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~∂αzε~ Łífε оf α Με∂ícαļ §tų∂εпtOnly a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. ~Albert Einstein
August 04 End of This SpaceHi everybody... as I am completely addicted to Facebook, I will cease to update this blog and instead blog on my Facebook instead. I also have blogged much less. All my previous posts on this space are imported on Facebook, and all pics are also on Facebook. Hopefully you continue reading on my Facebook.. add me as a friend if you haven't already!!! Love, Daisy June 19 What A Busy Summer!! Almost 1/2 Over, Too *tear*So, it is now June 19... the summer has been passing quickly, and I know that before we all know it, it'll be back to school and back to stressing about those exams and TOSCE's! And I'm working full-time plus my RA job and my summer HUB exec office hours, so it's no wonder I am not noticing those beautiful summer days passing by. But I'm now at work, my supervisor left and will be back at 1pm, and she gave me something to do, but it took me all of 15 minutes, so I guess I have 2 hours to blog and re-read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before the movie comes out!! So, what am I up to? I think you all know what jobs I'm doing. I was moved to College Plaza to work for the Dept. of Family Medicine (from the Royal Alex) under Dr. Denise Armstrong, the Quality Assurance Manager. I never knew what that meant until I started, and even now I'm a bit confused with some of the things I'm doing. I am definitely getting the hang of it, though... I've revised 4 surveys that we will distribute to the family clinics that are under the Dept., and I've looked at data sources that we can use to measure improvement and the direction of the Department. It is quite interesting, actually, since it's all new to me, and I have input of my own, being a medical student here. My HUB exec office hours, which I have tonight after this job, are quite lax... I basically sit in the office in the unknown HCA and wait for people who want to rent movies or vacuums and the like. The thing is... hardly anybody ever shows up. So I will watch 1 movie each shift, and by the summer's end I shall be more knowledgeable in the area of pop culture concerning movies... a connoisseur, maybe? haha... probably not... but hey, I can catch up for all those movies I missed when I was younger and living out in the boonies. I also am working in College Plaza on the 18th floor (vs. 2nd floor for Family Med) for Dr. Mereu in her ACCORD research project. Last week the nurse showed me how to do an EKG, which is pretty easy considering we've learned quite a bit in Cardio except for actually doing an EKG... hopefully I will be certified to do them on my own sometime over the summer. And now that I'm working in College Plaza all day rather than having to commute to the Royal Alex, I work 5 hours with Dr. Mereu, twice a week, so I get much more done (it's actually amazing how much more I get done with 2 more hours a week!), and so I'm less rushed and get to do a greater variety of small jobs there. I don't get bored easily, but data entry for a whole shift ain't exactly exciting stuff. I like to get that done with so that I can do other things, even shadow the docs, which of course is the best part of working there! Dr. Mereu was also extremely generous (again, as everybody in med knows about her support groups... which I'm in... and the reason I have this job in the first place) and invited the people who work on her project and I, and she even invited Chris! to "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at the Mayfield Dinner Theater!! It was great, by the way, and the food was great too, of course... And Chris and I, together with his roommate and girlfriend/classmate of ours, have a gift certificate to the Theatre since we missed the play for Valentine's Day due to Chris' surgery in February. Hmmm... what else is up? Oh yeah, the convocation breakfast for the medical class of 2007 where I had to give out 3 awards. Well, it was at the Beverly Hills Ballroom in the Fantasyland Hotel at West Edmonton Mall. I wasn't on the guest list, so they put me on the very front and center table with the guests of honor, the Elliotts. So I got to eat first, w00t, but boy was I nervous, even though I only had 3 awards to hand out. It went well, though, even though I know I sounded very nervous for the first award. Everybody said I sounded great and didn't seem nervous, but I think they were just being nice. The Elliotts are very nice, and the memorial award they handed out was for clinical acumen, academic standing and on demonstration of devotion to patient care, to colleagues, and to learning, which Dr. Elliott's grand-daughter gave out. One graduate was a super genius... she got a gold medal (not the gold medal for the top mark in medicine.. that was handed to her on Friday at the graduation ceremony where everybody became a Doctor!) and many other awards, and I was told that she had PERFECT marks in her clinical years (unheard of, really), and the highest mark in medicine in Canada! She also received a humanitarianism award. Wow. I wish I could be like her... but I'm just an average med student =( Oh, well... it's still weird to think I'm even IN medicine. I seriously think it was my interview... my application seems petty compared to ALL the amazing med students in my class. I also like to meet up with my fellow med classmates to play frisbee or BBQ some burgers or just generally hang out and have fun. I love my class so much, everybody is so amazing and outgoing and friendly. It's a good thing some are still here over the summer so we can hang out. We were at Joe's house last Friday and for the first time ever I got to play on the Wii... we all did! It was sooo much fun, we stayed til 1am (and he lives in Sherwood Park... so I got home late). We were throwing a football around that night, too, and a stray throw made me kick out my right leg (yes, that's the bad one) to try stop the football... OWW. Yeah, so couldn't play frisbee that night and instead stood around and got eaten alive by mosquitos. It's a wonder I am not the first case of West Nile yet, either... I seriously am bitten all over. So, 3 months after surgery I get to start the jogging/slow running THANK GOODNESS, cuz I've gained a few pounds recently, and I will now watch what and when I eat, and I can't wait to start running again, because I miss those 7km round trip jogs to the lake at home that I did last summer. And I signed up for intramural beach volleyball (I miss campus rec so much.. a whole year with only waterpolo? that sucked!), and hopefully slo-pitch is a go if we get enough players. Well, that's it... oh, I'm finally getting my car fixed (tie rod cracked, muffler is disconnected so I give a nice roar when I drive haha, and maybe some new rear tires and gear box if it's cheap enough). That's it!! A cute pic to make you smile below =) June 05 Summer Is Here... Time to Work!Whew! I have been so busy, I haven't blogged since my surgery in March! Tsk tsk, what is this world coming to, when I haven't blogged in such a long time, haha. Well, now I shall update this thing during my lunch break, and I apologize for the length of this blog in advance! I will just follow my Google Calendar to see what has happened, haha...
So, I guess I'll start with the fact I am now VP Internal (Academic) of the Medical Student's Association, and VP Volunteers of the Hub Community Association, both until next April! I'm so excited, but I will be super busy, that's for sure. This Thursday I get to present the MSA awards at the medical class of 2007 convocation, and in July I will be speaking to Grade 11 students in the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer Program with Aaron Knox, the President of the MSA, on how to get into medical school. I basically get to attend a whole bunch of meetings throughout the year as VP Internal, with lots of food! haha. And as VP Volunteers in HUB, I will be organizing the volunteering in HUB, but I want to increase it to include volunteering on campus and in the surrounding community, because the residents of HUB should not just get involved in residence... it's so much fun on campus and meeting people outside of the university!
Regarding classes, I had written the Pulmonary exam and did okay. Then Renal started... I was not too keen on the subject, and it definitely seemed harder than some other subjects, but I pulled through on the final exam (which was cumulative so also included pulmonary and cardiology), and did well. I also did my first (and last!) anatomy bellringer, which I felt went horribly considering I definitely know my anatomy cold, and yet I did just above class average, which was around 60! Anatomy was really the only thing I studied for, and the dissector is an excellent study tool, but I just don't understand why the bellringer was so hard... I'd look at a heart with a pin in a valve, and I'd have NO idea what vessel it was even in! The radiology questions, however, I think I aced. I didn't attend the review, so I wouldn't know.
But, all in all, considering the amount of studying I did throughout the year (almost none, mainly due to personal reasons), I did very well in my first year of med, and I even beat Chris (my bf, for those who don't know, lol) in the anatomy and renal exams, a rarity in itself, since he's such a loser and beats me all the time. The Community Health exam was EASY PEASY, and I am sure I got 100% on it. The OSCEs went well, especially since they were changed to TOSCEs and we got feedback at the end. The examiners say that I have a great approach to the patient, am very open and an excellent listener, which makes the patient comfortable and more at ease to talk about whatever is wrong. One guy had me pegged as a future family doc. That's a good sign, I hope. Many people look down on family docs, and one bf of a friend said I had "taken the easy way through med by picking to go into family". Ouch. Whatever. I'll be happy and enjoying my work, and that's what's important.
We had 2 more choir concerts, both which went... uh... okay... maybe, lol! We sang Dancing Queen, Water Is Wide, Seasons of Love, among others, and boy, did we botch up some of them. We sang at the Memorial for the anatomy cadavers, and at the Rich Man Poor Man Dinner (the mayor of Edmonton was there!). Chris and Keith will be running the Choir next year, and I look forward to it! And, since we had no Med Show, we held a "Funeral" for it in the Iron Horse. Posted on YouTube, here are some great videos done by my class (yes, we have too much time on our hands, but boy, are they good... Diagnosis Wenckebach is a hit across Canada and the US... check out the comments!):
The last one is Lazy Mycoplasma, done for our Triple I course to teach the class about mycoplasma pneumonia.
Since for a while I was faced with a possible financial situation involving my not being able to afford the next 3 years of med school, I applied for a student line of credit, $200,000, which I now have, but I am not in that "situation" anymore, so I have a good back-up for later, anyways. (I know that was vague and confusing... family issues... don't wanna get into that).
So, I finished my first year of medical school, and headed off to Brandon, Chris' home town in Manitoba, to shadow several doctors in different specialties and hang with his family, for a week. Boy, that week was more exhausting than studying! haha. We shadowed in the OR, chemo, the ER, and radiology (including ultrasound, MRI, and interventional). We saw a 6-hour laparoscopic surgery to reduce GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) which involves wrapping the stomach around the esophagus, called the Nissen fundoplication. So cool! I also got to meet the family, and had a lot of fun playing with his sisters, watching them sing in a choir concert and play violin/cello in an orchestra, and just generally fooling around. I will be going back for the July long weekend to go out to the cabin on the lake... I don't know yet who all is coming, but so far it's just Chris and I, since his sisters are going to Italy to sing for the Pope (yeah... I know.. cool).
