let's catch up

So, here we are. Well into my third year of medical school, and so much to talk about.

First of all, I got married. Which was and is awesome. No matter how bad my day is, it gets better when I get to come home to my best friend. Plus, now there's only one rent to pay. More money for fun things! Or, you know, "savings."

Carlisle and I did well on the STEP (thank you for all the prayers and encouragement!) and have completed one clinical rotation. We both enjoyed family medicine, spending a little time in the hospital and the clinic. For family you have to leave the Jackson area (unless you have a really good excuse, like newborn baby or single parent of 8), and we went to stay at my family's cabin in Water Valley, with him commuting to Batesville and me to Oxford. We had good experiences and saw the colorful world that is outpatient care. The best is when a patient brings in produce from their garden/orchard. Fresh peaches are the bomb.

However, we quickly left the comfy, relaxed world of family medicine for the way more intense surgery. I'm currently working in pediatric surgery, and Carlisle is doing acute care services (ACS). On surgery you spend four weeks on a general surgery service and four on a subspecialty. ACS, general A, and VA (which I'll have next half) are general, and there are several specialties to choose from (Carlisle and I both got pediatrics). Everyone on the rotation also has to take 4-5 days of 24-hr trauma call. Carlisle is currently at the hospital doing that, while I have the first break of more than a few hours that I've had since we started on Monday. So I'm blogging and watching Merlin and stalking Duchess Kate's fashion choices on the Internet. He's probably taking out a spleen or something.

My first trauma call is tomorrow, so I opted to work this weekend. This morning I watched as the attending surgeon and a resident took out an appendix and drained an abscess-like thing. I used the scissors to cut suture! (you take what you can get)

I've actually found that I enjoy procedures. I don't think the surgery lifestyle is for me, but I haven't passed out or even really come close to it, which is good. It gets a little messy, and I've already seen some rather horrifying things (pulling bowel out through the anus, anyone?), but it's really pretty cool. And in the end, the little baby generally feels better. I've really enjoyed working with kids so far. They're so resilient and cute. Today I asked to add a little baby to my patient list purely because I want to hold them every day. It's tricky because they can't talk to you, but they're so fun. And the ER at Batson is so colorful that you can't be sad there.

I'm very lucky to have great residents to work with every day. It's a long rotation, but it could be so much worse. So, all in all, I'm enjoying myself, even though I'm perpetually sleepy. And I don't know what it is about surgery, but I find that I'm hungry ALL THE TIME. I don't know why. I have to keep granola bars or crackers in my white coat, which I often share with those less prepared. So if you see me in the hospital and you feel like you're about to fall out, I'll hook you up.

In other news, I took up knitting a couple weeks ago. I haven't progressed very far, but I really like it! I learned how to knit cables (as in, cable knit sweaters), and now I just need to work on my consistency. Anyone want a slightly imperfect sweater or blanket or scarf so I can practice? Anyone want to pretend to want a slightly imperfect sweater or blanket or scarf? Also, I only currently have this light aqua yarn, and who knows when I'll be able to make it back to the store. So that's what color it will be. Any takers?

Last night we celebrated my grandfather's NINETIETH birthday, which is next week! Isn't that fun? He is so boss. I love my Papaw, that crazy man who only takes tiny pieces of his cholesterol medicine and works outside or in his shop all day, non-stop, and models his church clothes for us on Sunday mornings. He was a Marine in WWII and a civil engineer for years and years, and he has never really stopped being either of those things. I heart him.

So, what else is going on?
Reading: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, a FASCINATING book about life in 19th-century England
Following: @HonestToddler - seriously, I find myself skipping over every other tweet to get to these

That's all the news I have for now, I believe. Until next time, I hope you're enjoying the Olympics. U-S-A! U-S-A!

cheers
Erin

spring fever

So, since we last spoke, I've gotten engaged!

Yes, it was a long time ago, but here's the skinny.

