tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335129022024-03-07T02:51:18.492-06:00Streets Broad and Narrowmy path through medical schoolMollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-8365798739354396912010-07-04T15:54:00.003-05:002010-07-04T16:24:00.082-05:00First Shifts<a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view&current=Butterfly-emerged.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/Butterfly-emerged.jpg" alt="butterfly" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The beginning of July marks a special event in the genesis of the doctor: spanking new interns work their first shifts as actual physicians.<br /><br />As one of those interns, it's terrifying. And exhilarating. And exhausting. Once a lowly medical student, you've gone into the chrysalis of fourth year and emerged on the other side a butterfly who doesn't really know how to fly. Fragile. Awkward.<br /><br />But very very pretty. (Just kidding.)<br /><br />Some things I saw in my first two shifts as an emergency medicine intern:<br /><br /><ul><li>thrown from horse, landed on head</li><li>psychotic patient becoming violent with family members (chief complaint was decreased urination)</li><li>vaginal bleeding x 1.5 months</li><li>abdominal pain in 18 year old female</li><li>drunk, demented old man fell down stairs, cut open forehead</li><li>neck laceration from broken beer bottle</li><li>firework exploded into eye - globe rupture</li><li>drug rash</li><li>accidental finger amputation</li><li>blurry vision x 1 week</li><li>generalized itching with a "rash" that was invisible to my eyes</li><li>out of percocet (x2)</li><li>facial abscess</li><li>urosepsis</li><li>dog bite</li></ul><br />Could there be a better field than this??? (I will give you a hint. The answer is no.) OK, so it takes me a ridiculously long time to sew up a small lac (I had to put in some deeps, though). And to write a basic prescription. And to dictate anything. I'll get better with time. And those crazy, funny, heart-warming, smelly, sweet, fantastic patients will still be there.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-27765792569610295342010-03-04T22:37:00.002-06:002010-03-04T22:39:30.819-06:00DT: David Tennant's first acting jobOh, this is so eighties that it almost hurts to watch. Appears to be an anti-smoking teen sort of thing. A small part, but at least it was a speaking role. :-)<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mzHnH9hVSiU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_GB&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mzHnH9hVSiU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_GB&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-37385451296266947922010-03-02T23:45:00.004-06:002010-03-03T21:34:36.286-06:00DW: why you should watch Doctor Who -- a brief introduction<a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view¤t=doctor-who-logo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/doctor-who-logo.jpg" border="0" alt="dw,sban"></a><br /><br />Doctor Who is a cult phenomenon here in the US. If you've heard of it at all, it's likely in relation to crazy convention-going sci-fi fanatics who flinch at the sun and smell of elderberries. And yet it's one of the most popular television programs in Britain, where watching it is as much a part of pop culture as something like "Lost" or "The West Wing" is here and it is considered a show for the whole family to enjoy together.<br /><br />The years and years and years of history can be intimidating to the new viewer -- it started in 1965 and has been going strong ever since. Even in the 15 year hiatus without new TV episodes, the story lived on in books and audio dramas (audio dramas! Radio plays! I love Britain!) and a TV movie. But don't despair -- the 2005 revival was conceived to be accessible to new audiences and it seems likely that the new season beginning in April 2010 under the new direction of showrunner Steven Moffat will be similarly kind to newbies.<br /><br />So without further ado, a brief introduction to the Doctor.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />The Doctor is 900-odd years old (he lies about his age) and is an alien. He comes from the planet Gallifrey and is a Time Lord. This means that he is wicked clever, has some special senses that allow him to perceive things about the fabric of space-time, has two hearts and some other physiologic oddities, and can regenerate every cell in his body when his death is imminent (this process has some side effects including the fact that he then looks completely different).<br /><br />The Doctor's people, the Time Lords, were one of the most powerful races in the universe for years beyond counting thanks to their special abilities. With great power failed to come great responsibility, however, and they became out of touch, hidebound, and generally were massive tools. The Doctor is a rebel of sorts who cannot maintain the distance and the impartiality demanded by his society, and he keeps "interfering" in events, changing timelines in order to right random wrongs and save random helpless people. The Time Lord powers-that-be aren't big fans of this meddling, and he earns no little trouble for his efforts.<br /><br />The Doctor has a special love/frustration relationship with humankind, who he regards as both marvelous and maddening. He spends a lot of time on Earth and often takes a human companion or two with him on his adventures. He knocks about the universe in a stolen time-traveling spaceship called the TARDIS, which stands for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Due to a fault in her chameleon circuit, the TARDIS is stuck in the appearance of a blue 1950s police box. Fortunately, her perception filters are still working, and anyone who doesn't know what she is usually won't notice her.<br /><br />The Time Lords fought for years with another race called the Daleks, who are genocidal maniacs who desire nothing more than the obliteration of all other species. This conflict eventually escalated into the great Time War, which threatened to destroy not only the Daleks and the Time Lords, but also the universe itself. In order to stop the universe from going bye-bye, the Doctor had to do something (it's not really been revealed exactly what) which resulted in the whole war being timelocked and, effectively, lead to the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords. The Daleks were supposed to be destroyed too, but that didn't work out so well.<br /><br />Since the end of the Time War, he has wandered alone -- the last of his kind.<br /><br />Those bare words don't do much to describe the magic of Doctor Who. The Doctor is that primeval, archetypal character -- the wizard, the magician, the stranger -- who extends his hand and lifts you from the world of the mundane to the realms of the extraordinary. He's wonderful and terrible and critically flawed yet utterly brilliant. The whole regeneration business means that the character can be reinvented over and over again much in the same way that this archetype is, but it all happens in the context of the same story. And it's fantastic.<br /><br />Why the Doctor is called the Doctor is one of the show's enduring mysteries. One rather meta reason that's been alluded to is that he's called the Doctor because he makes people better. And it's true, he does. But he also makes people worse. He takes us to our fullest capacities in both good and bad ways -- he basically turns the volume up to eleven just by his very nature. And in such a way, he shows us all of what it means to be human.