After I got back, it was time to work! I am the RA on-call (Resident Assistant) quite often, 4pm-8am, to deal with lockouts, spare keys, etc. It's kinda annoying being on-call, since I have to stick around campus. But it's pretty slack. I am also working with Dr. Mereu and in Family Med, which I already mentioned before. Dr. Mereu will let me train to do EKG's, so that will be fun. And tomorrow is my last day at the Royal Alex, and then I can work in College Plaza looking at different aspects of Family Med. I have so far reviewed a ton of med lists and scored them in 3 categories: expirations, synchronizations within 1 month, and duplications. I also looked at screening maneuvers and chronic disease in the doctors' panels in the RA Family Clinic. I will be having a meeting today to discuss my job once I move to College Plaza. I also have office hours as VP Volunteers from 6-8pm on certain Tuesdays/Thursdays together with the other HCA Exec.
On the May long, I went to my brother's Prom, which was fun and I got to see not only my family, but also some friends from high school whom I hadn't seen in years. Carl looked all spiffy and his escort and walk-in were beautiful, of course.
Chris' 23rd birthday is this weekend, and we're having a potluck on his new deck and inviting many med students and other friends to it, so I can't wait for that. I also got him a gift, but I won't tell because he might read this... I'm SOOO excited to give it to him though! He'll love it (and no, it's not a stripper, or whatever else he has been telling people!) haha.
Other than working and stuff, I've been lazing around, since I've been exhausted after work for some odd reason (work is super easy, but I work hard, and I guess that tires me out quite a bit). I'm becoming an expert at driving my standard car in the city everyday. And the weather has been BEAUTIFUL recently (30 degrees!), and so hanging outside and in Hawrelak park is great...I got my first bikini, and though I've already worn in to the park, I NEED to lose some weight. Ew.
And that is all...
Enjoy this beautiful summer weather wherever you are!
Daze
March 22 My ACL Reconstructive SurgeryWell, I've been laid back in bed for the past 2 days, and I am finally off the morphine and general anaesthetic that was coursing through my body and making me sick, so of course, what do I do instead of study the material I've missed? I BLOG!
Okee dokee, so I had my surgery at the Grey Nun's Hospital at 11am, and so when I got there, the physiotherapist came and showed me some exercised I should do, and how to properly use crutches... YES, they were at the WRONG height from when I got them from the ER back in September when I tore my ACL! No WONDER I was in such pain from the crutches and wondered how people could get along for a few weeks in them. Anywho, I just read a book for a while, they inserted an IV, then brought me to the pre-op area. There, the anaesthesiologist came and asked me about allergies, previous expereinces (I had none), and whether I wanted general or just a spinal block. He described the spinal block, and told me the risks, and I got kinda scared, chickened out, and picked general. (I wanted to watch my surgery by having the spinal block, but yeah... too scared when it came down to it.) They wheeled me into the OR, and spread out my arms onto little tables, and put an oxygen mask on me, then the anaesthiologist said "We're going to give you something to sleep now"... a few seconds later the room started spinning, and BAM I was out... SO cool... I never really understood what my friends and brother told me before about how you just conk out without knowing... I thought I would be able to recognize that I was going to sleep. Rather, I got really confused, wondered why the room was spinning, and then I woke up seemingly instantly after that, all comfy, warm, and drugged up. My throat was sore, since they had to intubate me to help me breathe while under the general anaesthetic (jeez, I hate typing that word... it's difficult!).
I've attached some pics of the steps in an ACL reconstruction.
They wheeled me back to the Day Ward, where Chris had JUST arrived, and I was just so tired from the drugs that I slept. I had a lot of fluids given to me, as well as antibiotics, through IV, and I realized that I was also very dizzy from the morphine. When I tried to sit up, I would feel like throwing up. The girl next to me had her surgery after me, and had left WAY before me because she was fine. I was also itchy from the morphine all over my body, but I didn't get a rash like some people do. My whole body was numb, it was kinda cool. Chris read a book while I slept, and when I woke up, it was already 7pm!! I had no idea, and so I tried to go to the bathroom, and got REALLY dizzy then, but the nurse was trying to get me to feel better since the Day Ward closes at 9. They gave me IV meds for the nausea, and then wheeled me down to Chris' car. We drove home, picked up a prescription for T3's and Ketorolac (an anti-inflammatory agent). I stayed at Chris' house overnight (since I have to be with somebody in case I react to the morphine or something. He slept on the floor on cushions, which must have not been that comfortable.
The next day, I stayed in bed all day, and Chris skipped out of class to stay with me (just like I did when he had his surgery), and I took tons of meds and was still dizzy. The pain was pretty bad, and seemed to stay the same no matter if I took pills or not. My hamstring also hurt a lot, since that's where they got the tendon for my new ACL (the tendon will lose its integrity and be more like a ligament, however, since it takes time for a blood supply and tissue to form around it). Heidi came over last night, and we all watched Spiderman, and then Chris and I watched Spiderman 2, in preparation for Spiderman 3 which comes out May 4 right after our final exam, w00t!
I woke up this morning in pain, not wanting to take T3's in fear of constipation (yeah, I'd rather go through leg pain than that!), so I'm just taking the anti-inflammatory pills now... I'm in a lot of pain, but it's okay... I'm sitting on a chair right now, which is more painful, so I will lie down after this. I also attempted a shower this morning after duct-taping my leg into a bag. Man was that shower interesting... gruellingly slow and painful, I must say. But really, I looked awful and needed that. After this, I will study some Toronto Notes on pulmonary.
So, on a completetly different note, I am acclaimed as Vice-President Internal of the Medical Student's Association! w00t! And I will be voted in as VP Volunteers for the HUB Community Association Exec this week too... I have to remember to vote, though... gah. I am now really lazy with my bum leg. Meh. I also got the summer Resident Assistant in HUB, as well as a 1 day/week job with Dr. Mereu for the ACCCORD study. So, with those 2 jobs, plus the VP Volunteer position, I will be making quite a bit of money... and I'm still waiting to hear from 2 full-time research applications (1 is actually the STEP Grant that I'm waiting for... I got the job itself). I'll be living in HUB over the summer, and it looks like also for the rest of med school.
Oh, I got my cardiology mark back, and GUESS what... Chris didn't beat me this time! Well... I didn't beat him either... we BOTH tied! That's what happens when we both skip tons of class (I had the flu and missed quite a few days, then stayed with Chris for his surgery a bit, too), and then read Lilly's the day before on heart pathophysiology... I DO BETTER. I actually beat class average again. w00t. Chris feels bad because ever since I started dating him, my marks fell (but I'm still doing well), but he compares that to Intro Block, which I think everybody did spectacular on. Meh. I'm doing good in school anyways. I should just start studying Pulmonary now, because I've already missed 3 days, including an Arterial Blood Gas lab today, and a computer pathology lab. Gah.
Well, I'm grimacing in pain, so I should lay down. Thanks for reading all this way! I don't think many will actually finish this boring, drawn-out blog. Hopefully I'll be in class tomorrow.
Ciao!
Daze March 06 My ER Shadowing ExperienceSo, I said that I'd tell you about my 4 hour shift in the ER shadowing a couple of docs at the University of Alberta Hospital, and since I'm studying now for my cardiology final exam, I am procrastinating and that's when I blog! So, here it is:
I started at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, and the ER was PACKED. I awkwardly told the triage nurse I was there to shadow as a first-year med student, and she brought over a doc who ushered me into the ER. He quickly brought me over to the A-pod, which is for the critical stuff... I right away was shown an elderly patient and was told to watch. He then disappeared. Anywho, this patient had come in a few days earlier with symptoms of confusion... that was it. They did a chest x-ray showing nothing (they showed me it... it looked normal from what I could see, thanks for Chris' dad for showing us chest x-rays the week previous!). He then came back with severe confusion, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and he just simply wasn't aware of his surroundings... they did a 2nd chest x-ray and found pneumonia in his lungs (I saw this one too... pretty easy to see the infiltrates) which had gone into his bloodstream (sepsis). He was in shock. When I saw him, they were pushing fluids into him (they had a 4th-year med student manually pushing fluids from the IV bag into the guy), and inserting central and femoral lines into him. Soooo cool. They had intubated him as well, and after a while, he was stabilized and everybody left because another guy had come in after he was hit in the face while driving behind a truck that lost it's load... ouch.
After watching the septic patient, another doc asked me to watch the team as they brought in a patient... She had been snowboarding when she fell and hit her head on the ice... no helmet. They had done x-rays there, and the film showed a fracture in her vertebrae at C6/C7 (I think that's where it was) and the doc asked me "What innervates the diaphragm?" and I said "C345" and he smiled and said "...keeps the diaphragm alive!"... thanks Dr. Walji for that one!!! She also a broken arm near the wrist, which they had casted. I got to take off the cast, and put on a lead apron and neck protector as they x-rayed her. She had transient numbness in her hands after the accident, suggesting a central cord stretch, but no paralysis or numbness anywhere, and her neuro exam was good. The x-rays, however, showed no fracture of her c-spine, but her bone in her arm was bulging, showing a compression, so it was indeed broken. The doc and family med resident went over c-spine x-rays with me (how to read them) which was cool. They also did a chest x-ray (CXR) to see if she had broken ribs since she had a lot of pain there, but it was fine. I, again, was told how to read chest x-rays.
Being in cardio block, I was excited to see a "chest pain" patient...typical, textbook case! He had come in after shovelling snow (the typical example) and feeling retrosternal chest pain that was also tender to the touch (increasing to a 5/10 vs. 3 without touch), and he had a diagnosis of angina 2 years previous, as well as a diagnosis of diabetes 2 months ago. He also had a family history of MI's. His EKG, however, looked normal, as the resident went over it step-by-step with me (good thing I had read most of Dubin's by then!). I got to listen to his heart, which sounded fine to my inexperienced ears. The resident said it probably was angina, but they are worried about his risk of MI. I had to leave before they had finished with that patient.
