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!):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka-TbsLaumw&mode=related&search= 

 

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