Med school is a roller coaster

I believe that I left off the last post discussing my exam and such. I passed again, just not on an overwhelming level. My head is still above water and I just keep on swimming :-). So I have officially made it through another week of med school and not much has gotten easier. Insomnia has kicked in on some days, the drive to wake in the morning isn't there and feeling drained during the day makes it difficult to study or think. One thing, however, I can say is that I have some great friends. I spent the entirety of today recapping a weeks worth of lectures and notes with them, making sure that we all knew the information. During our break I went to the store to stock up on food for the next month including all of the essentials such as a case of diet coke, coffee, red bull, canned ravioli, pasta, crackers, bread, and burger buns. I eat like a champion. We then ordered Chinese from Bob's and I graciously enjoyed my meal as we exchanged stories of awesomeness. We then proceeded to quiz each other until my brain turned to mush.

My Brain.

Shooting back to last week Saturday, I rose in time to see the sun and took a nice jog with my friend Brad. We took a run up a hillside to a side road that bordered the jungle. That road curved around and made a few nice turns and such until we came out on "moo cow" trail near my friend Stephanie's place. Brad and I mocked Steph from outside her window as we jogged by and made our way to the road bordering the ocean in  Portsmouth. We doubled back after a few miles and I told myself that I was glad to get up early to run, because now I had the whole day to study and work hard! So I waved bye to Brad and proceeded to my apartment to take a shower. After the shower I got hard to work. As my head hit the pillow like a ton of bricks I slept until noon. Upon waking up is when I actually got to work. So I started the stove to make some lunch instead (a man can't work on an empty stomach!) I managed to be productive at some point that day but the few days prior I was in a funk due to insomnia and as a result was sleeping the daylight away to catch up,only to repeat the cycle for the entire week. I learned that the coffee here is the equivalent to high octane jet fuel that may or may not be worse than an energy drink. I had a  few cups after 6pm  one night and was on a 11hour non-blinking streak (that's 5am if you didn't want to do the math.) Needless to say, I primarily learn from mistakes and in the words of Bill Nye the Science Guy :

I wish I was cool enough for a bow tie...

I spent a majority of this week playing catchup, which is a terrible feeling. I would place the feeling of getting behind in med school up there with looking forward to your first mid-life prostate exam, You know you have to do it, but it's never something you look forward to. I am a long way away from that, and I am going to keep it that way. I have a tough week of material coming up, so I hope I can get it down. Blood is a very complicated yet amazing tissue and I will leave it at that.

As for intramural hockey, I have had 2 games since I last wrote.  Last week's game we beat the "professors" by a score of "we lost count"  to 0. It wasn't much of a game on a competitive level, but it was fun nonetheless. (I feel like it may have been karma from the exam just days before.)

My game this week was a close one. This week we played the team that beat us 9-5 in our first league game. I have to say, it was a well fought game, and even got a little chippy at times. After the first of two periods we were down 6-5.  The final score was 13-9 in out favor. I have a great team, and these games really  ground me in reality after a week of "hard" work. Our record is now 3-1 Go Multiple Score-osis!

Multiple Score-osis

I believe tomorrow evening marks the first large campus event since orientation called Beach Bash. I'll do my best to take pictures and update everyone on the festivities tomorrow or sometime soon.



And now for the pictures I have accumulated this week.

 Don't worry, I can't see you

 I lied. And he was delicious. (just kidding)

 But not as delicious as this :-)

 My buddy Kevin prepping chicken for the grill

 Matt about to chow down.

 Stephanie with her frown upside down :-P

 My view from class, thanks Brad!

 Dominican lawn mower (C) Nick Katcher 2013

 

Matt's daughter painted his nails. He looked pulchritudinous. Look it up.

 View of the ocean from my roof

 :-)

 A friend we met along the way.

Look closely. 

This lizard just caught dinner.   Cool!

