From the beginning...

After intending to start my medical school blog "tomorrow" for about three weeks now, it has finally begun. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Orientation started on August 5th. I say started because it was a five-day process, mostly due to scheduling with the CEO of AAMC. We had our coating ceremony to receive our short white coats and spent a lot of time listening to people, much like we do in class now. This mostly consisted of people telling us a) to get involved in their organization, b) medical school is really hard but a really awesome experience, c) you cannot access medical records without a legitimate "need to know," even if your Mama calls you about Aunt Sally, or d) all of the above. Oh, and "marijuana is illegal."

It was funny how so much of the advice sounded exactly like what we were told about being Orientation Leaders, just more. For instance, it's going to be hard and time-consuming. We need to eat healthy and exercise. Time management is important. There will be one month that will be the busiest of your life (October, this time, rather than February). You are here to be a leader and to serve. Ultimately, it's not about you. You will make great friends. I don't remember Lindsey specifically saying that marijuana was illegal, but the implication was there. So I feel like I have a head start on some of my classmates.

Class finally started last Monday, the 16th. Since then we have had an entire undergraduate semester's worth of biochemistry, plus some histology and a little developmental anatomy. It's a lot to take in, but not overwhelming or panic-inducing, although you wouldn't know it to look at some of my classmates. Good gravy some of these people are nuts.

It's generally accepted that you retain about 90% of the material that you teach to someone else. If you're like me and have a tendency to be more distracted and chatty when trying to study around other people, this doesn't help you. But don't worry; I'm here to help. I've discovered a way to trick myself into teaching myself. I read things aloud, thereby forcing myself to make complete thoughts and sentences out of the material, which is mostly what teaching another person does for you. Also, since I study alone, I don't have anyone to hear me and think I'm crazy, especially when I switch to a foreign accent to keep things interesting.

Today was our first test, a block test on biochemistry and histology. I passed the biochem test and scored above the traditional average (don't know the class average yet), so I'm pleased. But I will do better on the next one! I will not be defeated! Histology posts their test answers on some door of some department somewhere in the research wing, like we're in the Stone Age with no internet (or maybe the 80's), so I'll have to hunt down those answers and see how I did. I was fairly confident about all but a few of my answers, so I'm hoping for good things.

Tomorrow begins Gross Anatomy. As best I can tell, we're sitting in a lecture and then picking up a box of vertebrae for self-study. Doesn't that sound like fun? Aren't you jealous? I know you are; you don't have to tell me. Actually, if you did, maybe it would make me more excited about smelling like formaldehyde for the next four months, so go right ahead.

Oh, and about the blog title. We had a doctor come in and give a presentation about "medical terminology." We were expecting something lecture-y, but it turned out to be his advice on med school and some examples of the terms patients would use to describe their illnesses. One patient had a "history of two bugs and a locust." That would be "tuberculosis." I personally like two bugs and a locust better.