<br /><br />The show itself is amazing. It's funny and witty and scary and madcap zany, and it still manages to have a deep, powerful core made of morality and philosophy and tragedy.<br /><br />But don't take my word for it. Watch it yourself. The new series (2005 and beyond) is available on Netflix streaming. (Many of the old episodes are available, too, but if you haven't seen the show before, I wouldn't start with any of the older stuff.)<br /><br />Here are two excellent YouTube introductions to the Doctor, both by the incredibly talented Seduff. The first is an amazing introduction to the character of the Doctor in the words of those who have met him and had their lives changed by him. The second is just an awesome look at how funny the show can be, since the first video doesn't really emphasize that part.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p4YpH6TgqCY&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p4YpH6TgqCY&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KkIcg1FSw54&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KkIcg1FSw54&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-17323442425902095352010-02-26T14:49:00.009-06:002010-02-26T15:04:58.515-06:00Medicine: Dr. James BarryHad to write a paper for my medical history class; this is the result. Interesting to speculate about, to say the least:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">The Curious Story of Dr. James Barry<br />(Who May or May Not Have Been England’s First Female Physician)<br /></div><br />In 1809, a young man named James Barry enrolled at the University of Edinburgh as a medical student. He graduated in 1812 and went on to a distinguished yet controversial career as a military surgeon and Inspector-General of Hospitals in the British army. On July 25, 1865, the lifelong bachelor Dr. Barry died, alone and penniless, of dysentery in a rented room. In August, 1865, the servant who had dressed his corpse for burial reported to Army agents and to Barry’s physician, Dr. William McKinnon, that the body she had dressed was a “perfect female.” And thereby hangs a tale.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />As far as can be determined, James Barry did not officially exist prior to signing the register at Edinburgh. No prior records have even been found, although many have searched for them. He is known to have arrived in Edinburgh in the company of a Mrs. Mary Ann Bulkley, whom he described in one of his few surviving personal letters as “my Aunt.” Mary Ann Bulkley was the estranged sister of the famous painter James Barry. She had suffered financial ruin at the hands of her husband and her eldest son, and was ultimately turned out of their home in Cork, Ireland. She and her daughters went to London, where she sent a letter to her famous brother asking for his assistance. In the postscript of the letter, it is revealed that the hand that wrote it belonged to her daughter Margaret, as Mrs. Bulkley was too upset to write it herself. Handwriting comparisons between that letter and examples of the writing of Dr. James Barry support the conclusion that Margaret Bulkley and James Barry were the same person.<br /><br />Further evidence supporting this theory was found in documents belonging to Daniel Reardon, Mrs. Bulkley’s solicitor. A Statement of Account from November 28, 1809 describes the disbursal of £10 to “Mrs. Bulkley and Miss Bulkley” and states, “To cash to you on going to Scotland by my Brother.” A letter written to Reardon on December 14th, shortly after their arrival in Edinburgh, states that “Mr. Barry’s Nephew is well received by the Professors,” and is signed by James Barry. On the envelope, however, the solicitor had recorded the name of the sender and the date: “Miss Bulkley, 14 Dec.”<br /><br />While some historians consider the above to be conclusive proof of James Barry’s real identity being that of Margaret Bulkley, it seems clear that doubt is still possible. The solicitor could have erred and written the cousin’s name on Barry’s letter. Mrs. Bulkley and her daughter could have met Barry in Scotland or on the way there. Mrs. Bulkley and her famous brother James Barry had other siblings; it is possible that Dr. Barry was the offspring of one of them, although there is no evidence to suggest that. The servant, Sophia Bishop, could have been mistaken about the sex of the body she dressed, or she could have created the story out of whole cloth for some reason – perhaps to gain some posthumous revenge against a lodger who could be, by all accounts, a difficult fellow. After all, it is hard to imagine someone being able to sustain a disguise of this nature through an army induction, with its attendant physical examinations, and through a forty-odd year military career.<br /><br />Hard physical evidence is completely lacking. Barry’s body was buried quickly, owing to the epidemic of dysentery that was rampant at the time of his death. No autopsy was performed, and the death certificate signed by Barry’s physician, Dr. McKinnon, listed his sex as male. The certificate also bears the “X” of Sophia Bishop as a witness, although it is possible and, indeed, probable that she was not able to read the document. Dr. McKinnon, despite having recorded the sex as male at the time of death, later wrote of the allegations:<br /><blockquote>I had been intimately acquainted with [Barry] for a good many years, both in the West Indies and in England, and I had never had any suspicion that Dr Barry was a female. I attended him during his last illness… I informed [Bishop] that it was none of my business whether Dr Barry was a male or a female, and that I thought he might be neither, viz. an imperfectly developed man.</blockquote>Disinterment of the body to confirm or refute Bishop’s story was never performed. (Every medical story, it seems, must have a connection to Sir William Osler, and the connection here is this: Osler performed an investigation to discover if an autopsy or a disinterment had ever been done.) It is interesting that nowhere in his writings about the incident does Dr. McKinnon ever state that his assertion that Barry might have been intersex was based on a physical assessment of the patient.<br /><br />The story of the controversy over Dr. Barry’s sex somehow got out and, unsurprisingly, made sensational headlines. Accounts poured in from scores of people who claimed to have suspected or known in certainty that Barry was a woman. There is only one recorded instance of someone suspecting this prior to Barry’s death, however. Emmanuel de Las Casas, chamberlain to Napoleon, was a prisoner at Cape Town, South Africa, when he met Barry. He described him in his journal, which was published in 1823, as, “a boy of 18 – with the form – the manners and the voice of a woman.”<br /><br />In addition to asserting that Dr. Barry was a woman, Sophia Bishop made the further claim that the body she dressed had stretch marks on its abdomen consistent with a history of pregnancy. McKinnon recollects Bishop as defending this claim by saying, “I am a married woman, and the mother of nine children, and I ought to know.” No evidence of a child exists, although there is one possibly mysterious gap in Barry’s career that might be explained by hiding to conceal a pregnancy, or Margaret Bulkley could have borne a child prior to becoming James Barry.