Sunday, March 8, 2009
I'm about as excited as they are
This is an actual screen capture from the beginning of the Kaplan Behavioral Science review video. See the Kaplan Medical watermark in the bottom right corner? That means I'm not making this up. If this is any indication of the excitement to come...I just can't wait to get started!
I hate being sick!
I woke up this morning at around 7:00AM because I couldn't swallow. Waking up at 7 might be normal for some people, but I usually wake up at around 11 or 12. I took a look back into my throat, and I'm definitely sick! I'm pretty sure that I've got coxsackie virus, which is a very common cause of sore throat in children. It's not that common in adults, but based on the way my throat looks, I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do for it but go a couple days barely able to eat or swallow. Some quiz on facebook thinks that I'm really only 21 years old though, so maybe that's why I'm still getting children's viruses.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Become a fully qualified chiropractor
Also taken from the same website as below...this guy is my new hero
Dolphin Facts
Dolphins can hold their breath for up to eight weeks but need to surface occassionally to look around as they cannot open their eyes under water.
Singing to a Dolphin will make it love you and be your friend for life. Anything by Neil Diamond will do.
Dolphins are not fish. They are mammals. They give birth to live offspring. Usually each dolphin gives birth to eighty or ninety calves at a time but few survive as the mothers eat their young.
(Taken from this site, the same hilarious website which brought us the spider picture email!)
Singing to a Dolphin will make it love you and be your friend for life. Anything by Neil Diamond will do.
Dolphins are not fish. They are mammals. They give birth to live offspring. Usually each dolphin gives birth to eighty or ninety calves at a time but few survive as the mothers eat their young.
(Taken from this site, the same hilarious website which brought us the spider picture email!)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Just a bad two days
If you were to think of all of the possible things that could go wrong the day before the first comp exam, I think you'd have to put having an 18 hour power outage right at the top of that list! Yesterday, we lost power at about 3:00 PM. Despite numerous calls to the landlord, at around 11:30 PM, I was finally notified that the power company just decided to call it a night, and that they wouldn't be coming to check out our place until sometime in the morning. So, I attempted to sleep, on top of my covers, in the heat and humidity. It didn't work very well, due to a combination of the heat, and my being very pissed off at things that could only happen here.
After the power finally came on (at around 10:00 AM), I jumped in the shower and headed off for school to take the exam. 200 questions and about 3 hours later, I was done, but just about 100% certain that I failed miserably. The exam was actually not as bad as I had expected it to be, it was just that we've really had no time to study. So, even though the questions weren't particularly difficult and I think the basic science faculty has done a great job preparing us, I just couldn't remember most of it. This seems to be the overwhelming consensus amongst those I've talked to in the class...that the exam wasn't necessarily hard, but nobody had the appropriate time to study for it.
Just a few minutes ago, I walked into my bathroom, to find it completely flooded. Eventually, I figured out that the plastic pipe that fills the reservoir had sprung a leak, so now I have to turn it off and just hope that a semi-competent plumber can make it out tomorrow.
FYI: behavioral science was just as low yield as I have suspected. Out of 200 questions, about 3 were behavioral science, and they were questions that you probably could have answered without ever having taken the class. But, they did probably raise my grade slightly.
Well at least tomorrow can't be any worse (I hope). It will at least be nice to sleep tonight in air conditioning.
After the power finally came on (at around 10:00 AM), I jumped in the shower and headed off for school to take the exam. 200 questions and about 3 hours later, I was done, but just about 100% certain that I failed miserably. The exam was actually not as bad as I had expected it to be, it was just that we've really had no time to study. So, even though the questions weren't particularly difficult and I think the basic science faculty has done a great job preparing us, I just couldn't remember most of it. This seems to be the overwhelming consensus amongst those I've talked to in the class...that the exam wasn't necessarily hard, but nobody had the appropriate time to study for it.
Just a few minutes ago, I walked into my bathroom, to find it completely flooded. Eventually, I figured out that the plastic pipe that fills the reservoir had sprung a leak, so now I have to turn it off and just hope that a semi-competent plumber can make it out tomorrow.
FYI: behavioral science was just as low yield as I have suspected. Out of 200 questions, about 3 were behavioral science, and they were questions that you probably could have answered without ever having taken the class. But, they did probably raise my grade slightly.
Well at least tomorrow can't be any worse (I hope). It will at least be nice to sleep tonight in air conditioning.