Our last day of the fall semester was December 20. We had a micro test that morning, then we were free. Carlisle and I had planned Christmaspalooza (because all celebrations ending with "-palooza" are more fun), one of our infamous Erin and Carlisle's Days of Fun. We made fudge that we took to friends, baked sugar cookies, and watched Christmas movies. He made me wait until after dinner to open my presents, which did not please me one bit. But when we got back from dinner at Babalu, we opened presents. I was all excited about the satchel I got him for next year (because backpacks with white coats look ridiculous), but he totally upstaged me! I opened my big present, but inside I found two boxes. He instructed me which to open first. It contained an Ariel ornament! I love Ariel. When I was little, I had an Ariel doll, bath towel, wash cloth, and pillowcase. I have an Ariel ornament on the tree at home. And I've seen The Little Mermaid, oh, 3874 times. So I was really excited about my ornament! Then I opened the second box, and lo, it contained two more boxes. When I opened the first, it had an MSU ornament in it. It was stained glass and looks so pretty on my tree. And it was a big gesture from my Ole Miss-alum fiance. The next box once again contained two boxes. Incidentally, there had been a lot of tape to cut through and a lot of bubble wrap up to this point. I think he bought out the packing supplies at the store. The first of these boxes held a silver bell ornament with "Christmas 2011" engraved on it. The last box just had one little box inside it. Inside that was a ring box. And inside that was my ring! And its beautiful and perfect. I still like to stare at it sometimes, and it's coming up on four months now. It's very distracting.

Since then, quite a bit has happened. Once we worked out the plan for our rotations next year and figured out when we could get married, a tornado of planning (in the form of my mother) worked its way through Starkville. In 16 days, we had the church, reception, photographer, florist, organist, preacher, caterer...it was rather impressive. I did very little of this because I was trying to study (more on that later), but Mama is incredible. Currently, I have my dress, planning is pretty much done, invitations have been ordered, and we're just wrapping up details. We're less than two months away, and my excitement continues to grow. Unfortunately, there are a few things I have to get through before any of this can happen.

Let's talk about this semester. First, the Step. Or perhaps I should say, The Step. The STEP. I don't have horror font on this blog, but that's how you should read it in your head. Because THE STEP is Godzilla. It eats unsuspecting medical students and spits out their lack of knowledge in a scene of carnality worthy of Tarantino's worst nightmares.*

*Secret? I don't think it's going to be that bad. I mean, we've been preparing for it for two years. The contents tested take up a little over 500 pages of the review book of all review books, First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. It's doable, as evidenced by the fact that thousands of people do it every year. It's really not the big scary monster it's made out to be. At least, I don't think it is. Maybe you should check back with me later..

But let me explain. In the path to medical licensing, there are many tests. Our life is milestoned (I don't think that's a word, but just go with me) by standardized tests from elementary school, and in the medical profession it never stops. The Step 1 is the first of three tests you must pass before you sit for your license (board? I don't really know what it's called) in whatever specialty you choose. You take #1 after your second year, 2 after third year (and 2 involves two parts, a written and a practical, which is fun), and 3 after your first year of residency. There's a little wiggle room as to when you actually take them, except for 1. We have to take it before we start rotations for third year, which is June 4. Carlisle and I are taking it on May 23, which is rapidly approaching.

This semester, we have had to study for the Step. Step scores are very important in determining residency placement, so this is kind of a big deal. But on top of this, we have our regular school load (maybe lightened a bit). There's a lot to balance. But somehow, you just make it work. And yes, I still manage to have something resembling a life. I recently reread Pride and Prejudice, and I'm thinking of taking up knitting.

