Christmas Time

Well I am now done with my GIMNER (GI, metabolism, nutrition, endocrinology, and reproductive) finals!!! I still have a cumulative final this Friday, but I have heard that it really is not too bad.

Lisa has been picking up the slack around the house, and she made these wonderful cookies while I stared at books all day.

We'll be back in MI in less than a week!!!

The new TV

I am writing a quick post in the midst of studying for my block three exam to show everyone the new TV!!! Oh and the Christmas tree too.
The TV is the same one Bryan bought this summer, the Samsung PN50A450. At 50 inches, it does look a tad over-sized as far as the decor of the apartment goes. However, last night Lisa and I watched Babel and it is simply incredible for watching movies.

Now that we also have a 750W Onkyo HTIB system for 5.1 surround, and I feel like our "apartment sized" home theater is well put together.

Today we turned the heat on for the first time, which was a wierd thing to do in Houston. It is supposed to be in the 70's next week, and I think that Lisa and I are in for a shock when we go home!

P.S. I've posted some pictures from a trip Lisa and I took to a farm on my Picasa site. The link is over on the right, "My Photos".

Black Mesa

I just saw this trailer for a fan made remake of Half-Life 1 using the source engine. I guess it has been in development for almost 4 years now, and the new trailer they just released looks amazing. It might be worth another play through the game (my 4th time?) Ignore the white space below; I'm too tired to figure out how to make it go away right now.
P.S. Our new TV comes Thursday, so I'll post pictures of the new home theater and our Christmas tree sometime after that

Shocking News

After class today we were told to stay a bit longer to hear an important announcement. I was expecting an update about President Traber (who did step down today) or maybe the Rice/Baylor merger plans, but instead we were told that one of our classmates had committed suicide. The student was an MS1 in my class, but I never had much contact with him and never really knew who he was. This loss is going to be hard for everyone at Baylor, but it is going to be especially difficult for his brother, who is also a student at Baylor.

This is the second suicide Baylor has had in two years. A MS1 also committed suicide last year during the first fall semester just over a year ago. It is hard to know how much the stresses of med student life contributed to these events, but what we do know is that med students are a very depressed bunch. I never got around to writing a post about it, but there were several good articles in the New York Times and on Slate.com about med student depression.

Baylor's administration has already been very responsive and I'm sure they will be continuing to work on ways to get students better supported as they start their intense medical education.

Rice-Baylor College of Medicine?

For those not up on their Texas Medical Center gossip, some relatively big stuff has been going down at Baylor lately. The Houston Chronicle had an article a few days ago reporting that President Traber will likely be asked by the board of trustees to step down this Wednesday. My understanding of the situation is limited, but I have heard that it stems from the decisions he made shortly after becoming president in 2003.

He wanted Baylor to have its own hospital, and he pushed plans to build it next to the VA hospital just next to the medical center. Baylor had long had good relationships with the hospitals in the med center; it partnered with Texas Childrens hospital, Ben Taab, the VA, and the Methodist hospital very closesly for a long time. However, the new hospital would compete directly with the Methodist hospital, and the plans put so much strain on the relationship that Baylor stopped working with Methodist completely as a result.

The new Baylor hospital has turned out to be more expensive than expected, and the worsening economic crisis has only made things worse. This has resulted with close talks with Rice University about a merger that may get approved in the coming months. A former Baylor president, Dr. Butler, is expected to take over, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the merger possibility.

Personally, I have no clue why Baylor would want to build another hospital in the med center, which already has something like 12 hospitals in one spot. I do understand the desire for autonomy, and most elite medical schools do have their own teaching hospital. However, Bayor is unique in its location in the medical center, and another hospital was simply not something it needed. I hope my tuition doesn't go up...

Sick Around The World

For my health policy class, we were assigned to watch part of a Frontline documentary called Sick Around The World. The documentary feels kind of like Sicko when Michael Moore is examining the heath care systems of other countries, except I think that T.R. Reid gives the issue a more even-handed treatment. If you want to watch some of the documentary, it is available online and is broken up into segments by country.

12 Days

This past Friday Baylor had its traditional "12 Days" celebration. This is a yearly event which honors the mere 12 days of class the second years have before they take exams and finish their pre-clinical courses (of course they have THREE straight weeks of exams... yikes!) The event is a conglomeration of short skits that these days were all done as videos and put together in a large movie. One second year was actually a film major in college, and the editing was quite good.

