pumpkins and pygmy hippos

You know on Friends when Joey is trying to like Janice for Chandler's sake and endures "Joey and Janice's Day of Fun!"? Well, every once in a while, Carlisle and I take an afternoon off from studying for "Erin and Carlisle's Day of Fun!", only we actually enjoy ourselves. Here are a few of our adventures together.

A little before Halloween, we decided to take off one Friday afternoon, which culminated in us carving the greatest pumpkins this world has ever seen. Are you ready? I don't think you are.

First, Carlisle chose some pumpkins. Beautiful specimens.

He began to carve.

I was a little more aggressive.

Carlisle might have failed Circle Day in kindergarten, but it gets the job done.

We both enjoy cleaning out the pumpkin brains, though.

It took some time for us to decide what we wanted to carve. We considered classic jack-o-lantern, decorative fall things like leaves, and other poor ideas. But then, we went to the Internet.

We both wound up finding examples that we liked, but we didn't bother printing off templates. Oh no. That's for amateurs. We took dry erase markers and free-handed our designs based on some pictures. Little did we know that we were unleashing an artistic force upon the world. We also chose images that represented significant portions of our childhood. Here is the finished product.

We're pretty proud of ourselves. I like to think Ariel would be, too. When asked which ninja turtle was represented on his pumpkin, Carlisle responded, "I'd like to leave it open to individual interpretation. He can be whoever the viewer needs him to be." He's so deep.

Unfortunately, the pumpkins had mostly dried out before actual Halloween night. I went to Carlisle's to talk through the material for our test the next day, but since the pumpkins couldn't be lit, we had not bought candy to give to trick-or-treaters. So here's what happened. Carlisle accidentally left his porch light on. Trick-or-treaters show up at his door. Carlisle wants to give them granola bars. Erin says, "No! They will spit on you! Kids hate granola bars, especially when they're expecting Snickers. Don't talk or make any noise." Carlisle freezes in the kitchen, then wants to give them Pop Tarts, broken up so there would be enough to go around. Erin whispers, "No. Shh." Children go away disappointed, but not as disappointed as they would have been had they gotten granola bars.

A couple weeks ago, I was feeling homemaker-y and decided I'd like to try cooking steak in my cast iron skillet. Once again, to the Internet! I read about how you make the pan really hot, test it with a couple drops of water, then throw the steak on and leave it. What I did not read, however, was that this method would produce COPIOUS amounts of smoke. Like, seriously. Smoke filling the apartment. We opened the balcony doors, the front door, turned on fans, and popped the battery out of the smoke detector (which disturbingly only beeped once, but I was comforted because I had just received an apartment handout saying they would be checking the batteries that very week). Another source of concern was the fact that the fire department was rather nearby, so I just prayed the the smoke that was surely billowing out of my apartment did not alert them. Once I had committed to this style of cooking, I carried it out for the one steak, but I chickened out on the second. It was a rather disconcerting five minutes that probably took five years off my life. Or at least five months. It was traumatic for reals. Incidentally, this method of preparing steak is recommended for outside cooking.

Yesterday, Carlisle and I had another Day of Fun!. After lunch we went to the Jackson Zoo! I was super pumped about this. It's a small zoo, but it has some cool stuff, like peacocks walking free (I really want a pet peacock; I hear they're good guardbirds). A lemur fight most definitely went down while we were there. In the Wetlands Habitat Building, there is a beaver exhibit with this little cave-type thing you could go in that had bubbles in the ceiling. It's hard to describe, so here's a picture of Carlisle peeking up at the beavers.

The mama and baby beavers walked right by my face! It was neat. I like their tails. Their teeth, however, are grody.

When we went into the African Jungle exhibit, there was a habitat for a pygmy hippo. We could not find it, which made us sad. I called to the hippo, asking her to come out to play. After we finished our circle through the jungle, past Chimpanzee Island and a lot of monkeys, we wanted to go back to find her. We got distracted by the carousel on the way.

