Only Gross and Histo to go!

Ugh! This quarter is sooo much tougher. Four down and two to go in the worst test week I've ever been through.

I got an 83% on totally bogus Biochem test. I hope that I have enough pad to pull out a 90% on it, but it will ber very close. I think the whole class did poorly on it, but not sure if they were 10% below norm. The kicker is I studied hard for it and thought I was pretty well prepared.

Oh, I pulled out a 94% on OMM with a B on the written an a perfect on the practical.

I just checked my test against the key for ICM (clinical correlates) and think I got about an 80% there to. The dumbest class here. What a waste of time. Another one where I studied hard for it, but felt like I was in the wrong test room. I mean I was in the mid to high 90's in all these classes going into finals!

On a better note, I think I did well on the Human Behavior test two hours after the ICM one. I felt prepared and am enjoying getting into the more clinical aspects of the subject. And I just finished Physiology. I think I did very well. Especially considering I only started studying for it about 3pm yesterday. I managed to get 3 hours of sleep to :-).

Now it's time for a couple hours of catch-up sleep before hitting the books for Gross and Histo in two days. Yeah! We get a day off. And we're going to need it. This is easily going to be our hardest Anatomy test yet with lots autonomics, cranial nerve pathologies, etc.

I might even get to say to my kids for a change. Becky is in LA on day two of the CA Bar test at this very moment, so it will be nice to catch up tonight. I hope she's doing well. I took up all the study time the past few weeks and even with her sister here helping to take care of the boys, she hasn't had much time to study.

I'm definitely looking forward to her graduation this Saturday and Disney Land with the boys on Sunday.

Almost two weeks again?

I had imagined I would write here almost daily. Oh well, at least I'm fairly regular at it.

Today was the last day of Biochem, Gross Anatomy, Histology and Embryology lectures! Finals next week and those milestones are put to bed. But I should start from my last posting...

That miserable week and a half I wrote about previously took a long recovery period. Like most of my classmates I hardly studied at all the following week. I was plain burned out. Still am to some degree, but the sympathetics are pumping back in with finals rushing up. Let's just say that I wasn't alone in being WAY behind this week. I studied pretty darn hard and got fairly well caught up. Moreover, I finished OMM for the quarter.

Monday was the written which I did ok on (86%) but pretty poorly considering the amount of time I put in. The class sure got rebellious after it. About 2/3 of them didn't get legible to the last lecture since they were only the day before (Sunday) if you happened to wonder into the OMM lab. I think severla of them have filed a formal complaint to the Dean. Anyway, at least my efforts weren't in total vain. On Wednesday's practical I got 100% for a final grade of 92%. The practical had its own problems, we were taught mostly techniques this quarter (HVLA, muscle energy, counterstrain) and our review when 90% techniques, 10% diagnosis. However, the practical was 2 stations diagnosis and 1 techniques.

I sure feel like I overstudied and got ripped off on the written. Such is life at medical school though. Time to move on.

So this weekend is all about grinding it out for finals. I need to crash so that I can maintain a good 12 hours a day study schedule(!). I would have thought that insane a few months ago. Now that seems downright reasonable given the amount of material that I need to review for the first time since the lectures and solidify for Monday's Biochem test.

Btw, I managed to procrastinate most of last night by "perfecting" my Physiolgy case presentation on diabetics. Unfortunately I was so tired both last night and during hte presentation that I totally track of time (autopilot). I think I aced it but went ways overboard. The Diabetes research was interesting and hopefully will be relevant to my summer research. And that reminds me...

I have three more lectures to review in Biochem and they are on cancer. That is actually motivating me. I'm looking forward to mastering the material, much more so than all the ambiguous nutrition lectures Dr. Mann gave. I may just have a future in Radiation Oncology, if I can get into a residency.

Oncology is going to take a lot of work, but I'm hopeful that I have a shot even as a D.O. in a mostly MD field. My summer research should be applicable and would really be helpful if I can get published. Moreover, I'm not the VP of the newly formed Oncology club :-).

