I spent the morning visit a couple of the adult residences run by Greater Lakes. The way it seems to work is that a client gets picked up and sent to Western State or Puget Sound Mental Health. When they are stable they go to a managed facility like Seely Lake Lodge. Then to a more independent facility with little supervision. Anywhere along the way they can decompensate though and cycle back through the system.
Many clients are long-term patients with medication non-compliance and illicit drug use being the two most common causes. Meth (i.e. crystal meth) seems to be an epidemic around here. WA is by some reports the manufacturing capital of the world for meth, with some reservations in the area have evidence of production in over 25% of the homes!
Meth is just about the worst drug these providers have seen thusfar. It can kill you with the first dose (esp. with pre-existing heart problems). It is almost 100% addictive after the first dose. It is cheap and easy to make. Oh, and it has this wonderful effect of permanently creating psychoses in many users! Want schizophrenia, voices telling you to do stuff or the ability to empathize with vegetable matter? Just use Meth for awhile. Scary stuff for our society, but I'm sure there are newer chemicals just around the corner.
This afternoon I sat in on my first therapy session with an insurance client. Until now, clients have pretty much been Medicare or Medicaid patients. So she was very normal with some relationship issues and anxiety. Not to belittle these very real problems, but they seemed so miniscule compared to the permanently compromised individuals I've been seeing for three weeks now. It was a nice break and a chance to actually provide some input from my own personal experience.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Rotation Evals
Monday was pretty straightforward. I got to sit in on couple interesting therapy sessions that gave me some insight into family therapy. I don't feel like I've had much exposure to behavioral or cognitive therapy, but I now understand it better. The day ended early so I got to enjoy a little extra time playing with the boys.
Today was my last day with my official preceptor, Dr. Karakus. We saw some interesting patients, including the most interesting Borderline one I've seen to date. He was hearing "helpful", repeatedly trying to kill himself (but somehow surviving each time) and involved in intense relationships. The Doc and I also had some time to talk about our personal lives, the profession and my decision making process as far as residency goes.
She basically recommended the rural Doc route with some procedures to supplement my income. She doesn't have children, but her thought was that moving during the boys' high school educations wouldn't be too bad. In separate conversations later in the evening my father, brother and mother-in-law all agreed. I just don't know. Going 100% for RadOnc (my fav still) or IM with a fellowship in HemeOnc are still attractive. I sure hope a more solid direction develops over the next few months.
Dr. Karakus gave me top marks on the evaluation of course. I hope we can stay in contact.
Becky, Julie and the boys headed to Heron Island near Gig Harbor to hook up with Paul, Susie and their kids. I hope to meet up with them tomorrow night and Thursday night after work. It's only about an hour from Lakewood including the 7-minute ferry boat ride to the 1.5 mile wide island. Sounds like the place is beautiful and the kids are beachcombing through multiple sets of soaked clothes.
I also learned that my brother and sister got married over the weekend; Dan to his long-term on-again off-again fiance Hiroko and Joanne to "committed" partner and father of three of her four children.
Oh, I tried to do some lap swimming at the YMCA during a break but barely managed 1k yards. I could only kick or breast stroke without pain so bad I caught my breath. I'm pretty convinced that I'm experiencing my first cracked ribs, since bruising or inflammation would have lessened by now. Plus I know my swimming anatomy/biomechanics pretty well. I can't envision anything else producing sharp, focal pain on the costochondral margins of ribs 7, 8 and possibly 9. I still hurt with deep inspiration, valsalva maneuvers, blowing my nose or using my rectus abdominus muscles.
Today was my last day with my official preceptor, Dr. Karakus. We saw some interesting patients, including the most interesting Borderline one I've seen to date. He was hearing "helpful", repeatedly trying to kill himself (but somehow surviving each time) and involved in intense relationships. The Doc and I also had some time to talk about our personal lives, the profession and my decision making process as far as residency goes.
She basically recommended the rural Doc route with some procedures to supplement my income. She doesn't have children, but her thought was that moving during the boys' high school educations wouldn't be too bad. In separate conversations later in the evening my father, brother and mother-in-law all agreed. I just don't know. Going 100% for RadOnc (my fav still) or IM with a fellowship in HemeOnc are still attractive. I sure hope a more solid direction develops over the next few months.
Dr. Karakus gave me top marks on the evaluation of course. I hope we can stay in contact.
Becky, Julie and the boys headed to Heron Island near Gig Harbor to hook up with Paul, Susie and their kids. I hope to meet up with them tomorrow night and Thursday night after work. It's only about an hour from Lakewood including the 7-minute ferry boat ride to the 1.5 mile wide island. Sounds like the place is beautiful and the kids are beachcombing through multiple sets of soaked clothes.
I also learned that my brother and sister got married over the weekend; Dan to his long-term on-again off-again fiance Hiroko and Joanne to "committed" partner and father of three of her four children.
Oh, I tried to do some lap swimming at the YMCA during a break but barely managed 1k yards. I could only kick or breast stroke without pain so bad I caught my breath. I'm pretty convinced that I'm experiencing my first cracked ribs, since bruising or inflammation would have lessened by now. Plus I know my swimming anatomy/biomechanics pretty well. I can't envision anything else producing sharp, focal pain on the costochondral margins of ribs 7, 8 and possibly 9. I still hurt with deep inspiration, valsalva maneuvers, blowing my nose or using my rectus abdominus muscles.
Weekend on Lake Entiat
Lake Entiat is actually the Columbia River damned up in between Wenatchee and Chelan. Becky's older brother owns a vacation home in a planned community there and we were invited for an (almost annual) get together there over the weekend. So after a pretty normal Friday at Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare (and saying goodbye to Po), the boys and I headed to SeaTac to pick up Becky. Then the four of us made the 3 hour drive over the passes.
Saturday the boys had a great time intertubing with their cousins on a huge 4-person hotdog-in-a-bun shaped tube. I goofed around on it with Colton and Kyle and paid the price with a nasty fall at 30mph at we got whipped around a corner. The boys skipped like rocks while I slammed into the 'pavement'. At the time I thought I just had the wind knocked out and some bruises.
Later we did a little cliff jumping. Colton was ready to be a daredevil with his cousin . I felt up to helping him in the current and jumped off a 10-footer with them. But the that little dude then decided to jump off the 20 to 25 foot one! I was too sore for that, so I stayed below for a great view of 7 year old terror.
We then relaxed to some of Dave's great cooking, reading and generally hanging out while the kids played pingpong and video games.
Sunday Dave and I rode about 25 miles with a couple fun hills that proved how out of shape I still am. After breakfast we headed for the boat again and we greeted with some very smooth water. The wake boarding was great, but Colton was disappointed that he only got. He couldn't maintain his balance so he kept falling down until his hands were sore. Becky had almost the exact same experience (and it was her best progress to date to). Connor wasn't feeling well. Chills with the temperature over 105 isn't normal. He was also very disappointed that he was in no shape to keep up with his younger brother and cousin. I managed to get up on the wake board just fine, but Dave and Trish's new Boat's much larger wake was intimidating. After a couple successful toe-side turns I bit it good on my already sore ribs. At this point I starting think cracked ribs was a real possibility.
Kyle and Trish showed us some real wake boarding. Dave took a break from driving and had a bit of fun too. But Katie chose demonstrate knee boarding. By the end, the water was choppy and lunch called. Colton requested a last minute cliff dive and repeated his earlier performance. But not before Kyle tried to demo for him and got injured with a rough landing. Luckily it looked like he would only have a sore back for a day or two.
We ate lunch then napped and relaxed for the rest of the day until it was time to pack up and head back to Lakewood. Not a bad weekend mini-vacation for medical school.