Carlisle rode a mountain lion, which he named Frank. You may also notice he has a mustache. Yes, Movember is upon us! It's a happy time of year. I rode an ostrich that I named Eleanor. Anyway, we went back and found the hippo! She was hiding in a corner. I named her Henrietta (she was too cute not to have an alliterative name), and she looked sad. She looked right at us in a mopey, hurt kind of way, so we tried to talk to her nicely and give her some encouragement. I think it worked because she was holding her head a little higher when she started walking away.

You may have noticed that I like to give things older names. This is not the first instance. I have a wooden bird named Millicent, and I named my friend's nameless cat Winnifred (or Winnie, for short).

After chatting up Henrietta, we were almost done with the zoo, but we made a pit stop in the Discovery Zoo for Carlisle to hang out with his leopard friends.

After the zoo, we went shopping for ornaments for my Christmas tree! Mama has kindly offered to donate our old tree to my apartment, so I thought to myself, "That money I would have spent on a tree can go to more ornaments, right?" "Right!" I don't know if I bought enough, but I'll evaluate, shop some more, and show you a picture when I finish it. But after much ornament/angel for the top/tree skirt shopping, we ate at Soulshine Pizza (so yummy) and came back to my place to make wreaths. I had bought ribbons and pine cones and berries, so I hot glued all these pieces onto empty wreaths for Carlisle's and my apartments. They turned out well, so I'll share a pic with my tree. It was an exhausting but happy, happy day.

By now you're probably thinking, "Hey, Erin. Have you dropped out of school? Tell us a funny medical school story!" Well, I hate to disappoint, but I spend a good portion of my time at school studying in the library. This is not a situation conducive to much humor, except for when you see someone just give up and put their head down in defeat (sad, but funny). We have, however, started our preceptorship, which is a huge deal. A pair of students gets a preceptor who teaches them how to take a history and do a physical on a patient, the most critical portion of medicine. I'm really excited, partly because I have an oncologist as a preceptor, so I get a closer look at what they really do. Plus we sometimes get to see cool stuff.

The best thing about school right now is that next year my dearest friend Katye will be here! Katye and I have known each other since we were seven, and we're still going strong. I think I'm more excited about her coming than I was about my own acceptance. She has an incredible heart, a dog named Baxter, and will be a magnificent doctor. You can read about her future adventures here.

The biggest thing on my horizon at the moment is my first year of two Thanksgivings! That's right, TWO. Are you jealous? You should be, because it's going to be amazing.

If you can get over your overwhelming jealousy, please accept my thanks for all your prayers and support. Medical school is hard, but God is good and has blessed me with the greatest set of friends that encourage me and laugh with me and keep me sane. So thank you. I love you all very much.

Now, go laugh at this.

cheers
Erin

still here

So, I'm alive. But I feel really bad about not posting in several months. But here's what happened.

Cruise.
Observership.
School.
Tests.

Oh, you wanted more? Well, fine.

So, in June, went with the fam and friends on a cruise to Mexico. It was wonderful and relaxing and I came back all tan and stuff. Oh, and I got a some of those feathers in my hair right before we left. And it was amazing. I've never seen water so blue and uninterrupted by anything but our boat. Sometimes Creation is overwhelming in its beauty. We also really enjoyed our excursion inland to see Chichen Itza. We learned a lot about the Mayan culture and their activities, standards of beauty (consanguinous deformity was hot!!), and beliefs. But it rained. A lot. And we were very wet.

I took off the whole month of June, which was an excellent decision. Besides the cruise, I spent my time lazily - shopping, cooking, reading - and watched TV at night with Carlisle like the old people we are. It was wonderful.

Then in July I started my observership, which is basically like job shadowing that you get paid for. I was lucky enough to be in Med/Peds (internal medicine and pediatrics) with the top dog in that program, who is an amazing doctor with whom I was very blessed to work. I spent most of my time either at the hypertension clinic or at a med/peds clinic. Both were interesting and very different. I enjoyed the environment at the hypertension clinic, and I preferred working with adults there. But then I would go to the med/peds clinic and do well-baby checkups (so cute!) and be really sad when my next patient was a grownup. So what does that mean? I want to do oncology and show support and love to dying people. I just don't know how old I want them to be. Maybe I can decide next year on rotation. Maybe.

