As I get ready to finish these last couple weeks of school I have been thinking about the word strength.
Partly my own strength. I have put a lot of effort into these last 9 or so months and it has really paid off. Many hours of studying, working in clinics and countless other activities have gotten me to a point where I am only a couple weeks away from finishing my first year of medical school! One step closer to my dream. I joke about how I still don't know a whole heck of a lot, but when I look back there are a lot of things I have learned. I may not know much about disease (I know some basics but the heavy stuff is in Year 2), but I do know a lot about how a normal human body works and I have invested countless hours learning basic interview skills and about doctor/patient relationships. I won't lie: I am beyond eager to learn some actual physical diagnosis but I have seen first hand how asking the right questions is equally important.
I also have to acknowledge the strength of my support system. Friends and family have done their best to understand when phone calls and visits were few and far between. They have laughed as my vocabulary did not always remain lay man friendly, and most importantly they have prayed for me when my nerves sky rocketed before every test. (Though I am sure they never doubted I would pass every one). No matter the times I did not believe in myself I always had a number of people believing in me and it means a lot. I can not forget that my husband has been the best trooper of all. While others may be just a phone call away he has to live with me. His patience while I have tried to figure out better study habits, while I sought out a doctor to treat my migraines, while I cried after exams only to find out I passed and a number of other crazy things has been amazing. It wasn't always easy but for a pair of newlyweds we sure did make it work.
Lastly, as this school year comes to an end I marvel at the strength of some of the patients I have had the pleasure to serve this year. My first "patient" was my cadaver in anatomy lab and I will always be grateful for the sacrifice she and her family made so that I could learn. In more clinical settings I saw people this year who had any number of ailments and yet there were always those that handled their situation with such grace. At the free clinic I met numerous patients who were so grateful for the care they received even when the waits were a little longer then they wanted them to be. I cold share many stories but one sticks out in my mind: it was a woman we met for one of our clinical days at school. Her father had been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and had passed away a number of years earlier. For those who don't know HD is a genetic disorder that involves degeneration of neurons in the brain causing a number of neurological effects. When people are younger the symptoms are often more psychological such as anger or depression but they lead to physical symptoms such as tremors and paralysis later in life. It differs for all patients but if someone is diagnosed with HD they will develop the physical symptoms at some point in their life. After this young woman's father passed she was tested and found out she is positive for HD. Despite this horrific diagnosis she makes a life for herself. She is married and had twin girls using IVF and screening so that her daughters would not inherit the gene for HD. She lives her life happily and does not dwell on what might be except to educate medical students on HD and what it does to families. I admire her strength and hope I will continue to appreciate such qualities in all my future patients.
I know this summer is going to be a great learning experience. Three weeks in Haiti and then externships in Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine and OB/GYN. Then onto Year 2!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Gleaners
This year I have participated in my school's co-curricular program which means I volunteer a certain number of hours this year and next and will get a "free" month during my last year of school.
I tried out quite a number of activities and have found my favorites that I will probably do a lot more often next year and beyond. One of my favorite places to volunteer is Gleaners. This is a food bank that has locations throughout the Detroit area. Their main warehouse is in Detroit and this is my favorite place of theirs to volunteer (favorite place so far, I would really like to volunteer at one of their partner soup kitchens sometime soon).
It kind of surprises me that I like working at the warehouse because you don't get to work with people directly and I am usually the type who likes to work one on one with those I am helping. However, I really believe in the good Gleaners is doing and I know that the behind the scenes work is so important to their cause. Also, when you volunteer at Gleaners there is a good chance you will be doing some heavy lifting so it tricks me into exercising, which I need, haha.
The first time I volunteered there I helped put together orders for Gleaners partners (food pantries, schools, etc). This involved loading lots of crates of different food and supplies onto pallets. Yesterday when I volunteered I spent my time bagging apples that would also go to different places to be distributed to those who are in need. In just over two hours 20 volunteers managed to sort through 8,000 pounds of apples! I know that makes a difference in the community.