Saturday the boys had a great time intertubing with their cousins on a huge 4-person hotdog-in-a-bun shaped tube. I goofed around on it with Colton and Kyle and paid the price with a nasty fall at 30mph at we got whipped around a corner. The boys skipped like rocks while I slammed into the 'pavement'. At the time I thought I just had the wind knocked out and some bruises.
Later we did a little cliff jumping. Colton was ready to be a daredevil with his cousin . I felt up to helping him in the current and jumped off a 10-footer with them. But the that little dude then decided to jump off the 20 to 25 foot one! I was too sore for that, so I stayed below for a great view of 7 year old terror.
We then relaxed to some of Dave's great cooking, reading and generally hanging out while the kids played pingpong and video games.
Sunday Dave and I rode about 25 miles with a couple fun hills that proved how out of shape I still am. After breakfast we headed for the boat again and we greeted with some very smooth water. The wake boarding was great, but Colton was disappointed that he only got. He couldn't maintain his balance so he kept falling down until his hands were sore. Becky had almost the exact same experience (and it was her best progress to date to). Connor wasn't feeling well. Chills with the temperature over 105 isn't normal. He was also very disappointed that he was in no shape to keep up with his younger brother and cousin. I managed to get up on the wake board just fine, but Dave and Trish's new Boat's much larger wake was intimidating. After a couple successful toe-side turns I bit it good on my already sore ribs. At this point I starting think cracked ribs was a real possibility.
Kyle and Trish showed us some real wake boarding. Dave took a break from driving and had a bit of fun too. But Katie chose demonstrate knee boarding. By the end, the water was choppy and lunch called. Colton requested a last minute cliff dive and repeated his earlier performance. But not before Kyle tried to demo for him and got injured with a rough landing. Luckily it looked like he would only have a sore back for a day or two.
We ate lunch then napped and relaxed for the rest of the day until it was time to pack up and head back to Lakewood. Not a bad weekend mini-vacation for medical school.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Homeless Clinic
Today was a good today at the homeless clinic Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare is contracted to run (the Psych part). First, I saw one of the clients from last week. This Hispanic guy has symptomatic dilated cardiomyopathy at 42. I thought of Chaga's dz after the meeting last week, so I asked him where he's from. Nicaragua! So I immediately asked the PA I work with how we can order a bleed screen. I may have just made my first save :-).
I also got to run through several evaluations with new patients, including typing in all the notes. The ARNP (nurse practionerer) I'm working with changed a few things and then we agreed on medication plan. Pretty cool. Of there were some hard luck stories, but I hope we are helping them improve their lives.
The afternoon went kinda slow, so I worked with the PA on the medical side of the building and helped unpack and repack a nasty injection site abscess that was drained a couple days ago. I then got to inject lidocaine and cut open a guy's ear that had a large, nasty sebaceous cyst. He had "popped" out most of the gunk, so it was inflamed and refilled with mostly blood. A pretty messy hematoma, but a great experience for me. Looks like I'll be spending my last day of this rotation, next Friday, with the PA. Should be great!
Tomorrow is the last day for me to spend with NP I've been shadowing (the meds team lead) since he's on vacation next week. Hopefully I can get the rest of the week scheduled. Right after work it's off to the airport to pick up Becky. Then it's off to my brother-in-law's vacation house on the Columbia River, actually a portion of it that is damned up so it's basically a large water-ski lake in Eastern Washington.
I also got to run through several evaluations with new patients, including typing in all the notes. The ARNP (nurse practionerer) I'm working with changed a few things and then we agreed on medication plan. Pretty cool. Of there were some hard luck stories, but I hope we are helping them improve their lives.
The afternoon went kinda slow, so I worked with the PA on the medical side of the building and helped unpack and repack a nasty injection site abscess that was drained a couple days ago. I then got to inject lidocaine and cut open a guy's ear that had a large, nasty sebaceous cyst. He had "popped" out most of the gunk, so it was inflamed and refilled with mostly blood. A pretty messy hematoma, but a great experience for me. Looks like I'll be spending my last day of this rotation, next Friday, with the PA. Should be great!
Tomorrow is the last day for me to spend with NP I've been shadowing (the meds team lead) since he's on vacation next week. Hopefully I can get the rest of the week scheduled. Right after work it's off to the airport to pick up Becky. Then it's off to my brother-in-law's vacation house on the Columbia River, actually a portion of it that is damned up so it's basically a large water-ski lake in Eastern Washington.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
USMLE Score
Last night Becky read my score to me over the phone. It's a decent score, but not quite as high as I hoped. It's high enough to get me into all but most competitive specialties and programs. It's also right about where I thought I'd end up, and interestingly about the same percentile as my GPA.
Given family responsibilities, a lack of recent science coursework and the number of really smart med students out there, I'm pretty happy to be at about the 80% mark. Not surprising, I was strongest on the conceptual stuff like Phys and weakest on the molecular, biochem, micro and immuo sections. The former two aren't taught as in depth at Osteopathic schools and the latter two were just taught horribly at our school. I studied the most in these areas knowing they were weak and memorization of obscure pathways isn't strong suit. But I always seem to do best (even with the least amount of studying) on the conceptual stuff. Once I have the map, table or shape/pattern in my brain, I can manipulate it as well as just about anybody.
Now it's the wait for my COMLEX score. It is no where near as important in my mind, but I need to pass it for my degree and it will be interesting how well the scores correlate.
Given family responsibilities, a lack of recent science coursework and the number of really smart med students out there, I'm pretty happy to be at about the 80% mark. Not surprising, I was strongest on the conceptual stuff like Phys and weakest on the molecular, biochem, micro and immuo sections. The former two aren't taught as in depth at Osteopathic schools and the latter two were just taught horribly at our school. I studied the most in these areas knowing they were weak and memorization of obscure pathways isn't strong suit. But I always seem to do best (even with the least amount of studying) on the conceptual stuff. Once I have the map, table or shape/pattern in my brain, I can manipulate it as well as just about anybody.
Now it's the wait for my COMLEX score. It is no where near as important in my mind, but I need to pass it for my degree and it will be interesting how well the scores correlate.
Experiences in Therapy
Today was fairly interesting. I spent the morning in the injection lab mosting talking with the nurse (a cool guy names Amos) about motorcycles, ATVs and fun outside of work. The weird was how normal these folks are when they stay on their Consta injections every 2 weeks. It's a pretty heavy antipsychotic, so they must need it. But you wouldn't pick them out of any crowd.
The afternoon was my first chance to sit in on some pure therapy sessions and a peds group session for boys 8-9 yrs old. It was nothing like the sterotypical Psychiatrist asking about childhood experiences or freudian analysis. Lots of basic coping skills and relationship tools. My last apt of the evening was with a charming, pretty girl who seemed just like any other teenager on the surface. However, she came from a traffic background and has fetal alcohol syndrome (she looked more like a model than the Path pictures of FAS that I remember). While she can't read or write well, she's made great strides in improving her self-confidence, independance, positive attitude and relationship boundries. You couldn't help but be charmed by her personality and strength of character given what she's been through.
Yesterday, I spent the day mostly talking meds with my Preceptor. Most of the cases were existing clients doing pretty well that needed minor adjustments to meds if anything. We also had a couple evaluations for new clients. These were like peeling the layers off the onion. Broken homes, distrustful relationships with guardians and poor anger management. Both cases ended up being diagnosed with ADHD and started on low dose Strattera. Definitely no quick fixes in most of these cases.
Back to the homeless shelter tomorrow...