<br /><br />It will likely never be established with certainty whether the physician known as James Barry was male, female, or intersex. In many ways, it is sad that the controversy over his sex has come to overshadow what would have been, for anyone, a remarkable medical career. Barry performed one of the first recorded successful Cesarean sections in 1826, and was known throughout the Army as a brilliant and gifted surgeon. He was a tireless advocate for public health and worked diligently to improve the lives of the unfortunate souls living in the South African leper colony that was part of his bailiwick. He challenged the authority of his military superiors in the Army and his civilian superiors at every posting in order to ensure the provision of clean water and a balanced diet to soldiers under his care, and faced repeated reprimands and punishments for his efforts. He worked to regulate the sale of patent nostrums that were at best harmless and at worst poison in order to safeguard both the health and the pocketbooks of the people he served.<br />Two lessons can be learned from the story of James Barry. The first is that one should always actually examine one’s patients. The second is that, in the long run, it doesn’t matter what James Barry’s sex actually was. His career stands for itself as a testament to a skilled and dedicated physician.<br /><br /><br />References:<br />Holmes, Rachel. Scanty Particulars: The Scandalous Life and Astonishing Secret of James Barry, Queen Victoria's Most Eminent Military Doctor. Random House, New York. 2002.<br />du Preez, Hercules Michael. Dr James Barry: the early years revealed. South African Medical Journal, 2008;98:52-62.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-11408194696723255612010-02-20T19:49:00.005-06:002010-02-20T19:54:32.380-06:00DW: everywhere and anywhereNew trailer up!<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"All of time and space. Everywhere and anywhere. Every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?"</span><br /><br />This is why I watch Doctor Who.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EpbmMhNe6aA&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EpbmMhNe6aA&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br />(On the off chance that you actually watched it, the effects look a bit dodgy because this was actually shown in 3D in British theaters.)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1207432619006074042010-02-17T15:30:00.001-06:002010-02-17T15:32:21.374-06:00gleeeeeeeeee!: new preview<embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1545148137" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=66872338001&playerId=1545148137&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="292" width="326"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">So</span> excited!!Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-46932702191685583912010-02-15T12:08:00.003-06:002010-02-15T12:12:14.913-06:00Shopping: Chocolat BluSo excited, darlings!!!<br /><br />After months and months of looking at Rue La La and finding things I liked that were always either a) sold out or b) not available in my preferred size and/or color or c) way too frakking expensive, I finally managed to make a purchase!<br /><br /><a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view¤t=1311582540_RLLC.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/1311582540_RLLC.jpg" border="0" alt="sban"></a><br /><br />I adore them. I hope they fit. Bring on summer!!!Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-78970223584441340502010-02-14T17:55:00.004-06:002010-02-14T18:44:21.577-06:00Book reviews: The Secret Country and The Parable of the SowerSometimes I just need to disengage. To retreat from the-world-as-it-is into a world of another's dreaming. This weekend was one of those times.<br /><br />I read <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Country-Trilogy-Vol/dp/0142501530">The Secret Country</a> trilogy by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_dean">Pamela Dean</a>. She is the author of one of my very favorite coming-of-age books, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Tam-Lin-Pamela-Dean/dp/014240652X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266192116&sr=1-2">Tam Lin</a>, and so I was excited to dive in. The basic premise is that a family of children (brother, sister, and cousins) have a game they play every summer in which they vividly imagine life in their "Secret Country," and act out all the different parts. They create tales of magic and intrigue, assassination and war, in which they are princes and princesses at court. Of course they are then somehow transported into a real live version of their game, but not everything looks as they had imagined it. Some things are just perfect, but there's a character that they didn't write, others won't stay on script, and while they've somehow managed to gain access to some of their character's abilities (magic, sword-fighting, musicianship), they don't have them all. Their attention is divided between trying to play their parts well enough that no one notices, trying to discover how they were able to get there in the first place, and trying to thwart the dramatic and disastrous plot that they themselves created.<br /><br />On the whole, it was good but not great. (I don't mean to damn it with faint praise; I really did enjoy it.) I think it could have benefited a great deal from a little more aggressive editing. The pace is at times very slow and the story drags, but then all of a sudden things happen in the blink of an eye without a whole lot of explanation. It's a young adult series, really, and I think younger readers might have had trouble following a few of the story's twists and turns. It is my understanding that she has returned to this world and written some adult work, and I am interested in reading it.<br /><br />The other book I read was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler">Octavia E. Butler</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parable-Sower-Octavia-E-Butler/dp/B0029LHX3U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266192900&sr=1-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Parable of the Sower</span></a>. This is a book (and an author) I've been meaning to read for ages so I'm delighted that I loved it every bit as much as I hoped I would. The setting is a near-future Southern California, which has become (along with the rest of the US) a dystopia in which law and order as we know it have essentially ceased to exist. Guns and drugs are everywhere, the police are expensive, ineffectual, and almost as likely to rob you as the roving bands of homeless people, drug addicts, and gangs. Water is more expensive than gasoline. Gasoline is no longer used to fuel vehicles, but instead to start arson fires that drive people out of their settlements so that the scavengers and squatters can move in. What few paying jobs still exist are largely in the hands of huge multinational corporations, and the recently elected President has created laws that essentially allow a return to the days of the "company town" and debt slavery.<br /><br />Growing up in a small walled enclave, the main character, Lauren, struggles with normal late adolescence issues, with her strict Baptist minister father and her step-mother and step-brothers, with the immanent threat of the destruction of what remains of her community, and with an inherited condition passed to her by her dead, drug-addicted mother: hyperempathy syndrome. Lauren feels the pain (and, rarely, the pleasure) of those around her.