End of SSB, Spring Break, and ERG

YAY for surviving SSB! So, I finished exam week with the histology, gross anatomy, and neuroanatomy practicals on Thursday followed by the written exam on Friday. Then it was off to El Bajio for yummy Mexican food. We had a great turn out - we just kept adding more and more tables! After that, I drove up to Champaign for my week long spring break!

My first spring break activity was going to Chicago for a bridal shower that Bill's grandma hosted for me. It was so much fun and actually pretty overwhelming to think that all of those people were there because of me (and Bill!). It was great to see family, friends, and get to meet more of Bill's side of the family. After that, my family went to Bill's parents house where we looked through the pile of gifts and ate a nice dinner. I am glad that our families get along together so well!

The next day we headed back to Champaign for a week of working on wedding plans. We met with the flower lady from the U of I twice to pick out centerpieces, bouquets, and other flowers. We met with 2 different cake ladies in hopes of finding the perfect cake. We went to Michelle's bridal shop twice, once to pick out a flower girl dress for my little cousin and to try on my wedding dress and the other time with Bill to pick out the tuxes. We also met with the I Hotel to start discussing plans for the reception. This one was a little bit shocking. We found out that the ballroom that they built ended up fitting less people than they had planned on. So, when we told the woman from the I Hotel that we had invited 460 people, she had a look of terror on her face. We finally figured out a way we could SQUEEZE that many tables in the ballroom, but it is not pretty. I realize that not everyone is going to be able to come, so getting rid of several tables will be nice! Right now the bars and buffet food/lines are all outside of the ballroom! YIKES! All in all, it was nice having this week to focus on wedding stuff without having to worry about studying. I really enjoyed spending the week with my parents and some of it with Bill! I also got to meet up with some friends, which was really fun!

Getting back into the swing of school was rough. This is out last unit (ERG = endocrine, reproductive, gastrointestinal). The first week back started out with beautiful weather! I like my new tutor group. Everyone seems nice and is working together well. The hardest part is to adjust to your new tutor's style. This is only my tutor's second time doing this, so I think she is still getting used to the whole thing. After my first week back, I headed back to Champaign again for an amazing weekend! It was the U of I woman's gymnastics alumni weekend/Big Ten Championships! On Friday I was able to meet former teammates Jess, Karen, Jana, and their significant others at Kamakura. It is always fun to go back this restaurant in Champaign since their food is so good and because I used to work there!! Then I went to visit with Mina, Mooshy and her daughter Ava (whom I have never met!) and their mom. It was so much fun to hang out with them at their hotel. It was just like old times. At one point during college I have been roommates with both of these sisters!! Then we went out to Guido's for an alumni gathering, which was fun. The next day was the day of the meet! I got decked out in my orange and blue and met lots of old teammates out for lunch at Legend's. Then we headed to the meet. The girls started off slow on bars and beam. However, floor and vault were the most amazing performances I have ever seen! The girls set school records in each event. I have never cheered so loud and been so proud in all my life ;) It was amazing to see those girls STICK their vaults! In the end, the team got second (so close to the title!) and had 2 individual champions! After the meet we had a banquet at Biefeldt. There were lots of old pictures out from over the years and this was a great time to mingle with old teammates once again. Plus, we had Papa Dels Pizza - YUM! After this, I met up with Bill since he finally made it into Champaign. Then we went to hang out with what I like to call the "older" alums who were at Murphy's. The "younger" alums were at Joe's! It was fun to be out with Coach Bob and hear stories of the old days.

The next day, Bill and I met up with our friend and wedding photographer Kenny Kim for our engagement photo shoot. This was really fun! We went around campus and took pictures of the two of us. I can't wait to see them!!!

This past week at school has been ERG Fun Week. We have had all sorts of fun activities planned all week. On Monday night we went bowling. It was fun (although I did not bowl well!). Tuesday it was off to the driving range, which was nice since it had been a while since I had swung the clubs. Wednesday was Quatro's for pizza night. We had such a great crowd turn out for this one! Sadly, the restaurant couldn't seat everyone, so some people had to eat elsewhere. After that we head to Sidetracks, which was fun! Thursday was movie night. This even yielded a sad showing, but it was still a good time. We saw "I Love You Man." It was quite entertaining. Then on Friday it was barcrawl! Fun times in ERG!

Okay, now fun week is over and it's time to get back to studying metabolism. Only a few more months here in Carbondale!!!

First Picture!

Okay, so I just posted a couple of minutes ago, but then decided it would be fun to try and post a picture to my blog. I just had to try it! Here is picture of me and some of my closest med school friends. A couple of weekends ago we had Winter Ball, which is basically SIU med school formal. It was in Springfield where all of the 2nd-4th year students are. The 5 of us road tripped it up to Springfield and had an amazing time together! We stayed at Eliza's parents house and this is a picture from our first night there. Earlier that night I got to try Springfield's famous horseshoe. It is an open face hamburger on texas toast covered in fries and cheese. YUM!

Almost 2/3 done with M1 year!

