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?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, September 12, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
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...
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...
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