Speaking of hobbies, earlier this semester I became obsessed with sleep hygiene. I realized that maybe there was a way NOT to lie awake for long periods of time before going to sleep. One thing that helped is that I've never put a lamp beside my bed since I've lived here, so my long history of reading in bed was nixed. But I replaced it with reading twitter and playing games on my phone, and that light is no bueno for sleep either. So here's what I started doing. I'm a night-showerer, so I would finish all things electronic before I took my shower. That means after I prepared for bed, no phone, no laptop, no TV. I would read in my living room (not bed) with my lamp on the lowest of the three brightness settings while drinking a glass of water. Then I would go to sleep. Let me just tell you. This was amazing. Sleep is nice. But I definitely got to where I couldn't not sleep. My body was so happy with the 8 hours I was determined to give it that it wouldn't let me do any less. I've since let my sleep hygiene fall by the wayside (obviously, because I need to be asleep right now but instead am blogging and watching Jeopardy! with my lamp on at least the second setting), but I do miss it. Part of the problem is that I stay home to study and don't see people, so my time between showers has, shall we say, extended. For instance, I'm about to go put some dry shampoo in my hair, take off my makeup, and sleep in the shirt I'm wearing. Though on further reflection, perhaps my mother would not want me to put that on the internet. But the simple rules to sleep hygiene are thus: take time to wind down, don't expose yourself to bright light before bed, and keep the bedroom for sleep and sex. I also really like having that glass of water before bed, but if you already have to get up in the night often, maybe skip that part. Because the sleep part is pretty important, too.

Another hobby of mine? Almost passing out at school. You should know that I have a history (and family history...) of this behavior. Sometimes things just catch me off-guard, or affect me strongly, or just really freak me out, and I get all light-headed and sweaty and hot-cold and miserable. I've never gone all the way out, but I've had some unfortunate moments. Well, it's happened twice this semester. The first was a cancer patient that I encountered in my preceptorship. Without going into detail, it was really sad, I'd had about 5 hours of sleep, and I had to go sit down. The resident brought me juice. It was pitiful. Then, recently, Carlisle drew my blood in our venipuncture lab but missed a little. Then I bled, and it hurt, and I had to bend over and try not to fall off my stool. I'm not sure why this is happening to me lately, but it does often make me think about which aspects of medicine I prefer, or feel like I can handle. Then I remember that this is what I feel God has called me to do, so I pray a lot and remind myself that He doesn't give me anything I can't handle. It's when I forget this that I struggle, so I just have to keep it in my mind all the time. Hopefully that will keep me off the hospital floor. I bet good sleep hygiene would help, too (I mean, is it a coincidence that these moments were before and after I instituted those practices? I think not.).

Here are some other things that have been going on with me.

I bought this mug (in red) in which to drink my tea and/or coffee, and it makes me sublimely happy. I've considered getting another to keep safely in storage in case something happens to this one.

I spent my first Easter without my family this weekend, and it was sad. But I made Easter dinner for Carlisle, and we dyed eggs and watched the Masters (okay, so, I took a nap while he watched the Masters because golf makes for good sleeps), and somehow made it without the parents. I missed them a lot, though. And I really want some Coca-Cola ham.

I now use Cetaphil (okay, the equate version) as shaving cream, and my legs thank me for it. Also, the Nivea Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs lotion is pretty awesome (I bought it last year, but it's probably still out there).

A few current faves:
iPhone app - Where's My Water? and Draw Something
Movie - Australia (I'd forgotten how much I loved it until I watched it again the other day. Fantastic.)
Bedtime read - A Rather Lovely Inheritance (part of a series stolen from Dr. McCarley) and Gone With the Wind
Clothing - Shorts of any kind
Show - New Girl (the Dermot Mulroney [aka "Fancyman"] episodes are genius)

Thanks for checking in, peeps. I hope you had a lovely Easter and that your springtime allergies are receding. Now go outside and plant something.

cheers
Erin

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

has it really been that long?

Gracious, I did not mean to go two weeks without telling you anything! It's been lots of studying for me lately, so I haven't been thinking about blogging. So sorry.

It is the beginning of the end. Since Thanksgiving, I have taken two tests. That is, two out of TEN. Yes, ten. 10. Diez. Dix. Dieci. But, we're getting there. Histology will be over for the semester as of Friday afternoon, so that's exciting. Oh, and I did my final dissection in gross lab! I only have to take the practical, then I will never have to go in that smelly place again. I threw away some scrubs the other day, just because I could. It was quite liberating.

This past Saturday my friends that I study with and I went to the Claus Ball, which is a cocktail party for the whole med center. We counted 15 M1's there, including us, which means only 122 of our classmates were at home studying instead...