There were two weeks between observership and school, most of which I spent at home. Then I came back a few days before class started to get all situated. I love buying school supplies. Pens, pads of paper, highlighters, index cards, notebooks, colored pencils...

When school started back, it was a bit overwhelming. Basically, all our time spent in gross lab last year has been replaced by lecture hours. There is a lot of information. Most people stop going to class second year because the lectures are podcast and transcribed, so the attendance dwindled significantly after the first couple days. I'm actually at home now. It's fun. The other major difference between the scheduling first and second year is the testing. So, first year the tests are scattered. They were mostly on Mondays for us, and we would have three or four in a day. Those were not happy days. Then we would do it again in a couple weeks. Now, all the tests are given in one week every six weeks. So, five weeks of class, then last week we had just tests. One test a day for five days, like finals week in college. The good thing about that is that each day you just study for whatever you have the next day or maybe the day after that. The bad thing is that you have to study each day after taking a test. It is an exhausting week. I haven't yet decided if I prefer having one bad day every couple weeks or one bad week followed by a really awesome two weeks or so. But we're making it. The first test week went well, so that bodes well for the year.

The best thing is that this year we learn what goes wrong and a little about how to fix it. My motivation to study and learn is greatly boosted by how relevant and useful the material can be. Hopefully that will be enough to get me through studying for the Step 1 exam at the end of the year. But I won't think about that today. I'll think about it tomorrow.

It's shaping up to be a great year. Carlisle and I have been visiting First Baptist Jackson, which we've enjoyed. Several college friends have moved down here now. It feels so...settled. Which is nice. And now the weather is slowly but surely transitioning into my favorite season. I will be watching lots of football and painting my nails in muted earth tones.

I feel like this post is not very long or entertaining. But maybe now that I've remembered I have a blog, I will do better. Maybe? Well, here's a little info to tide you over.

Reading: Beowulf, October Vogue, and The 17 Day Diet
Watching: The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Pan Am, and Modern Family
Listening to: soundtracks to Wicked, West Side Story, and Hairspray
Things Carlisle and I will be doing in the near future: going to the gun range, playing putt putt golf, and going to the zooMy new favorite thing: my Farrah Fawcett bangs

Procrastinating: cleaning
About to: make lunch (it's late, I know)
Want to: take a nap
But must: look at microbiology

Until next time,
Erin

survival

Okay, dear ones, I'm back. It has been two months, but I'll try to make up for it with a long one. So take a deep breath. Here goes.

When last I wrote, I had just started neuro and psych. The sheer volume of information I had to learn between then and the end of school is still overwhelming to me. It's amazing how much we know about the brain without knowing anything about it at all. We don't know how it works, or how we think, but we know what some stuff does and we make a lot of guesses. It's complicated and beautiful and weird and awesome. At the time I did not think so, but I'm really glad we had to learn all that junk. Here's a video of Pinky and the Brain naming the parts of the brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5nMsXg1Lk. It covers about a tenth (maybe) of what we were expected to know for the first test. Also, they inaccurately include the diencephalon as part of the brainstem. But whatever.

We'll take psych again for real next year, when we learn all the drugs and criteria and stuff. This year it was more like an introduction, so basically we focused on neuro and physiology for the last six weeks of school. And now I'm done! Done done done!!

People often ask, "How was your first year?" and, "How does it feel to be finished?" Well, the answer to the latter is, "Awesome." The former is a little more complicated. Sure, there were times when I lay on the floor in my apartment in the dark and stared at nothing for an hour and a half because my brain didn't want to do any more that day. Sure, I could never fully enjoy TV or books because there was always an underlying layer of guilt over my not studying (but I kept trying, of course...because I didn't want to study). And sure, I spent many hours beating myself up over my lack of discipline/motivation/focus to the point where I started to doubt my ability to do this and loathed my own weakness (gracious, I can be melodramatic). But, in the end, the answer is, "Awesome."