At this time, another med classmate joined me in shadowing... that made 4 of us from my class in the ER, the other 2 shadowing another doc. Another patient we saw had come in after collapsing in a bakery. He was a healthy, fit person and had hit his head on something, so they were doing x-rays and, again, checking c-spine. He was fine. His EKG also looked good, blood glucose fine, no medical history either. When he sat up to get on the stretcher from the x-ray table, he got dizzy, which was how he felt before the fainting episode. The resident said he had vaso-vagal syncope (which is the same thing people... like Chris!... get when they see a needle or blood and faint), which means that your parasympathetic nervous response overcompensates for your sympathetic response to some stimuli (blood, needles, etc), causing both a drop in heart rate (bradycardia) and arterial dilation, causing a drastic drop of blood pressure and perfusion to the brain, and you faint! The other ER doc, though, was worried that such a healthy, fit, relatively young man had fainted... and was thinking it might be cardiac. I heard later from my classmate that the guy was discharged for vaso-vagal sycnope.
Another really cool patient we saw for about 10 seconds was a guy who was short of breath and had to sit up, and had subcutaneous emphysema... we felt his neck, and felt bubbles underneath the skin!! It felt like bubble-wrap that crackled under our touch... weird. The docs weren't sure what to do with that... we also saw the CXR, and you could see air travelling from the lungs up to the neck and across to the shoulder (along the clavicle) and was told that the air travels along soft tissue planes, and can result from a pneumothorax...however, this pt. didn't have any trauma, and they weren't thinking of intubating the guy, but just sending him home. Anyways, bubbles under the skin!! Cool.
That's all I can remember from that experience... I shadow in the ER again on Sunday from 8pm-midnite, so that will be fun!! Med formal is Saturday at the WestIn, too, and Avenue Q Dinner Theatre in Lister is on Sunday at 2pm, and Chris and his roommates and a classmate are going to that.
My elective with ENT will most likely be rescheduled due to my ACL reconstructive surgery, which will be March 20!! w00t!!
I should get back to studying for my cardio final now... after the exam on Friday, our class is going to see "300" at SilverCity in West Edmonton Mall, and then heading over to Hudson's on Campus for some partying!! YAY.
Ciao!!
Daze
P.S. I've attached a normal CXR and a CXR with pneumonia... March 01 Making Myself Busy...So I am making myself busy for the summer now... and in general...
First, I am applying to be a Resident Assistant in HUB for the summer, $500/month, on call 1/5 evenings, and I have my interview on Tuesday. I should get the job, since I love residence and have done A LOT in Lister in the past 2 years.
Second, I'm running for an exec position in the HUB Community as Vice President Volunteers... I have my nomination form filled out, and I have to hand it in, campaign, and elections are in mid-March.
Third, I have applied to several research jobs for the summer, 2 of which show most promise: I had a phone interview today for the West Research Group here at the University regarding summer lab work concerning cardiac transplants http://www.cardiactransplantresearch.med.ualberta.ca/research.php and they're putting in a STEP grant application for me. On March 30 I should know if I got the position or not (paid, that is). Also, I applied for another research assistant position regarding cardiology! It has to do with the outcomes of patients who had new procedures for the surgical repair for thoracic aortic aneurysms. That required my writing a CV, which took FOREVER since I didn't know how to do one, and I never realized before just how much volunteering I did in Lister. lol.
I'm doing an elective in Ear/Nose/Throat (ENT) Surgery on March 21/22 for 12 hours, which will be fun but tiring and I'll be missing quite a bit of class. But my preceptor is the same as Chris' for his surgery/elective! Hahaha... and his preceptor for his other elective is MY surgeon! Oh, yeah, and I phoned my surgeon today, and it looks like I won't be having surgery this month, but in June. Bah.
I also signed up at an RPAP talk today to volunteer at high school RPAP presentations to rural areas to promote medicine as a career.
I have a final exam in Cardiology next Friday, and after part of our class is going to watch 300 at Silver City (I'm going) then off to Hudson's after! Then on Saturday, there's MedFormal. And on the 16th is the MedShow Funeral at the Hudson's on Whyte.
I think that's it for now...
Ciao,
Daze February 23 My All-You-Can-Eat Sushi Experience:Last night Chris and I, together with his billet from Guelph (who's staying with Chris overnight before his medical school interview, which is today) and Dean and Caroline, went to all-you-can-eat sushi. I am just entering the sushi scene, since I had never had sushi before I had met Chris. We had gone before, but not to this particular place, for all-you-can-eat. Caroline wrote down our order, and this is as much as I recall of what we had ordered (about): I think it was 50 (I think.. it might have been 100) sashimi (salmon), 15 egg, 10 shrimp and 12 toro sushi, about 6 cones (spicy scallop, shrimp), 2 wonton soups, 2 orders of fried wontons, short ribs, 6 dragon eyes, 6 baked mussels and 1 baked scallop (for me), 5 tofu things, 20 spring rolls, an order of tonkatsu, vegetable tempura, and maybe 20 rolls (I don't know what they're called, but they're rolls of sushi in seaweed), 5 of which were scallop and had too much mayonnaise on them.
Anywho, I maybe had forgot some other things we ordered, but there were 5 of us... and Chris is still suffering from a shrunken stomach from being on a limited liquid diet after his surgery, so he didn't eat as much as normal. Caroline had eaten a FEW bananas before she came, because she was just that hungry. But we were STRUGGLING through that last bit... and luckily they had forgotten the sashimi, which usually comes first but it didn't this time. We were all bursting full and laughing at how hungry we THOUGHT we were. Oh, I forgot to mention the fact that if you have pieces left over, it's $1.50 per piece extra charge. When we were full, we had over $100 left of sushi to finish... soooo much rice!! The rolls and cones and sushi (especially the egg...there were maybe 11 left!) had so much rice that we started putting the rice in the soya sauce bowl and hiding it in napkins and smuggling them to the bathroom!! We were having a lot of fun, and then Caroline stuffed rice in napkins into her jacket, and when we had forced ourselves to finish and had paid, she quickly dumped the rice into the garbage outside. We were THAT full... we had committed 3 of the deadly sins: gluttony, greed, and laziness (we were planning on just digesting and watching a movie afterwards like slobs).
Afterwards we watched The Departed, which was a good movie, albeit with a LOT of shooting and killing and bloody head shots. Wonderful.
All in all, a good night, with a lot of laughs, got to know the billet well, and a movie after... we joked that this was the typical med student life: eating as much as physically possible, watching tv, then sleeping after. I would also like to include going out the night before:
The nigth before, Chris and I took Chris' other billet from Victoria to the Sapphire Lounge on Whyte Ave. to mingle with med students from our class and interviewees. There, I met Jon, a friend from my Chem 161 Organic Lab!! I hadn't seen him since, so that was fun, and he had gotten a med interview as a 2nd year just like me. I had also a couple drinks... Heineken was on special for $3.50, so I had 2, then a Cosmopolitan, which was the 2nd martini I had ever had in my life. It was pink, a triple, and it was GOOD. Then I had a rum and coke, which was very expensive but was surprisingly strong for a single... even for me. And for those of you who know me, that must be strong! Hahaha. I was a little drunk after. Just a little... hehehe
 My alcohol tolerance has fallen drastically since I had stopped drinking after meeting Chris, who doesn't drink and thus I feel guilty when I drink around him. And me drunk isn't exactly attractive, in my opinion.ANYWHO, I'm done now. I'm writing my CV, which is taking FOREVER and I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm trying to apply to research positions for the summer, and I'm having no luck. And I'm not good enough to compete against my fellow classmates and Chris, since I'm a young, inexperienced student with no research background, little academic background, and it's just simple too late in the year. Just my luck in life, eh? Nothing really works out for me. Meh. I'll apply for some random job, and volunteer in a lab if necessary. I've ALWAYS wanted to do research and see how it's like. If I like it, maybe try for a STIR degree (Special Training In Research is added to my MD).
Tonight I'm shadowing in the Emergency Room at the University of Alberta Hospital for 4 hours, and I'm really excited!!! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow night...
Ciao,
Daze February 17 Update on my torn ACL, etcToday I saw the orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Bouliane, regarding my
busted knee. He looked at my chart and read aloud "First-year medical
student"... yeah, that was on my chart!! Weird, eh? But good, because
after about 5 seconds of rotating my knee, he said that he's 100% sure
my ACL is completely gone, no doubt about it (everybody else was
unsure, even with the MRI, whether it was torn or just a high-grade
strain). He said that he could try and fast-track me for surgery by
putting me on the cancellation list, so that if anybody cancels, I'll
get in, and he'll also try to get me in in March because he thinks he
has 1 spot open. Aaahhh, the beauty of being a med student. But if he
can't do that, then I'll be on the wait-list for July. Boo. He also
said that my other, normal knee also hyper-extends really easily.
Crazy coincidence: Chris is doing an orthopaedic surgery elective, and he found out yesterday that it's with Dr. Bouliane!! So he wants to scrub in to my surgery!! Crazy. But anyways, he said that after the surgery, I'll have to baby it
for about 9 months, do physio, and I'll have to be on crutches for a
couple of weeks. Nice. I HATE crutches with a passion, because when I
used them when I had first hurt my knee, I got bruised so badly under
my arms that I stopped using them 3 days after the injury, as opposed
to the doc's orders of 7-10 days. But the surgery will be at Grey
Nun's, and I'll be in and out in a day.
My boyfriend also had surgery... a tonsillectomy! Here's his blog,
which describes it (I got to stay overnight with him and his mother at
the hospital, and the nurses were so nice as to let me sleep on his
bed!!) I got to meet almost his entire family, too, as they came up
from Brandon, Manitoba, for his surgery. His dad is hilarious (he has
the same humor as Chris) and likes to talk about medicine a LOT, which
I really enjoy, and he really got me thinking about this rural family
med thing... but I am only a first year student, I will be shadowing
and doing rotations in the next 3 years in many many different med
specialties. His sisters are sooo cute, too, and I also got to meet
another brother, his girlfriend, and another brother's girlfriend, all
of whom are really nice, too. Chris' mother is sweet too, and we got to
spend a lot of time together at the hospital, too. Apparently they like
me too, according to Chris' roommates, and I hope they do, too. His
family is very loving and close. It's nice to see. Anywho, Chris' blog
on his surgery:
Chris is still on broth and Ensure, even though he's attempted
tomato soup (that was on Valentine's Day, when we went out to Joey's
over at South Edmonton Common, and I felt SOOO bad that he couldn't eat
anything except water while I was enjoying lobster ravioli... I felt
guilty eating! haha), and he's ran out of T3's and codeine, so he's in
more pain now, but he says the pain is getting less and less everyday,
and once he can eat, I will take him out to Montana's for supper (he's
been craving meat and beef ribs like CRAZY) and I also want to take him
to Barb and Ernie's for their delicious eggs benedict breakfast. I
can't wait to have Chris start eating... I hate seeing him wince
everytime he swallows.