I can't believe that I am almost done with my second unit out of three of the first year of medical school! It has been a crazy ride thus far. I have really enjoy the neurology unit! Today we had the first part of our EOU (end of unit) exam. It was for the doctoring portion of our grade. We had 40 minutes to conduct a full history and neurological examination on a standardized patient (patient who is trained to "fake" a certain disease). There is a one-way mirror where a doctor or nurse watches us and they grade us based on the amount of findings we are able to get from the history and our technique during the physical examination. Then we have 10 minutes to organize our notes and formulate hypotheses. We then proceed to a computer station where we enter in the patient's chief complain, pertinent positive and negative findings, and a list of possible differential diagnoses. Then we are allowed to "run tests" on our patients. You can pick from almost any test imaginable and have to state which hypothesis you are testing. You immediately get the results of the tests. From there, you decide on your final diagnosis and have to write a paragraph of diagnostic justification explaining why you picked what you picked. It is pretty intense! I am still trying to get a grasp on the vast amount of disease processes that can occur with neurological symptoms! In two days we have our histology, gross anatomy, and neuroanatomy practical exams. Then on Friday we have a written test. Friday afternoon I will join a group of friends at our after exam lunch spot El Bajio for yummy Mexican food.

Following the test, it is finally SPRING BREAK! We get the whole week off and the best part is that we just finished the unit so there will be NO STUDYING! YAY! Saturday Bill's mom and grandma are throwing me a bridal shower in Chicago which I am so excited for. Then the rest of the week I will be in Champaign working on wedding stuff and hanging out with my parents. My mom already has a list of appointments set up! We are going to the Michelle's to try on my wedding dress and pick out a flower girl dress. Then we are meeting with Father Joe from St. Patrick's to discuss what we have to do in preparation for the upcoming wedding (thank goodness we already have pre-cana out of the way!). Then we are meeting with the I Hotel to talk about the reception. We also have an appointment to pick out a transportation for the bridal party to and from the wedding and are in the process of trying to set up an appointment to meet with Rosie (who makes cakes and made the most amazing cupcakes for my friend Kristy's wedding reception!). So, it looks like it is going to be a busy but fun week!

Okay, it is seriously time to get back to studying. Just 3 more days!!!!!!!!! It's time for the final sprint!!! I can do it!!!!!!

Studying....

It's Friday night almost 9 pm and I am doing my usual Friday night activity - studying! I find comfort in studying at places that are cheerful, full of people, and that have some background noise. This helps me to feel like I am a normal person who actually gets out in public and helps me to focus my attention to my studies since I have to block out background noise. So far this year, my favorite place to study is Panera. I sit in one of the 5 booths and make a little home for myself. I usually enjoy some coffee or a chi latte. I eat here a lot too. A new place I have been going to is the coffee shop called Common Grounds. I like their hot chocolate and it is good as long at it is not too crowded since it isn't very big inside. I like it best when I get a booth in the corner somewhere. My friends and I were there last night for several hours doing SAQs. These are self assessment questions that we get at the end of each case. They are a good way to monitor if you are actually learning the things that are important and going to be tested.
Well, I better get back to studying the cerebellum and basal ganglia. I really have to take advantage of the extra study time this weekend since the mid-unit exam was postponed to Monday. Yay for a fun study weekend........

5 Months Later

So I have decided that once one enters into medical school a great deal of time and energy is spent concentrating on that one part of ones life. Learning new things, studying the body, researching topics, going to class, going to histo/anatomy lab, trying to not feel guilty whenever you are not studying....etc, etc. So, medical school is really consuming. I try to have balance in my life and to continue to do things that make me happy. So far I have been pretty going at doing that. I am keeping a pretty good workout schedule, I am for sure keeping up with my love of food, I have been able to visit family and friends and attend several events and weddings also. I have really cut down on the amount of time that I watch tv. I let myself watch one show per week. During the first unit, CRR, I was watching House. Now I have switched over to my favorite show EVER Lost and have stopped watching House. Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I have let myself have the tv on in the background while doing work. It is kind of nice.

Okay, on to what I have been up to for the past 5 MONTHS!

CRR unit went pretty well. It was hard to get adjusted to the curriculum, but about half way through I was getting used to it. I found this unit to be hard because the lung, heart, and especially the kidneys are just so darn complex! I did enjoy everything I learned though. I made it through the mid-unit exam fine (which was a big relief) and also conquered the end-of-unit exam. The end of unit was really hard though and I thought that I did horrible. The day the test was over I headed home for Thanksgiving break which was such a great week off from school! I was relieved to find out that I got an "S" for the first unit (Satisfactory).

Then SSB started. SSB is like a foreign language to all of us. We hear of terms like superior colliculus, inferior colliculus, tectum, midbrain, and brainstem (to name 5 out of about a billion). Later we realize that the tectum is the superior colliculus plus the inferior colliculus and they are part of the midbrain (which looks like Mickey Mouse on a CT scan) and the midbrain is part of the brainstem! This unit has been more interesting to me than the last unit. I like learning about the cranial nerves and the spinal cord and brainstem is pretty cool too. The amount we have to learn for anatomy this unit is really out of control and I am worried about not being able to learn all of it. I have been having thoughts that I think I might really like to follow in my dad's footsteps and do ENT. I like the head and neck anatomy, CNs, anatomy and physiology of the ear, nose, etc. also.