Interestingly, there is an article on slate.com about exactly these types of shows. Our skits contained some of the things that the article talked about, but nothing that I would say was too shocking or offensive. Most of the videos were just parodies of TV shows and songs, as well as some poking fun of the many professors we have at Baylor. I really enjoyed the video, but I agree with the author that these are probably best left for a closed medical school audience. Besides, who would want to sit through two hours of inside jokes that they don't understand? Lisa made the right choice and stayed home.

Gone Forever

My green mountain bike was stolen last week. I kept it locked up on the first floor of our parking garage. A few days ago Lisa and I parked right in front of where it should have been, and all we found was the clipped lock. I received the bike as a birthday present almost nine years ago, so maybe it was time to move on. Luckily, I have kept my nice road bike inside the apartment, and now I think it will stay that way year round. Oh the bitterness of big city crime!

An unexpected result

I'm taking a little break from studying to write this post. We have our Block II exam this coming Monday and Tuesday, and I have still have a lot to learn about renal, respiratory, and cardiology before then! But I have decided to pause and tell a little story.

First I have to tell everyone that I like to make pizza. I make the dough with my stand mixer and then bake it in the oven using a pizza stone and pizza peel. When I first opened the stone right after the wedding, I read the instructions printed on the cardboard packaging. They instructed me to "season" the stone by rubbing vegetable shortening into the top and baking it in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. I did this, and it smelled like burning fat for a while. Since then, whenever I used the stone for pizza, it always filled the apartment with the awful stench of burning fat. Sometimes it even gave off thin gray smoke that stung my eyes a little bit. Lisa hated it and just wanted to get a new stone...

However, I found a message board online where several people claimed that their stones also had burning fat problems, and the consensus was that if you put the stone in the oven and ran the self clean cycle, all the fat would get burned out and the stone would be good again. I waited until Lisa was not home and gave it a shot.

Things went well at first. The oven heated up way past the 500 degrees that it is capped at for normal cooking and I started to smell some burning fat. I was sitting at the dining room table keeping an eye on it, when all of a sudden a ball of fire erupted from inside the oven with a loud whoosh sound. I jumped up and shut the oven off, but as soon as I did, that thin gray smoke started pouring out of the vent and began to hurt my eyes/lungs. I ran and opened all the windows and doors in the apartment, even though it was an 85 degree day in Houston.

The fats that were absorbed into the stone had become volatile and mixed with the air in the oven, the same way gasoline vapors would at normal temperatures. Either the fats got hot enough to reach their autoignition point (which could be possible since the oven reaches 800 degrees during a self clean), or the calrod in the oven gave off a spark (I don't actually know if that could happen, but somehow there was fire). The pizza stone had tuned a darker color, and lots of crispy junk had formed across the surface.

Now the good news:
- The oven received no damage and works fine.
- After a day or so the apartment no longer smelled like burnt vegetable shortening.
- After cleaning the stone very well, I used it to make pizza and there was NO smell! Internet wisdom prevailed!
- Dinner tomorrow is pizza, the dough is in the fridge.

Alright, now I have to learn about the marvelous kidneys.

Things a respectable Democrat should never say

There is a funny article on slate.com that ends with a list of "liberal utterances" that might become "acceptable" under a presidency and congress controlled by the Democrats. Some made me laugh, some made me cringe, while others made me nod in agreement...

Is health care a right, a privilege, or a responsibility?

I was thrilled when Tom Brokaw asked this question, because it probes at the ideology behind each candidate's plan. I think this is important because we know that no matter who gets elected, the next president will not pass the same plan that they have proposed.

I have been able to listen to two different doctors talk about the candidate's health plans in the last couple days. The first doctor was invited to speak by Baylor's student pediatric society and gave a fairly non-partisan review of each plan. The second lecture was part of a new health policies elective that I am taking, and it clearly took sides on this issue, although it was deliberate in ignoring other political issues.

What is pretty easy to figure out is that neither plan clearly solves the biggest issues facing health care today. Fundamentally, the problem is that we continue to use more and more complex, technologically intensive therapies that cost lots of money. In addition, we continue to use more and more prescription drugs, have an aging population of baby boomers, and simply more people in this country to cover.