The afternoon was my first chance to sit in on some pure therapy sessions and a peds group session for boys 8-9 yrs old. It was nothing like the sterotypical Psychiatrist asking about childhood experiences or freudian analysis. Lots of basic coping skills and relationship tools. My last apt of the evening was with a charming, pretty girl who seemed just like any other teenager on the surface. However, she came from a traffic background and has fetal alcohol syndrome (she looked more like a model than the Path pictures of FAS that I remember). While she can't read or write well, she's made great strides in improving her self-confidence, independance, positive attitude and relationship boundries. You couldn't help but be charmed by her personality and strength of character given what she's been through.
Yesterday, I spent the day mostly talking meds with my Preceptor. Most of the cases were existing clients doing pretty well that needed minor adjustments to meds if anything. We also had a couple evaluations for new clients. These were like peeling the layers off the onion. Broken homes, distrustful relationships with guardians and poor anger management. Both cases ended up being diagnosed with ADHD and started on low dose Strattera. Definitely no quick fixes in most of these cases.
Back to the homeless shelter tomorrow...
Monday, July 17, 2006
On a roll
Two days in a row! Actually not that much interesting happened today, but enough for a quick note.
I saw a real 'cutter' today. Her forearms were covered with more scar tissue than normal skin. One self-mutilation from a few days ago was still open, deep and oozing, but she kept mentioning how nicely it was closing up. Yikes.
I then spent the afternoon visiting several wards at Western State Hospital. That is one bizarre and gigantic place. There are thousands of 'clients' at that place and probably twice as many employees. I have a lot or respect for those people that go into that depressing environment everyday and try to manage that population. I'm realizing that I would rather deal with the terminally ill than the demented and delirious.
On the plus side, most of our clients that were willing to see us were very lucid and alert. A couple should be ready for discharge soon.
I saw a real 'cutter' today. Her forearms were covered with more scar tissue than normal skin. One self-mutilation from a few days ago was still open, deep and oozing, but she kept mentioning how nicely it was closing up. Yikes.
I then spent the afternoon visiting several wards at Western State Hospital. That is one bizarre and gigantic place. There are thousands of 'clients' at that place and probably twice as many employees. I have a lot or respect for those people that go into that depressing environment everyday and try to manage that population. I'm realizing that I would rather deal with the terminally ill than the demented and delirious.
On the plus side, most of our clients that were willing to see us were very lucid and alert. A couple should be ready for discharge soon.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Psych halfway point
This Psych rotation is so different from what I expected. For starters:
-We have clients (not patients) and providers (not practionerers)
-Psych meds are much more complex than we learned and GPs generally don't do well in this area
-Nurse Practioners handle most of the outpatient Psych meds (I don't think it's just WA either)
-Psychologists handle most of the therapy
-It's 1% housewives seeking valium and 99% IVDAs needing antipsychotics (that's only a slight exaggeration)
-No couches
I only spend one day a week with my psychiatrist 'preceptor' but she's awesome. She's a German neurosurgeon turned psychiatrist after marrying a Turkish neurosurgeon and relocating here since neither one could speak the other's native tongue!
Then I typically spend one day a week with NPs on meds management; one with psychologists on therapy; one at a homeless shelter we're contracted to provide for; and one shadowing our liaison to visit clients at inpatient hospitals after they've been picked up for going off Meds or onto street drugs.
Peds is the most interesting and tragic part I've seen. One young man had a high fever requiring resuscitation that led to seizures at 10 and psychosis later. A family understandibly had the mom in counseling after three of her four kids acquired mental health issues and the father is an uninvolved soldier recently returned from Iraq. Being near Ft. Lewis, we get many less extreme cases related to the war in Iraq. Besides PTSD, soldiers' families frequently have major depression, ADHD and other mental health issues.
Next week I hope to get more directly involved. I'm supposed to spend a day working on wound managment for medicaid clients which will mostly consist of I&Ds on drug injection abscesses. Then I'm going to use my laptop to write my own client notes and scripts since everything here is computerized. Monday I should get to see some really interesting clients committed at Western State just a few miles away. That place is fascinating and scary. It's an old Civil War era Army base the size of some towns converted into one of the country's largest mental hospitals. The hospital has 983 beds! It has a jail for the criminally insane. It even has a farm that inmates used to raise crops on. It also includes a lake and park for the public to use.
The fact that the boys and I have to enjoy the sunny weather, greenery and 75 degree temperature doesn't hurt either :-). Becky is back in Phoenix working and understandably jealous.
This is going to be a great year, regardlesss of the Board scores I get this week. I just love learning with realy patients. Textbooks do not teach the craft of healing.
-We have clients (not patients) and providers (not practionerers)
-Psych meds are much more complex than we learned and GPs generally don't do well in this area
-Nurse Practioners handle most of the outpatient Psych meds (I don't think it's just WA either)
-Psychologists handle most of the therapy
-It's 1% housewives seeking valium and 99% IVDAs needing antipsychotics (that's only a slight exaggeration)
-No couches
I only spend one day a week with my psychiatrist 'preceptor' but she's awesome. She's a German neurosurgeon turned psychiatrist after marrying a Turkish neurosurgeon and relocating here since neither one could speak the other's native tongue!
Then I typically spend one day a week with NPs on meds management; one with psychologists on therapy; one at a homeless shelter we're contracted to provide for; and one shadowing our liaison to visit clients at inpatient hospitals after they've been picked up for going off Meds or onto street drugs.
Peds is the most interesting and tragic part I've seen. One young man had a high fever requiring resuscitation that led to seizures at 10 and psychosis later. A family understandibly had the mom in counseling after three of her four kids acquired mental health issues and the father is an uninvolved soldier recently returned from Iraq. Being near Ft. Lewis, we get many less extreme cases related to the war in Iraq. Besides PTSD, soldiers' families frequently have major depression, ADHD and other mental health issues.
Next week I hope to get more directly involved. I'm supposed to spend a day working on wound managment for medicaid clients which will mostly consist of I&Ds on drug injection abscesses. Then I'm going to use my laptop to write my own client notes and scripts since everything here is computerized. Monday I should get to see some really interesting clients committed at Western State just a few miles away. That place is fascinating and scary. It's an old Civil War era Army base the size of some towns converted into one of the country's largest mental hospitals. The hospital has 983 beds! It has a jail for the criminally insane. It even has a farm that inmates used to raise crops on. It also includes a lake and park for the public to use.
The fact that the boys and I have to enjoy the sunny weather, greenery and 75 degree temperature doesn't hurt either :-). Becky is back in Phoenix working and understandably jealous.
This is going to be a great year, regardlesss of the Board scores I get this week. I just love learning with realy patients. Textbooks do not teach the craft of healing.
Recovery and Orientation
Recovery
I really only had three days to recover before orientation for rotations. While I should have been finishing the Gamma Knife research paper I was writing for a classmate, I couldn't do much of anything medical related.
Playing with my kids and dogs was refreshing. I even read a pleasure book over the weekend and got in some swimming. It just felt so good to never have to worry about Monday and Friday morning finals again. The table in the student lounge that I had lived at for the last few months was now free for the next victim. It had been my favorite study spot for most of the previous two years. And for the last couple of months, most nights I left my garbage and a half dozen books or so on it not so much to claim ownership as to save myself multiple trips to my car.
I also cleaned out the books in my car, three milk crates worth of Boards prep material!
Orientation
Our Clinical Education department is not world class (just trying to be polite). And while the staff works hard for us, orentiation was disorganized and not very beneficial. I skipped several lectures to read Boards & Wards and scope books for rotations. I purchased many from Ebay at steep discounts, but wanted to plan ahead and not end wasting money on bad decisions.
Some lectures on didactics and rotation preparation were pretty good. Especially the ones run by our new Surgery and OB/Gyn dept heads. The ones run by Profs in IM, FM and Peds were generally poor. You'd think that after they've been on the job for 8+ years and had the recent examples set by the newest dept heads they would at least try meet the bar. But no, they seem almost clueless to what students need for rotations.