I learned a lot this year. I learned about the human body. I learned about some other stuff that seemed not that related to the human body. I learned that even when I bombed a test beyond all recognition, I could dust myself off and move on. I didn't study as much as I should or could have, and at times I clung to the class average like my life depended on it. But I survived. I made good friends. I learned cool stuff. I met a cute boy. I bought a dry erase board. All in all, it was a good year.

Next year will be more of the same, only different. The scheduling is different, but we'll still mostly be in class. Clinical skills start to phase in, then we take the Step 1. After that, we start rotations at the beginning of next summer. But for now, I'm an M2, enjoying the heck out of my summer.

What have I been doing, you ask? Before school ended, I got to go to Sarah and Tray's wedding, which was wonderful and lovely, and I got to see lots of Starkville friends. Once I left that last test, I didn't have anything to do, so I did just that. For a few days I watched episodes of The Big Bang Theory on DVD, ran small errands, hung out with friends passing through town. I've been watching movies with (and occasionally cooking for) Carlisle, working out with Denise Austin, and, as of yesterday, spending time at the pool until there was a righteous sunburn on my back. Oh, and I went to Fresh Market for the first time Sunday.

Let me tell you, that place is awesome. I'm in love with the probiotics snack mix, but I took it to the pool yesterday, and the chocolate and white chocolate on the chocolate- and white chocolate-covered bits, respectively, melted in the heat. So I now have more of a snack lump, which, as it turns out, is still delicious.

this past weekend I went to Water Valley to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of my cousin Danny with his adorable fiancee Ashley. Danny is coming to UMMC in the fall, and I'll be his M2 buddy. I'm so excited about getting to see him (hopefully often) next year. It was also really fun to see most of the extended family this weekend, since I missed family Christmas last fall in order to study. The party itself was a good time. Fun band, great food, and a lot of people I love. What could be better?

My plans for this week include cleaning my apartment, shopping for me and the aforementioned apartment, gardening with Carlisle, trying to keep my own neglected plants alive, and hopefully revisiting the pool. I'm liking this new lifestyle. It doesn't suck.


For some reason, I just felt inspired to go back and look at the first post I put on here. And then I laughed and laughed. Man, I was so stupid. But, live and learn, my friends. Live and learn.

I think that's all, folks. Until I post again, I hope you're having a lovely summer. Go outside! Play!

cheers
Erin

brains, brains

So, since Spring Break, I have taken two tests worth 47% of my physiology grade, started two new subjects, revisited the smell of formalin, and become obsessed with Sister Wives. It's been busy.

After (and during) our little round of tests (biostatistics final, respiratory physiology test, phys cumulative final, and phys board), I took as many breaks as I could. One night I watched TV with some friends, and we were flipping through the channels and discovered Sister Wives, the greatest show on television. It is fascinating. A little disturbing, but fascinating. We like to learn about the intricacies of the multiple marriages and the relationships between the wives and children. And we have a lot of questions about their living situation (Does each mom have a section of the house? A kitchen? Surely there are separate bedrooms. How big is this house? How much milk must they go through? OMG KODY'S MOM AND SECOND WIFE JANELLE'S MOM ARE MARRIED TO THE SAME MAN!! [but never fear - they're not half siblings, so it isn't weird]). So now I'm glued to the TV every Sunday night. Hopefully my new classes won't interfere.

Speaking of which, we started neurobiology and psychiatry last Thursday and Friday, respectively. The amount of information is a little overwhelming, but it's really interesting. The brain is like a big puzzle, and I like figuring it out. Innervation was one of my favorite things about gross anatomy, as well. I love reasoning out which nerve must be injured based on muscle or sensory deficiencies. Nerdy, yes, but fun.

I know I briefly mentioned our nursing home patient before, but I never told you how it went! We've gone to visit our patient three times now, and they are just wonderful. So sweet to us! It's been fun to go visit, so Savannah and I intend to keep in touch even after our assignments are over. Today we practiced administering a mini-mental status exam to our patient, and they passed with flying colors. We were really lucky to get a mentally sound, very friendly patient, so we have had a good time.