<br /><br />She also struggles with finding her own faith, her own reason for being, and her own God. She discovers/creates a religion she calls Earthseed, based on her own keen observances of life and her study of other religions. The basis of Earthseed, in her words, is:<br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">All that you touch<br />You Change.<br /><br />All that you Change<br />Changes you.<br /><br />The only lasting truth<br />Is Change.<br /><br />God<br />Is Change.</div></blockquote>As Lauren and her discovered companions make their way north, fleeing the tragedies in their wake, these words take on enormous power. I absolutely loved this book. The writing is simply beautiful -- spare, haunting, and brilliant. The main character is a triumph. The religion piece is organic and thoughtful. There is a sequel -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parable-Talents-Octavia-E-Butler/dp/0446675784/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_6"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Parable of the Talents</span></a> -- that I intend to read at my earliest opportunity. And I will be reading Butler's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Octavia-E.-Butler/e/B000AQ1SQE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">other works</a>, as well, I can promise you that.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-17251440874428111252010-02-10T14:25:00.004-06:002010-02-10T14:37:49.862-06:00Lists: snow-things I would build if I had a yard<a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view&current=4249216206_2317def8a9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/4249216206_2317def8a9.jpg" alt="sban" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/supernan/4249216206/">image source</a>)<br /></span><br />And a modicum of artistic ability, too.<br /><br />1. snow TARDIS<br />2. snow Alien (the one, the only)<br />3. snow Cylon<br />4. snow hand (Manos, baby, Manos)<br />5. snow Darth Vader<br />6. snow ROUS<br />7. snow Zoidberg<br />8. snow Ood<br />9. snow Weeping Angel<br />10. snow Godzilla<br /><br />(h/t <a href="http://io9.com/5468837/beware-the-superior-snow+creature-of-the-universe-the-snow-dalek">io9</a> for the idea)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-60207377646840875422010-02-10T14:02:00.004-06:002010-02-10T14:05:22.032-06:00I'm not sure I'm ready for all of this...<a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view¤t=the-internet-a-series-of-tubes.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/the-internet-a-series-of-tubes.jpg" border="0" alt="sban"></a><br />Just joined Twitter, and now there is the Google Buzz thing going on.<br /><br />I'd just sort of gotten Google Reader figured out.<br /><br />What on earth am I getting myself into???Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-68823751830341573532010-02-09T20:56:00.003-06:002010-02-09T21:00:42.632-06:00A world of no: Tennant tattooAs anyone who knows me could tell you, I'm more than a bit of a David Tennant fangirl.<br /><br />My fannishness, however, positively <span style="font-style: italic;">pales</span> in comparison to this person's:<br /><br /><a href="http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/?action=view&current=tenthdoctortattoo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/tenthdoctortattoo.jpg" alt="sban" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For a tattoo, it's actually quite good. But, still... no. Just... no.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-37962299663355568462010-02-09T20:11:00.002-06:002010-02-09T20:24:07.105-06:00Window shopping: the art of medicine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/bagoftrouble.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 394px; height: 500px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/bagoftrouble.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />For ages now I have wanted to decorate my dining room with vintage public health posters (mostly VD but with TB and other stuff thrown in, too). Thus far the primary limiting factor has been that I don't have a dining room. Why do this in a dining room? I don't know, exactly. Your average person probably does not find venereal disease an appetizing topic. It pretty much comes down to process of elimination. The bedroom? Even more inappropriate. The kitchen? Usually not enough wall space to do what I'd really like to do. The bathroom? Ditto. The living room? Perhaps, but I've got a bit of a different idea for that. And so on.<br /><br />The secondary limiting factor has been finding high-quality, large reproductions of them. I've had seriously varying degrees of success buying prints online, so I'm a bit hesitant. I don't have the funds right now to frame them anyway, so I'm going to hold off for a bit. But that doesn't mean I can't look and imagine!!!<br /><br />Take a tour through the wonderful world of public health after the jump.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Here we go:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/makeyourhealthpoints.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 346px; height: 500px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/makeyourhealthpoints.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/stampoutsyphilis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 413px; height: 532px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/stampoutsyphilis.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/youkeptfit.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 375px; height: 534px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/youkeptfit.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/shemaylookclean.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 669px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/shemaylookclean.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/eatfruit.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 627px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/eatfruit.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/WPA-Swim-for-Health.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 436px; height: 640px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/WPA-Swim-for-Health.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/protecther.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/protecther.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-5069566469609911442010-02-08T11:03:00.004-06:002010-02-08T11:12:43.339-06:00Rambles: Poetry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/gate.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 554px; height: 444px;" src="http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss44/abysmaltinkerer/streets%20broad%20and%20narrow/gate.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />(photo: my crappy iPhone camera)<br /><br />A little patch of sun before the clouds and snow and gloom threaten again. Loved the twisted shapes of the dried vegetation on the iron gate.<br />__________________________________________<br /><br />The memory throws up high and dry<br />A crowd of twisted things;<br />A twisted branch upon the beach<br />Eaten smooth, and polished<br />As if the world gave up<br />The secret of its skeleton,<br />Stiff and white.