Moreover, the ClinEd dept has put a bunch of new requirements on us like logging ICD-9 codes of all the patients we see. They don't provide any tools or lists, just a huge new hassle. Ugh!
At least our class gets along very well so we will share rotation objectives, tips, best practices, etc. I've learned far more from classmates and upper classmen than from the oldtime docs in ClinEd.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to classmates and pack for the drive to first rotation at my mother-in-laws: psychiatry in Lakewood, WA. Becky and I switched driving while the kids slept through the night. We arrived Satuday morning after 24 hours of driving. The Seattle area is so beautiful in the summer!
It's wierd to think that our class won't be back together as a whole until our MSIII finals and MSIV orientation next summer.
I really only had three days to recover before orientation for rotations. While I should have been finishing the Gamma Knife research paper I was writing for a classmate, I couldn't do much of anything medical related.
Playing with my kids and dogs was refreshing. I even read a pleasure book over the weekend and got in some swimming. It just felt so good to never have to worry about Monday and Friday morning finals again. The table in the student lounge that I had lived at for the last few months was now free for the next victim. It had been my favorite study spot for most of the previous two years. And for the last couple of months, most nights I left my garbage and a half dozen books or so on it not so much to claim ownership as to save myself multiple trips to my car.
I also cleaned out the books in my car, three milk crates worth of Boards prep material!
Orientation
Our Clinical Education department is not world class (just trying to be polite). And while the staff works hard for us, orentiation was disorganized and not very beneficial. I skipped several lectures to read Boards & Wards and scope books for rotations. I purchased many from Ebay at steep discounts, but wanted to plan ahead and not end wasting money on bad decisions.
Some lectures on didactics and rotation preparation were pretty good. Especially the ones run by our new Surgery and OB/Gyn dept heads. The ones run by Profs in IM, FM and Peds were generally poor. You'd think that after they've been on the job for 8+ years and had the recent examples set by the newest dept heads they would at least try meet the bar. But no, they seem almost clueless to what students need for rotations.
Moreover, the ClinEd dept has put a bunch of new requirements on us like logging ICD-9 codes of all the patients we see. They don't provide any tools or lists, just a huge new hassle. Ugh!
At least our class gets along very well so we will share rotation objectives, tips, best practices, etc. I've learned far more from classmates and upper classmen than from the oldtime docs in ClinEd.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to classmates and pack for the drive to first rotation at my mother-in-laws: psychiatry in Lakewood, WA. Becky and I switched driving while the kids slept through the night. We arrived Satuday morning after 24 hours of driving. The Seattle area is so beautiful in the summer!
It's wierd to think that our class won't be back together as a whole until our MSIII finals and MSIV orientation next summer.
Boards
USMLE Step 1
Surprisingly my stress level for the actual USMLE Step 1 on June 12th was pretty low. At that point, I knew I had done the best I could to prepare over the month since classes ended. Sure I could have put in a few more hours or studied more effectively if I had to do it again. But I really lost my motivation. Burnout had overcome my demoralizing schedule.
The test was not what I expected. In fact, along with many classmates, I'm shocked that this is the primary tool used to rank future physicians. It felt like the test was for a PhD in Biochem. The actual medical knowledge tested was incredibly minor. Out of 350 questions (7 blocks of 50 questions) I had less than 25 Pharm questions, a similar number of Micro questions and 25% or so Path questions (vs. the predicted 40%).
My recollection may be biased towards the more difficult questions, but I got tired of the questions that basically included the following stub; "A researcher testing a new drug uses three knockout mice lines to test its efficacy..." Then you had to interpret test results that had nothing to do with knowledge learned in medical school. Luckily I had exercised the day before so I got plenty of rest and a good night's sleep. I can only hope that the test goes like the MCAT where I end up doing better than expected. <Please!>
Afterwards I vegged out on Studentdoctor.net. The match results for RadOnc were very depressing based on the 40+ folks who listed how they matched. I definitely need a good fallback even if I got a decent score.
COMLEX Step 1
I had two days to study for COMLEX after USMLE. However, my motivation was pretty low. I got nowhere near the 12 to 16 hours of studying in I had hoped. I got maybe 10 hours each day consisting of 6 hours of repetitive COMLEX practice questions on Kaplan's Qbank and 4 hours of Pharm and Micro review (which rumor had it were heavily emphasized).
I'm glad I hit those areas, but in the state I was in I don't think that I retained much information. I also didn't prepare as well. I was too burned out to exercise, so I slept horribly the night before. The test started an hour and a half earlier so I didn't get in my two hour "last minute" cram session of buzzwords and formulas. I started with the feeling that I just wanted to get it over.
The test itself was 400 questions in eight hours. I had heard the questions were MUCH more straight forward than USMLE so I expected to finish earlier even with the extra 50 questions. I did have less time pressure than on the USMLE (I actually had time review check-marked questions) but it wasn't as easy as many students reported. I hope that I just had harder questions instead of my being frazzled and/or less prepared. I figure about 50% of the questions were easy whereas friends who took the test earlier put the number closer to 75%. I could very well have scored higher on USMLE than on COMLEX. I'm ok with this as long a) I pass both and b) the USMLE score is over the 85% so the door isn't closed on some specialties.
Scores come out this week. I'm numb and emotionless about it. I know this could be a great week, or a very depressing one. Either way, I can't express how glad I am that those two years are over. I think I'm still in recovery from the stress. It's very de-humanizing and no one gets into medicine to put through it.
Surprisingly my stress level for the actual USMLE Step 1 on June 12th was pretty low. At that point, I knew I had done the best I could to prepare over the month since classes ended. Sure I could have put in a few more hours or studied more effectively if I had to do it again. But I really lost my motivation. Burnout had overcome my demoralizing schedule.
The test was not what I expected. In fact, along with many classmates, I'm shocked that this is the primary tool used to rank future physicians. It felt like the test was for a PhD in Biochem. The actual medical knowledge tested was incredibly minor. Out of 350 questions (7 blocks of 50 questions) I had less than 25 Pharm questions, a similar number of Micro questions and 25% or so Path questions (vs. the predicted 40%).
My recollection may be biased towards the more difficult questions, but I got tired of the questions that basically included the following stub; "A researcher testing a new drug uses three knockout mice lines to test its efficacy..." Then you had to interpret test results that had nothing to do with knowledge learned in medical school. Luckily I had exercised the day before so I got plenty of rest and a good night's sleep. I can only hope that the test goes like the MCAT where I end up doing better than expected. <Please!>
Afterwards I vegged out on Studentdoctor.net. The match results for RadOnc were very depressing based on the 40+ folks who listed how they matched. I definitely need a good fallback even if I got a decent score.
COMLEX Step 1
I had two days to study for COMLEX after USMLE. However, my motivation was pretty low. I got nowhere near the 12 to 16 hours of studying in I had hoped. I got maybe 10 hours each day consisting of 6 hours of repetitive COMLEX practice questions on Kaplan's Qbank and 4 hours of Pharm and Micro review (which rumor had it were heavily emphasized).
I'm glad I hit those areas, but in the state I was in I don't think that I retained much information. I also didn't prepare as well. I was too burned out to exercise, so I slept horribly the night before. The test started an hour and a half earlier so I didn't get in my two hour "last minute" cram session of buzzwords and formulas. I started with the feeling that I just wanted to get it over.