Night...

Black January is over!

I survived. Barely. I have never seen my classmates so burned out as I did this weekend. I was ever bit as bad. Sunday I did the smartest I could have and called it quits at about 9:30pm, got home and immediately went to sleep until 5am. That gave me two very productive hours before the Physiology exam this morning.

I think I did well, but if I missed more than I expect, I felt reasonably well today. Getting a good score on last Thursday's anatomy test didn't hurt either though. I missed three problems on the written and one on the practical. With four (out of five) bonus points I got 126 out of 130 points possible. Biochem seems to be my worst subject. I managed to get 91% on it, but was hoping for more padding going into finals. Three big tests in a week (including our hardest anatomy unit yet) and I'm happy with the first two. Hopefully Physiology will come through tomorrow.

Now we have a week until our OMM written final, and then a week until finals. So I'm taking tonight off and catching up a bit. Tomorrow I have an "academic appointment" schedule with one of the OMM fellows. I hope that will help me get cranked up for finals; this time it's a diagnose and treat practical that I'm not feeling too confident on.

Anyway, this quarter has involved a lot of soul searching. Radiology is looking more and more like something I'm interested in. Anything with interventional in it sounds cool, but radiology has more gadgets, as least as good lifestyle and pay (vs. say cardiology or urology) and a more reasonable residency. I even took and online personality survey tonight and it ranked radiology and nuclear medicine as my top two of 40 or so specialties.

Of course it's the specialty that one of my top achieving classmates is interested in too. He has had a LOT more science than me, so it's a bit intimidating. He aced the anatomy test for example; 135 out of 130. I'm hoping that 1) we don't go after the same residencies or 2) my consistent grades plus this summer's research (and my awesome personality :-) put me ahead.

Speaking of summer R&D, I need to get up to speed on articles so I can submit a fellowship application this month and cement my Spring research elective in.

Oh, and I'm now the VP of the Oncology club. I lost an election for the SOMA delegate, but wasn't too heart-broken (it more a networking position than anything tangible). The VP thing can't look bad on my CV and may give me a chance to do some interesting things. We'll see.

Time to watch a movie and read an issue of Wired magazine that has been on my desk for over a week.

Ouch

I've got one of those killer headaches that is keeping me up. So I'm writing when I should be sleeping or studying Physiology. Other than the last couple hours, today has been pretty good though. However, I will take a paragraph or two get caught up to date.

We had our 2nd Biochem test on Monday. I studied very hard for it and though I did very well. I only missed 3 multiple choice questions and one maching (rec'd 13.5 out of 14) for a total of about 91%. I was hoping for better, but I'll take this one.

Then is was a mad rush to prepare for our hardest Anatomy test yet. We had no Histology or Embryology, but neck, face, eyes and cranium was more than enough. The class has pretty stressed out this week to say the least.

The written portion this morning was hard. Many of my classmates agreed with me that they had never had so many question circled to review at the end. This is also the first time I've almost ran out of time. I hope I did well, but wouldn't be surprised to in the 80's on that part. The practical was easier than I expected. I know I missed one or two, but the bonus were pretty easy. I am hoping to have a solid 90% or more that portion to pull an A out. Anyway, it is over. Now on to our final, and from MSIIs reports, hardest Anatomy test yet. And that one will have Histology on it - my only chance to pull up my 86% from the first test.

After the test I cleaned the yard a bit, got a haircut and went for a run with the bog. First time in about three weeks. It felt great. Then I got caught up on e-mail enjoyed a dinner with the family (after missing several this week). I even had a glass of wine, which I may be paying for right now. I took a nap afterwards and before this headache started to flare up, I read some OMM and organized my notebooks for the push through finals.

Time for sleep now, and hopefully relief. It's going to be a long weekend and I need to be clear headed. I feel totally lost in vascular Physiology at the moment and didn't get the reading done tonight as I hoped. I missed 3 lectures to study for Biochem and Phys, so there's a lot of new material to cover.

Tomorrow is the end of week eight!