Thanks for reading and wish me luck :-)

Your buddy,

Nick

A Cloud Nine kind of day :-)

I hope my title grabbed your attention, but unfortunately for you, you'll have to read this long post full of excitement before understanding the mix of serotonin and dopamine I'm feeling right about now.



The primary reason for my long time absence from writing in this blog has been due to me a "good" medical school student. I have spent countless hours slaving away at the powerpoints (I know you expected me  to say books, but we don't use those here... A bit of a stretch from reality in the states). Another study tool I use here is called MediaSite. It's simply a program that allows people to be lazy, not go to class, and watch the lectures at their own leisure. (It comes in handy way more often than I previously deemed necessary.) It gives me the ability to pause, rewind, and rewatch the lectures if a point didn't make sense. (It also gives me the ability to slow down lectures to understand the thick accents of certain professors, or speed them up to where they almost sound like chipmunks :-P) needless to say, it's a form of education and entertainment all in one. So I've been working hard the past  few weeks and took my first exam for Histology (imagine looking at cells on slides with pretty colors like purple and pink with swirls) on Monday, followed by my first anatomy practical later that same day. I feel like I did decent on both, but I recently heard the average for the anatomy practical was around a 55%... So we shall wait and see. The following day I took my second "major" exam called mini 1.2 .  I won't have those results until next week, so root for me and pray that my wrong answers become correct!

Shooting back to last week Friday, I had my second hockey game. (To recap, my team got blown out the first week by a score of  9-5,   bring on the Dolly Parton comments)  All week prior to the game, the weather had been stellar. The sun was roasting, the breeze was pleasant and rain behaved. Well, when you live on an island, the weather is unpredictable. Unless of course you predict torrential downpour followed by sun, followed by a flood, followed by sun, followed by more rain. (This is about a time lapse of 2 hours, not multiple days) So back to the story. We had great weather all week, so based on Murphy's Law, we saw all the rain we had so graciously missed all week. So we played the game in the rain against the team called "the empty netters"  Med school students are punny and like to make fancy names. A quick web search of the name "Netters" will show the most famous medical textbook images used throughout the world done by none other than Frank Netter. A clever guy from my team suggested that we name our team "Multiple SCOREosis"  based on unfortunate disease of the lack of myelination of neurons. Punny. I know.   Stop laughing. Moving on...

Our opponents for this week are very talented. When they played last week, they won by well over ten goals. So we knew we would have our work cut out for us. Luckily for us, we had a very competitive game with both teams playing very solid offense and defense alike. In the end, we prevailed by a score of 10-9 after scoring a goal in the final minute of the game. I realize this is Ross Intramural sports, but I haven't had that much fun since I arrived on the island. It was a respectable game and I really look forward to my game tomorrow.

I would be a terrible friend if I didn't stop and give a shout out to my wonderful new friends Matt, Stephanie and Kim. These individuals have been a great outlet in the past few weeks and have really made the island feel (more) like home.  Matt is a jokester, storyteller, expert conversation starter, marine and a father. He reminds me a lot of some friends back at home and it has been a riot to have met him. Not to mention he is super intelligent and a great study partner. Kim is my neighbor across the hall who reminds me very much of my cousin Danielle back at home. We have lots of chats, became good friends and go over lots concepts for classes together. Stephanie is generous person will all the heart and soul of the South in her blood. She is genuine and homey and likes to cook and is more than happy to help a person out and expecting nothing in return but a good friendship. So for the last few weeks I've spent a lot of time with these folks and I am very thankful for their friendship.

So yesterday after the exam The entire school came to the conclusion that one of two things was going to happen. 1) Party, or 2) Sleep.   Me, being the smartest of them all decided to do both. After the exam I went back to my apartment and slept for 5 hours and caught up on all of the missed sleep  from the passed month. (I don't know if that is scientifically possible, but just roll with it ok?) After I woke from my nap, I realized that I had slept through my appointment for a haircut. Oh well.  So after my nap I went to Stephanie's apartment and hung out there until her Pot-luck party came into fruition. I got there early and helped her make a sauce (consisting of avacado's and a few spices) and mixed that with spaghetti noodles. It was divine! I was very impressed with the joint effort, but she got the recipe from pintrest so I can't take more than 10% of the credit. Here are some pics of the food.