<br />A broken spring in a factory yard,<br />Rust that clings to the form that the strength has left<br />Hard and curled and ready to snap.<br /><br />--T.S. Eliot, <span style="font-style:italic;">Rhapsody on a Windy Night</span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1513753245730991902010-02-06T21:48:00.006-06:002010-02-06T22:05:53.542-06:00Window shopping: Hispanitas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUV2e701ysOcd-mYbQTZcXBQsqmifhqVXbNqrT_9Yye9Cs7BUdDEa1s8XFcfCqkdcAHLsmoW2h4adeRORfRN8veB4ubeW0k2RNakCZgvRaeT99sHHkXut9G2Qt_c4MAFgF0E3s/s1600-h/hispanitas+front+page.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUV2e701ysOcd-mYbQTZcXBQsqmifhqVXbNqrT_9Yye9Cs7BUdDEa1s8XFcfCqkdcAHLsmoW2h4adeRORfRN8veB4ubeW0k2RNakCZgvRaeT99sHHkXut9G2Qt_c4MAFgF0E3s/s320/hispanitas+front+page.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435347420283177810" /></a><br /><br />So as I was walking past the shoe store, I noticed that they were having a weekend sale. I stopped in to see if the pair of Hispanitas shoes I'd been lusting after for the last few months were on sale. (The image above is sadly not of the ones I wanted, but I couldn't find a pic of them online after ages and ages of searching. They're fabulous, though, and I want them, too!)<br /><br />The good news is that they were. The bad news is that they were still too expensive for me to buy.<br /><br />More pics of gorgeous shoes that I want very badly, after the cut.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAmLzV2N2kzv8S2mwkRrvBlv1w8RcHk_kTLOzkDilokAn5V3D5GfMedlKgoxDLSHD5ZdwQx9jM9iqQLFn0HpS0W-qocYKx4vBVfZOVrgOTnXzmhI37LsIkjFSvpKQjL6F628-/s1600-h/hisp-cut.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 205px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAmLzV2N2kzv8S2mwkRrvBlv1w8RcHk_kTLOzkDilokAn5V3D5GfMedlKgoxDLSHD5ZdwQx9jM9iqQLFn0HpS0W-qocYKx4vBVfZOVrgOTnXzmhI37LsIkjFSvpKQjL6F628-/s320/hisp-cut.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435346982782275378" /></a><br /><br />The combination of the amazing colors plus the retro-yet-modern styling is what gets me, I think. Plus the craftsmanship is simply outstanding.<br /><br />Check them out at <a href="http://www.hispanitas.com/">www.hispanitas.com</a> (site is in Spanish).Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-83322605303972981662010-02-06T14:43:00.004-06:002010-02-06T15:02:50.978-06:00Feeding the YouTube addiction: bittersweetThe best Doctor Who vidder in the biz, Seduff, has posted a farewell to David Tennant. It's brilliant.<br /><br />I recommend viewing full screen in HD (the picture quality is outstanding).<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aD5VxRGkeQI&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aD5VxRGkeQI&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-48629743874023175692010-02-06T13:50:00.001-06:002010-02-06T13:51:55.950-06:00a friendly push + procrastination = me blogging againBeen quite a while, but I'm back. Thanks, t, for the provocation. :)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1162624212538176872006-11-04T00:13:00.000-06:002006-11-04T01:10:12.813-06:00November surprise! WIth bonus parentheses!It was damn cold this morning (well, 21 F, which is damn cold for the first week in November, anyways) and so I got out my winter coat. And lo and behold, there was a November surprise in it! Twenty bucks in the pocket! YES!!!! Finding money in my winter coat is the highlight of fall for me. I never intentionally leave any there, but almost every year I find some. Usually it's not quite twenty dollars, but I do remember one happy year that it was forty.<br /><br />I needed the little lift because I was pretty tired. I must admit that by Friday of every week, I am more than ready for the weekend. One positive of the weekend is obvious -- I don't have to get up at 6:30 am. This is a big plus. The other positive is that I can get so much more work done! Looking back over that sentence I realize that it might sound a bit pathetic but it's true. By the time I get home from school most days it's almost 6 pm. Usually I take a shower because after gross lab, I stink. Make and eat dinner, and it's already 7. For my own sanity, I try to take a half-hour to an hour break at some point during the evening. I might watch a TV show, read a some of a non-med school book, talk to friends, or go online (or even blog!). That leaves maybe three-ish hours to get actual studying done if I want to get to bed "on time" (around 11 is my goal) (this almost never happens).<br /><br />One thing I study every school night (even if I'm taking it "off") is the dissector for gross lab. It's rather sad how inadequate that always seems to be once I'm in lab, but it is infinitely better than not looking at it. In order to do this well (at least for the way my mind works), this involves reading the pages in the dissector and then matching them up with pictures from Rohen's (a photographic anatomy atlas that shows actual cadaver dissections), Netter's (idealized but wonderfully clear drawings), and information from Gray's (our required textbook). (I like Moore's a lot better but it's just easier to stick with Gray's since I don't have to go hunting down the requisite page numbers.) For a relatively straightforward lab, this takes roughly half an hour. There don't seem to be a whole lot of those, so mostly it's around an hour spent on that.<br /><br />In an ideal world, I would then proceed to review the information from the day's lectures and read ahead for the next day. Please pardon me while I cackle rather maniacally at the notion of actually having the time and/or energy to do that every day for every subject. Basically I triage -- what concepts did I have the hardest time with during the day, what subjects did the lecturer gloss over and then say, "You'll have to read about that in your free time"? That's what gets my attention. I do almost always at least preview/skim the next day's lecture notes or PowerPoint slides so I have an idea of what to expect. Occasionally I have been rewarded for doing so by realizing that it's something I already know well, which gives me a nice warm happy glow (this has happened a few times in physio). When I preview biochem it's usually followed by some creative cursing. (Have I talked yet about how my anatomy lab partners know what time it is based on how much cussing I am doing in lab?) So really, on weeknights, I am just keeping my head above water.<br /><br />It's on the weekends that I actually get the bulk of my effective studying in. A nice long stretch of uninterrupted time for me to get my study on is really what works best for me. I'm a slow starter, but once I get in the zone I am good for hours. Taking that day off last weekend really did set me behind for the week, I think. Unfortunately, next weekend I am going to be busy (but fortunately it will be with fun things!), and I've got two exams this week, so I foresee sacrificing sleep time on weeknights in order to make sure that I can stay close enough on top of things that the lost time won't be too detrimental. After that weekend, I have an anatomy exam on Tuesday, and then no more exams until finals, though, so I should have some catch up time in there. OMG, two and a half whole weeks without a test! It's going to seem like heaven. Of course, then there will be three in three days. But, bah, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.