How To Smoke Smarties
In case you were wondering... Thanks to Ray for this one. America's youth sure does show promise! Too bad Ray can't do this...it's not good for his diabeetus (his spelling, not mine)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
One more hurdle down
This morning, I passed my ICM history and physical exam test! We had 20 minutes to take a history from a patient (one of the ICM faculty) and then 40 minutes, with a partner, to complete a full physical. Most people have probably never had an entirely complete physical, but they take a little while, if done correctly. The grading sheet they used had over 200 points that they were supposed to make sure we hit on!
The case that I had to take a history for and diagnose wound up being intermittent claudication. The word "claudication" did not seem to want to come to me this morning, but I did manage to get out "intermittent vasoconstriction," which means essentially the exact same thing and was good enough to pass. If you're interested, it presented as an overweight 60 something year old man with pain in his calf after periods of walking, which subsided after a few minutes of rest.
The physical exam was not very difficult, after doing it for the past 3 semesters, over and over and over again, in ICM. Like I said, it's pretty involved and covers EVERYTHING, but when you do it as often as we have to in ICM, it kind of just comes to you. Fortunately, that is the last history and physical that I'll be doing on a mock patient; the next time will be a real patient in the hospital!
Unfortunately, I'm not so confident about my chances of passing this first comp exam on Thursday. The end is in sight, but right now, it's just a faint light...far off in the distance. I'll definitely make it through the Goljan path lectures before then, but that's about all I'll have time for. That only leaves biochem, physio, anatomy, histo, genetics, pharm, and behavioral to go! Fortunately, Goljan integrates a lot and touches on all of those subjects, but probably not enough for this exam in 2 days! So, I should probably get back to it!
The case that I had to take a history for and diagnose wound up being intermittent claudication. The word "claudication" did not seem to want to come to me this morning, but I did manage to get out "intermittent vasoconstriction," which means essentially the exact same thing and was good enough to pass. If you're interested, it presented as an overweight 60 something year old man with pain in his calf after periods of walking, which subsided after a few minutes of rest.
The physical exam was not very difficult, after doing it for the past 3 semesters, over and over and over again, in ICM. Like I said, it's pretty involved and covers EVERYTHING, but when you do it as often as we have to in ICM, it kind of just comes to you. Fortunately, that is the last history and physical that I'll be doing on a mock patient; the next time will be a real patient in the hospital!
Unfortunately, I'm not so confident about my chances of passing this first comp exam on Thursday. The end is in sight, but right now, it's just a faint light...far off in the distance. I'll definitely make it through the Goljan path lectures before then, but that's about all I'll have time for. That only leaves biochem, physio, anatomy, histo, genetics, pharm, and behavioral to go! Fortunately, Goljan integrates a lot and touches on all of those subjects, but probably not enough for this exam in 2 days! So, I should probably get back to it!
Monday, March 2, 2009
FREE CONE DAY!!
Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day is April 21st and this year, I will definitely be there! Ben and Jerry's is, hands down, the best ice cream ever invented. In fact, it is one of the most amazing things that can be put in your mouth. If you disagree, then you probably have a very poor sense of taste and you might enjoy snacking on cardboard. In any case, I am mostly excited about this because this year, I'll be back in the USA, for good!! Come on April 15th!!!!!!
Only 44 days left until I leave the island, but who's counting? ;)
Only 44 days left until I leave the island, but who's counting? ;)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Daily Douchebag
I was tempted to think that this guy was from Jersey, but the hair is not nearly blown-out enough. Bang up job on the fake-tanner though!
Goljan, Day 2
Today is the my second straight day of Goljan, and I'll likely be up until around 1 tonight trying to get through the day. I only have until Thursday to learn as much as possible and try to pass this first comp (If I do pass the first comp, I'm also going to start buying lottery tickets). I've decided that listening to Goljan lectures is probably the highest yield thing I can do at this point. He makes path about as simple to understand as possible, and also does a lot of integration with the other subjects.
After a day and a half or so, I've just finally made it to the real path stuff; the first couple lectures were a lot of biochem integration and the very basic path. But, I think I've already picked up on a lot of things. We'll just have to wait and see if I pick up enough to pass!
After a day and a half or so, I've just finally made it to the real path stuff; the first couple lectures were a lot of biochem integration and the very basic path. But, I think I've already picked up on a lot of things. We'll just have to wait and see if I pick up enough to pass!
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