I had a very eventful weekend the last couple days. First, my friend Sarah got engaged to this wonderful boy who is taking her away from me to work at the University of Florida. Then I saw one of my very oldest friends (think age 2) marry another close friend of mine in a beautiful, simple ceremony. Definitely got emotional at that one, but was soon distracted by working the oh-so-chaotic punch table. Then I spent some time with family and an assortment of Starkville friends. It was a good time. Then, of course, Sister Wives last night. That goes without saying.

Today I managed to stay out of the Tornado Death Storm and made it home about a half hour before the sirens went off. Those stupid things make me skittish like a horse. I do not care for tornadoes. I was holed up in my little hallway with some ginger ale, Wheat Thins, laptop, phone, and remote control. I'm actually still sitting in my hallway, even though the tornado warning ended thirty minutes ago. But I survived. I saw that the field meteorologists for the Weather Channel were in Starkville today, which is terrifying. But Jim Cantore wasn't there, so things were good. In case you didn't know, he is always where the worst of the storm is. Always. If you see him, you may feel the need to ask for an autograph. But resist. Run in the opposite direction, because that spinning vortex of doom is headed right for him. This is the kind of thing you learn when you watch the Weather Channel every morning like an old lady. That's right, I play mah jongg, too.

I have some sad news. My first fish that I got from Savannah last semester (Steve the girl fish) died. Amarillo (second fish) went a little nuts for a few days, but after a two-week mourning period, we were happy to welcome Rasputine into our little family. They seem to be best friends now, so everyone is happy. Especially Savannah, who is dealing with a guppy population growth problem and is always looking to hand out a few fish.

Okay, loves, that will have to do for now. Going to fight the Hottentots.

cheers
Erin

here, there, everywhere

I would like to share with you the great Mustard Debacle of 2011.

Carlisle, Chandler, and I went to Subway in the hospital, as we so often do when we're at the school studying. Let's just say that the A-Team Subway Staff was not there. This was like the H-Team. It turns out that mustard was their downfall.

Chandler asked for honey mustard on his sandwich. This seems to have been quite the request, but the (obviously new) girl picked up approximately 18 squeezy bottles, and more than once picked up the honey mustard. Finally, she had her selection narrowed down to 2: honey mustard and spicy. She looked at the honey, then promptly put spicy on the sandwich. Chandler looked like someone had kicked his puppy. It was a really sad face.

After Carlisle and I had recovered from laughing at poor Chandler's misery, it was Carlisle's turn. He asked for yellow mustard. This, too, was obviously misguided. Because he, too, got spicy. Then, supposedly because the guy in front of us with the purse (yes, an actual purse; not a satchel or man bag or European carry-all, but a white vinyl purse, no accompanying woman in sight) had requested that more mayonnaise be put on his sandwich, dude fixing Carlisle's sandwich said, "You look like you need some more mayonnaise," but then proceeded to put yellow mustard on the sandwich. Which was confusing as all get out.

Okay, so Sex Talk with The Hoff (what I now affectionately call our professor, who is female) was not as entertaining as I had hoped. Apparently she used to give these lectures wearing a leather skirt and boots and carrying a whip, but, thankfully, someone dropped the "professionalism" bomb on her to make that stop. She was blunt, though, which helped me get over most of my discomfort in discussing boy parts. Studying in mixed company probably helps, too. But I no longer feel the urge to cover my face and run away at the mention of "ejaculation," so a battle has been won. However, I will try to remember that everyone else may not be there with me and will thus refrain from engaging you in an awkward sex conversation. What can I say? I'm a giver.

I have something to confess. I have recently been obsessed with Charlie Sheen's recent sojourn down the road of insanity. I wasn't really interested until he got a twitter account, and suddenly I was hooked. But it was short-lived. I watched the live broadcast, and it depressed me. His life is a little sad and a lot crazy. Carlisle said, "That man needs Jesus and a lot of professional help." Amen, my brother. But the occasional picture of him doing things like "playing Pong" with the DirecTV screensaver bouncing around his television is still entertaining.