<br /><br />One random observation before I head off to bed:<br /><br />The Law of Lab: my partners and I have established that there is definitely a Law of Lab, which states that you will have alternatingly horrific and great days in gross lab. This phenomenon is totally independent of the intrinsic difficulty or lack thereof in any particular day's assigned dissection. Instead it is a function of TA/instructor availability. We do have a ridiculous amount of help available to us. Unfortunately the distribution of that help is very uneven. They, understandably, try to help out the people who seem to be having the most difficulty. These are usually the people who had a horrific day during the last lab and are hence behind. The instructor will then come over, wave their hands, and the anatomy of the requisite portion of the body will magically be made so apparent that even the most blithering idiot could clearly see order in what had previously been chaos. That instructor, having gotten into your group and your cadaver, will tend to remain highly involved for the remainder of the period and as such the day's dissection will proceed swimmingly. Meanwhile, of course, the group whose last lab session went great is now mired in horrificness and they are waving their hands futilely in an attempt to attract the attention of the engrossed instructor, and the minutes tick by. This group then does not finish their lab, which results in them getting all the instructor attention the next day. And so the vicious cycle continues. And such is the Law of Lab. The only thing that can modify the Law of Lab even slightly is the Interesting Finding. This results in everyone coming over to your table, which is great, since you get all sorts of instructor attention and learn a lot, but bad, because you lose valuable time while trying to explain the Interesting Finding to everyone else. So, in the end, it's usually pretty much a wash.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1162449268319422812006-11-02T00:19:00.000-06:002006-11-02T00:34:28.326-06:00It's all good.Had an anatomy exam today on the abdomen. It went pretty well, I thought. I felt good coming out of it primarily because I feel like I've gotten the hang on the way the course director writes the questions for the written portion of the exam. Seriously, while I'm not 100% sure I answered everything correctly, at least I felt like... yup, I knew the boundaries of the omental foramen were going to be on there, etc., etc. Nothing felt like a surprise, which was a pleasant contrast to the last exam. And he's already posted that we all passed the practical, so good on us. :) I do wish we'd had more time to spend on the material, but... bygones.<br /><br />Took the night off, watched some old Buffy episodes and drank some wine. Felt rather rebellious. :) Two exams next week (physiology and biochemistry), so will be hitting the books hardcore starting tomorrow, though. My "pseudo" boyfriend is coming into town not this weekend, but the next, so I'm really looking forward to that. We will be attending a medical ethics conference, but at least we'll be together. :) :)<br /><br />I've recently read a few blogs of some rather disaffected post-med school people. I had all sorts of thoughts about them, but I've thought better about posting them here. Suffice it to say that it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round. There are some people who are very dissatisfied with the fact that modern medicine, in large part, treats diseases that have a self-inflicted component to them. Why these physicians choose to blame their unhappiness about that on their patients or on the medical system in general rather than on their own choices in how they react to that fact will always be a little bit of a mystery to me. Then again, I knew what I was in for when I chose this path, so I suppose it is easy for me to be a little prejudicial.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1162187166274109632006-10-29T23:33:00.000-06:002006-10-29T23:46:06.303-06:00Thank you!!Thanks for the comments, people! It is kinda nice to know that someone is reading. :)<br /><br />What a lovely weekend this was. On Saturday I decided that, abdomen exam on Wednesday or not, I needed a day off. In the morning I ran some errands and cleaned up my increasingly disgusting apartment to a level that, while hardly white-glove-worthy, is somewhat less biohazard-worthy. It was a lovely day so it was nice to walk around to the bank, the office supply store, the wine store, the bakery... it was almost idyllic. There's not going to be too many more weekends of pleasant weather so every one counts!<br /><br />One of the nice things about living here (I can't remember if I've said this before) is that it feels like a small town in the big city. I almost always see someone I know when I'm walking around and, since I do like my classmates, that's very nice!<br /><br />And then I took a decadent nap. Ahh, it was wonderful.<br /><br />In the evening, I went out with some friends from class. We walked along the Magnificent Mile, window-shopping and enjoying the beautiful evening. We got some popcorn from <a href="http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/">Garrett's</a> (they're a Chicago institution, and their reputation, I must say, is well deserved), walked around some more, went to dinner, and then had drinks up in the Signature Lounge in the John Hancock building. It was kind of a touristy evening but we all still feel a little like tourists so, hey, I guess that's appropriate. :) We talked a bit about school but mostly we talked about other things. It was really nice to have an interesting political conversation with someone I can respectfully disagree with. It stood in stark contrast to the vituperative discourse that has become the norm with the talking heads these days, that's for sure.<br /><br />Today I luxuriated in the extra hour of sleep, which I needed after staying out until 2 am, and then went hard to work on anatomy. I've got a ways to go yet but the exam isn't until Wednesday and I'm pretty sure I'll be good to go by then. It's basically just a matter of continuing to review the blood supply and innervation... I have a good general understanding but sometimes I'm off by a vertebral level or two. :)<br /><br />As of now, I'm officially halfway done with the first quarter of med school! In that strange way that time often has of flowing, it feels simultaneously like I just started and like I've been doing this forever.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1161925639301466332006-10-26T23:39:00.000-05:002006-10-27T00:07:19.313-05:00Long time, no blogDoesn't seem like it's been eleven days since I blogged, but I'm guessing Blogger is more reliable on this determination than I am.<br /><br />Time flies when you're having fun. Time flies even faster when you're having fun at the pace of one or two weekly exams plus volunteering plus getting your ass kicked by a rhinovirus or some such infectious baddie. :)<br /><br />I am hanging in there, though the last two weeks have probably been the most study-filled of my life. I'll admit that isn't saying a whole helluva lot... I have been gifted with the ability to cram and I utilized that ability way too often in undergrad. Marathon 16-hour study session before exams I am used to. Keeping up something like that kind of intensity (if in slightly shorter individual bursts) over the long haul is a novelty.