New background

I looked at my blog today and noticed the background was still from Christmas... and it's a month after Christmas. So here we go. One of my favorite mottos.. "live, laugh, love".

Got my cardiac physiology test back today and was very happy with the results. I'm not quite as fond of renal phys as I was of cardiac, but perhaps it'll still grow on me.

We had our Deans' breakfast meeting this morning.. that went really well. I really like Dr. J, C, and W - and Dr. W updated us on the vice chancellor search, the current life and times of the M4's (and what to expect), some exciting things that will be happening by the time we get to M3 year, and the STEP. It was nice to get a perspective on "life after pre-clinical years", even though it was at 7 a.m.

After the Deans' breakfast, I decided to skip out on the day's renal phys lecture and head home to study. It was a very productive study day and run day. I ran/speed walked by first 3.5 miler today and actually feel great instead of horrible. Tomorrow's my "off day" (laundry, errands, Mom time) and then I'll hit it again on Sunday. The 5k is coming up two weeks from tomorrow. I still am not sure I'm 100% ready, but I think I can get there in two weeks.

I have many spoken and unspoken prayer requests tonight, but those that I can think of off the top of my head include:
Baby Kate (prayforkate.com)
All my CB kiddos
The NICU babies
God's guidance and assurance in the lives of those who are searching
Test week for the M2's
Our renal test on Thurs
**Unspokens**

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. (Isaiah 30:15)

Semester 2, Test 1.

Last week was a good one, but busy. We had our physiology pig lab. I enjoyed it a lot.. putting in lines comes fairly natural for me, and I don't freak out over blood spills. We hit a bleeder or two in the pig, and besides wanting suction so I could see what was going on, I was calm, cool, and collected. I still say I'm not feeling surgery in my future, but it's nice to know I can do it when I have to. It's amazing how different it is working on a living, breathing animal instead of a cadaver. Skin and connective tissue is much tougher in real life.

Yesterday was our first test of the semester. Cardiac physiology. I really liked learning this last unit. Everything we're doing these days is actually applicable to practice, and that's a nice change. I've been taking it easy and having a lot more fun than I was able to last semester. We've had some girls' nights, slumber parties, and movie nights. Yesterday a bunch of us did dinner and a movie (Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford and Brenden Fraser - it's a "med school nerd movie" about Pompe Disease). The movie was on the upper side of average (and towards the "good" end for my medical school friends) , but the company and socializing time was wonderful. For the first time in a long time, I managed to fall behind on my reading last night. It was totally worth it. :)

In the not-med-school related (but sort of) arena, I'm training for "Rush to Brush" on February 13th for Batson's dental clinics. I've run a lot at different times in the past, but allowed myself to get completely out of shape first semester. It's been a struggle to get back in the swing of things. But I'm very very excited about my first race. As an asthmatic, 5k is the equivalent of a marathon some days :) In OB/GYN interest group today they mentioned another 5k coming up for Women's Health later in the semester - I have a feeling that race 1 will get me addicted enough that i'll look forward to race 2.

On that note, I'm off to put a few miles on those running shoes... ;)

another week of no complaints...

When we started this journey back in early August, I had no idea the magnitude of the statement "make it til Christmas, then you'll be fine". I heard it echoed over and over - by M2's, M3s, M4s, residents, attendings, physicians at home.. "just make it to Christmas".

Here we are a few weeks into January and I finally am beginning to understand. Life is GREAT these days. Cardiac physiology is so interesting, makes sense, and we have time to study and learn for the sake of learning. There's also time for super fun things (like making cookies with pig faces for PIG meetings, slumber parties, etc).

PIG met on Wednesday and went over summer research opportunities. I'd already talked to a few people in the pediatrics department about this and was very encouraged by their advice, so I filled out the application asap on Wednesday and returned it Thursday. Crossing fingers and praying I get the assignment I want (which obviously is neonatal/NICU) and that M gets in with her first choice too (pretty sure she's gonna be our class HemOncDoc -and on that note, the M3 HemOncDoc needs to meet my HemOncDoc :) - sorry we didn't get to chat on wed, A. You looked slightly busy post-meeting) . I'm very excited about the possibilities - praying that God's will is done and this would be used as a career-furthering experience as well as a great ministry opportunity.

Other random thoughts:

Med school nerd movie of the year "Extraordinary Measures" comes out on Friday. I am SO pumped about this.

Who Dat? :)

Slumber party tonight/dessert party @ study group tomorrow. Studying is much much more fun when it involves silly girls and yummy food!

Specific prayer requests:
The Haiti people
The NICU babies
Baby Kate McRae (www.prayforkate.com)
My CaringBridge kiddos/Batson Cancer Kids
Family, friends, and classmates.

Romans 12:12 - Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Real snowflakes...

Just in case anyone's missed this, Canada weather has settled into Mississippi for the week and weekend. It's absolutely frigid out there. For prosperity's sake for years from now - this is the coldest weather in Mississippi in over a decade. Yesterday we were expecting a bit of a slushy-ice storm mess, so I took the opportunity to stay home in my PJ's and learn EKG's here rather than trekking over to school, finding a parking spot, walking in said rain/ice, and getting sick again (since I'm just recovering from a cold). It was a pretty fun and useless day.

Unfortunately, I couldn't have a repeat performance today because I had QCP lab this afternoon. All worked out well though. Our new phys teacher has apparently also been sick, so we only had one hour of lecture instead of two. With the extra hour that suddenly popped up we went to Keifer's for my first experience with Greek food! Thanks M, RA, and N for that - random lunch trips are the best! The QCP "lab" at 1 was really laid back and I was home before 2, with packages on the door. Online post-Christmas shopping orders and my Christmas present from L & C! LOVE it.

Now we find ourselves at a weekend... a weekend where the temps won't get above freezing, but it doesn't matter. I've got nothing i HAVE to do, a Kindle full of books, and a list of movies I've been wanting to watch. Second semester is heavenly!!!

Goodbye, Christmas...

Vacation is gone as quickly as it arrived. Back to school yesterday, started with a lovely histology lecture. I continue to wonder if that's a "real class" or not... If it's made up, can it please return to make believe land? It's taking too much of my time (especially when it's at 8 AM).

Other than histo, physiology is the only major component of my life that is obsessed with medical school right now. We're right in the middle of cardiac phys and learning how to read EKG's. Pretty cool stuff. Actual doctoring material, as opposed to the day to day facts we normally learn just to regurgitate for a test. Although I suppose we'll use those someday as well.

Today we had intro to physiology lab. Apparently, we're going to work on an anesthetized and intubated pig in the upcoming lab. A 50-60 pound pig. We'll be doing cut downs, manipulating his cardiac physiological states, then cracking his chest and resuscitating him until we're bored (prof's words exactly). Then we will "dispose of them" in the freezer. This is the part that made me slightly queasy. First he tells us, "be careful, this isn't a cadaver", but then at the end, we're going to "dispose of it" which means at some point between point A and point Z, said pig is going to succumb to his demise at the hands of my lab partners. I'm really, REALLY glad I've got a couple weeks to prepare for this.

And we just thought gross lab was eye-opening and shock-worthy. Welcome to med school, year 1 act 2.