An overdue update...

Things are going well here in Jackson. Friday I reported to the VA with my fellow F-H's. What a treat that was... three hours of fingerprinting, signing forms, and wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. (I would assume that orientation will be just as enlightening, only 4 days long..) They sent us home with this fun e-qip thing to fill out and about a hundred references of character to get (okay, i'm exaggerating, but only slightly). I tried to log on to it all weekend to no avail. Monday I called and come to find out they had spelled my name wrong in the system and that's why I couldn't get in! I was able to log in, change my name, fill out all the forms, etc.

Dad came up for the weekend. We had a good time. Just ran around a bit, showed him the school, etc. Monday I went to Batson and got a tshirt and badge holder...

Tuesday I had an appointment with my new doctor up here, Dr. P. He's wonderful. It was a bit of a stress to get established as I had to do some tests and such (and UMC is a MUCH bigger place than my previous hospitals/clinics). Kinda funny to be a patient before a student, but whatever it takes I suppose. It's nice to know I have a doc and I can call (or Student Health can) if I need him. Plus, he's probably going to be teaching me at some point in M3-M4 years... so... (it's never a bad idea to start knowing people that could possibly write LORs at some point!)

It's been raining a lot this week. I think the sun is finally coming out, so I may run around a bit this afternoon. I haven't done much shopping lately!

Five days to go!

Book list & Insurance...

Today I got the book list - met up with K at the bookstore, that was kind-of fun and unexpected. We were both ISBN and good price searching. Seems to have worked out well. Haven't ordered a lot b/c I'm going to meet with my buddy first and see her recommendations. I did order a few essentials, and I picked up my DISSECTION KIT!!! at the bookstore. (Sorry, getting a bit excited here). Funny thing is - the dissection kit doesn't seem very complex... I keep wondering how in the HECK these tiny hemostats are going to be good for anything.

Tomorrow morning I report to the VA for some kind of fun fingerprinting of sorts. Should be entertaining if nothing else.

11 days til orientation!!

All moved in!

I'm all moved in and getting settled! :)

It's been too hectic to post, but expect a lengthy update soon. VA for pre-processing Friday. Went to UMC today to turn in health insurance stuff, etc. Book lady was out - but I'll check on Wednesday and let you all know if our book list is ready yet.

See you guys soon!

Moving van...

The moving van will be here tomorrow - we will pull out Friday morning early. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel and dry weather. Moving in the rain seriously stinks!

Got some more correspondence from school - the hard copies of the VA stuff (must call them Monday and set something up to go in and get my fingerprints done), summer reading, and all the health insurance info. I'll be sorting through the rest of it over the weekend after the move.

STEP scores come out for the M3's tomorrow... all of you are in my prayers and I just know you are going to do wonderfully! Hard to believe we will be there in just two short years....

Less than one week!

One week from today I will be utterly exhausted from unpacking... It's surreal that it's time to go. Mom's headed up and we're going to finish packing this weekend. Tomorrow morning it is massage time, yay!!

I'm already tired from all the last minute get-togethers and there are several more to come. Praying the transition is fairly easy and that homesickness doesn't kick in before I have a chance to get comfortable up there.

I talked to a doctor friend yesterday who told me that the hardest part of med school is the month before med school - when you've invested in this future you know nothing of and you are fabricating horror stories about what is to come. He says it gets better once you realize that you're basically just back in the lecture hall - with new people and less pressure for a 4.0. It was a refreshing insight into the world of medicine I needed at the time, and even if it isn't true, I choose to live in my delusion for the next few weeks.

Eventually the pattern had to reverse...

We've turned to sleep(less) and productivity!

On Thursday, Mom took me for my last regular appointment with the pulmonologist here. I'll be picking up a new one in Jackson. The appointment went fine, I'm a pretty good patient when I'm not sick. Got Rx's written for a year (just in case, with God's help, I don't manage to get sick).

Then I asked for the shot. Ugh. Five years ago, I got my first dose of the pneumonia shot. It worked REALLY well. As in, I haven't had a documented case of pneumonia in five years. I had a total of 14 chest xray & blood documented episodes before the age of 18 (along with several close calls or self/doctor diagnoses), so this was a huge milestone. I had done some reading about the shot and realized that I probably needed a second dose, due to my level of activity with the disease and the fact that my only real close call in the past five years was this past season.

The bad part? I had a reaction to this shot five years ago. They gave it in the deltoid and I had such a skin/muscle reaction that we considered not getting another. Then we had the amazing results. So skin reaction aside, I knew it was necessary. This time, the reaction was more pronounced. I countered it with benadryl every 4 hours, but by the evening of the first day I was miserable. By the time it was said and done (today, I believe, we're finally receding), the shot site was about 3"x5". It's not "hot" or spreading anymore and the redness is completely gone. Thanks be to benadryl and prednisone. This is a shot that won't have to be repeated for a very long time, if ever, so I'm officially good to go.

Side effect of prednisone has and always will be insomnia for me. So even the low, 2-day dose caused me an exhilirating sleep time of THREE HOURS last night. On the upside, when I have to take it in med school I'm uber productive. It's kind of nice to be able to function well on no sleep.

The packing has come to a standstill because all that's really left is clothes. We did a lot this weekend, and there's a ton of stuff that's still packed from when I moved in with Dad. The coolest part about having my own place again? Probably seeing all this stuff that has been packed for 8+ months!

So all the paperwork is in, ALL the shots and dr visits are complete, and my beautiful, custom-made storage ottoman from La-Z-Boy is in the production stages. It'll take a bit longer than my other furniture, but it'll be worth waiting for :)

Hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th... I'm full speed ahead into two weeks of whirlwind breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee "see you laters" with friends as I get ready to finally start this process. Bring it on!

Another week filled with sleep and (less) productivity.

Monday I got my final shot! Sent off all my paperwork to the Registrar, and Mrs. V confirmed it has arrived and I've been cleared with their department to register :)

Yesterday I went and bought new glasses... went ahead and got two pair since I found two that were fairly reasonable. I don't wear my glasses all that much, but I only buy them every 5 years or so, which makes it a decent investment. I like both pairs enough that I certainly CAN wear them if I need to.

Also finished up the rest of the loan paperwork and sent it in. It hasn't gotten to Jackson yet, but it went a day or two later than the health forms. Should be there within the next day or so.

Today I started cleaning out clothes and drawers of junk to begin the packing process. How one can accumulate so much junk in such a short period of time I'll never know. Thankfully I know someone who's very interested in my undergrad and will love the stack of t-shirts I rescued from the dresser... And I have a 13 year old cousin who is just about my size (go ahead, make the snide remarks... I can't help it i'm one inch away from actually being a little person) and will love all the clothes I'm getting rid of. I wish I would've had an older cousin passing stuff to me!

Tomorrow I'll get prescriptions written for a year and Mom'll be here to help me stay on task a little better with the packing. I'm pretty much a 6 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy in regards to my attention span with this. Thankfully, there's not much to do. We should be able to have an enjoyable 4th, packing aside :)

33 days and counting!