, this may be the last one that uses the convention unless I start using album titles as well... or maybe movie quotes. We shall see.