Unfortunately I will be studying for the next two weeks, so I may not be able to write much in the near future. But when biochemistry and gross anatomy are over, it will all be worth it. Until then,

Erin

deep breath, everybody

Okay. So. Here's what's been happening:

1. Lots of tests. Lots of studying. More tests. More studying.
2. Last test. Gross lab. Home.
3. Cookie dough. Memoirs of a Geisha. Lots of deep breathing.
4. Shopping.
5. No studying.
6. Panic because I haven't been studying and don't know anything about anything.
7. Furious studying for about a day.
8. Mental shutdown. Hummus. Cookie dough.
9. Thanksgiving!!

After a few weeks of what seemed like interminable studying/test cycles, we finally got a break. I have thus far used this break to restore my mental capacity, panic about school, and lose mental capacity all over again. Now I have reached that dangerous place where all I can think about is going home for Thanksgiving and taking lots of naps.

Lately we've been studying hematology in our physiology class, which I find incredibly interesting. First of all, physiology is just awesome. It's biological engineering in practice! I see graphs and equations and it makes me happy (and hearing the panicked whimpers of my biochemistry-major classmates makes me giggle a little). But secondly, hematology (the study of blood) is quite fascinating. I guess this is a good sign, because if I do an oncology fellowship in the future (many, many years in the future), it will most likely be a combined hematology/oncology fellowship. Plus, the new professor is a BE grad from State, so of course he is the best around. That's just how we roll.

Tomorrow I'm going home for Thanksgiving. Here's what I predict will happen: studying gross, studying biochem, reading Vogue, eating turkey and other deliciousness, taking naps, playing with a skull, hanging with the family, and more naps. Except for the studying, which will probably be minimal anyway, it's going to be a good week.

toobusyforspaces

So, it's been a hectic couple weeks. I shouldn't even be typing this right now. I should be studying oxidative phosphorylation and all other types of biochemical pathways. But, it's been a long time, and I don't want anyone to think I've died or been maimed or something.

On Monday we had four tests again: a light histology test, developmental anatomy, and gross written and practicals. All the grades are in, and it was a complete victory! Getting a 100 on that histo test was the best reward for a week of studying, even if that particular test only counted for about 4% of my grade in a class worth not much more than that of my whole year. I take what I can get. That, combined with B's on developmental and gross written and an A on gross practical, equals a win.

Coming up on Monday are some biggies. Biochemistry and physiology, together covering about 30 lectures (more than a college midterm). If I can survive until Tuesday, I'll be home free. I'll have time to do things like shop for groceries, buy a dining room table, and maybe even spend time with friends that doesn't involve lying on the floor dramatically like on "Grey's Anatomy" because you think you're going to fail and don't know anything I'm talking to you Savannah.

Here are some things that have happened recently:

I got a skull to study now that we've moved on to head and neck in gross. It would cost me $3900 to replace should anything happen to it. Ken the lab master said that if I didn't have the money, they would replace it with mine. I said he could have it.

Our current physiology professor said, "To be a sword swallower, you have to have a strong desire to make a living without being productive." So true, so true.

I found a new appreciation for Matthew 6:34 - Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I bought some t-shirts celebrating Movember, my new favorite time of the year. If you're unfamiliar, apparently November is the month for men to grow a mustache in support of men's health awareness. This has brought so much joy to my life. Watching my classmates grow mustaches is hilarious and a little surreal, because it suddenly feels like I'm at school in the 1910s. Some of them look more mature, like I should take them seriously, and others look more like creepers. So far none of them look like Tom Selleck, though, which is a shame, a dang shame. I genuinely enjoy the 'staches, though. They make me happy. Plus, they're raising money for prostate cancer research, which is awesome (and the M1's are kicking tail, which is even more awesome). I'm hoping they all look like this:

A girl can dream...

On a completely unrelated note, today was one of my favorite days in med school so far. This afternoon I went on a visit to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU, pronounced "knee-cue"). It was awesome. A) We got to scrub in, which made me feel like a real doctor; B) I hadn't forgotten everything the geneticist had taught us and was able to have an intelligent conversation with the man; and C) the babies are super-duper, make-your-ovaries-hurt cute. Between this afternoon and hearing a family physician speak earlier today about his work in Honduras and during Katrina, I had a day full of reminders about why I'm doing this to myself. I got to talk to a couple M3s about life on the other side, and I was overwhelmed with how blessed I am to be able to do what I'm doing. Sometimes you just need a little perspective.