I personally agree with Obama's response that health care is a right. If it is a responsibility as John McCain says, then Americans have been pretty irresponsible people. As a future doctor, I don't ever want to work a hospital that has to deny care in order to turn a profit, yet that is how the system is currently set up. I don't really care how it is administered, but we are wealthy enough in this country to offer a realistic health care solution for every single person.

The hard question, which no one is really asking and the candidates would never answer anyway, is where should we draw the line on health coverage in order to make health care affordable for more people. When has western medicine done all that it can within reasonable limits to prolong a person's life? Even now, those of us with good health insurance wouldn't be covered for last ditch, experimental procedures to treat a malignant gliobastoma. How much sacrifice would the insured have to make in coming up with a plan for all people? Are there enough low yield, high cost procedures that can be cut, or would we have to accept significant reductions in our current quality of care?

At least if our president is operating under the notion that health care should be a right for all individuals, we might make some steps towards a real health care revolution.

Slightly Unsettling

I just finished my anatomy and histology practicals, and they went alright. Now I just have to cram the rest of today for tomorrows final and then enjoy a relaxing weekend of... playing catch-up.

While procrastinating, I read this onion article which I found to be as sad as it was funny. However, at the bottom of the page someone linked to another article from January 2001 that is frighteningly prophetic. Will the real Nostradamus please stand up?

Keith and Lisa's massive hurricane Ike update

Lisa and I are finally back in our apartment after spending a wonderful week away at the McCormick resort. Our Ike experience was really not bad compared to what many people went through. Below is a needlessly long recap of what happened to us.

Thursday: I found out Baylor was closing down and our test was to canceled! Lisa went straight from work to Mike and Linda's house, and Mike came and picked me up at the apartment. I packed for Lisa over the phone and moved valuables and expensive electronics off the floor and away from the windows.

Friday: We experienced the calm before the storm and took our "final showers," since the power was certain to go out.

Saturday: The power went out around 1 am... then it got hot... no showers...

Sunday: We went into town to see the damage and check out our apartment. On the way in we saw the scenes you may have seen on the news: light posts were down, trees were toppled, and major buildings had lots of windows missing. Our apartment was without power, and we found out that water had come in through our windows and soaked our carpet. We emptied the refrigerator of stinkables (or so we thought), and headed back to Mike and Linda's which had somehow had power restored already!

Monday: Lazed around, should have studied more.

Tuesday: Lazed around, should have studied more.

Wednesday: Lazed around, should have studied more.

Thursday: I get an e-mail from my dean at Baylor informing us that they have decided to move the big block 1 test, which was supposedly canceled, to next Thursday and Friday! While I agree that this is the best move pedagogically, it came as a shock to many of us, especially those med students who had their apartments or condos destroyed in the hurricane. We also called our apartment and found out our power had just come on, so we made our way back home. We came home to mold growing around our windows, a broken air conditioner, and a stinky refrigerator and freezer (we missed a carrot in the bottom bin).

Friday: Procrastinated, should have studied more.

Saturday: Procrastinated, should have studied more.

Sunday: Had a lovely brunch, procrastinated, should have studied more.

Well there you have it, our Ike experience. We really were lucky compared to many others. As of right now, 40% of Houston is still without power and there is a curfew from 12 to 6 am. The electric metro train I take to school is still not working, and life won't quite be normal for a while. Lisa has to go to work tomorrow, but only for "staff development," no students yet. Unfortunately for her, she will probably have to lose other holidays or make up the missed days at the end of the school year. I have to start my next block tomorrow, even with the test looming just four days away.

Ike has turned out to be bittersweet for me, and just bitter for most everyone else.

I Like Ike... I think

There is apparently this thing called a "hurricane" coming to Houston. So far, despite what the weather channel is telling you, this has been a very good thing for Baylor College of Medicine students. Baylor closed down the college at 3:00 pm yesterday (Thursday) and will remain closed until the storm is over. Therefore, the dean decided to COMPLETELY CANCEL our block 1 finals next week. The test and practicals are not postponed, not rescheduled, just canceled!!!

The bad news is that the material will surely be tested in some cumulative way during the next block exam, which will make the next test substantially worse. Oh, and I guess that the flooding, wind and rain is bad too. But for now, I have a full 10 day break before the start of the next block, which is a precious thing in med school indeed.