The test itself was 400 questions in eight hours. I had heard the questions were MUCH more straight forward than USMLE so I expected to finish earlier even with the extra 50 questions. I did have less time pressure than on the USMLE (I actually had time review check-marked questions) but it wasn't as easy as many students reported. I hope that I just had harder questions instead of my being frazzled and/or less prepared. I figure about 50% of the questions were easy whereas friends who took the test earlier put the number closer to 75%. I could very well have scored higher on USMLE than on COMLEX. I'm ok with this as long a) I pass both and b) the USMLE score is over the 85% so the door isn't closed on some specialties.
Scores come out this week. I'm numb and emotionless about it. I know this could be a great week, or a very depressing one. Either way, I can't express how glad I am that those two years are over. I think I'm still in recovery from the stress. It's very de-humanizing and no one gets into medicine to put through it.
Didatics are over!!
Well it's been a long time since I last posted. I even forgot my account information and had to spend a while this weekend looking it up. So let me begin by summing up the last six months of MSII. Then, either in this message or following ones, I can cover Boards and my first rotation.
January and February were Hell. Tests constantly and stress levels that are simply unhealthy put most of the class in depression. I pretty didn't care about grades, family or health anymore. I did ok, my lowest quarterly score overall, but only by a couple tenths of a percent. My impressoin of AZCOM and medical school in general hit a new trough.
The forty or so of us who paid to take the Northwest Medical Review course beginning the day after finals had no idea how burned out we'd be. Saturday through Wednesday we sat in class for eight hours a day covering a ton of material. I don't think I was the only one in a stupor.
I begin Spring quarter with a poor attitude towards school, but determined to do my best on Boards. I skipped a lot more class to study on my own and proceeded to work through most of Kaplan's Webprep course. Not having Micro was a relief but it was replaced by a stupid class called OCM that crammed 4 credits into 8 hours a week of lecture for the first half of the quarter. Everyone expected that we'd have a lot more time to study for Boards the last half. We were mistaken.
In the end I got through all of Webprep except the most important subject, Path. I also started onto Goljan's lectures for a second time. By not caring as much, I even got my best grades of the year. However, I had no idea how truly spent I was at the after finals.
I tried to power through Webprep Path and then dive into FirstAid, Step-up and Goljan's high yield notes while doing 100 practice questions per night (and reviews answers) plus 350 over each weekend. I burned out. I took a three day break and didn't finish Kaplan's 2100 question Qbank, let alone questions from NW Medical, Buzzwords, Rapid Review books or the freebies from NBME. The highest yield for me was Goljan's notes, Qbank and the last week of going through FirstAid and StepUp a second time. I wrote a ton of additional notes into StepUp and many of my own notes. Path, Micro and a lot of Biochem really came together over that period.
An then USMLE Step 1 on June 12th...
January and February were Hell. Tests constantly and stress levels that are simply unhealthy put most of the class in depression. I pretty didn't care about grades, family or health anymore. I did ok, my lowest quarterly score overall, but only by a couple tenths of a percent. My impressoin of AZCOM and medical school in general hit a new trough.
The forty or so of us who paid to take the Northwest Medical Review course beginning the day after finals had no idea how burned out we'd be. Saturday through Wednesday we sat in class for eight hours a day covering a ton of material. I don't think I was the only one in a stupor.
I begin Spring quarter with a poor attitude towards school, but determined to do my best on Boards. I skipped a lot more class to study on my own and proceeded to work through most of Kaplan's Webprep course. Not having Micro was a relief but it was replaced by a stupid class called OCM that crammed 4 credits into 8 hours a week of lecture for the first half of the quarter. Everyone expected that we'd have a lot more time to study for Boards the last half. We were mistaken.
In the end I got through all of Webprep except the most important subject, Path. I also started onto Goljan's lectures for a second time. By not caring as much, I even got my best grades of the year. However, I had no idea how truly spent I was at the after finals.
I tried to power through Webprep Path and then dive into FirstAid, Step-up and Goljan's high yield notes while doing 100 practice questions per night (and reviews answers) plus 350 over each weekend. I burned out. I took a three day break and didn't finish Kaplan's 2100 question Qbank, let alone questions from NW Medical, Buzzwords, Rapid Review books or the freebies from NBME. The highest yield for me was Goljan's notes, Qbank and the last week of going through FirstAid and StepUp a second time. I wrote a ton of additional notes into StepUp and many of my own notes. Path, Micro and a lot of Biochem really came together over that period.
An then USMLE Step 1 on June 12th...
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Hope fades...
It's been a long time since I've written - over three months. They've been some of the harderst months I can remember. My Fall quarter ended up at an 89%. Not at all where I wanted to be, but ok given the emotional turmoil and grade swings I experienced.
We're already four weeks into Winter quarter and it's not looking much different. Except that of the two classes I did well in last quarter; one (Topics) we don't have and the other (Pharm) I've gotten off to a rough start. So, my overall GPA may go down a bit further this quarter. I'm taking it better though. I'm focusing on Boards and not so much on test scores.
I really feel that this year's instruction is not anywhere near the quality we had last year. The "clinicians" are smart, good Docs. But they've proven that can't write lecture notes worth beans and have done a horrible job preparing us for this year. Micro is in terrible shape too. Two Profs are ok, but the rest are useless and ask stupid, irrelevent questions. The class is disorganized and focused on esoteric details. It's like you have to study for Boards Micro separate from class.
Anyway, it's the end of Xmas break and I'm tryng to finish a paper for a third year that would be great for my RadOnc applications. I did manage to read all of FirstAid once through while on vacation, but feel behind in clinical coorelates, Path and Pharm now. Hopefully I can catch up some over the next two days in those subjects.
Ah yes, the last two days (last weekend) of break for the next 6 months. We jst returned from a week in Silver Star in British Columbia where the family vacationed with 19 members of Becky's side of the family. It was blast. The boys learned how to ski decently and I really enjoyed doing the green runs with them after their lessons. I only got in one good day of skiing myself, but the weather and snow were great most of that day. I also listened to 5-6 hours of Goljan USMLE review lectures while skiing down the runs. That is the way to study!
The kids also tried snow boarding (too much pain!) and intertubing while I studied FirstAid. I drank and ate too much, but with the knowledge that the next 6 months is a death march to Boards. The last day Becky and I took the kids on a 50+ km snow mobile tour of the back country that was fanatastic. It was sunny and the snow was perfect for some terrifyingly fast riding. Colton is going to be our speed demon. He was soo excited to drive in the "meadow" and almost got us in a couple crashes. But I did too :-). We stopped at the steepest part of the mountain for hot chocolate, just in time to watch a couple telemarkers launch off into their graceful decents.
If we have the time and inclination to get into skiiing, I'm going to learn telemarking. Watching those two and Becky's brothers got me motivated. The latter woke up at 5am almost every morning and skinned up the mountain, then skiied down for breakfast with us around 7:30am. Great exercise and a lot of fun, even if the climbing is mostly in the dark with headlamps.
Boards planning is going ok. It's amazing how 6 mos seems like so little time. But with classes, 15 exams in the next 7 weeks (!!!) and extra stuff (Onc club, research, electives, etc.) time is going to fly by. Lots and lots of memorization to go...
As for career planning, I'm still very interested in RadOnc and having a good time shadowing my Preceptor who just finished his residency at UW in RadOnc. But it's so competitive that I need to have a fallback. Heme/Onc and Critical Care are possibles, but I'm concerned about the IM residency. It may take more time away from the family and it may require a second move for the fellowship. I could do Anesthesia then CC, but we'll see. Another option is Radiology, but it also is getting extremely competitive. If I can manage a 230 on the USMLE Step 1 it will open up some options, so we'll have to see.