The party eventually made it's way outside to the patio where I met a plethora of people, both new and old friends. We sat around and traded stories.  I can say that one of the best parts about being at this school is that I have met people from every corner of the earth. I can honestly say that I am in the most diverse place I could ever imagine. Every person has a story, a background and a culture that is so unique and worldly. I can't express the shear excitement I feel when I get to meet new people and learn from them. After Stephanies I made my way to "an establishment" called Tulips and got to hang out with my fellow classmates and relax.


This morning I was woken up by my cleaning lady who seems to have the hands of the hulk. She had no problem checking to see if I was home as I heard  the hinges loosen from the door frame. I had to scramble to find anything to cover up, (It's freaking hot as hell here, I sleep in boxers) only to realize that I had run out of the last of every type of clean clothing I own here. So I yelled  "ONE MOMENT" to avoid giving her show like Tom Cruise in his socks and underwear in the movie Risky Business,(just minus the singing and dancing) (For those that don't get the reference) Needless to say I grabbed my stuff and made my way to the library.

Before reaching the library I stopped at the post office because I was expecting mail from my beloved Sarah :-).  I was happy to see that my name was on the "You've Got Mail" list so I merrily made my way inside. I don't believe I have ever been so upset when getting a piece of mail. PLEASE give me a chance to explain myself!  Or perhaps, look for yourself...

 Yeah right...

 I find it funny that they scratched out the "Priority."

 I think they made sure my mail was of the highest "Priority"...

So yes, the envelope that my wonderful  Sarah had sent me had been destroyed, run over by a truck, or given to the stray dog to chew on. I don't know.  And here is where the story turns around.  I happily read the letter with a grin from ear to ear. Sarah has always been a wonderful letter writer and even this one was no exception. Let me tell the world something right here and now. Even with all of the technology and the ease of picking out a card at Hallmark, there is nothing that can say "I love you" more than the hand written, old fashioned snail mail. When someone sits down and takes the time to use the ancient piece of technology called a pencil to express the way they think and feel, that my friends means something.  Anywho.

Included in this letter (I should say originally, because it never actually made it due to the gaping holes in the envelope   (AHHHEEEEMMMMM UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE)  was a flash drive with a wonderful track that Sarah composed just for me. All of the songs included have some special significance to our relationship in some way. It's super sappy. (you are so sweet you are going to make me vomit kind of sappy) Yeah, that's us.    Here is the link to the song:

COMING SOON, the second I figure it out how to do it...


Now, it may not have had the same effect on you as it did me, but  I wanted to acknowledge how awesome Sarah is and how happy that she can make me from thousands of miles away.



Before returning home from the library I stopped to get my hair cut at  "Benjie's." I waited my turn as several people went before me, still on cloud nine from the letter that Sarah had sent me. When I finally made it into the chair, I told him how I wanted my hair cut and off he went. I made small talk with him and asked him how long he had been cutting hair. He told me he had been doing this for 18 years. He followed my question up with, "so how long have you wanted to be a doctor?" I told him I had wanted to be a doctor for quite a while, about 10 years or so. I mentioned also that before my dream of becoming a doctor, (as a kid) I had wanted to be a professional hockey player. Our conversation hopped from the ideology of America and how we (as a country) seem to value our athletes more than any other profession (based on paycheck alone). (A slight tangent-  I have watched a few hours of an unfamiliar game called Cricket, and in my interpretation, is a hybrid game with baseball as the foundation, with elements of bowling and dodgeball mixed in) I mentioned my interest in the game of cricket, and asked him about several aspects of the game. With this question I made an instant connection with him.  We talked and talked about cricket until my haircut had ended and I could hear the excitement in his voice as he taught me something about his culture. I am blessed to have had this experience with him. It really is a special feeling when you can connect with another person on a level based solely on cultural difference. He is a great guy and I would highly recommend that people check out "Benjie's" when they go to get their next haircut. Here is Benjie:

I had a great experience with him. Get your hair cut at Benjie's :-)

After my haircut, I made a stop at a coffee place and bought a couple fresh cookies for some friends that could use a little treat on Valentine's day. I stopped and gave one to Stephanie, and the other to Kim and wished my two friend's a happy Valentine's day before coming home to write everything down while it's fresh in my head.

And here are some pictures to fill in the gaps of the passed few weeks:

 Some funky bird

 Doing the chicken dance

 Only at Ross... (the dog is happily sleeping)

 My little friend outside Bob's Chinese Restaurant

 "I peench"  It's a crab

 Matt, eating the crab... kind of.

 Resident kittens having fun the night before the exam

 "Scrappy" The unofficial Ross mascot

 A well deserved breakfast after the exam

 My peanut butter-banana milkshake

 Let's race! A race? I hope I ween :-)  click me :-)

I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog, and I want to wish you all a happy Valentine's day. I'd also like to give out a few special Valentine wishes to my dear girlfriend Sarah, my sister Katrina, and my mom Cheryl.


Thanks for reading,

Nick

Grounding myself in reality

I felt the need to sit down and write. A few minutes ago I took a moment to step outside and stretch after several hours immersed in lectures. I stepped outside the familiar building and lecture hall, and the sensation was overwhelming, I felt human again. I was immersed an empowering breeze and the warmth of the sun. For days and weeks on end, I study, eat, sleep and repeat. When I stopped outside my senses opened, and took in sights, scents, and the feel of my surroundings. I was grounded again.

My lectures cover everything from anatomy,  pharmacy, physiological concepts on the micro scale, to interacting with patients.  It's a lot. I knew coming here that I would be tested in a manner that I have never been before: and I was right. Med school makes undergrad look like preschool. You are your own motivation. The responsibility is all your own. You have to want to learn it. The best part of this process is that I do genuinely wish to learn this material. It is all relevant. My issues lie with the amount of information, and the lack of time to cover it all. This week alone, I have spent countless hours after lunch studying and before I know it, it's time for bed. The days are flying by in an absurd manner. Hours are gone and lost forever.

My next exam is on Tuesday of next week, with the largest exam on Wednesday. To me, this is the true test of whether I am doing this correctly. I have the strongest desire to well and succeed.





On another note,

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down and think (when I actually had time) and I reminisced about all of the factors that influenced me to get to where I am right now. Much influence came from family and many others came from experiences.  I was fortunate enough to have shadowed several physicians during and after undergraduate school. One of the most influential doctors on my views of medicine, patient interaction, and knowledge was Dr. Dobbins. His impact on me is everlasting. On a terribly saddening note, I was informed that he has passed away this week. He was the first doctor  I ever shadowed. He set an unreachable bar for the standard of physician/patient interaction and care. He was a genuine person and cared about how you felt, and wanted patients to become well. I was blessed to have had him as a mentor. Although this news is saddening, there is a lot that I take from this. There are many people in our life who have made lasting impacts on us as people. Many have steered us in the right direction, or taught us something that we will carry with us for eternity. Please make sure that you make an effort to acknowledge those people and more importantly thank those people for their contributions. I send my deepest sympathy to his family and friends, for he will be greatly missed.  And to Doctor Dobbins, thank you for all you have done for me.


Medical school is difficult for many reasons. The most important piece of advice that I can give to anyone is to take time for yourself. Step away from the computer, go outside, and appreciate the redeeming qualities of nature.


Thanks for reading,


Nick