I promise I will blog again sooner, but it will probably be next week because I'll be living at the classroom wing with my study buddies, and the UMMC wireless won't let me use blogger. I hate being held down by the man.

Until then, peace, love, and prostates. Happy Movember, everybody.

my life in the mediterranean

Where were we? Ah, yes. Genitalia.

The day after last week's little trip through the nether regions, we split open the pelvis. Using a hacksaw. And a power saw. It was awesome and terrifying. One professor, who happens to be Egyptian and brilliant and very funny, was wielding his bonesaw like a machine gun, scowl and all. He also walked around with it held in the air, as if to say, "Bring me more spines! Arghh!"

Saturday was spent studying, which involved lots of reading, writing on a dry erase board, and eating Savannah's clementines. Seriously, she brought a dozen of them. There were still some in her backpack today so we could eat them at Bible study. Clementines up to our ears. But hey, we won't have scurvy (which is caused by a deficiency in Vitamin C, a key enzymatic cofactor in the hydroxylation of lysine and proline residues in collagen synthesis, synthesis of catecholamines, protection against free radical damage, and uptake of iron).

Speaking of Savannah and food, she brought lunch for both of us today (Bible study is at noon on Wednesdays and everyone brings their lunch). She got super excited about bringing food, so I said okay. Hummus was involved. Now, I have mentioned hummus before, but I don't think it came across how much I love the stuff. I eat it like it comes from a tap. It is for mealtime, snack-time, and in-between-time. I buy it at Fancy Kroger. We ate it at Aladdin's this weekend. I eat it with pita or Italian bread or, today, tortilla chips. Aside from the tortilla chips, I live the culinary life of a Mediterranean toddler. Vegetables? Pssh. Meat? Unnecessary. Fruit? Just clementines. Hummus and carbohydrates? YES.

I do occasionally eat other things, like the aforementioned vegetables, meat, and fruit. I even cook. For instance, I'm going to try my hand at making tabbouleh next week. They had really good tabbouleh at Aladdin's, and there's an awesome song about it here (same guy has a hummus song too; these were the theme songs of my apartment last year because one of my roommates had been to Lebanon and was a hummus junkie like me). But for the most part, I eat hummus.

Back to school. We had biochemistry and histology (written and practical) tests on Monday. They were hard and no fun at all. And again with the 8 to 5 testing? Come on, people. How am I supposed to get any therapeutic shopping done in five o'clock traffic?

I went to school at home yesterday. This is the best thing ever. I watched the podcasts of the lectures, but I could stop them to do a load of laundry or eat some more hummus. Apparently most M2s don't go to class but rather study this way. It has its appeal. The Nap Time portion of my school day was the best part. Surprisingly, they do not work that into the master schedule.

Today we had a few lectures, just like every day. We had an OB lecture scheduled, but the doctor was unavailable. Probably delivering a baby or something important like that. That just meant we could start our dissection early. Today was the gluteal region. Turns out, there is a lot of fat in that particular region. Not on me, of course, but I've heard other people call it a "problem area."

Oh, and speaking of fat! Zumba is way fun. I'm not as good at it as I thought, but I like the music and the dancing and the joy and laughter that it brings. Zumba is the sunshine and rainbows and unicorns of exercise. I will never try to force myself to run ever again. I can only DANCE!

I think that's all the exciting news for today. I'm going home (HOME!) this weekend, so I probably won't write again before next week. So until then, live life beautifully, because that's how God made it!

this week..

Oh, this week. So many things have happened.

Monday was Test Day. Hard core. Physiology at 8, developmental anatomy at 10, gross written at 1, and gross practical at 3. Testing from 8-5 is no good. That morning between developmental and gross, I was sitting around with several people in the atrium between the hospital and Methodist Rehab eating lunch and "studying." Our conversations went mostly like this:

"Is the suprarenal gland innervated by preganglionic or postganglionic nerve fibers?"
"I have no idea."
*hysterical laughter*

Apparently delirium is not good for group studying. There was a sense of doom about the whole thing.