Well, Reading Week is coming up soon...w00t. I will get to catch
up on my studying (start studying, actually), and interview some med
applicants and other things. I'll be missing my father's birthday
sadly, but I guess I'll have to deal with that. I'm looking for a
summer research position, which is difficult since the grant deadlines
have all passed, but if all else fails, I will volunteer at a lab
instead, and get some other random job anywhere.
That is all, folks! Love you all, thanks for everything!
Ciao,
Daze
February 08 No Probation For Our Med School!Good news... we won our appeal before the LCME! Here's the letter the Dean sent us:
I am pleased to share with you that the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has received verbal notice that we have won the appeal before our American accreditors, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). This decision is pending official notification by mail within 30 days. As you are aware, positive changes have taken place and will continue to take place as a result of the survey team’s report. The University and the Faculty respect the opinion of our accreditors and appreciate the opportunity to strengthen and improve our program. I commend the faculty for cooperating and embracing the initiatives we have implemented. We are committed to being the best medical school in the country, and our work does not end with this successful appeal. We will continue to introduce initiatives that will enhance our teaching and learning. The LCME will pay us a return visit in due course for purposes of fact-finding and consultation. I would like to express, on behalf of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, sincere thanks for your help in making our appeal successful. I will continue to look to you for your continued commitment and leadership. w00t! Tonight I have a session on how to conduct the med school interviews, then INTD at 6pm, and my presentation is at 6:30 (apparently...I can see it being later), and then I will somehow get to waterpolo for the FINALS at 7pm!! If need be, I will skip out on the INTD thing, because really, that course is completely worthless, as I have said before and on the course evaluation as well. Well, ciao!! Daze P.S. Cute picture attached... from www.cuteoverload.com
February 07 Anatomy: The Thorax DissectionWellll, I'm bored and at work, so I'm gonna blog, hehehe. And I know I haven't really talked about this most wonderful part of being in medical school: Anatomy Lab!!
So, I might have previously mentioned some stuff about this lab. My group of 8 med students, all from my class, share 1 cadaver, who had previously decided to donate his body to medicine for anatomy lab. We will be holding a ceremony later on in the year to honor all those who donated their bodies to our lab (the Courtyard Choir, of which I'm a member, will be singing in that). So our guy is 87, died of pneumonia and a foot ulcer according to the paper posted in the front of the lab (so we're thinking he's a diabetic with neuropathy, but he actually looks like he was in good health regarding his weight... he didn't have very much fat on him at all..Type 1? We don't know).
So we made the normal cuts just like how you see on TV: 2 lateral cuts along his clavicals down to his axilla (that's like his shoulder-armpit area), then down along his side to his ribs, then we also made a cut right down the middle of his chest down to the bottom of his ribs (costal margin), then following the ribs down to that mid-axillary cut on both sides. So basically we can open up the skin on his chest like a book. We had to reflect the skin from the deep fascia, and this is where we realized this guy had little fat on him. After that, we looked at his pectoris muscles (major and then minor after cutting the major back), and some major blood vessels (cephalic, subclavian, axillary, etc...), and also at the nerves that penetrate the muscles. We took those back, and looked at the ribs and the sternum, and after observing relevant nerves, vessels, structures, we took a saw and cut his ribs open along the sides and top, pulling the entire ribcage up and downwards to expose the heart and lungs... that was SOOO cool but kind of sickening when we had to crack the ribs back like that...ew.
We observed the pleura, which was stuck up on the ribcage instead of the lungs. The guy's lungs had black vessels in them, indicating he either smoked or lived in a city with lots of pollution, and a portion of one of his lungs was firm and slightly discolored: pneumonia? (his lungs looked otherwise healthy...spongy, soft, pinkish other than the black vessels and that one firm lobe area). So we observed the lobes and the pulmonary arteries and veins, which we then severed so that we could remove the lungs...that was HARD. I also didn't realize how BIG lungs were...they extended far into the thoracic cavity, posteriorly and inferiorly. After that, we observed the heart in situ, under it's fibrous pericardium.
We then cut open the pericardium, preserving both phrenic nerves on the sides, and exposed the heart. Eventually we completely removed the heart from the pericardium after observing the great vessels (aorta, pulmonary arteries, vena cava) and severing them. We then observed the heart, it's chambers, the coronary vessels (which actually were buried under quite the layer of fat), and the anatomy of the great vessels, and washed the heart so that most of the clotted blood came out.
Friday we will dissect the heart!! w00t!
Other groups have some pretty interesting bodies: many have pacemakers, lung cancer, multiple organ failure, FAT (which makes dissection very difficult), female bodies with a breast dissection (many have males, so), and other cool things I can't recall at the moment, but if I do I will add it to this because I just find this all sooo fascinating, and the opportunity to do this is definitely once-in-a-lifetime and amazing!! Oh, and Dr. Walji has lived up to his rep for being an AMAZING artist...he went up to the chalk-board and drew the arteries and veins and bones of the shoulder and upper limb, and WOW...that's all I have to say. If you've seen the Medical School brochure (you would have if you got an interview/accepted to UofA Med School), there's a pic of Dr. Walji standing in front of a drawing of the hand and the vessels in it... yeah. he DREW that!! Amazing.
Well, I guess that's it... this blog is long enough already, and most won't even read this far, haha.
Ciao,
Daze
February 06 Rick Mercer at the University of Alberta!February 05 Today's LecturesSOOOO...today we had about 6 hours of lecture SQUISHED into about 2. I hardly learned a thing. This is because the school wants to decrease lecture time, but we still have to learn the same amount of material. OVERWHELMED. I will now have to re-read all my lecture notes as if I've never seen them before, and read the entire Dubin's EKG text, and Lilly's Pathophysiology of Heart Disease text not just to supplement lectures, but to teach me what I was supposed to be learning in class.
w00t.
Random thing I found:
February 04 University of Alberta Medical School Accreditation UpdateThis was sent out to student, staff, and faculty by the Dean of Medicine. I'm posting the whole memorandum.
This is the first in a series of updates to keep everyone informed and up-to-speed with the changes that are happening in the Undergraduate Medical Education. At the first Town Hall meeting following the receipt of the LCME review, we indicated that we would be forming an Accreditation Response Team and an Accreditation Management Team. As promised, both teams have been formed and are busily working. The Accreditation Response Team meets monthly and includes University of Alberta students, staff, faculty and members of Capital Health. The Accreditation Management Team meets weekly and includes faculty and staff members. The areas of concern identified by the survey team include issues of objectives, timely assessments including mid-rotation review, increased active learning and curriculum mapping. While our educational leaders can develop policy, we rely on every faculty member to ensure these policies are carried out successfully in order to demonstrate compliance with the educational standards. In other words, we need everyone’s help and commitment to allow us to move to full accreditation. In the near future, your Block and Course Coordinators will be communicating the changes that we believe are necessary. We anticipate another visit from the LCME survey team in as soon as six months. It will be important to demonstrate true progress during this time. I know you are concerned about our probationary status. We all have the ability to make a difference in the future outcome. I would now like to outline for you the progress that faculty leadership has made in the interim. However, the ultimate success depends on your commitment to ensuring we meet our educational requirements. We have broken down the issues and are going forward with the following changes: · Dr Rob Hayward has accepted the position of Assistant Dean for Health Informatics. Dr. Hayward is a known internist and the Director of the Centre for Health Evidence. Dr. Hayward has created a computer program that will be very useful to the Centre and the Faculty. Dr. Hayward and his team will be applying their skills to heighten the importance of Health Informatics in Undergraduate Medical Education. · Dr. Lorraine Breault has chaired a committee reviewing our Admissions Policies and Procedures. This committee has worked for almost a year now and a report is in preparation. · We recognize that it is important to build our future on a sound academic base of research and teaching. In order to do so we will be establishing a Masters in Health Sciences Education. Dr. Jody Ginsberg, Vice Dean Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and Dr. Fern Snart, Dean of Education are leading this initiative. In addition, The Health Sciences Council will also help to institute this very important initiative. · Dr. Bruce Fisher has joined our team as the Associate Dean, Faculty Development and he will be working closely with Dr. Ramona Kearney to develop Problem Based Learning (PBL). This team includes Dr. Sandra Baydock, Dr. Ken Butcher, Dr. David Cook, Dr. Ron Damant, Dr. Ed Daniel, Dr. Sunil Desai, Dr. Tarek El-Bialy, Dr. Janet Ellsworth, Dr. Sarah Forgie, Dr. Jill Konkin, Dr. Michelle Levy, Dr. Mel Lewis, Dr. Anna Oswald, Dr. Murray Robertson, Dr. Keith Rourke, Dr. Kent Stobart, Dr. Wendy Vaudry, Dr. Anil Walji, Dr. Jon White and Dr. Verna Yiu. This group has already had several meetings and have initiated plans for PBL in UGME. Dr. Kearney has invited Dr. David Fairholm and Dr. Leslie Sadownik from the University of British Columbia and Dr. Karen Mann from Dalhousie University to come on February 12, 2007 and teach the PBL team. We have calculated that we require about 250 faculty members to teach PBL. The PBL team will in turn teach 250 faculty members how to work in the PBL environment. Each Chair is now working to assemble a group of individuals in each department to participate. · The MD Curriculum Committee (MDCC) has been meeting weekly under the leadership of Dr. David Rayner and have made important policy decisions for the Undergraduate Medical curriculum. Some of the policy changes are as follows: 1. Each preclinical block has been reviewed and recommendations for changing the blocks has come out of this review. 