Wednesday, December 16, 2009

something to look forward to when tomorrow is OVER!

Email recieved from out student government recreational leaders

subject: POST MCBM SHINANIGANS- DO NOT DELETE...unless youre booooooooring

So here is the deal. Thursday night following the MCBM final we will be meeting up at Piano Piano. It's a bar with a dueling piano show so if you've never been to one then it is definitely worth checking out because they are usually pretty darn entertaining. Doors open at 6 and the piano guys start up about 8 (but you can show up whenever). Your college ID will get you to the front of the line should there be one and since its Thursday night that means $3 CORONA and $5 Jager!!!! There is also a $5 cover but just in case we cant get it waved (because we are awesome desperately poor health professions students) be prepared for that.

We have also be told that on Thursday nights the bar holds a "biggest group contest" with the bar buying a round for the winners. To date the biggest group has been 16...we think we have this one in the bag.

So come out and join your classmates for a good time at:



AND DONT FORGET YOUR DD OR FRIENDLY LOCAL YELLOW CAB DRIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Endless Love,
E and A

Follow up email:

UPDATE: NO COVER!!!!!!!! that $5 now stays in your pocket!
$3 Corona
$5 Jagerbombs (gross...but maybe you will feel like an undergrad again and remember that at one point life was good)

Monday, December 14, 2009

almost there!!



i am getting lazy and don't feel like writing. more so, i dont feel like staring at my computer screen any longer than i have to since i have been looking at it for aprox 8 hours a day...for 4 months straight. and 8 is low ballin it...

my first semester of medical school is almost over. i am done with classes (today was our last day of lectures) and they give us two days off to study, then we have our last exam Thursday morning. these 2 days are more like, "haha, we expected you to have learned all this stuff in the past 2 weeks but know you havent so here are 2 bonus days to stay up and cram." i, however, am taking the high road and going to bed early. well, maybe not since I will be waking up at 8 to start my glorious day of staring at my computer screen some more.

have i mentioned that medical school could be known as 'death by powerpoint'...


Monday, December 7, 2009

Another biochemistry dosey...

jaundice refers to the yellow color of skin, nail beds, and sclera (whites of the eyes) caused by deposition of a protein called bilirubin. (FYI bilirubin is what makes your poo brown and your pee yellow- technical medical terms i know). Jaundice is not a disease but a symptom of many diseases.

jaundice in premature newborns is elevated because a certain enzyme to break it down does not reach adult levels until about 4 weeks after birth. thus, premature babies may turn yellow.

to solve this problem, i am taught to shine a blue fluorescent light on them to convert the bilirubin into a more water soluble form which can be excreted through urine.

moral of the story...
Yellow Baby+ Blue Light= health

haha

Saturday, December 5, 2009

the hungrier you are, the longer you will live

During a lecture on the metabolism of fats in our diet in our biochemistry class, my professor cited a study. This study was conducted over 20 years and had two sets of cohorts, regularly fed monkeys and then monkeys that were given 1/3 less calories than the 'control' monkeys. The monkeys who had their calories restricted lived longer healthier lives.

"the reason i bring this up is because we are talking about fats...and most of the calories we are taking in come from fats. i wish i had known this 20 years ago but you guys have no excuse so ya know...raise your children right and ya know, i guess its better to be a little bit hungry. hey, the restriction part does not mean malnutrition."
-Prof B

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I PASSED

and i didnt just pass....i did really well :) above average well.

feels good, feels damn good!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

To Recap...

30 powerpoints with aprox. 40 slides each (some had more, some had way less)
36 word documents or pdf documents (ranging from 3 to7 pages long)
250 slide powerpoint of histology images (histology is the study of the microscopic structure, chemical composition and function of the tissue or tissue systems of plants and animals--we just did human tissue)

this information was covered in 45 hours of lecture time (in class) spanning 9 days. subjects including physiology, developmental histology (embryology), biochemisty, molecular biology,

i cant (and dont want to) count how many hours i spent studying this material.

today, we had a 3 hour (and i was there until the last minute) exam covering every detail of this information in 125 questions.

and i will do this all over again in 2 and a half weeks.

now i understand why all the 2nd years kept telling us that anatomy was the easiest class. looking back at our exams and the amount of content that was drastically lower, it makes since that they would say this. also, i keep hearing the good news that it only gets harder. i am a little scared.

but, i do have to say taking this test today was a huge accomplishment and i feel damn proud of myself for having survived it. being able to recognize and understand all of the information makes me feel intelligent. now i just need to work on building up my confidence. I CAN DO IT!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

i have a headache...had it for the past 2 days

How have i studied for 4 days SOLID and i STILL feel like i am going to fail this test tomorrow?

welcome to medical school