My first rotation is probably going to be Psych in Tacoma. It should be a good break after the Boards and Becky's mom, a former admin at a Psych hospital there, is setting it up for me. The kids will escape the AZ heat with me and the Becky will join us on weekends. Then I'll do the OMM rotation with Dr. Will at the new campus clinic. The rest is going to be worked out over the next couple of months, but I hope I don't have to spend too much time out of town.
That's enough for now. Hopefully grades don't get me so depressed this quarter that I can't force myself to Blog now and again. That or I get a prescription for some psych drug that keeps me sane and well rested. The depression, anxiety and insomnia is getting a bit ridiculous. And to think Becky's family thought I looked happier and more relaxed than in the past. LoL!!
We're already four weeks into Winter quarter and it's not looking much different. Except that of the two classes I did well in last quarter; one (Topics) we don't have and the other (Pharm) I've gotten off to a rough start. So, my overall GPA may go down a bit further this quarter. I'm taking it better though. I'm focusing on Boards and not so much on test scores.
I really feel that this year's instruction is not anywhere near the quality we had last year. The "clinicians" are smart, good Docs. But they've proven that can't write lecture notes worth beans and have done a horrible job preparing us for this year. Micro is in terrible shape too. Two Profs are ok, but the rest are useless and ask stupid, irrelevent questions. The class is disorganized and focused on esoteric details. It's like you have to study for Boards Micro separate from class.
Anyway, it's the end of Xmas break and I'm tryng to finish a paper for a third year that would be great for my RadOnc applications. I did manage to read all of FirstAid once through while on vacation, but feel behind in clinical coorelates, Path and Pharm now. Hopefully I can catch up some over the next two days in those subjects.
Ah yes, the last two days (last weekend) of break for the next 6 months. We jst returned from a week in Silver Star in British Columbia where the family vacationed with 19 members of Becky's side of the family. It was blast. The boys learned how to ski decently and I really enjoyed doing the green runs with them after their lessons. I only got in one good day of skiing myself, but the weather and snow were great most of that day. I also listened to 5-6 hours of Goljan USMLE review lectures while skiing down the runs. That is the way to study!
The kids also tried snow boarding (too much pain!) and intertubing while I studied FirstAid. I drank and ate too much, but with the knowledge that the next 6 months is a death march to Boards. The last day Becky and I took the kids on a 50+ km snow mobile tour of the back country that was fanatastic. It was sunny and the snow was perfect for some terrifyingly fast riding. Colton is going to be our speed demon. He was soo excited to drive in the "meadow" and almost got us in a couple crashes. But I did too :-). We stopped at the steepest part of the mountain for hot chocolate, just in time to watch a couple telemarkers launch off into their graceful decents.
If we have the time and inclination to get into skiiing, I'm going to learn telemarking. Watching those two and Becky's brothers got me motivated. The latter woke up at 5am almost every morning and skinned up the mountain, then skiied down for breakfast with us around 7:30am. Great exercise and a lot of fun, even if the climbing is mostly in the dark with headlamps.
Boards planning is going ok. It's amazing how 6 mos seems like so little time. But with classes, 15 exams in the next 7 weeks (!!!) and extra stuff (Onc club, research, electives, etc.) time is going to fly by. Lots and lots of memorization to go...
As for career planning, I'm still very interested in RadOnc and having a good time shadowing my Preceptor who just finished his residency at UW in RadOnc. But it's so competitive that I need to have a fallback. Heme/Onc and Critical Care are possibles, but I'm concerned about the IM residency. It may take more time away from the family and it may require a second move for the fellowship. I could do Anesthesia then CC, but we'll see. Another option is Radiology, but it also is getting extremely competitive. If I can manage a 230 on the USMLE Step 1 it will open up some options, so we'll have to see.
My first rotation is probably going to be Psych in Tacoma. It should be a good break after the Boards and Becky's mom, a former admin at a Psych hospital there, is setting it up for me. The kids will escape the AZ heat with me and the Becky will join us on weekends. Then I'll do the OMM rotation with Dr. Will at the new campus clinic. The rest is going to be worked out over the next couple of months, but I hope I don't have to spend too much time out of town.
That's enough for now. Hopefully grades don't get me so depressed this quarter that I can't force myself to Blog now and again. That or I get a prescription for some psych drug that keeps me sane and well rested. The depression, anxiety and insomnia is getting a bit ridiculous. And to think Becky's family thought I looked happier and more relaxed than in the past. LoL!!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
School's in session
Ok, I'm crazy buzy now so not much time to write. Finished the first 2 weeks and the first big test (Path). Got the results back at lunch and I actually aced it (98%)! I'm thrilled, but worked my butt off and noticed that the rest of the tests are for larger units with less time to study.
And of course, I'm behind in Pharm and Micro. Micro is on Monday (we're not into M & F tests...yet) so I need to catch up on that. However, I'm doing the paid TA thing for the MSIs which takes 2 free afternoons, a lunch and some review time. It's fun though and I need the review. Tomorrow Dr. Walters is going over the brachial plexus with us. That will be great. I am also enjoy spending time with the MSIs. It's kind of fun to teach them and get to know them.
Club Week went fine. We got over 32 new AMA-MSS members, far better than last year's 19. And Oncology got 45 new members which I'm thrilled over. Now Matt and I need to find committee chairpeople willing to take over some projects. Matt and I are also continuing on with some of my summer research. I'm not sure how much time I can spend on that, but I'm going to show Matt some of the H2O2 stuff on Wednesday.
Another time drain is ICM and Clinical Correlates. We have weekly cases for ICM where we have to type up SOAP notes weekly and do a full H&P once a quarter. CC is a huge sink we have a 3 hour rambling lecture and a huge, VERY poorly written note packet that cover some monsterous topic in great detail (Shock, MI, etc.). We have to digest all this for the weekly quiz that's about 30% of our grade.
Oh, did I mention that just like last year, I started the year with an awful cold that had me in bed for a complete. I missed a few nights of studying there. Now Becky is down with it. The one upside is that I will be at school studying late and missing dinner so much this year, I don't think we'll be trading bugs much.
The profs this year haven't endeared themselves to me yet. I'm just looking at this year as the 10 month (thru Boards) death march. My "light at the end of the tunnel" is a quote I read recently; "the worst day on rotations is better than the best day in the classroom."
There is still hope...
And of course, I'm behind in Pharm and Micro. Micro is on Monday (we're not into M & F tests...yet) so I need to catch up on that. However, I'm doing the paid TA thing for the MSIs which takes 2 free afternoons, a lunch and some review time. It's fun though and I need the review. Tomorrow Dr. Walters is going over the brachial plexus with us. That will be great. I am also enjoy spending time with the MSIs. It's kind of fun to teach them and get to know them.
Club Week went fine. We got over 32 new AMA-MSS members, far better than last year's 19. And Oncology got 45 new members which I'm thrilled over. Now Matt and I need to find committee chairpeople willing to take over some projects. Matt and I are also continuing on with some of my summer research. I'm not sure how much time I can spend on that, but I'm going to show Matt some of the H2O2 stuff on Wednesday.
Another time drain is ICM and Clinical Correlates. We have weekly cases for ICM where we have to type up SOAP notes weekly and do a full H&P once a quarter. CC is a huge sink we have a 3 hour rambling lecture and a huge, VERY poorly written note packet that cover some monsterous topic in great detail (Shock, MI, etc.). We have to digest all this for the weekly quiz that's about 30% of our grade.
Oh, did I mention that just like last year, I started the year with an awful cold that had me in bed for a complete. I missed a few nights of studying there. Now Becky is down with it. The one upside is that I will be at school studying late and missing dinner so much this year, I don't think we'll be trading bugs much.
The profs this year haven't endeared themselves to me yet. I'm just looking at this year as the 10 month (thru Boards) death march. My "light at the end of the tunnel" is a quote I read recently; "the worst day on rotations is better than the best day in the classroom."