Tuesday we had a Gross lecture (I feel Gross needs to be capitalized so you don't think I mean the lecture was actually disgusting, although sometimes the two are interchangeable) that was really good. This was our first class with this professor and he turned out to be a great lecturer, but, unfortunately, it was about the pelvis and the perineum. Do not Google perineum at work.

It turns out that talking about genitalia can still elicit giggles from most of us, at least in the beginning. I managed to be all serious and professional for a little while, but then the professor decided to orient us on picture we were seeing. He proceeded to lie on the table and tell us, "Just imagine you're lying on this table and a naked person is standing over you with their legs spread." I was a goner. At least he didn't spread his legs for us like we all thought he was about to. I don't think I would have bounced back from that as quickly.

Today was filled with many interesting moments. First, I was studying in the atrium again, but there were multiple screaming children. I mean, screaming. It was awful. Then, I went up to histology lab and had an surreal pseudo-encounter.

The histo and gross labs are on the seventh floor, which is also home to the attached hospital's psychiatric unit. I can only assume this is so they can drag people who freak out in gross lab down the hall with minimal effort. As I got off the hospital elevators, there was a man sitting in one of the chairs in the hall. He was slouched down like he was asleep, and he had a hat and sunglasses on, so I assumed the very much awake preschooler next to him was unattended. I smile at Preschooler and start walking away. As I pass by him, I hear, quite loudly, "Mommy?" I didn't know what to do, so I just walked by. What was I supposed to say? "Sorry, sweetie, but your Mommy might be in a padded room 20 yards behind that large steel door"? I did not want to have the, No, I'm not your Mommy, conversation in front of this person who might be his father and who may or may not have been awake. The discomfort level was high, so I bailed and let "Dad" handle the situation. I hope I didn't scar that kid for life.

This afternoon we were shown how to do a pelvic exam. We get to practice next year on the models she had today, and I can't say I'm looking forward to doing them on a real person. The guest lecturer was really entertaining, though. You know how when the doctor looks in your ears he might say, "Looks good"? Apparently it is impolite to say, "Feels good," when your hand is inside a person's pelvis.

That is all the exciting news I have for the moment. I'm going to go eat some hummus before Grey's Night at Savannah's. If any other insane, child-related incidents or traumatizing mutilations occur tomorrow, I'll let you know.

winning

Anyone who was ever won anything will tell you that it takes diligence. Motivation and determination are key, and you cannot give up the fight at the first sign of difficulty. I know what you're thinking. "Gosh, Erin. How profound of you. You are the most disciplined medical student ever." Well, that may be true (or probably not), but I'm actually talking about my war against The Smell. Yesterday at lunch, I discovered that not all my classmates are as dogged in their anti-stink efforts as I. I, on the other hand, am sitting here sniffing various body parts, checking for any hint of smell, which will be eradicated upon discovery. For this, I win.

We had a pretty light day class-wise today (and this week, really), even though we had a long lab this afternoon. I did discover that I can entertain myself with four almonds and a Ziploc bag for several minutes when the teacher stops talking about cool things like how insects and birds fly and switches to boring things like why Sammy Sosa took creatine supplements, which was about 10 minutes of class today. Look, an almond square! An almond kite! An almond flower! A straight line! An almond swastika!

That last one was sort of an accident. I then proceeded to pick up the bag of almonds, drop it, and interpret the results like one would read tea leaves. "Hmm. The financial wellness almond landed far south. That can't be good." Then the professor started talking about muscles and exercise and I tuned back in, because I find that all fascinating.

Speaking of exercise, I recently ordered Zumba, the Latin dance workout. I'm so excited it makes my face hurt. Many of you are aware of my affinity for Hispanic culture and a good beat, so it should come as no surprise that after seeing the infomercial it took me about 24 hours of restraint before I simply had to have it. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm anticipating good things.