Gleaners also has a Kids Helping Kids program so you can be sure that if I end up raising my family in this area that my love for the organization will be passed on :)
I know I get more excited on days that I am working in a clinic and will get to be face to face with patients, but I will continue to volunteer at Gleaners because it keeps me humble. We are not supposed to help others to be noticed for it, we are suppose to help because it is the right thing to do. I need to remember this.
I tried out quite a number of activities and have found my favorites that I will probably do a lot more often next year and beyond. One of my favorite places to volunteer is Gleaners. This is a food bank that has locations throughout the Detroit area. Their main warehouse is in Detroit and this is my favorite place of theirs to volunteer (favorite place so far, I would really like to volunteer at one of their partner soup kitchens sometime soon).
It kind of surprises me that I like working at the warehouse because you don't get to work with people directly and I am usually the type who likes to work one on one with those I am helping. However, I really believe in the good Gleaners is doing and I know that the behind the scenes work is so important to their cause. Also, when you volunteer at Gleaners there is a good chance you will be doing some heavy lifting so it tricks me into exercising, which I need, haha.
The first time I volunteered there I helped put together orders for Gleaners partners (food pantries, schools, etc). This involved loading lots of crates of different food and supplies onto pallets. Yesterday when I volunteered I spent my time bagging apples that would also go to different places to be distributed to those who are in need. In just over two hours 20 volunteers managed to sort through 8,000 pounds of apples! I know that makes a difference in the community.
Gleaners also has a Kids Helping Kids program so you can be sure that if I end up raising my family in this area that my love for the organization will be passed on :)
I know I get more excited on days that I am working in a clinic and will get to be face to face with patients, but I will continue to volunteer at Gleaners because it keeps me humble. We are not supposed to help others to be noticed for it, we are suppose to help because it is the right thing to do. I need to remember this.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Retraining Patch
It has been a while since my last post, sorry about that! (If I have any readers still out there.)
I have been busy with school and such as always. I did get to take a nice weekend trip to Midland and have a girl's night to celebrate two of my friends' birthdays. It was a lot of fun :)
As to the tittle of my post; I have also made it a goal to retrain my pet bird these past few weeks. We let him get spoiled and he was biting a lot so I finally decided it had to stop. He now gets put to bed and covered up and I have been handling him a lot more. He is actually coming to both hubby and I without biting now :) Only bad thing is he is now VERY clingy. He squawks in the morning starting about 7:30am and I have to get up and uncover his cage. Then he usually gets anxious when I try to go back to sleep (if I don't have to start getting ready) and he flies into our bedroom and lands on the bed. Kind of hard to go back to sleep with my bird pecking at my hair. But at least he is being better behaved for the most part and is back to being affectionate like he was when he was little.
I think the next step will be to get him a play stand that can go on my dresser. That way he can fly into the bedroom in the morning but be trained to play with his things instead of landing on the bed and bothering hubby and I. Hopefully only a few more weeks of such early mornings and he will finally be to the point I want him to be. And then I will go to Haiti and hubby will probably let him be bad for three weeks and I will have to start over, hahaha.
The joys of pet ownership!
I have been busy with school and such as always. I did get to take a nice weekend trip to Midland and have a girl's night to celebrate two of my friends' birthdays. It was a lot of fun :)
As to the tittle of my post; I have also made it a goal to retrain my pet bird these past few weeks. We let him get spoiled and he was biting a lot so I finally decided it had to stop. He now gets put to bed and covered up and I have been handling him a lot more. He is actually coming to both hubby and I without biting now :) Only bad thing is he is now VERY clingy. He squawks in the morning starting about 7:30am and I have to get up and uncover his cage. Then he usually gets anxious when I try to go back to sleep (if I don't have to start getting ready) and he flies into our bedroom and lands on the bed. Kind of hard to go back to sleep with my bird pecking at my hair. But at least he is being better behaved for the most part and is back to being affectionate like he was when he was little.
I think the next step will be to get him a play stand that can go on my dresser. That way he can fly into the bedroom in the morning but be trained to play with his things instead of landing on the bed and bothering hubby and I. Hopefully only a few more weeks of such early mornings and he will finally be to the point I want him to be. And then I will go to Haiti and hubby will probably let him be bad for three weeks and I will have to start over, hahaha.