There is still hope...
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Summer Winding Down
The kids started school this week. It was fun to be able to drop them off, especially yesterday (Day 2) when Colton was taking the new schedule rough. I also picked them up so that we could try a swim team a few miles away. It's called the Sports Ranch and they have a swim clinic this week.
Connor enjoyed yesterday's 45 minute "get to know you" workout. But Colton is pretty he only wants to do soccer. I'm establishing a new rule that have to do some kind of workout everyday before they can play video games. I'm getting concerned that they aren't developing that winning, competitive, self-disciplined/motivated attitiude that you get from sports. And Connor is almost 100lbs! He's very tall, but still.
My getting into shape/losing weight efforts haven't taken off. Just too much to do and think about. I started a new PC Game that is sucking away too much time, but it may be the last one I play for many years.
Research is going better. Doing a lot of experiments and we're getting some useful data. Our electrophoresis procedures aren't yielding any results, so we have to fix that in this last week or so. I hope to keep working in the lab next year as time allows because we've discovered so much and there's still tons of experiments to do.
My efforts to get in some radiology job shadowing haven't done well either. I've made a bunch of phone calls, but with a week and half until classes start I still don't have any leads. I might try Clinical Ed. today to see if they any ideas.
Yeah, that's right. A week and half until I start my hardest year yet. I'm dreading it but also looking forward to getting it over. I've been going over my block schedule and entering them into my PDA (while using our cool new PVR at home to watch movies simultaneously). It's going to be crazy. Winter Qtr we have 1wk class, 1wk break (Thanksgiving), 3wks class, 2wks break (Xmas) and then 6 wks class. Yuck!
That's it for now. Going to be doing final preparations this week and hopefully enjoying myself a bit.
Connor enjoyed yesterday's 45 minute "get to know you" workout. But Colton is pretty he only wants to do soccer. I'm establishing a new rule that have to do some kind of workout everyday before they can play video games. I'm getting concerned that they aren't developing that winning, competitive, self-disciplined/motivated attitiude that you get from sports. And Connor is almost 100lbs! He's very tall, but still.
My getting into shape/losing weight efforts haven't taken off. Just too much to do and think about. I started a new PC Game that is sucking away too much time, but it may be the last one I play for many years.
Research is going better. Doing a lot of experiments and we're getting some useful data. Our electrophoresis procedures aren't yielding any results, so we have to fix that in this last week or so. I hope to keep working in the lab next year as time allows because we've discovered so much and there's still tons of experiments to do.
My efforts to get in some radiology job shadowing haven't done well either. I've made a bunch of phone calls, but with a week and half until classes start I still don't have any leads. I might try Clinical Ed. today to see if they any ideas.
Yeah, that's right. A week and half until I start my hardest year yet. I'm dreading it but also looking forward to getting it over. I've been going over my block schedule and entering them into my PDA (while using our cool new PVR at home to watch movies simultaneously). It's going to be crazy. Winter Qtr we have 1wk class, 1wk break (Thanksgiving), 3wks class, 2wks break (Xmas) and then 6 wks class. Yuck!
That's it for now. Going to be doing final preparations this week and hopefully enjoying myself a bit.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Summer Vacation
Overall we had a good time. Colton's 7th B-day party was fun and casual, but Colton wanted to immediately return home to play his new Xbox game. The kids and I also had a great time at Dave & Trish's playing on the trampouline with their cousins. I drank too much but still managed to get some studying, naps and exercise in.
My Mom's was ok but I felt like we cheated her by getting to her place late on Sunday and then spending all of Monday river rafting. The trip up Sunday took some time because Becky and I had to stop at Green Lake for some Spud's fish & chips. The boys enjoyed it, even our verbose tour of the Greek District, my Frat and college life at UW. Green Lake and the food were great, plus we got to watch the World Freestyle Frisbee Championships. For $5 each, the boys got to climb a man-made rock wall (ala REI) which they really enjoyed.
Rafting the Skagit on Monday was the most fun I've had a piddly class 2 river. Of course seeing the boys and cousins enjoy their first rapids was quite an experience. They were all a little afraid at first, but by the end they were fighting for the best view at the bow of the next rapid (and a chance to get soaked). Connor even rowed a bunch with his uncle and Dad. Now Becky and I are looking forward to taking our boys a real river.
My mom and sister seemed to be doing well. Joanne is doing well with #4 in the oven and the upcoming move to Spokane. Mom is contemplating how she's going to move over there with Joanne, Dan and their families. Joanne's kids are doing well and it was fun to see them but a little cramped in my Mom's place.
Then it was off to Paul & Suzie's place. The boys didn't complain too badly about not having access to TV or games and played in the yard, pool and trees. It was a little exhausting but we managed and I actually enjoyed having some time to talk with Dave & Paul. Paul & Suzie even managed to figure out a way to join us in Orando at Dave & Trish's vacation place. But not before we had the cousins pose on the UW campus for grandma's annual Xmas present.
UW provided a good background, the photographer Paul & Suzie hired (same one as always) didn't use the setting very well. I took a bunch of pictures on my own. After lunch and some long stories from Becky and I about our times on campus, I wondered over the UW medical school. I also wondered around the Fred Hutch cancer research center. It was pretty impressive. I'm left wondering if I should rank UW #1-#3 (RadOnc, Rads and Path), or focus more on a specialty. Hard choices coming up soon.
We spent the end of the week in Orando and had a great time knee boarding, wake boarding and intertubing. The boys had a great time and even showed off a bunch for pictures (which I hope to post shortly). I got more confident on the wake board, jumped off a little cliff with Trish, had a good swim and read a bunch. The only downer was sitting through Steckler nostalgia Thursday evening which, as usual, consisted of listening to Becky and her siblings bad songs from the 60's and 70's. This "tradition" is getting really old. The two days there were great though and really made wonder if I shouldn't just go for a specialty that I can use anywhere so we can have a house on a nice lake. I left really wanting a fairly rural home where I can swim, row, scull, boat, etc. with the family after breakfasts and before evenings looking out onto the water and surrounding nature. It feels a lot more attractive than the hustle and bustle of city life, even with research, academic and big name hospital opportunities.
The drive to Marge's Friday evening was driven by some insane, pushy need of Julie's that really pissed me off. I guess it gave me time to read and listen to lectures, but I sure felt stepped on. My anger with Becky and her sister didn't subside much at their mom's either as the boys and I were trapped between boredom and their gossip. Saturday was relaxing and the plane flight ok, but only because I pretty much did my own thing. The boys watched the weekly cartoons and picked out from DVDs from Marge's Ebay collection. I really didn't care what Becky and Julie did.
My attitude didn't improve much once we landed. And the way the gals were treating me didn't either. However, that paled in comparison to walking into a hot, humid AZ home with a non-functional AC. I stayed up watching TV most of the night because I couldn't sleep well. $450 later the repair guy and new motor had up and running on Sunday. I took naps, swam (after cleaning the disaster of a pool), read and did a ton of yard work. But it wasn't too bad.
Yesterday it was back to work at the lab. Several experiments had to be started for irradiation on Thursday so that we have some data to submit for the ADA grant application deadline on the 15th. I also did H.O.M.E. at UMOM last night and enjoyed seeing classmates, Dr. Will and some patients. The same monsoons that knocked our AC caused St. Mary's Food Bank's roof to collapse so Becky had an even crazier day.