2. The blocks have been standardized to ensure a consistent approach to active learning in the preclinical curriculum. Guidelines include: (a) Five (5) hours per week of problem-based seminars (b) An average of six (6) hours and a minimum of four (4) hours per week of unscheduled time for independent learning (c) An average of no greater than eight (8) and a total of no more than ten (10) hours per week of conventional whole-class lectures (p.s. we currently have like 30!! hours of lecture...this change will be sooo hard to get used to, and I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing right now... I guess good, since I'm skipping class soo much!!! hahaha) (d) An average of five (5) to seven (7) hours per week of non-PBL active learning activities 3. Clerkship supervision has been defined as: (a) A staff doctor or more senior trainee (PGY1 or higher) will be in house at all times. (b) Students will not be required for the provision of clinical service (i.e., removal of students from a clinical service should have no effect on the provision of safe adequate patient care). (c) Students will be responsible for calls on a defined group of patients, the number of which may vary between clerkships but which will be determined by MDCC. The committee will be reviewing the clinical rotations (Years 3 and 4) over the next two months. · The Faculty has recruited Dr. Alan Thomson, a distinguished Gastroenterologist from the Department of Medicine, to coordinate E-Learning within the Faculty. Under his guidance, the Faculty plans to offer modules in Dermatology, Pharmacology, Genetics, Cardio Function Tests, Arterial Blood Gases, Pulmonary Function Tests and KG Interpretation Tests; to name a few. · The Faculty has recruited Dr. Ed Wiebe to the Department of Radiology. He will be working with Dr. Johnson and Dr. Walji to integrate Radiology into each one of the blocks. In addition, a self study portion in Radiology that integrates Anatomy and Radiology will be added. · Dr. Judy Gnarpe has pioneered and successfully incorporated Game Learning in the Infection, Immunology and Inflammation blocks. Dr. Gnarpe will be working with Faculty Chairs to bring Game Learning into each of the blocks. · I would like to compliment Dr. Steve Aaron for his dedication to improve the Gilbert Scholars Program. This year we have introduced first year students to the Gilbert Scholars Program. Going forward, we plan on purchasing two simulators to allow students access to some very important technology. In addition, Ms. Carol Magnun, RN has been added to the Division of Studies in Medical Education. Last year, Carol was a part of a pilot project to find patients for the Gilbert Scholars Program. The pilot program deemed successful allowing Carol to continue to do this as part of her position DSME. · The MDCC has also made some changes with respect to standardizing the learning experience among different sites. With this in mind, there have been changes made to the medical rotation. Most of you are aware that students in Obstetrics no longer rotate to the Misericordia Hospital. Under the leadership of Dr. Nestor Demianczuk, various sites involved in the education of Obstetric & Gynaecology have put together a very innovative program. In addition, I have met with Mr. Patrick Dumilie, CEO of Caritas Health Group, and Ms. Shelly Murphy Vice-President (Operations) and Chief Nursing Officer, and I am very pleased to tell you that these two as leaders in the Caritas Health Group are interested in improving the learning experience within Caritas. · Dr. Peggy Sagle has developed an Activities Tracking Log. The Activities Tracking Log has been in place for one year and has provided rich information that will help improve clerkship. Our next goal is to continue with the tracking log and incorporate a mid-point evaluation. Using a mid-point evaluation, directors will be able to take remedial action steps if the student is not seeing enough patients mid-way during their clerkship. · Dr. Verna Yiu and Mr. Murray Diduck have worked on a number of the administrative issues and have the problems solved to our satisfaction. · Lastly, Dr. Lorraine Breault and Ms. Louise Bradley, from Capital Health are chairing a joint committee for the Faculty and Capital Health to deal work place issues. Prominent in this setting is the issue of student mistreatment. Together, both the Faculty and Capital Health will work to make the Undergraduate Medical Education Program as seamless as possible. In closing I would like to thank all students, staff, faculty and Capital Health employees who have volunteered their time and efforts to take on the many issues associated with UGME. This is an exciting time for the Faculty. Your commitment is essential to our success. As more steps are taken we will keep you informed.
January 24 Time for Another Blog!Well, long time no blog, eh? Wow, been more than a month. Tsk tsk. I've been super busy, and now that I have my first evening class ever, well, that just adds to my busy-ness. I guess I'll just start in parts, since I have a LOT to talk about!! Heads up, it might be boring! haha...
Well, I guess I should start where I left off... I wrote a midterm on Dec. 15 in Endocrine, where I did okay...I waited for Heidi to finish her finals so I bummed around, worked, hung with Chris. Went home Dec. 20, and spent the rest of the holidays continuing my bumming around, read all 5 parts to the trilogy of Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and learned how to drive manual transmission in my "new" 1986 Volkswagon Jetta, a gift from my parents (total, with repairs, was 1800). That was fun! The first gear is hard to find, so I often stalled after trying to start off in 3rd instead. Meh. I have learned it well enough to drive in the city now, where it's parked on campus.
I had to further explain my boyfriend, Chris, to my parents, which didn't go well. Main issue? He's not old enough. He's 22, and I'm not going to into their issues with him, because I finally, for the first time in my life, stood up for how I really felt about something, and told my parents. I'm not going home for my Dad's birthday nor the summer because they don't want me home for those 2 events. I became very sad for the past oh..2 months... but I'm doing better now. Having Chris is something that gave me the courage to tell my parents. I still hope, though, that my parents forgive me. But I kinda doubt that right now. My life sucks that way.
Anywho. Came back for class Jan. 2. Boo urns for that. Started innertube waterpolo with a med team for campus rec intramurals, and we won against our fellow classmates on another team in the first game, and beat 8Kelsey for the 2nd game (at which I scored a goal!!!!!), and tonight we play a Schaffer team, which I think we'll win too... I'm optimistic for the Winter champ t-shirts!! w00t... I haven't gotten one since first semester, first year! It's fun, too... and it's pretty much the only sport I can do now (+ swimming in general) since my ACL is pretty much torn. I was doing Physiotherapy for it, but it started hurting so I reduced then eventually quit it, and today I went to see the therapist again, and he modified the exercises. My appointment with the surgeon is in February, and I'm gunning for the surgery. Even with the physio stopped for a few weeks, my knee is still sore (patello-femorial syndrome) and the ligaments in the back of my knee are also stretched due to the disappearance of my ACL support. Meh. Sucks that I can't get out and have fun with my med class and Chris doing stuff like skating, skiing, squash, etc. I guess I should master fusbol and ping-pong (which I'm working on... my goal is to be able to beat Chris... just like on my exams...haha, yeah right).
I wrote my Endocrinology final last Friday, and it was probably one of the least-studied for exams EVER, and I finished in 1 hour. The Biochem part was easy (on the midterm, 10% was Biochem short answer, it was focussed on lipin-1, an enzyme that pretty much nobody studied because it was like 2 slides in the 120+ slide-notes and was still research. They scrapped the question from the exam, w00t). I feel I did okay, but still worried because our class is a bunch of keeners.
I've started to read (and am almost done reading) Vincent Lam's "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures", which won the Giller Prize. Dr. Lam is an ER doc who came to the university last week for a reading and book-signing, so this copy (Chris', I should mention) is autographed.
I will be doing a general surgery elective, which kind I"m not sure yet. I still have to do an OR Orientation (scrubbing in, procedures for sterility, etc... I think... since I've never done one yet), but I have scrubs, w00t.
INTD 410, Interdisciplinary Studies, has started and will last for 5 weeks total, Tuesday nights 6pm-9pm, Thursday 6pm-9:30pm, and it's the fluffiest, stupidest course I've ever taken in that we are treated like 5-year olds... "Teamwork everybody! Consensus! Communication!" over and over again. The good thing is that our small groups are made up of 1 student from each health-care profession, so we have in our group a dent, dent. hygienist, pharmacist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, the doc (me), and a kinesiologist. At our clinical site visit (we're doing rehab med), we saw Moreau, Staios, and Tjarnqvist at Corbett Hall at 6am doing rehab (they're all currently on the injured list on the Oiler's, in case you didn't know). w00t!!! Soooo cool. And yesterday we went to a retirement home in West Edmonton to talk about "Do Bugs Need Drugs", and it was A LOT of fun. I got kinda stuck behind at the end when all my group left, so I talked and then offered to play piano for them, and they had a lot of fun too, and one lady was dancing too!! She then played a few songs for me, and made me play Music Box Dancer for her again, since she knew it and could play it too if not for her arthritis.
Well, we've started Cardiology now, and it seems like a lot more work, what with PBL, anatomy labs starting, and actual reading to do in our Pathophysiology of Heart Disease text, which is supposed to be the only good text we purchase all year.
I went to Lasith's birthday party a few weeks ago at Hudson's on Campus, and I had 2 pints of beer, and since I hadn't drank since practically September, my alcohol tolerance is DOWN, and I got apparently quite drunk according to Chris, who came with me. I felt bad, since I was chumming it up with all my old friends from Lister and Las and some other people I hadn't met before while Chris kinda just sat and thought about stuff, which apparently he enjoys. And he doesn't drink, so I felt guilty about that, especially since I got drunk. And missed class the next day (no matter though, since it was just small group stuff which is repeated twice for half the class one day and the other half the other day, so I just went the next day. Ah, med... so accommodating to life! hahahahaha).
Well, I actually have to go to class now. This week is focussing on coagulation, and today I have 1 lecture, then small group PBL stuff in RTF (yeah, that stupid run-down building by the Health Sciences LRT station) til 5pm. Then waterpolo tonight at 9:15pm!!!
That is all for now!! Miss my friends in Lister, love my sister, love my family, love Chris, and thanks everybody for caring when I was going through stuff in the past few months. It means a lot.
Ciao,
Daze December 12 Update on my F-ING knee:Let's make this short and sweet: "A high grade (1 or 2) injury or possible transection of the ACL" according to the doc who looked at my MRI.
GREAT.