The joys of pet ownership!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Shadowing
A couple weeks back I had my first real shadowing experience. Yes, I am a little slow on this one. Most students have had more shadowing by now but I guess I have spent more time volunteering.
I did work at a clinic in New Orleans for a summer years back (2006) but I did a lot of office work and since I didn't have any real experience being right out of high school wasn't allowed to shadow the doctors a whole lot. I did watch them do sutures a couple times that summer but that is a different story.
Anyway, I was assigned a physician to shadow for one of my classes and being that I am actually a medical student now he let me see what actually happens in the exam rooms. He even let me and a fellow student practice our interviewing skills on one of his patients and take a history of present illness. Overall I had a really great time and will probably continue to shadow at his office even after my requirements for class are filled.
His specialty is Internal Medicine and the office is a Primary Care office so it is very similar to what I want to do for my career. Only difference is that my specialty will more than likely be Family Medicine. In the three hours I was there I got to see patients with diabetes, bladder infections, possible STIs, minor sports injuries and even a particular interesting case of bi-polar disorder where the patient cycled 3-4 times in the span of 15 minutes. In other words, I saw a little of everything; and I loved it! It was very interesting and nice to be learning hands on instead of in the classroom.
Some of the doctors tactics were not my style. For instance, he tried to scare one patient into taking her diabetes medicine by telling her that if she did not that she would become blind and her husband would leave her! However, with other patients he was gentle as could be. One elderly patient (who only spoke Arabic) had trouble with his medications so the doctor took the time to write all the doses in Arabic on the bottles so he could take them better at home. I suppose he has decided what works or doesn't work for different patients. Not that I will adapt everything I saw but it was nice to see what 40 years of practicing medicine looks like.
Anyway, overall I had a great time and the doctor who runs the office answered any questions I had. He allowed me to do what I was comfortable with and it is obvious that he is passionate about spreading his knowledge to students. Many of my classmates said their assigned physicians just had them stand in the corner and watch so I feel lucky to be assigned to one that wants students involved and learning in his office. Since I want to be a primary care physician I think shadowing him over the next couple years will be a great way to learn outside of the classroom.
I did work at a clinic in New Orleans for a summer years back (2006) but I did a lot of office work and since I didn't have any real experience being right out of high school wasn't allowed to shadow the doctors a whole lot. I did watch them do sutures a couple times that summer but that is a different story.
Anyway, I was assigned a physician to shadow for one of my classes and being that I am actually a medical student now he let me see what actually happens in the exam rooms. He even let me and a fellow student practice our interviewing skills on one of his patients and take a history of present illness. Overall I had a really great time and will probably continue to shadow at his office even after my requirements for class are filled.
His specialty is Internal Medicine and the office is a Primary Care office so it is very similar to what I want to do for my career. Only difference is that my specialty will more than likely be Family Medicine. In the three hours I was there I got to see patients with diabetes, bladder infections, possible STIs, minor sports injuries and even a particular interesting case of bi-polar disorder where the patient cycled 3-4 times in the span of 15 minutes. In other words, I saw a little of everything; and I loved it! It was very interesting and nice to be learning hands on instead of in the classroom.
Some of the doctors tactics were not my style. For instance, he tried to scare one patient into taking her diabetes medicine by telling her that if she did not that she would become blind and her husband would leave her! However, with other patients he was gentle as could be. One elderly patient (who only spoke Arabic) had trouble with his medications so the doctor took the time to write all the doses in Arabic on the bottles so he could take them better at home. I suppose he has decided what works or doesn't work for different patients. Not that I will adapt everything I saw but it was nice to see what 40 years of practicing medicine looks like.
Anyway, overall I had a great time and the doctor who runs the office answered any questions I had. He allowed me to do what I was comfortable with and it is obvious that he is passionate about spreading his knowledge to students. Many of my classmates said their assigned physicians just had them stand in the corner and watch so I feel lucky to be assigned to one that wants students involved and learning in his office. Since I want to be a primary care physician I think shadowing him over the next couple years will be a great way to learn outside of the classroom.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Just for laughts
Today is a studying day for me so just a pic that hopefully puts a smile on your face because it did mine :)
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