January is flying by. I've been studying at the Student Lounge in the evenings and weekends when I'm not in a group session somewhere (usually the library). So I haven't seen my family or had a many hcances to Blog.
The MSIIs call this "Black January" for good reason. We've had tests every week. I've had to study pretty much everyday. Having my sister-in-law living here has helped. Becky can study for the Bar and I can still get in more study time than last quarter. I'm averaging at least 3% higher so far and hope to maintain that through the quarter (if not more).
I just finished my male invasive exam and second Physiology test. Both went ok, so I'm taking a breather and getting some research done for this summer's project, a Phys case and USMLE I. Well, I'm procrastinating by updating this first and hope to get to those before I nod off.
There's more details to update, but they will have to wait - hopefully not for another month to pass.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Back to school...
Wow, Xmas break is long gone. Heck, we just finished our first big test in "black January" - Physiology. It wasn't too bad, but I did study my butt off. Had 3.5 hrs of sleep last night. Since Sunday I've probably studied 40 hours for it in addition to class and everything else.
My sister-in-law moved in over the weekend to be our nanny, so that has freed up a lot of time for me. My boys were thrilled to spend some time with me tonight since the first we've had dinner together in three nights.
I should back up a bit since I have about two weeks to catch up on. Xmas was nice. We had my mother-in-law, her significant other and my wife's grandmother here. It was fairly pleasant here in AZ. And the boys did fine with presents. I didn't get finished helping them put together their new models, a "Visible Horse" and "Visible Human". We did finish assembling a large 3-D puzzle.
I also read a book entitled the "Ultimate Guide to Residencies". It got me really excited about Interventional Radiology. I read up a lot on it and other specialties online (e.g. SDN). It seems to be at the op of my list for the moment: lots of hands on procedures; reasonable residency; reasonable hours and pay; lots of cool toys to play with. However, lots of others still interest me too, like ENT, Plastics (burns), pediatric surgery, interventional cardiology and radiation oncology. I hope to get more exposure to some of these hospital-based specialies this summer on my own, since AZCOM's Clinical Ed. is focused on primary care only.
The only school work I managed to finish was some Biochem case research. After Christmas I spent two days interesting days with my Preceptor. We saw lots of interesting pathologies and stories. The Family Physician lifestyle wasn't overly attractive. But the specialty is intellectually challenging. The most interesting case we came across was a patient that came in with his son for some non-descript complaint.
My Preceptor went over his chart saying he was a bible salesman that had been treated for benign hypertrophy of the prostate. Recently he had complained of rectal bleeding and had been referred to a colorectal surgeon. The surgeon called her back afterwards saying in a surprised voice that he had "cured" the patient. He had removed a paint can from the patient's rectum!
Just before my Preceptor opened the door to the waiting room with this patient, she smiled and said; "I guess bigger is better"! Then I had to shake hands with the guy while keeping a straight face. Guess I wow the jackpot on bizarre patients!
I tried to study the next three days, before New Years Day, but couldn't get motivated. Instead I ran a few times, played with the kids and generally enjoyed myself. We even got in all extended versions of the Lord of Rings movies (an Xmas present for me).
New Years Day I started into Physiology pretty hard. I reviewed most of the fifteen lectures on the test over the weekend. Monday class started with no pause in the information "firehose". We covered a lot of the Lower Extremity in Anatomy and EKG in Phys. It felt pretty good. Tuesday I had to study like crazy, but luckily I didn't have to drive three hours roundtrip for my Preceptorship since I did that over the Holidays. I studied for a few hours with my old study group which was more fun than productive. Then from about 10pm until 2am I did a final review of all the lectures. I got up at 5:30am this morning to fill my short-term memory banks before starting the test at 7am. I felt better for this test than any one so far. And it wasn't just that I prepared or that the test was fairly easy. I just felt more at ease and less stressed. The first question freaked me a bit when I saw all the data for it in a table, but once I breezed through it I got back in my "zen" state and cruised through. I hope this means I've overcome the extreme stress tests have been putting me in up until now.
Afterwards I went home and slept a few hours. I spoke briefly with Dr. Jones who I hope becomes my summer research sponsor. He's pretty excited about my ideas for studying diabetic tissues. I hope this happens. It could be very cool, highly publishable and look awesome on residency applications (esp. radiology or oncology).
I made it back for the AMA President's lunch address to us. Dr. Thompson is a great speaker and treated us DOs as part of the team. It was the first time an AMA President has spoken at a DO school so that was cool.
OMM took up all the afternoon (like every other Wednesday) and was fun too. I spent some time talking with my favorite Adjunct Prof. and was saddened to hear he's moving to Colorado for lower malpractice premiums (Dr. Thompson's main theme ironically) and more outdoor activities. I'm totally envious of his lifestyle and skills. He makes great money doing just OMM and on very few hours compared to most Physicians. A quarter mill. on 36 hours a week with no call or rounds is pretty incredible in this day and age!