I have a positive Lockman's test, too:
"To diagnose a tear we use a method called the Lockman's test," said Dr. John Gregg, orthopedic surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's King of Prussia office. "To conduct the test you take the knee and bend it 30 degrees and try and pull the Tibia from the Femur. If you can that means there is a tear because the ACL wouldn't let you if it was intact." http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/11/11-19-03tdc/11-19-03dsports-04.asp No more sports AT ALL, even with a brace...except those that have only linear motion, like swimming (so still waterpolo in January w00t), and I have to start physiotherapy over at the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic at Van Vliet here at the university right away...the doc even made me schedule a follow-up to make sure I'm a "compliant patient" and am improving on physio, which I will do no matter whether I choose surgery or not...
SURGERY. Darn. So, I can choose whether or not to have reconstructive surgery (a graft) on my ACL, and I've been referred to a doc already. I am actually wanting the surgery, because my knee is pretty freaking annoying in it's instability. I mean, I STILL have to watch how I plant when I walk or go up/down stairs, and pivoting/turning on my knee...yeah, none of that. But Dr. Wagg said that if I do get the surgery, I will no longer have the proprioreceptive fibers in my ACL, since it's just a simple tissue graft, so that could be a problem. I am not sure now what I want...leaning to surgery, but I will have to do some research online, I guess.
BRACE. $1500. Prescription. Made specifically for me. He said that I will need one most likely, and whether I get surgery or not, if I ever want to do sports again. And insurance might cover it. But $1500!!?? I'm not sure if I want that...I looked online already, and studies have not proven conclusively that they work, even after surgery. It's a controversial topic, actually, but from that ortho site, looks like braces aren't really worth it, and especially if they're OTC. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/aclrepain/a/acl_5.htm But Dr. Wagg said he'll prescribe one, so. But that's also why this one would be so expensive.
While I'm blogging, I had my first OSCE today (a patient interview exam), my second one being on Thursday. I had the SAME patient as I did for my TOSCE! w00t! And my hopes came true: he said he had a "painless ulcer" (yeah, he used the word "ulcer"), and I knew right away: he had syphilis! Yay! I knew what to do, treatment (he wasn't allergic to penicillin, w00t again, otherwise I would have had to give doxycycline or I read in our notes that we would have to send him to a specialist to desensitize him to the penicillin). I informed him that he had to tell his sexual contacts, tell them he had a Dx of an STI. The only (HUGE) problem was his wife was 3 months pregnant, and I TOTALLY forgot about the congenital syphilis. I kind of got around that by saying I had to talk to my preceptor about that, but I also said that if indeed he gave this STI to his wife, treatment might help...I'm not even sure that's right. I need to check up on that. But I'm glad that's over, and I did well, covered PSHx, PMHx, FMHx, meds, allergies, asthma all well. I think. And Thursday's OSCE will be easier because now I know for sure that it's going to be a thyroid disorder, and there are less of those: it's going to be either hypo- or hyperthyroidism (okay, so Hashimoto's and Grave's also...but those are subsets, and I'm pretty sure I don't have to Dx that specifically, but I could probably do that too). w00t.
Well, that's all for now.
 Tomorrow is Chris's and my 2 month anniversary! We'll be getting together to...study. Yeah. OSCE and midterm coming up. w00t. haha. Ciao,
Daze
Listening to: Popcorn Techno Mix by Essem and Aitch (Chris got me hooked to this one)
Last ate: um...you don't WANNA know my diet recently... about a square inch of gingerbread house today...that's all. Yesterday, I had 2 pieces of toast for breakfast, and half a bun with balsamic vinagrette/olive oil for supper and 4 mini-chocolate bars (Halloween candy leftovers)
Last watched: Mulan
December 03 I'm Bored So I'm Bloggin @ WorkWell, I'm at work for 4 hours, and I'm already bored though I've only been working for one hour and 13 minutes (it's 6:13)... well, this job ain't exactly brain-stimulating anyways, so no wonders!
Okay, so I haven't blogged in a whiles, so this might actually be a long blog. Firstly, I have a Winter Concert tomorrow night!! It's from 7pm-9pm, and I'm singing with the Courtyard Choir and also with the Brass Quintet (Good King Wenceslas) as a soprano. The concert is put on soley by Med students here at the University, and there will be individual performances as well as the Jazz Band. It'll be awesome, especially since I haven't been in concert since high school. Plus, it'll put me more in the Christmas spirit, since I usually am not when I'm at university because it's more like studystudystudy, and I don't see much in the way of Christmas decorations or music and whatnot.
I did my first ButtOut session last Friday, and it was a lot of fun! We went to McKee elementary school over by Southgate Mall to a Grade 6 class. I guess I should say a little about ButtOut first though, eh? U of A med students spearhead the program, which targets students in grades five/six about the
adverse effects of smoking before they encounter increased peer-pres-
sure in junior high. Developed by medical students, the program was
recognized in 2003 by both AADAC and the provincial government with
the first ever Barb Tarbox Award for Excellence in Tobacco Reduction for
a non-profit organization adverse effects of smoking. Developed by medical students, the program was
recognized in 2003 by both AADAC and the provincial government with
the first ever Barb Tarbox Award for Excellence in Tobacco Reduction for
a non-profit organization recognized in 2003 by both AADAC and the provincial government with the first ever Barb Tarbox Award for Excellence in Tobacco Reduction for a non-profit organization. (That was taken from the med brochure that they send out to applicants who get the interview, lol.) Okay, so back to my day: I was paired with Paul Blackburn, and we got 4 little kids that were super cute. We took apart a cigarette for them, showed them what was inside, then had a bunch of cards with the ingredients of cigarettes (like rat poison, flea powder, arsenic, etc etc) and asked them what they thought was inside one. After that, we explained which were actually in cigarettes (not grass, nor plastic bags, but everything else was) and they were surprised and grossed out, especially by the flea powder, lol! Then we drew a stick person, and asked them to draw the effects of smoking on the person (yellow teeth, black lungs, mouth cancer, a damaged heart, which they drew black, and a damaged brain). That was our first hour, which we ended with a summary of what they learned, and a question box where they could anonymously put questions on a piece of paper which we will answer at our next visit, which is Wednesday morning. We do a total of 4 hours at the school, and I am already looking forward to seeing the kids again!Well, I told my parents about my boyfriend. Yesterday when I told them it didn't go that bad. But today, well...let's just say I ended up crying on the phone.
Oh, so I should explain "phone" above...I finally downloaded Skype, and so I can phone anybody I want for free! It's awesome. I talked to my family yesterday for almost 4 hours, and today for 2 hours. It was really nice talking to my parents again, especially after being in trouble with them for sooo long (it's been stressful for me because of that), and it was enjoyable albeit the whole boyfriend lecture. Meh. I am happy that they know.
I got my Triple I marks back.... I did pretty well, but not really well compared to the class, which happens to be full of geniuses! I got .2% higher on the final than on the midterm, so 81.8%. Overall in the course, I have 87%, which is much better than I thought I'd do, but of course the class did well as a whole too...pass mark on the exam is about 73%, and for the course it's 69%!!
Now we're doing Endocrinology, which is way easier than Triple I, except Biochem, which just sux. Apparently, last week was the hardest week of Endocrine too, so that's great.
Work is boring, but paying well. I just got a cheque last week for $244, and today I'm working for $14/hr because of Christmas bonus time (I've worked 4 shifts this week, that's why). I'm staying after my exam on the 15th to work an extra 3 days, too, and also for Reading Week, I was hoping to work as well, while helping to interview med school applicants that week (yes, I might be interviewing some of my friends!! I dunno if that's possible...conflict of interest...)
Yeah, so not it's 7:10pm, so that was a nice waste of time. I guess for the second part of my shift I will read some residence stuff I picked up from the Res Fair last week on Family Med and Emergency Med (which I might want to do a sub-specialty in...then I am an actual ER doc, without the 5 year residency, but also still a family doc). w00t. I'm excited about medicine. I'm sooo happy, I love the classes, our class is amazing, and the profs for the most part are great too. I can't believe it's already December though. Crazy stuff.
Ciao!!
Daze November 25 Done Triple I!!!w00t! I finished Triple I yesterday! Here's how it's been going recently:
First, I had a COMMH midterm on Thursday... I hesitate to call it an exam, because I wrote it in 10 minutes, and got only 2 wrong, 1 of which was asking about the lyrics from a song Dr. Talbot asked in class. The other question I got wrong was because I missed the word "not" in the questions (drat!). I got 94%, and I beat Chris, probably the only time in my life I will ever beat that guy. Anyways, I had the Triple I final the next day, and I mainly studied the stuff after the midterm, since I didn't have enough time to cover that stupidly thick course package anyhow. I actually got sleep before the exam, too...4 hours, bed @ 5am, up at 9am, studied some more, then went to write the exam, 137 questions, finished in about 1.5 hours. It was either I knew for sure, or didn't know at all and could just guess. I will have to review Triple I in the future, to consolidate that stuff better. But I think, THINK, it went well. Anyways, I had a nap after, then headed off to work...
Work was AMAZING. haha...would never have thought I would say that!! But no, it was great...I got a matching gift, the most credit card pledges, a top pledge percentage of 68%!!, and I raised over $2000!! I also had like 11 pledges. All these would have gotten me bonuses, but I didn't get the 22 decisions, only 19...but Taber said he's give them to me anyways, because I was just amazing, so that was great! And I got a candy cane out of the credit card pledge high, and our group as a whole got 81 (!!) pledges, so we got a group bonus too!! The last call I made topped it all off...I asked the guy for something like a 15/month donation, and he said he doesn't like monthly, so I asked him for a 1-time donation of 100...he said "I can do better than that for you..how about 1000?" NICE.
After that, I went with Chris, Dean, Andrea (his sister) to Casino Royale, which was sold out for the 9:45pm show, so we stood in line for the 10:45 show (which Ryan Shippelt randomly decided to go to...that stalker who also showed at Happy Feet the week before...crazy randomness in meeting him!). Talking about randomness, Chris's cousin was in the line!!!!! So I met her (I have met her already...on facebook...yeah, i know, don't say it...I'm crazy that way, meeting people on facebook). You know who else was there?? BUG (aka Ryan)...'nuff said about that, other than he sat RIGHT behind me, and it seemed like he was with (WITH) a girl from my med class...a FRIEND of mine...AWKWARD...brought back horrible memories.