We had a long day of tests today, so my brain is a little tuckered. But after the histology board on Friday, it's Spring Break!! It is probably safe to assume that I will not post again until after that, but maybe I'll have good stories. Until then, live healthy so you don't get polycystic ovary syndrome. You heard it here first.

cheers
Erin

P.S. If you look up polycystic ovary syndrome on Wikipedia, I urge you to refrain from clicking on the article about hirsuitism. It is not safe for work/school/public/innocent eyes.

i cut my tongue last week

Okay, so here's what happened.
When I moved here back in July, I did not have a dining room table. I never saw anything I liked, and then I had no free Saturdays throughout the semester to go furniture shopping. I didn't really see this as a problem because I was content eating on my couch. Then two Fridays ago I was eating rice on my couch, and I had some soy sauce. As I was shaking soy sauce onto my rice, some of it went flying onto a cream-colored pillow next to me. After I was done yelling, "No! No! No!" at the pillow, I decided I would be getting a table the next day. I went to Pier 1, saw a table and some pretty chairs, liked them, and bought them.

Pier 1 does not deliver, and I do not have a truck, so I could only get the chairs to my apartment that day. I then promised my friends Carlisle and Pharmacist Ryan that I would feed them lunch one day if they would move my chair out of the Pier 1 and into my 3rd floor apartment. They happily agreed, and I offered to make them turkey tacos. Well, I had the turkey and black beans and taco seasoning, but I needed tortillas and other toppings. I went to Fancy Kroger, and it was there that I remembered I was running low on hummus. Fancy Kroger was once again out of the Classic flavor except in the form of these little individual snack-sized cups. Here's where things got interesting.

These cups had foil over the top like applesauce. I wanted a snack the afternoon after the table delivery, so I grabbed a cup. I took the foil off the top, but not all of it came off in one piece, and I decided I did not feel like trying to pry tiny bits of foil from the surprisingly sticky plastic rim. Then, I wanted to get the hummus that catches the inside of the rim where the pita cannot reach, so I licked it off. The foil got me. I spent the rest of the night trying to keep my tongue sticking out of my mouth because it hurt less. There was a hole in the front of my tongue that generated pain disproportionate to its size and bled quite a little bit. My friends were surprisingly unsympathetic.

Unfortunately, I think that is the most exciting news I have to share. School really has gotten lighter, except for yesterday, when I had to spend four hours learning CPR from a video in which the narrator told me that if I save someone's life I won't be a hero because as a healthcare professional, saving lives is "just what I do." This week, Savannah and I are going to visit our nursing home patient. The whole class divided into pairs, and each group has a patient to visit four times throughout the semester. We're pretty excited about it, but we did hear one unfortunate story from yesterday.

Our friend Lindsay went to see her patient, but the poor person had both a respiratory disorder and some form of mild dementia. Needless to say, it is difficult to interview such a patient. At one point he bade them fetch him some coffee and more Kleenex, but the best part was when he said, "If you're lucky, I'll even let you shave me." I can only hope our patient does not feel this sort of benevolence.

This post has been full of weirdness, but such is my life. Enjoy this nice weather! Here's today's health tip:

If you feel the desire to inject yourself with growth hormone (I'm looking at you, Barry), don't.

kisses

Erin

cheers

You know, you'd think that a lot of excess free time would mean my productivity would skyrocket. Well, you obviously don't know me very well.

First, let's discuss productivity. I have been incredibly productive in my reading. It's just that my reading has more to do with the fictional lives of Londoners or Mississippians than the anti-natriuretic properties of aldosterone. But I'm settling into this semester, developing a rhythm for school work vs. other stuff, so I'm staying on track. It helps that only one class is very challenging at the moment. I'm sure it won't last.

This past Saturday I volunteered for the first time at the Jackson Free Clinic. It was so fun to do some hands-on clinical work and see the effect it has on people. The clinic does great things with limited resources. The most interesting part is that it is completely student-run! My adorable friend Savannah just got a position on the board, and it's a great way to make a difference while doing something for which you have a passion. And it was really fun to see classmates that had been there before "doctoring" on people. I definitely will be going back.