A couple of weeks into the unit we had Christmas break, which was awesome! Bill, mom and I got to go to Augusta to visit my dad. That was really fun. New Years was good too! I did have to study over break, which kinda made it not quite so much fun. Since we have been back in school, we have been going full speed ahead. We were supposed to have our mid-unit exam on Friday, however, 2 snow days have forced us to change the schedule and now we will have the test on Monday. I can't wait for it to be over with so I can take a mini-study break! I ran out of gas today while studying, so I decided to update this journal!

Wedding stuff has been going slowly. It is really hard to plan a wedding in a place where you don't live while you are really busy focusing all of your efforts on different things. I would love to be able to devote more time to wedding stuff, and I really want to, but it is just not going to happen. I will have to do a lot over our spring break. We have the wedding party finalized, the bridesmaid dresses picked out (and most all of them ordered), a DJ picked out, and in the process of finding a videographer and working on the wedding registry.

Okay, I am getting tired and not sure if my sentences are making sense anymore. I must now get back to finishing going through the cranial nerves and then start my plan for what to study tomorrow. BYE!

First Week of Med School

Yes, I survived my first week! So far it has been great getting to know my classmates and teachers. The class is bonding really well and the staff says overall we seem very relaxed and excited to be here. The curriculum is problem based, which is very interesting. Basically each student is a part of a tutor group that meets M, W, F from 8-11. Each week we get a new "case" that we get to explore, research, try to diagnose and learn all of the underlying anatomy, physiology, histo, biochem, immuno, etc, etc, etc..... It really incorporates teamwork and cooperative learning. So far my whole group is nervous about what we should and should not be trying to learn. It is hard to know exactly what to study. We also have resource sessions that supplement each case we get. They start next week with some biochem, molecular bio, child development, immunology, and genetics. We also have histology labs in there too. We will be starting gross anatomy on Sep. 12th. Another cool thing is the clinical focus here at SIU. Every Tuesday we have clinical sessions. Our first session was to take a complete history on a classmate. We did this in a "fake" doctor's office. There is one-way glass and someone is watching and listening in on us and critiques what we do. This Tuesday I have to do it on a standardized patient. We must get the following info: patients chief complaint, history of present illness, past medical history, social history, family medical history, and do a review of systems. It's a lot of questions to ask and info to collect! It is really good practice for 3rd year and beyond when we are out seeing pateints!!! In a couple of weeks we will be paired with mentors and go out in the hospitals and clinics to shadow them and to take histories ourselves (and maybe other fun stuff).

Now it is Friday and I am done with class and unsure of what to do! It is nice to know I can relax for a little bit and still have the whole weekend to do more studying before Monday rolls along. I hope to go to my new Gold's Gym (I miss Layne and Isabel!), get my Direct TV set up today, figure out how to use my printer, and I guess maybe some studying at Panera. I have been doing most of my studying in my living room so it is about time for a nice change of pace.

Return of the bB

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post! So much has happened since then. The main reason it has been so long is the extended amount of time it took me to recover from surgery. The surgery was more complicated than they first expected and ended up taking about 4 hours. I slept in a recliner for the first 5 days. I had several visitors which really cheered me up! It was so great to have my dad home for the surgery and several days after. I must say my mom did an amazing job taking care of me - everything from changing my cold compress every 30 minutes for the first several days (even in the middle of the night), making sure I was getting enough fluids and calories, encouraging me to walk and get some exercise, and reassuring me that everything would be okay. I had some major trouble sleeping and had a case of night hot flashes, but thankfully that went away about 2 weeks post surgery. I am well into the road to recovery and feeling much better!

Wedding dress shopping was a blast. To make a long story short, I found the perfect dress and am so happy with my selection. Thanks to all who gave their input!

Now onto the most important thing in my life right now - medical school. My parents and I packed up all my stuff in a Uhaul and drove 3 hours south to Carbondale, IL. My apartment is so cute and nice. I am so thankful my parents were here to help me. They did such a great job with putting things together, cleaning, and decorating. We had so much fun sharing this "den" together for 5 days. Today I sent them off on the train back to Champaign. I will get to try it in several weeks to come home over Labor Day.

On Thursday I had my first day of orientation. It was more boring than I thought it would be. Mostly housekeeping type of stuff and CPR training. It was a long day. We started bright and early at 7 am and got done around 4 pm. It was nice to meet more of my classmates and see more of the school. Friday was much more fun. It consisted of some intros to our PBL curriculum (which is going to be AWESOME), talks from the staff, class pictures, personality/learning style test, and an opportunity to buy some medical supplies. My favorite purchase was my plum colored Littman Cardiology III stethescope. It is so cool! Can't wait to start using it. First day of class starts on Monday where we will jump right in learning clinical stuff - YAY! I can't believe I am finally here!

I will try to update as often as possible to let you all know about this exciting time in my life!!