But...James Bond was awesome!! I won't give anything away except the blonde Bond did better than I expected...and it didn't seem as cheesy as the other Bond...Brosnan...and he uses some pretty cheesy lines which ended up okay...and he says this one line...about what he could do with his "little finger" which sent us all into laughter and shock at the same time...ANYways, the product placement of Ford and Sony is wayyy too obvious in this movie, I must say. But I like the twists at the end, and the movie definitely explains Bond's relationships with women in the rest of the movies (Casino Royale is the first of Fleming's novels, so...). And of course, what Bond movie can do without a tense game of poker? I love watching WPT, so this was great. I need to learn, so I can love it more, and appreciate what's going on better. Meh. It was good.
Today, I deposited my RPAP scholarship for $5000. That was nice. And the course pack for Endocrine is THICKER than Triple I...and almost $80. And this course is shorter than Triple I. I have promised myself (and Chris doesn't believe me) that I will go over the lectures every night that we covered in class that day. I will...and I will ATTEMPT to beat Chris this time...we'll see...
I have added some Triple I pics I stole from Chris in the University 3rd Year Album, so check it out. I'm in the Forgie's Anatomy skit.
Cool! (Literally...It's F-ING freezing here in Edmonton...)
Ciao,
Daze
Listening to: Dashboard Confessional
Last watched: well...Casino Royale in theatres, on tv that would be House I guess...
Last ate: a bagel and carrots
Mood: relieved that Triple I is over and I can completely bum around this weekend. November 17 Study-aholic! I'm way too busy for this...Okay, I'm waay too busy for this...and by this, I mean, everything. Life. haha. First, work sux but at least they're short shifts of only 3.5-4 hours. But the thing is that work takes away from my school. I thought it wouldn't, but a good example of this is that I have missed 3 preparations sessions for my presentations in COMMH and International Health (the latter which we had today and which I will talk about later on...), and of course it takes away from studying, since I absolutely HAVE to work 2 shifts minimum per week. But what can I do? Nothing. Because of a misunderstanding at home with my dad, coupled with the fact that I'm not working and have not worked during the summer throughout my post-secondary education, I dunno really why (parents? lack of work in the middle of a rural area? but then I could work in the city...and then working during the summer wouldn't be causing me this stress. And of course I'm NOT saying that I want to get away from my family or whatever else may be interpreted by this....), I am now working during school. And am expected to continue in 2nd year of med. Which I've heard is MUCH harder than now. Hm.
Oh, on the topic of school being hard: I got a midterm mark back for Triple I: 81.6%. Sounds pretty good, eh? Well, the PASS mark was 73%!!! WTF!!??? Know what the class ave was??? 89!!! Gah! The s.d. was 6.6, which means not only was I below class ave, but I was over 1 s.d. under it! Gah again! I will be a COMPLETE study-aholic starting tomorrow morning til the 2 (2!!) exams next week, not working, because it's the freaking Triple I FINAL and the COMMH midterm (which doesn't really stress me out because we have about 20 pages of slides, that's it, so that's gonna be a night-before study session). The good thing is that the material covered in Triple I after the midterm is quite easy, and a lot of it is fluff stuff, like epidemiology. Not to say epidemiology isn't important, it's just that it's easier and not so scientific. And we've had a lot of down time after the midterm to work on our presentations and stuff, so it's been great. Speaking of presentations...
Today was our big International Health presentation day, which was basically 4 hours of fun skits presented by the entire Class of 2010. It was HILARIOUS stuff. And ours turned out pretty well: "Forgie's Anatomy", and I was 2 characters, the patient with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, and the flashback of the patient in Cuba when I get bit by the mosquito and catch Dengue. I get sprayed by DEET (water) by Brent on a bike, and Jan got to do a hula dance on the piano bench. Oh, and the mosquito? That was Les, who gets slapped by me and ketchup that he had in his mouth got spit out onto sheets of paper on the floor. Fun times! Plus, under that hospital gown for the patient I was wearing a pretty short skirt and a white top, and I got a whistle from the audience while setting up! And it WASN'T Chris, lol! Kidding, Chris
 , hehehe. Kinda like that time when I was walking down 112St. and some dudes in a truck asked me to press the crosswalk button so that the traffic lights would change, and when I crossed the road, the driver asked me for my number!! I laughed and said no, and when they turned onto 112st he yelled out his window "I love you!" hahaha...guys on the weekend...yeesh. Anyways..... so yeah, all the skits were amazing, it was fun to watch and perform for. Our class is amazingly talented (piano, singing, ping-pong..seriously, this is insane!). Keith sang a song imitating Adam Sandler, and even for a previous PBL skit, Jon Hilner sang a jazz song on Lime disease which was excellent as well! I feel more and more inferior every day!! haha, just kidding...kind of...Well, work is done, I'm off to see a movie with Chris, Dean, Caroline, and Adrian before I start making myself insane again with studying. It's Happy Feet!!! w00t!
Ciao,
Daze November 10 University of Alberta Medical School Accreditation Review'Sup peeps?? So, I just attended a little meeting with the Dean and Associate Dean and all the med students and some docs about the recent accreditation review of our med school which occurs every 8 years, which has been put on probation. So, I'll summarize briefly what's going on, because I was just as confused as everybody else when I heard about this, and I know some of you are dying to know what's going on, especially those of you who are wanting to apply to our med school. UPDATE: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=034aeb04-c620-4a48-a83b-ae7ed63522ca&k=40815 for good info :)
So, 3 things were issues:
1. student misconduct: basically, harrassment of the students (on the wards) of any kind, and some wards are worse than others
2. student supervision: sometimes, the supervisor isn't around when you need him/her while on the wards (1 place, O&G, is being closed, thus adding strain to the others)
3. active learning: though we have PBL and active learning, apparently we don't have enough, but we have too much didactic lecturing going on, so by Sept. 2007, they are reformatting the pre-clinical program to include more self-learning and reducing the lecture hours per week to maybe 10, down from 30!! gahhh...I feel like I'm in lecture 24/7...these are huge changes, and we're right in the middle of it!! So, there will be another review in 90 days, so the committee in charge of these changes is basically scrambling to get things changed here. A funny thing is that many schools go even so far as to teach completely in didactic format, and currently, John Hopkins Med School is also under probation for their 100% didactic teaching style, so the UofA is in good company!! haha. I also understand that the Honors system will be scrapped, so yay for all of you that voted against that a couple weeks ago.
So, my med degree is still good, but my program for next year will be completely restructured, which will be a welcome (?) change I think. As long as I put to good use those extra hours of self-learning. I agree with the one med student who said that the breaks they might give us during the day (remember, this is all very preliminary) should not be scattered around because we might not take advantage of those breaks to study, but should instead be consolidated into maybe an entire afternoon off. Still, a decrease of 20hours of lecture is just amazing. I think I'll look forward to that no matter what, because I do indeed find that self-learning is more advantageous in my learning; I mean, I learn so well and so much in PBL that I never have to study it, because I remember everything from the case. And it's much more interesting to learn cases like that, that seem much more applicable in a clinical setting than sitting in a biochem lecture. Oh, and more active learning is that Gilbert Scholar's Program, which they just extended over into 1st year, to teach us how to do a physical exam. w00t.
(As an aside, did anybody read in the Express News on http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=8006 that Canadian med grads aren't as competent in surgical skill as would be preferred?? It was yesterday's article.)
A 2nd topic discussed this afternoon was the CaRMS match for residency positions, and it's incorporation of IMGs into some province's matching system. Thankfully, Alberta does not participate in this, so we med student's do NOT compete against International Med Grads in CaRMS, but other provinces do incorporate it, either parallel (so not in the same pool as Canadian grads) or, more importantly and possilby unfortunately for some of us, in direct competition with Canadian grads (this is a problem in Manitoba, which faced a Human Rights claim of discrimination because of it's exclusion of international med grads). Of course, for me, Family Med won't be a problem where ever I apply, but specialties (ie. Opthalmology) are very competitive, and I must say that a Canadian grad would be quite peeved if he/she didn't get their first match because some grad from Australia got in instead.
So that was very interesting, and I learned a lot, and am interested to see how the restructuring of the pre-clinical years goes.
Besides all that, I'm staying for the long weekend due to another misunderstanding with my parents, so I think that I'll go shopping with my sister for Christmas gifts (prices tend to go up after Remembrance Day, from what I've seen, in anticipation of the holiday shopping), and also buy some dressy clothes that I can wear to shadowing and concerts for choir and basic med student stuff to look professional. Yay!!! Other than that, I'm cool. Hope you are all too!!!
Ciao for now,
Daze
November 02 My First Pumpkin Carving!!I said I'd post pics, and I'm also going to add them to this blog post! w00t! Gah! Work and School!Gah!! I'm going crazy here with work and school!! I have not only those 3 presentations I mentioned earlier, but this exam on Monday is literally gonna kill me, I'm sure of it!! I'm gonna have to cut my sleep in half now, I can't be sleeping 8 hours anymore, that's for sure!! It's really stressing me out, more than I show (I am constantly waking up during my sleep, and when I do wake up, I immediately get this stress-ball in my stomach (for lack of a better description). I can't WAIT til this is over...really.
So, apparently on House this week, the episode I missed but will watch tonite @ Chris's...he administered Naloxone to a patient on a morphine drip (Naloxone is an injection, kinda like an opiate antidote, to prevent overdose temporarily)!! Sooo coool...that's our topic for our COMMH presentation!!
One of our lectures was cancelled today! w00t! It's tomorrow, but that's still cool.
Oooo, my MRI is MOnday!! Isn't that quick?? I had my doc appointment last Friday, and I thought it was like a 3 month wait for an MRI, but I got one already in 3 days!! I hope they realize it's not private, cuz my insurance doesn't cover that...