Tonight I will be spending some quality time with gross anatomy. As much as I tend to detest the lab, I really do like the subject and learning where everything is supposed to be. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll be able to tell you which organ is going crazy when you point to your stomach and say, "It hurts here." I can't wait!

kroger

The other day I went to Old Navy just to see what they had. The answer turned out to be nothing much. BUT I found these sunglasses. They were marked as $9.50. So I was all, "Cool. I'm-a get me some cheap sunglasses." Then I went to the register. She scanned the shades, I swiped my card, then she said, "That'll be 51 cents." My excitement was great, though tempered by my feelings of silliness at having used a debit card for a 51-cent transaction. Then a girl at school complimented my new sunglasses, and I felt all awesome and stuff.

But I told you that story to tell you this story. Today I went to Kroger because I was out of hummus and chocolate, which is an unacceptable situation. The Kroger in my new town is fancy. It's clean, the people are friendly, and the freezer section has lights that only come on as you walk by (which makes you feel like you have all kinds of power). It took a while to get used to the different arrangement, but now, after a few unfortunate instances of wandering around looking for salsa, I'm a huge fan. Last time I went, I walked around with my little arm basket with sunflowers and Italian bread feeling very European and grown up. Contrast that with today.

I wasn't there for long. I grabbed the hummus (roasted garlic instead of classic, because they were out, but we'll talk about that later) and got to the self-checkout line. Somewhere in the middle of scanning and bagging a mere five things, my new, 51-cent sunglasses fell out of my shirt pocket and onto the floor. Annoyed at this mild inconvenience, I looked down to find my sunglasses had skidded across the clean floors under the register, halfway to the next aisle. I thought about what to do for a minute, then decided to play it cool. I finished scanning, paid, put my little basket away, then had a very fast, very intense little debate in my head.

Sure, the sunglasses were only 51-cents. But that had been a surprising triumph! And it had come at the cost of a slightly embarrassing debit card charge. I didn't want to lose them and let that whole experience go to waste. But did I want to get all the way down on the floor to retrieve them? Did I want to risk being judged in my fancy new Kroger? What if they banned me from the store? Where would I get hummus?! The Wal-Mart is entirely too far away, and its relative uncleanliness and stealthy, ninja-like staff would be too much of a let-down after that to which I had so quickly became accustomed. So I just got down, hoping there weren't any cute Army guys around like there were the last time (when I had fortunately walked around all graceful-like with those sunflowers), desperately tried to get my sunglasses as quickly as I could, using my wallet to swat them toward me, got up, and flew out of there like it was about to blow. I didn't make eye contact with anyone, so maybe they won't recognize me when I try to come back.

My disappointment at having to purchase the Roasted Garlic hummus rather than Classic (because switching brands had burned me once before) was great, but I decided to be open-minded and try it when I got home. Basically, it was normal hummus with this pile of oddly-orange roasted garlickiness in the middle. My friend Amanda had told me that she had to get some of this before, and she ate around the stuff, but I wanted to be bold. I tried a little, and it was okay. I mixed it around a little bit, dipped in my pita wedge, and had a happy little snack. I figured, as long as I don't have to kiss anyone within an hour or so, I'd be fine. But the garlic lingered. Oh, how it lingered. Then I went to the kitchen for some Diet Dr. Pepper (or DDP, as I like to call it) to remedy this situation. Then I noticed a little green banner on my pita that said, "Tasty Onion." No stinkin wonder. That's the double whammy of people-repelling food odors. Fortunately the garlic part of my hummus is now gone, but I still can't go out in public for a while.

I wonder if eating chocolate would help. Since I have such an agile and curious mind, I think I must find out. In the name of discovery, people.

change in taste

I remember the days when my friends and I used to watch funny YouTube videos together and laugh and laugh and dance through the sunshine, skipping and holding hands. Ah, those halcyon days of carefree college youth.

Below are two examples of the kind of YouTube videos that get sent around by med students. Less than halcyon, my friend, but oh, so helpful. These are also two topics that we are studying or will be studying soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TOdcaNw3IA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u8Sgi8w50I

I learned the first verse of the circulation song from an aspirin commercial in high school, and it has stuck with me ever since. Apparently, if I could learn everything in song, I would remember all this stuff FOREVER. Then I could finally make My Life: The Musical, which is really an exciting enterprise.