On Sunday I went to the Salvation Army Souper Bowl with precious Angela (she wrote about it on her blog,  here). So I was feeling very charitable, thinking, "Man, I would be an awesome Trophy Wife Philanthropist." Then I realized that wasn't the best attitude, and my big head shrunk quite a bit. So now everything is back to normal.

In other news, I am the new face of Lancome cosmetics. Lancome just doesn't know about it.

Also, I bought some of that light yogurt in those dessert-y flavors they advertise as replacement for cake, and, as it turns out, it still tastes like yogurt. Boston Cream Pie is far superior to Boston Cream Pie-flavored yogurt, in case you were wondering. Just like butter is way better than margarine (Charitable trophy wife material and able to make a Mitch Hedberg reference? Jump back!).

I discovered Monday night that if I wash my hands with the fancy soap by the sink in my bathroom, then try to run my fingers through damp hair washed with this super-cleaning shampoo that I use once a week, the combination develops into this tacky, gluey substance on my hands that is somewhere south of awesome. That was a fun time.

At school we have started down the slippery slope that leads to the reproductive system. Yesterday in histology we went over the male, and I really needed my male professor to stop using the word "we" because it was weirding me out. Fortunately a different professor that doesn't make me uncomfortable will go over female next week. I have heard that when it comes time for reproduction in physiology next month there will be lots of giggles. So at least I have that to look forward to.

This afternoon another round of White Death is supposed to fall on us from the sky. Last time, the sleet starting falling in earnest just as we were leaving school, and my feet lost most of their feeling by the time I got to my car because I had chosen cute shoes over practical shoes. But I'm inside now, safe from the coming Storm o' Doom. I hope you are too!

Cheers
Erin

P.S. I've decided that I'm going to start saying, "Cheers." I would really appreciate your support.

porcine morality

Of late, UMMC has been at the center of certain ethical controversy. A physicians' group has filed a complaint about the university's treatment of pigs in a lab for medical students. The day the article was on clarionledger.com was the day before I was supposed to do said lab. Now having done it, let me just say, IT WAS AWESOME.

On the day of, I was freaking out. I have a tendency to get light-headed around certain medical procedures, usually weird things. I thought I was partly over it, since I was fine all last semester, but some friends were talking about drawing each others' blood for practice at the Jackson Free Clinic last weekend, and somewhere between "she didn't stabilize her hand" and "I thought the needle would poke back through the skin," I had to leave the room. So it wasn't looking good for the pig lab. All day long, I went through waves of panic and self-encouragement. I prayed quite a bit.

Right beforehand, I'm getting calmer as the physiologist that ran my side of the room was explaining what would go down. Then we walk in and the barn-like smell wasn't as intense as I was expecting, but my legs were feeling a little like Jell-O. The first cut on the pig, and I have to look away. The room only spun a little, though, and I recovered quickly, but I'm thinking to myself, "This is not good. This is just the beginning."

But once I came back, I was fine for the rest of the lab. I'm pretty sure it was the praying. My apprehension went away completely, and I'm pretty sure nervousness was the only reason I got dizzy in the first place. From then on, the lab was just really interesting. I got to feel life under my hands! A beating heart, breathing lungs - these cannot be replaced by a simulator; lungs are really mushy. Also, I prefer that my first go-round with a defibrillator and heart massage be on a pig rather than a person. That's all I have to say about the legal issue.

The best thing to come from this lab is the fact that I'm no longer concerned about surgery rotations in my 3rd and 4th years. Now I know I'll be fine. God is good.

In other news, our school days have been considerably shortened without dear old gross lab. Today, I only went from 10-12, so I intend to buy some curtains this afternoon before settling in to study.

Before I go measure my windows, I would like to share this week's handy-dandy tip.

If you knock out a tooth (or your child, because they lead with their faces), pick up the tooth, rinse it off with water (do NOT brush it), and shove it back in. Then get to a dentist. If you don't get the tooth in within an hour, the connection between tooth and gum starts to break down, so it won't heal as strongly.