Another funny thing today is that I showed up for work at SCP, and I thought I was working from 5:30pm-9pm...and then found out that there's a party @ 7pm for all the callers @ RATT!! AND we get paid for the time that we spend partying as if it was a normal shift!! haha, NICE. I had totally forgot, so I now have more time to study, and less time getting rejected by irate alumni!! haha...another funny thing is that while I was calling one person, and was on hold, I heard on the news on his tv in the background that the University of Alberta is the top ranked for reputation in Canada according to the Maclean's Magazine!! (Later, I heard we also got 6th overall for medical/doctoral.) I had thought that the UofA opted out of that survey (apparently we got FOIPP-ed), so I wish I could have heard the entire story, but then I had to start talking to the alumni I was calling, lol. Cool, though.
Oooo!! Another COOOL thing is that I got another scholarship!! This time, it's HUGE...$5000 a year, for FOUR years!! That's $20,000 of MUCH needed money for my freaking expensive tuition and books and supplies for med school. Oh, it's from RPAP, by the way: Rural Physicians Action Plan (Rural Medical School Award). It's the one without a commitment to a health region, which I didn't like doing, so didn't apply for that one. But I really need this.
Okay, so work's almost over, I will do some PBL on erythroblastosis fetalis, which is that Rh antigen thing you probably heard of in high school or some bio course or something, lol. ANd then some studying, then House, then studying til hopefully early the next morning. w00t.
Ciao dudes/dudettes!!
Daze
Last watched: the oilers lose last night against nashville
 Last ate: michelina's (healthy, eh??)
Mood: super stressed over this Triple I exam, but excited over everything else!!
October 29 Finally, A Blog!!Ooooo, a blog to waste your time!! Hahaha...you people have been letting me know that you want me to blog cuz you don't have anything better to do, lol. Don't worry, I'm back!! Haha...cuz I have nothing better to do either. But yeah, so I haven't blogged in a while due to a couple reasons, mainly studying for Triple I *gaah*, plus I've started working now, so. I will talk about all this and more
 :So, first, school: crazy busy. Triple I (Inflammation, Infection, and Immunity) is insane with the sheer amount of info we have to know. The course pack is literally 4 inches thick, plus we have PBL to do too. Oh, and for our PCC, we get to shadow doctors throughout the year. And for our Community Health Module, every Thursday, we go to Streetworks, a harm reduction facility in the inner city, to address and make a presentation on how to prevent/reduce morbidity/mortality due to opiate overdose. Last week, we had a tour of the inner city, including the Boyle McCauley Health Centre and other shelters and detox centres and the like. And it was raining/snowing; how appropriate. It was very eye-opening to see what homeless drug addicts and alcoholics go through everyday, how they live, and more so how they survive. Interesting also is how the people who take care of them and operate the shelters and what not got into what they do, how they handle these people, and how passionate and driven they are to help them. It's amazing. Anyways, our project will focus on Naloxone, so far as I know. And outreach.
Another project we have to do this month is our PBL one, on Chlamydia trachomatis. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but so far the presentations have been reeeally good, well-done, and FUNNY. Hopefully my PBL group can pull off the funny aspect, cuz we seem to be a very serious group. I know we will definitely pull off a very informative presentation, though. We have Graeme Quest, w00t, who has a Masters in Virology!!
Yet ANOTHER project due this November is our International Health topic on Diptheria, which is done by the same PBL group. Yeah, so this is a busy month. Not to mention that exam on Monday. And our COMMH midterm on the 23rd. And our FINAL exam on the 24th. Yay. Fun times.
So, other than school, I learned how to suture on a banana for the Pre-Medical Studen'ts Association. I am a mentor, and I will get a group of about 20 undergrad students and hold about 5 seminars for them about getting into med and showing them things such as suturing. It's pretty simple, I was surprised.
So, I've worked at the Student Calling Program at the General Services Building for quite a few shifts, and actually, as I'm typing this, I am at this job...today has been my best day yet, with 5 donations, 3 of them credit card, for which I will get a bonus for if I get 1 more, once I reach 20 donations. I think I have around 10 now. Today I'm working from 12:30pm-9pm, so it's a brutally boring day. And I could be studying hard-core instead, but since these calls are pretty mindless, I can study meanwhile and not be affected by my multi-tasking. And like I said before, it pays better than my previous job.
Yesterday, I carved my first pumpkin EVER!! It was great fun. I went over to Chris's house, and along with his roommate Dean and his girlfriend Caroline and his sister Andrea (Caroline, Chris and I are all in med 2010, btw), we all carved a pumpkin. Well, Chris and I carved one together. But we chose one of the most difficult patterns on the Internet, a screaming skull (pics to come soon!!), and the hilarious thing was that Dean had gone on the internet and had chosen the EXACT same pattern!! On all of the Internet!! But yeah, Chris did the difficult parts, like the teeth, and I did quite a bit too, and it looked pretty freaking amazing, I must say. Caroline's and Andrea's were very flourishy and artistic and excellent as well, and Dean's new pattern is said by Caroline to look like an angry Shih Tzu, lol. And out of those 4 pumpkins, we got a WHOLE lot of pumpkin. So today we all ate pumpkin pancakes (they were amazing, surprisingly enough), and they want to make pumpkin pie and muffins, and possibly pumpkin soup, too...who knows what else.
Oh, I almost forgot, I'm part of the Courtyard Choir now!! It's a med student choir, and we practice every Monday and Wednesday at lunch. I joined cuz Chris dragged me to a practice, and I tried (TRIED) to sing, and since I'm okay at singing, and I love music, I decided to join for good. And I'm glad I did, cuz I realize now I'm getting better, and I like the 2 songs we're going to do for an Awards Ceremony in mid-November: The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell). I like the latter song more, and especially the men, cuz in the Lion Sleeps, they just sing background, which is pretty boring and simple. But everybody sounds good, and I'm excited! Yay! But I still suck at singing...
Well, I have nothing else to say other than med is fun, difficult, Intro Block was definitely easy and I did great (which I'm happy for cuz I thought that getting into med early would be a bad thing, but apparently it didn't matter for Intro...though it DOES matter here, hence the stress over Triple I), and my classmates are great, and the profs are excellent and humorous for the most part (Talbot, Forgie, and Rayner are amazing, and Judy Gnarpe and Talbot were both Professors of the Week in the Gateway just recently). And I'm making some really close friends in our class too, lol. I have a new big sister, Flo, I don't know if I told you about her. She's crazy, that's all I have to say, lol.
Oh, FORGOT ONE more thing: I might be getting a different car now: maybe a newer, diesel Jetta, or a 1996 Passat. Dunno. I like the idea of diesel, cheaper for sure. But I like a manual too, so. But I will definitely need a car in 3rd year. And I found out that in 3rd and 4th year, I need to dress up everyday for the wards. That means a new wardrobe!! Yay! Finally, more than just jeans and t-shirts
 .K, I'm done for real now. Happy Halloween everybody!! Congrats to everybody on their MCAT!!!!!!! I'll hopefully see you ALL in med next year!!
Ciao,
Daze
Last watched: Robin Hood, Men In Tights, right after watching RENT, which was AMAZING (and I'm a sap, so of course I cried when Angel died, and for the rest of the movie after)
Last ate: those mini fruit bars...I'm working, and didn't have anything to bring.
Mood: amazing (I think I overused this word in this blog), happy, but worried about Triple I at the same time. October 26 'Sup Peeps??Haven't blogged in such a long time....Triple I is killing me slowly, that's why. So, I'll have to unfortunately say that I will waste your time after my exam on Nov. 6th, no sooner. I'm off to study now, just got off work at SCP and an 8-hour day. Fun times.
Ciao,
Daze October 12 Today's Happenin's :)Okay, so what happened today... had class @ 8am, starting off with sitting further back then ever before: 3RD ROW. lol. With my new big sister, Florence. Since I have no older siblings, and she has none at all, we've decided to become sisters. Anyways, We had stuff on drugs and complement and ADCC and viruses (Influenza mainly) and a lecture from the ever-memorable Dr. Rayner on chronic inflammation. He's hilarious, with his coffee, square wool ties (I think that's what they are...) and his gestures with his hands towards the class. With good days like these, who needs coffee?? I sure don't, lol! Okay, okay, I've been going to bed early now, at midnite. Anyways, after lunch we had Community Health for the last time with Dr. James Talbot, a wonderful doctor who had his name submitted to the Gateway (the Student newspaper) as Teacher of the Week, which he so very much deserves. Our support group leaders told us in the beginning of the year that Dr. Talbot would be the highlight of 1st year...they didn't disappoint. We gave him a standing ovation after his lecture, then headed off to our small groups...GUESS WHAT?? So, i'm weird, and i've always seen Dr. Gerry Predy, the Medical Health Officer for the Capital Health Region and also an outstanding researcher, I've heard. Anyways, that was awesome, AND we just cruised through the material and we finished 1.5 hours EARLY!! yay! So, I went to the bank to get cash (I had to scrounge money a few days ago to go to Wendy's...that's how desperate I was!) and to get a debit card for the first time ever!! Yay, now I don't have to go all the way to Whyte Ave to get money.
So....now I have to study, cuz you wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of material we've covered in the past 3 days...it's disgusting really, and I know, of course, nothing much at all. So, tomorrow after class, I will be studying, then volunteering @ the hospital, then chilling on a Friday night, maybe get in a little more studying. Yay. haha.
Apparently, I looked really "happy and full of life" today according to one guy... I guess maybe cuz it's been me getting more sleep...but I have a better hypothesis, which I will reveal in due time, because people actually read my blogs, and I don't want this to be known just yet....I'll see first what happens....haha...piqued your curiosity yet?? lol.
P.S. The 1986 Jetta is brown. And I think I'm seriously getting it...which I can't believe. A car??? Coooool. As Steve said, "pimpin".
Ciao,
Daze
Listening to: I've Lost You, Elvis Presley
Last Ate: chicken yakisoba from Edo (I was STARVING)
Last Watched: hey, who cares about that!!?? Grey's Anatomy is on TONITE!! wooooo!! haha.
Mood: haha...I'm good. Really. |
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