So FP with OMM is back on my list again :). But I'm concerned about not having the Jedi Knight like powers my guru does. He started in Family Practice only focused exclusively on OMM when other Doctors saw, heard about and experienced his OMM healing powers and told him he was wasting his time in FP. It's scary to think of going down the Primary Care road with the intention of focusing on OMM only to find out you don't have the skills to be very good at it (and get the referrals and committed patients it takes to establish a successful practice).
So, lots going on. But now it's time to hit Biochem and get some reasonable sleep. I have about twelve lectures I'm clueless on (including three difficult ones on hemostasis) to master by Monday plus finish my presentation on Alcoholic Liver Disease. Fun, fun, fun...
My sister-in-law moved in over the weekend to be our nanny, so that has freed up a lot of time for me. My boys were thrilled to spend some time with me tonight since the first we've had dinner together in three nights.
I should back up a bit since I have about two weeks to catch up on. Xmas was nice. We had my mother-in-law, her significant other and my wife's grandmother here. It was fairly pleasant here in AZ. And the boys did fine with presents. I didn't get finished helping them put together their new models, a "Visible Horse" and "Visible Human". We did finish assembling a large 3-D puzzle.
I also read a book entitled the "Ultimate Guide to Residencies". It got me really excited about Interventional Radiology. I read up a lot on it and other specialties online (e.g. SDN). It seems to be at the op of my list for the moment: lots of hands on procedures; reasonable residency; reasonable hours and pay; lots of cool toys to play with. However, lots of others still interest me too, like ENT, Plastics (burns), pediatric surgery, interventional cardiology and radiation oncology. I hope to get more exposure to some of these hospital-based specialies this summer on my own, since AZCOM's Clinical Ed. is focused on primary care only.
The only school work I managed to finish was some Biochem case research. After Christmas I spent two days interesting days with my Preceptor. We saw lots of interesting pathologies and stories. The Family Physician lifestyle wasn't overly attractive. But the specialty is intellectually challenging. The most interesting case we came across was a patient that came in with his son for some non-descript complaint.
My Preceptor went over his chart saying he was a bible salesman that had been treated for benign hypertrophy of the prostate. Recently he had complained of rectal bleeding and had been referred to a colorectal surgeon. The surgeon called her back afterwards saying in a surprised voice that he had "cured" the patient. He had removed a paint can from the patient's rectum!
Just before my Preceptor opened the door to the waiting room with this patient, she smiled and said; "I guess bigger is better"! Then I had to shake hands with the guy while keeping a straight face. Guess I wow the jackpot on bizarre patients!
I tried to study the next three days, before New Years Day, but couldn't get motivated. Instead I ran a few times, played with the kids and generally enjoyed myself. We even got in all extended versions of the Lord of Rings movies (an Xmas present for me).
New Years Day I started into Physiology pretty hard. I reviewed most of the fifteen lectures on the test over the weekend. Monday class started with no pause in the information "firehose". We covered a lot of the Lower Extremity in Anatomy and EKG in Phys. It felt pretty good. Tuesday I had to study like crazy, but luckily I didn't have to drive three hours roundtrip for my Preceptorship since I did that over the Holidays. I studied for a few hours with my old study group which was more fun than productive. Then from about 10pm until 2am I did a final review of all the lectures. I got up at 5:30am this morning to fill my short-term memory banks before starting the test at 7am. I felt better for this test than any one so far. And it wasn't just that I prepared or that the test was fairly easy. I just felt more at ease and less stressed. The first question freaked me a bit when I saw all the data for it in a table, but once I breezed through it I got back in my "zen" state and cruised through. I hope this means I've overcome the extreme stress tests have been putting me in up until now.
Afterwards I went home and slept a few hours. I spoke briefly with Dr. Jones who I hope becomes my summer research sponsor. He's pretty excited about my ideas for studying diabetic tissues. I hope this happens. It could be very cool, highly publishable and look awesome on residency applications (esp. radiology or oncology).
I made it back for the AMA President's lunch address to us. Dr. Thompson is a great speaker and treated us DOs as part of the team. It was the first time an AMA President has spoken at a DO school so that was cool.
OMM took up all the afternoon (like every other Wednesday) and was fun too. I spent some time talking with my favorite Adjunct Prof. and was saddened to hear he's moving to Colorado for lower malpractice premiums (Dr. Thompson's main theme ironically) and more outdoor activities. I'm totally envious of his lifestyle and skills. He makes great money doing just OMM and on very few hours compared to most Physicians. A quarter mill. on 36 hours a week with no call or rounds is pretty incredible in this day and age!
So FP with OMM is back on my list again :). But I'm concerned about not having the Jedi Knight like powers my guru does. He started in Family Practice only focused exclusively on OMM when other Doctors saw, heard about and experienced his OMM healing powers and told him he was wasting his time in FP. It's scary to think of going down the Primary Care road with the intention of focusing on OMM only to find out you don't have the skills to be very good at it (and get the referrals and committed patients it takes to establish a successful practice).
So, lots going on. But now it's time to hit Biochem and get some reasonable sleep. I have about twelve lectures I'm clueless on (including three difficult ones on hemostasis) to master by Monday plus finish my presentation on Alcoholic Liver Disease. Fun, fun, fun...
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