Happy tofurkey day(s) and BABIES

Happy thanksgiving everyone!  Hope everyone's holiday was awesome and the travels weren't too painfully long.

Before I left for my holiday, I had the chance to watch some babies being born through the Watch-a-Birth program at HUP (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania).  Of course, I did not actually help any of the health professionals - I just stood out of their way and watched.  But the first thing I did when I got home was to call my mom and say "Thanks for going through everything you went through mom, you are really amazing" - because damn was it amazing!  It's amazing to me that both the baby and mother can survive the whole ordeal!  Not only that... apparently it's a normal part of life.  Yowza.  I still don't think I want to go into gynecology/OB, but what they do is pretty freaking awesome!

For some reason, this experience reminded me of an old quote: "When you are born - you cry, and the world is happy.  When you die, you are happy, and the world cries".  

 On a tangent: the best way to survive medical school and learn all the insanely long names for various body parts is to rely on acronyms and mnemonics.  Historically, the raunchier / crazier the mnemonics, the easier they are to remember.  I was trying to figure out how to explain and convey the sillyness of some of these memory aids... and then a friend of mine showed me this comic:

Yup.  That's one of the ways we survive med school!

37 hours

I've got an Immunology exam Monday afternoon, and then an Epidemiology exam Tuesday morning.  I started studying early for these exams (well, one of these exams anyway).  The only problem with doing that?  I feel extremely unproductive the day before the exam (i.e. today)... since I don't really have much left to study.

Then again - if that's all I've got to complain about - that's a pretty good thing eh?

The stuff happening after the exams is going to be great though!  After the epi exam, I'll be at the hospital watching babies being born.  Partying later that evening, and then on a plane to Michigan Wednesday morning.

The rest of the week is going to be awesome!

Taking exams in monkey suits one day, and being a salesman on another day

Medical school is an... interesting experience.

Penn Med tradition dictates that for the second anatomy exam (a team exam) the teams have to dress up in various costumes.  Most tend to wear costumes somewhat related to the anatomy class.  My learning team dressed up as the League of Lesions - i.e. the symptoms of the most common nerve lesions in our limbs.

I dressed up as an ape (representing the ape / simian hand that happens due to median nerve / median & ulnar nerve lesions).

... and then I proceeded to take the exam.  On a side note - my Penn Med class now holds two records for our anatomy class: we had the lowest average in the history of the new Penn Med curriculum (which is ~ 12-14 years old) on an anatomy exam (the first anatomy exam)... but we also got the highest average ever on an anatomy exam (first time it was over 90).  Go Penn Med 2014ers!

This, oddly enough, is one of the reasons I chose Penn and boy am I happy I did.  You always have to remember that life is more than just "doing your job" - be it an actual job in a cubicle, or being a professional student and studying your ass off.  It's about enjoying what you do, and remembering to stop and do the other things you enjoy doing while not losing sight of your primary "job".  And this sense really permeates into Penn Med's philosophy - which is really nice!

Makes my life easier... and I don't seem like (as much of) a slacker.

Switching gears:


We go through Doctor-patient courses.  These are (usually) with actors who play patients, and we are put in... interesting situations so we can improve our interviewing skills.  One of my recent Dr-Pt interactions was pretty hilarious.  My "patient" was non-compliant with her diabetes medications (i.e. she wasn't taking them properly).  She was pursuing more homeopathic remedies (lots peanuts apparently) because she didn't like the side effects from the medication.  I guess this is when my corporate world training kicked in and I tried to convince her that it's in her best interest to continue her diabetes medication.  Of course I start off with "our main goal is to make you feel better - and if you are feeling side effects from the medication - we should definitely see what we can do about that!  We want you to want to take your medications because it genuinely makes you feel better."

But the kicker was "I really think we can work with your homeopathic remedies - I don't see why we can't try both at the same time, especially if you feel better on those remedies.  I don't see why western medicine needs to be at odds with homeopathic remedies Would you like to give it a try, and see how it goes?"

At the end of the session, first thing the actor says?  "Used car salesman!"  But I took that as a compliment!  Especially since she kinda caved and accepted my suggestion.

I've got a long way to go, a lot to learn, and quite a bit more growing up to do (although, I'm pretty sure that last part will never happen...); but I am really glad to see that my experiences in the corporate world aren't completely useless.

P.S. - I really do want to get into blogging now.  I feel like putting my thoughts down somewhere can a. help me sort them out and b. be awesome to look back on (and laugh at).  Also - Anna inspired me to get back into it.  So if my bad grammar and sentence structure hurts your head, blame her.