Happy Monday!
Erin

knowing things

Knowing things is my favorite. And now, if you bring me your EKG, I should be able to tell you what's going on. That's right. I know stuff. Or, at least, I should.

This weekend I did not study very much, but instead chose to hang out with Mama at home. There were cookies involved. I did get to go to my first basketball game of the season, and since Auburn is not very good, it was a good one. I got to see State friends too, which is always a plus.

In Dr. Manning vacation news, we did not go to Utah. I was looking forward to Utah. I've never been to Utah. But in the next lecture, he had skipped a few pictures. We went to Japan and Hawaii that day. They were quite beautiful, but I still want to know what Utah looks like. Now I'll never know. We currently have a different lecturer in phys, but Manning comes back on Friday, so maybe I'll get to see Utah then. I can only hope.

Tomorrow starts Biostatistics. I do not know what that means. I only know it's at 8:00 in the morning, so I'd better go if I'm going to Zumba, shower, and go to sleep by 10. Ciao, bella gente

i'm alive, i promise

You would think that with two weeks off from school and an extra day for the Ice Apocalypse that I would have updated you, but there really wasn't much to say. I went home, slept, watched TV,read normal books, spent a couple days at the cabin, slept, watched TV, read more books, saw friends when State went back to school. Neither super-eventful nor super-productive, but wonderful. Friends, family, food, reading, sleep...these are the things I needed. I had a great Christmas with fun presents, as always, and I hope you did too. But we now return you to our regularly-scheduled programming.

Physiology is the name of the game now, which is wonderful. It's an engineering class! There are graphs and charts and vectors, things that are comfortingly familiar. We're studying the heart and cardiovascular system right now, topics I learned under Dr. Cathcart in bioengineering. If I saw him in the near future and it were socially acceptable, I would kiss that man. The only reason my brain isn't already on overload is his teaching. It helps that I really like the subject, but I think that's thanks to him as well. Plus, our current teacher, Dr. Manning, is precious. He takes 1-2 minute breaks in the middle of each lecture to show pictures from his vacations so we can rest our brains. And today we went along the Columbia River gorge, down which our family drove during our trip to Oregon when I was in high school. He showed a picture of the bridge over Multnomah Falls and I got really excited because I've been on that bridge!

Photo: multnomahfallslodge.com

Unfortunately, these trips through Wyoming, British Columbia, Washington, Nevada, etc., make me extremely jealous. But tomorrow we're venturing through Utah, so I'm looking forward to that.

Have I told you about my Spanish class? There is a group called La Sociedad de Español Médico (Medical Spanish Society), and of course I was all over that. I joined the advanced class since I have a Spanish minor from State, and it has been so fun. We had several meetings last semester, and last night we met to review the things we learned. Basically, we've gone over how to interview a patient. Not having known how to do this in English, I've learned way more than just Spanish so far. I feel like I now have a pretty good grip on what to ask of a patient in both languages now, so hopefully I will be more comfortable with that M3 year. The club recently received a grant to turn it into an actual class, including an opportunity to do a rotation in a Spanish-speaking country, which is really exciting.


In other news, I've apparently lost all ability to keep food upright. Monday, my Diet Dr. Pepper flew right off my tray onto the cafeteria floor, spilling on both tray and floor, and generally causing problems. The food remained untainted, however, unlike today. Today, we were trying to fit too many people around the table, and my tray was hanging dangerously far over the edge. Soon thereafter, said tray flipped over said edge onto ME. There was gravy involved. And more DDP (that's what we call Diet Dr. Pepper on the street). Fortunately I had on a cardigan-type garment that I used to cover up this little mishap. I hope I haven't developed some sort of nervous condition. Maybe that will be a symptom when we get to psychiatry. "Dangerous around food. Do not let patient use cafeteria trays." Maybe next week will be better. Incidentally, that's how I view all symptoms of any illness I have. I go all Scarlett with my, "I won't think about that today. I'll think about it tomorrow."


I just realized I've missed fifteen minutes of Friends! It's a miracle I can watch it on my $5 cable, so I try to take every opportunity so they don't take it away from me. Until next time,


Erin