<br /><br />In this last while, I have (roughly in chronological order):<br /><ul><li>discovered that I passed my first round of exams (though the physio was far dicier than I thought it would be... seems as though they got tired of keeping the exam the same)</li><li>celebrated the above not by going out, but instead by collapsing in bed and sleeping for an amazingly luxurious twelve full hours</li><li>sawed through the ribcage of my cadaver<br /></li><li>held a (dead) human heart and lungs in my hands</li><li>been fairly certain that I failed my first gross anatomy written (No muscles? Anywhere?? WTF? Weird, I thought this was the back and thorax exam, not the PNS-and-embryo-to-the-exclusion-of-everything-else exam)<br /></li><li>performed my first standardized patient interview (complete with mildly humiliating DVD recording of same)</li><li>performed my first interview on a patient in the ED</li><li>volunteered at the free clinic</li><li>dissected a six-pack (of muscle)<br /></li><li>performed a colectomy (on my cadaver, of course)</li><li>relearned basic sugar chemistry, glycolysis, the TCA cycle, ETC/ox phos, gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate shunt, and glycogen metabolism</li><li>located the ampulla of Vater, which for some reason always makes me think of Darth Vader's helmet</li><li>discovered that I passed my first gross anatomy practical and written<br /></li><li>been very happy that this physiology module is cardiac and hence about 70% review</li><li>(except for the thirty-seven brazillion different ion channels we are required to memorize)</li></ul>And so that's what's new and exciting in Molly's world for the time being. I'll try to post more often, if only for my own sanity. No guarantees, though. :)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1160974448167548342006-10-15T23:45:00.000-05:002006-10-15T23:54:08.180-05:00A Calculated RiskThere are only 24 hours in a day. While it would be nice to be able to spend all of them studying, it's simply not possible. I do need to sleep. And eat. And preserve some faint semblance of a life.<br /><br />And so I made a decision this weekend. I studied for my Monday physiology exam on Saturday. Saturday evening I took last year's exam and did fairly well on it. (Well above passing.) And so I decided to devote all of Sunday to anatomy, which, due to the biochem exam on Friday, I'm a little behind in. Word has it that the physio exams change essentially not at all from year to year, so I'm pretty confident that my performance on the old exam will translate well to my performance on Monday. And if it doesn't, then... oops! Oh, well. :)<br /><br />I'm not going to host this video directly on my blog, but you really do need to see the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo7Sng5Jeb0">"PaxilBack" parody</a> of "SexyBack" if you haven't already. I laughed my ass off.<br /><br />I can't believe I'm starting week four. That's almost halfway through the first quarter. Scary!!! I've got to say that I am loving the quarter system so far, though. Semesters just could get to be tooooo long.<br /><br />At any rate, boa noite to anyone reading this. And leave a comment if you are!!! I would love to see if anyone is paying attention. :) :) :)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1160960059983340432006-10-15T19:54:00.000-05:002006-10-15T19:57:51.173-05:00<b>Worm!</b><br /><object width="405" height="334"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/G9XN8ye-ioc"></param><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/G9XN8ye-ioc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="405" height="334"></embed></object><br>One of the worms that was in my plum this afternoon. GROSS!!!!Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1160877616526981922006-10-14T21:00:00.000-05:002006-10-14T21:07:34.856-05:00<b>WVWV - My First Time 60 sec. PSA</b><br /><object height="334" width="405"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/V8FxZTQ8lsc"><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/V8FxZTQ8lsc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="334" width="405"></object><br />I love this PSA. I think it does a great job of getting the message out. :)Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1160805560131158012006-10-14T00:26:00.000-05:002006-10-14T00:59:20.143-05:00Ahhh... so glad this week is over!Wow, this was an intense week. Stressful, busy, long... and wonderful. All through the application process, I had what I think are probably pretty normal fears for anyone, but especially for a nontrad, about whether or not I would like medical school and if uprooting my whole life would be worth it. The answer is indubitably yes. It was worth it and then some. I am loving this experience even more than I ever thought possible. It is sooooo amazingly, incredibly, awesomely cool that I can't even begin to describe how much I'm enjoying myself.<br /><br />Case in point: in anatomy lab today, we were looking at the deep muscles of the back, the vertebral column, and the spinal cord. We had an anesthesiologist come in to do a "clinical correlates" presentation on lumbar puncture and epidural and spinal anesthesia. He had a really cool powerpoint presentation about the relevant anatomy and general principles of the procedures, and then he showed a video of a resident placing an epidural catheter in a woman. Afterwards he and three gas residents circled around the lab for quite a while (maybe an hour?) to answer any questions we might have. I jumped on my poor resident! (I don't think he minded, though.) I asked him all the questions I've ever thought of about epidural anesthesia but never asked because they were irrelevant to nursing practice or because I didn't want to look like a moron or because I or the CRNA or anesthesiologist didn't have time. He seemed really excited to teach about it and we talked about the procedure, indications and contraindications, complications, etc. We didn't get to see a whole lot of epidural stuff on my floor (this started changing as I was leaving, but since I worked so little then I really never got too familiar with it), so I learned a lot and it was just so cool to have such a great resource there just to teach me! (Well, to teach other people too, I suppose, but I'm greedy.)<br /><br />It also was just about the neatest thing ever to see a spinal cord. How many people get to do that? It was larger than I expected it to be (I don't know what I was thinking, really, but my first response was, "Ooh, that's thick!") and the dura mater was tougher than I had envisioned. The cauda equina did not look quite so much like a horse's tail as advertised but I can see where they got the idea. My dissection techniques still leave a lot to be desired but I did improve, I think. I'm also still not quite sure that I'm seeing everything I'm supposed to be seeing, but these first two sessions have been pretty rushed, apparently, in comparison to what comes next, so I'm hoping that the next labs will be a little less frenetic. I think I'm going to like spending extra time in lab. I also really like looking at other people's cadavers to see the differences. I think I'm going to try to pay special attention to other people's backs, because I'm kinda doubting that they're going to flip my guy over for the practical... it just took too many of us and was really, really difficult.