Since Lisa and I both have school canceled tomorrow, we decided to head out to Mike and Linda's, which is NW of Houston, though still right in the path of Ike. The big problem for us will likely be losing power for several days, but otherwise we should be fine.

Med School is Still Hard

Ever since arriving at Baylor, it seems like we have received at least one e-mail per day describing some volunteer opportunity that med students are doing in the Houston community. I was starting to feel like I was missing out if I didn't help out with something, so today I volunteered at the Lyons Clinic in the 5th ward (a generally poor and under served neighborhood in Houston. I got to wear my white coat, equipped with my new stethoscope, reflex hammer, and pen light (none of which I knew how to use). However, I was placed at the neurology table, and third year medical students taught me how to do a pediatric neurological exam. So now I at least know how the reflex hammer works.

My block 1 final is coming up soon, and I am starting to feel the pressure. They purposefully test us only once per six weeks, so that there is no possible way you can cram for a test this big. I have been doing my best to keep up, but the amount of information we have covered is pretty amazing. So if i don't post again for a week and a half, you will know why.

The Olympics Sap-o-Meter

Lisa and I have watched a fair bit of the Olympics over the past few weeks, and I had noticed that NBC's reporting could be so focused on the "emotional" aspect of the games that it could distract from the events themselves. For example, during several of Michael Phelps' gold metal winning races, they talked about his mom nearly as much as they talked about swimming. Well it turns out that I was not the only one who noticed. Check out the Sap-o-Meter I ran into at Slate.com to see just how over the top the coverage was for these games.

Med school is hard

I haven't posted in a while, which is because medical school is crazy! I really enjoy the material that we are covering, but the pace at which we move is nothing less than blisteringly fast. Luckily, everyone I know feels hopelessly behind all the time, so it must work out in the end somehow.

Lisa started teaching this week, and so far it seems like it is going well. However, Lisa has had quite a bit of adjusting to do. Texas and Michigan have different systems for special ed, and Lisa's school is a bit different as well. The school is "open concept", which means that there are no walls between the classrooms. I guess it is supposed to foster a collaborative teaching environment, but with special ed students it can be a huge distraction.

Hopefully I can post more this weekend, but right now I have to study!

First day of anatomy lab

Today was a day that I had been not exactly looking forward to. I have never been super into "gross" things, and previous dissections I have done in school have usually made me nauseated. Usually it is the smell of the formalin (formaldehyde) that gets to me, not seeing or touching something gross. However, today I was pleasantly surprised. The room did indeed smell, but even after 2.5 hours I was doing fine. Also, dissecting a human was very interesting compared to a frog or a rat.

In case you have never been inside an anatomy lab, each body is in a "tank" which is a steel box in which sits the body and lots of formaldehyde. Two levers on each end of the tank lift the platform the body is sitting on out of the tank. Once you remove the towel covering the body, you are ready to start. In most med schools, including Baylor, a group of students are assigned to one tank.

My cadaver was an elderly man who had passed away from advanced Alzheimer disease. In terms of bodies, this was good, because males tend to have good muscle definition, and Alzheimer's does not really affect the anatomy much, except in the brain. One group had the body of a malnourished female, and they could barely find the muscles at all.

I think I am going to like anatomy more than I thought I would, but now I just have to figure out how to memorize thousands of pieces of information just by looking at little pictures...

It has begun...

We arrived in Texas a month ago and all was well. The trip down was made possible by the support of Lisa's parents, who not only packed up most of our belongings, but also drove the truck down and built over 10 pieces of Ikea furniture. We received a warm welcome from the McCormick family and began to settle into our new lives. However, we had some errands to run, and after three weeks of madness we finally came to a few conclusions.

1. Lisa and I can not avoid dealing with people who are incompetent
2. The state of Texas likes to take our money

Luckily neither of us had to start school or work (which oddly enough is school for Lisa too), so everything has worked out just fine. Lisa is in Michigan right now for Sara's graduation from nursing school. I just finished my week of orientation at Baylor College of Medicine and I officially start class on Monday.

This blog is going to be mostly about what Lisa and I are up to, but I'll also probably talk about med school quite a bit. I have never journaled or blogged before, so I'll do my best to update it with some frequency and not be too boring. If you are wondering about the title of the blog, then you obviously haven't been to an Astros game lately.