I have attempted to look over one lecture in the past two hours. I have yet to complete it....I just CANT physically learn anything right now. It already feels like summer, how am i supposed to be in school mode. WIth two more weeks left of my first year, I feel like my brain is jam packed with information yet I am supposed to cram in everything about the musculoskeletal system, like its no big deal or something. Where is this new information going to fit? I'll tell you where...in the spaces where Anatomy and Microbiology used to be...cause I sure as hell dont remember all that from months ago. HAHA. it occurs to me as i write this that I realistically remember 25% of what I learned this year [and that is being generous]. How am i supposed to take a Board exam at the end of NEXT YEAR after learning a whole other year of information? these people are nutso if they think i will remember all this stuff. 2 more weeks...just 2 more weeks! then i can pretend for 8 weeks that I live a normal life :)
I recently learned that my school has the shortest summer of ANY medical school in the country. my luck is exquisite
Last week I volunteered at the Montclair clinic again. It was pretty fun. Luck would have it that I examined the same patient I saw the last time I volunteered. This is pretty impossible as the clinic is open 3 days a week and there are a LOT of volunteers. That, and we randomly get assigned cases. Obviously, someone special was watching over me and decided I needed to learn some more about diabetic medications because the patient came in complaining about the drugs we had switched her too. It was a pretty obvious case and family practice may have lost a point in my book after this uneventful patient.
My next patient was a 80 something year old Philippino man who came in with a chief complaint of general fatigue and also to double check his blood pressure [I'll call him Mr. Grandpa]. Mr.Grandpa was pretty sweet as we chatted for a while and then after 10 minutes of learning about his family's health but not his, i realized i had to take control of the situation and ask about his symptoms. After we got that out of the way [he was much more interested in learning about me then telling me his problems] he asked what school I went to. I told him I was a first year medical student and my answer gave him a pretty puzzled look on his face. 'How old are you? You cant be more than 19' Mr. Grandpa said, I laughed and told him I was 24. of course his next question was if i was married and when i said no he said 'you should start working on that, dont want to get too old.' [Like I havent heard THAT before from a grandparent....] I told him i was in no rush to END my life and he smiled back [i dont think he understood my joke...but really, i wasnt joking]. While we spoke he kept staring at my ID badge so after a while I asked him what he was so curious about. He said he was trying to learn my name and see where my last name is from. I told him i was Polish [blah blah...all the usual 'Mom is from here, Dad is from here..stuff] and he still kept staring at it. So i took it off and gave it to him. Ss he grasped it he said, 'Ok, lets see if this picture does you justice. Does it? [looks at the ID card then back at me, shakes his head...] No..No it doesnt.' Im not sure if he meant it as an insult or a complement but either way, I was entertained.
I presented his case to the resident working that night and after he examined the patient, we all walked to the front desk to schedule his follow up. Mr. Grandpa made his appointment and then asked if he could schedule to see me again. ME, HE WANTED TO RESCHEDULE TO SEE ME!!! I had to apologize and tell him I was just a volunteer and that there was no way I could be here the next time he was to come. I explained that our schedules were already set for the next couple months. He was pretty disappointed and mentioned that every time he went to our clinic he saw a different doctor and that it was hard to build a relationship with a doctor this way. This small comment made me surprisingly sad as there are a LOT of uninsured [or underinsured] patients who must feel the same way. On the flip side, it made me confident knowing he thought I was competent enough to see him again [even though I was a 24 year old single woman..haha]. Either way, family practice gained a point on my list because I believe the aspect of continuity of care is something I want to uphold in my future as a physician. So, as of now peds and family practice are starting to lead the pack. BUT, dont be fooled, it is still a large and jumbled together pack. Of course, there is still the common understanding that surgery is not even IN the pack...its laying in a ditch somewhere crying about how all the gunners are fighting over it while.
have i mentioned that i will NEVER BE A SURGEON
ok, now that i have successfully wasted half an hour, I am going back to the embryology of muscle and skeletal development in the fetus. It would have been a lot easier if we just started as mini human beings and grew exactly like that instead of all the development that has to take place. Just so you know what the hell i am talking about, google 'mesodermal development' and then click images. YEAH, IT KINDA BLOWS.
14 days until summer!!!
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