<br /><br />In other news, I had my first biochem test today. It was OK... I feel relatively good about it. I know I missed up one question for certain, but I'm OK with that. (Apparently this prof includes a question on every test that you can only answer correctly if you remember a certain obscure detail from the notes... it's not something you can really reason your way through.)<br /><br />We finally got our anatomy exam grades today. My whole class passed both the practical and the written, which was cause for much rejoicing!!! I did much, much better on the written than I thought I'd done, which of course makes me very happy. I couldn't possibly be more pleased with my score on the practical, too, so I'm just one bundle of joy right now.<br /><br />After lab I went to social rounds (best idea EVER) and from there I went out to dinner with three of my classmates -- wonderful people. So, all in all, it was really an amazing day. I know this is going to sound incredibly cheesy, but I am inexpressibly grateful to have the opportunity to do this. It's even better than a dream come true, because it's even better than I dreamed it would be. I really feel, more than I've ever felt before, that I am in exactly the right place and doing what I was, for want of a better word, <span style="font-style: italic;">made</span> to do. This fits me like a glove.Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33512902.post-1160613591586364562006-10-11T19:00:00.000-05:002006-10-11T19:39:51.756-05:00I'm going to stink for a very long timeSorry so long since the last post. I don't really have time for this post, but I'm going to write anyway because I really need to do something pseudo-creative for a little while. :)<br /><br />It's been an interesting week thus far. Lots of firsts.<br /><br />On Monday I had my first "patient encounter" as a med student. Since I've worked in patient care for 10 years, this was perhaps not quite as profound of an experience for me as it was for others, but I was actually more emotional about it than I thought I would be. My clinical skills small group (3 people) and I walked together from the med school building to the hospital all dressed up and wearing our brand new crisp white coats, and it was kind of a cool feeling. Then I had a moment of weird disorientation because I was back in a hospital (yay, home!) but had no idea where anything was (oooh, scary!). Eventually we found the intern who was precepting us -- what a great guy. We chatted for a while and then he assigned us each a patient. These first interviews weren't really histories... instead we had a short list of questions to ask about the patient's perception of illness and health care experiences. I was assigned to a very nice lady who had just returned from something (a chest x-ray, I believe, but I'm not sure). They were just shifting her back into bed before I came in. I was a little disturbed to see that the transporter left her without a call light, with her Foley bag in the bed with her, and with her bedside table out of reach, but I got that stuff sorted and we chatted for a bit. The primary goal of this exercise was to get us to be able to achieve some sort of rapport with our patient. Goal achieved.<br /><br /><br />On Tuesday I had my first medical school examination in human morphology, both practical and written. Our first unit was on embryology and histology of tissues. The practical portion was thirty slides -- ten chick embryo slides and twenty cells/tissues. The written was a 12 page mix of short answer, matching, and multiple choice, and was worth 160 points. The practical went very well, I thought, and I've heard a rumor that everyone passed, though we haven't received our scores. I thought the written was rather challenging, although that could just be because, in my opinion, anyway, it didn't play to my strengths. Too much cartilage/bone/CT, not enough muscles, nerves, epithelia, and blood (and embryo, really -- I wound up being pretty good at the embryo stuff to my supreme amazement).<br /><br />Today was my first cadaver lab. We had a meeting during lunch where a speaker came and gave a talk on the history of dissection, death and how different religious/social traditions deal with it, and how this is the experience that really sort of marks the transition from being laypersons to becoming physicians. Honestly, I think people were more freaked out after the talk than they were before. But it was quite interesting -- I find medical history fascinating.<br /><br />Then we went inside, got changed into scrubs (sadly not provided by the school), and had to wrap our cadavers in cloth (for preservation), flip them prone, and change them into different bags. I really like my group but we were behind from the get go because our cadaver is very large -- not horribly obese or anything, but just very tall, broad, and solidly built. We had to recruit some assistance to get everything positioned and it took quite a while.<br /><br />We are beginning with the muscles of the back. Our cadaver's back is probably twice the size of some of the others (ok, this may be a slight exaggeration -- very slight). And, of course, we were all very new so everything took a long, long time. I have a feeling that we are always going to be the last group done in lab. Which is fine -- I think it's an incredible opportunity and I am all about spending as much time as we need in order to make the most of the amazing generosity of this person's gift to us.<br /><br />The infamous smell is both better and worse than I thought it would be. The odor is not horrifically unpleasant, I think -- I've smelled much worse coming from live people -- but it is insidiously, horribly, and unmeasurably pervasive. Hopefully my skin will forgive me for the long hot showers I'm going to be taking every night when I come home.<br /><br />After lab the Humanism in Medicine group had cookies and milk (and leftover pizza from the lunch meeting) for us and were available if anyone wanted to discuss their experiences. Apparently in last year's class there were several people who were quite upset and crying the first day. They remarked that we seemed very laid back and calm, which I suppose we really were, in retrospect. We all just walked in, took a moment to appreciate the gift we had been given, and got to work.<br /><br />So, I hope I'm done with firsts for a while, now. I really would like to be able to get settled into some sort of routine! I suppose there are two more firsts coming up -- the first biochem exam on Friday and the first physio exam on Monday... oh, yeah, and my first standardized patient interview next Friday -- but I don't think they'll be quite as dramatic as these ones were.<br /><br />I like my biochem teacher a lot but he is not the sort of fellow who likes to simplify or demistify or, I don't know, make things terribly clear. Apparently his exams are all about application, but we don't discuss, really, anything related to application in class, so the exam will be interesting, to say the least. I went through Lippincott last night and thought it was very helpful, despite the fact that he wants to burn every extant copy. Yes, perhaps they oversimplify, but there is something to be said for working your way UP from the basics.<br /><br />Well, that's what's new in my world, and if you've not heard from me lately, that's why. Hopefully I will be able to take some time this weekend to reconnect with people!!Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04426177520606193202noreply@blogger.com1