This vacation has given me some time for reflection and soul searching but I don't really feel any closer to deciding on what I want to go into, where the best place for residency is (for the family, education, job prospects, etc.) or where I would like to eventually settle down. I seem to be narrowing in on RadOnc, Rads and Path. RadOnc is still #1, but may be unreachable (and too stressful to compete for). It also might the most restrictive for residency and practice locations. Rads may be a good fit once I get a taste of the specialty. Path seems like a good fallback with a short residency, good QOL and lots of options for a career (autopsies, surgery, lab mgmt, R&D, education). I will definitely have to get in 20hrs or so of Rads job shadowing this summer so that I can see what it is really like.
My Mom's was ok but I felt like we cheated her by getting to her place late on Sunday and then spending all of Monday river rafting. The trip up Sunday took some time because Becky and I had to stop at Green Lake for some Spud's fish & chips. The boys enjoyed it, even our verbose tour of the Greek District, my Frat and college life at UW. Green Lake and the food were great, plus we got to watch the World Freestyle Frisbee Championships. For $5 each, the boys got to climb a man-made rock wall (ala REI) which they really enjoyed.
Rafting the Skagit on Monday was the most fun I've had a piddly class 2 river. Of course seeing the boys and cousins enjoy their first rapids was quite an experience. They were all a little afraid at first, but by the end they were fighting for the best view at the bow of the next rapid (and a chance to get soaked). Connor even rowed a bunch with his uncle and Dad. Now Becky and I are looking forward to taking our boys a real river.
My mom and sister seemed to be doing well. Joanne is doing well with #4 in the oven and the upcoming move to Spokane. Mom is contemplating how she's going to move over there with Joanne, Dan and their families. Joanne's kids are doing well and it was fun to see them but a little cramped in my Mom's place.
Then it was off to Paul & Suzie's place. The boys didn't complain too badly about not having access to TV or games and played in the yard, pool and trees. It was a little exhausting but we managed and I actually enjoyed having some time to talk with Dave & Paul. Paul & Suzie even managed to figure out a way to join us in Orando at Dave & Trish's vacation place. But not before we had the cousins pose on the UW campus for grandma's annual Xmas present.
UW provided a good background, the photographer Paul & Suzie hired (same one as always) didn't use the setting very well. I took a bunch of pictures on my own. After lunch and some long stories from Becky and I about our times on campus, I wondered over the UW medical school. I also wondered around the Fred Hutch cancer research center. It was pretty impressive. I'm left wondering if I should rank UW #1-#3 (RadOnc, Rads and Path), or focus more on a specialty. Hard choices coming up soon.
We spent the end of the week in Orando and had a great time knee boarding, wake boarding and intertubing. The boys had a great time and even showed off a bunch for pictures (which I hope to post shortly). I got more confident on the wake board, jumped off a little cliff with Trish, had a good swim and read a bunch. The only downer was sitting through Steckler nostalgia Thursday evening which, as usual, consisted of listening to Becky and her siblings bad songs from the 60's and 70's. This "tradition" is getting really old. The two days there were great though and really made wonder if I shouldn't just go for a specialty that I can use anywhere so we can have a house on a nice lake. I left really wanting a fairly rural home where I can swim, row, scull, boat, etc. with the family after breakfasts and before evenings looking out onto the water and surrounding nature. It feels a lot more attractive than the hustle and bustle of city life, even with research, academic and big name hospital opportunities.
The drive to Marge's Friday evening was driven by some insane, pushy need of Julie's that really pissed me off. I guess it gave me time to read and listen to lectures, but I sure felt stepped on. My anger with Becky and her sister didn't subside much at their mom's either as the boys and I were trapped between boredom and their gossip. Saturday was relaxing and the plane flight ok, but only because I pretty much did my own thing. The boys watched the weekly cartoons and picked out from DVDs from Marge's Ebay collection. I really didn't care what Becky and Julie did.
My attitude didn't improve much once we landed. And the way the gals were treating me didn't either. However, that paled in comparison to walking into a hot, humid AZ home with a non-functional AC. I stayed up watching TV most of the night because I couldn't sleep well. $450 later the repair guy and new motor had up and running on Sunday. I took naps, swam (after cleaning the disaster of a pool), read and did a ton of yard work. But it wasn't too bad.
Yesterday it was back to work at the lab. Several experiments had to be started for irradiation on Thursday so that we have some data to submit for the ADA grant application deadline on the 15th. I also did H.O.M.E. at UMOM last night and enjoyed seeing classmates, Dr. Will and some patients. The same monsoons that knocked our AC caused St. Mary's Food Bank's roof to collapse so Becky had an even crazier day.
This vacation has given me some time for reflection and soul searching but I don't really feel any closer to deciding on what I want to go into, where the best place for residency is (for the family, education, job prospects, etc.) or where I would like to eventually settle down. I seem to be narrowing in on RadOnc, Rads and Path. RadOnc is still #1, but may be unreachable (and too stressful to compete for). It also might the most restrictive for residency and practice locations. Rads may be a good fit once I get a taste of the specialty. Path seems like a good fallback with a short residency, good QOL and lots of options for a career (autopsies, surgery, lab mgmt, R&D, education). I will definitely have to get in 20hrs or so of Rads job shadowing this summer so that I can see what it is really like.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Flying Out for the Family Vacation
The kids flew to Seattle last weekend and have been enjoying some time with Becky's family for the last few days. They are young that they still miss us a lot, especially Colton. So it will be nice to see them late tonight.
We're flying out after work for a nice week and a half of cool Seattle weather. I'll write of the events when we return.
Other than that, July has been pretty nondescript. I'm still working a lot in the lab trying to get good data. I'm learning a lot of techniques and cell biology, but hoping that we can really come up with some good data in the next few weeks.
Tucker and I, and Dan to some degree, have rebuilt our back porch. It's going to end up costing us over $1500 with the Home Depot supplies and dumpster, but it's looking much better. We still have to finish the outdoor shower, mister and gutters. For Tucker, I've purchased a PDA for him off Ebay that I need to configure and deliver after we return.
Other than that, Cedar is limping again (normal set-back for Valley Fever) so I'm not running a lot atm. I'm doing some reading; House of God or, when I can steal the book from Connor, the new Harry Potter. Oh, and I've been playing Pirates on Xbox, an early B-day present for Colton.
Time to get serious and start reading Micro Made Ridiculously Simple, watching some of the DVD lectures I purchased off Ebay and review some anatomy. I was awarded the Anatomy paid TAships for Fall (almost most probably Winter as well)! It will be a great review for boards and provide $30+ per hour. Not bad!
Whew. One last thought. It's a sign of the computer age that I have to pack FIVE(!) devices with their rechargeable batteries and cables on a vacation (LOL).
1) Notebook PC (e-mail, videos)
2) PDA (schedule, references)
3) Digital Camera
4) MP3 Player (audio lectures)
5) Cell Phone
No, this is normal. I'm not a flaming geek. I still pack books too :-).
We're flying out after work for a nice week and a half of cool Seattle weather. I'll write of the events when we return.
Other than that, July has been pretty nondescript. I'm still working a lot in the lab trying to get good data. I'm learning a lot of techniques and cell biology, but hoping that we can really come up with some good data in the next few weeks.
Tucker and I, and Dan to some degree, have rebuilt our back porch. It's going to end up costing us over $1500 with the Home Depot supplies and dumpster, but it's looking much better. We still have to finish the outdoor shower, mister and gutters. For Tucker, I've purchased a PDA for him off Ebay that I need to configure and deliver after we return.
Other than that, Cedar is limping again (normal set-back for Valley Fever) so I'm not running a lot atm. I'm doing some reading; House of God or, when I can steal the book from Connor, the new Harry Potter. Oh, and I've been playing Pirates on Xbox, an early B-day present for Colton.
Time to get serious and start reading Micro Made Ridiculously Simple, watching some of the DVD lectures I purchased off Ebay and review some anatomy. I was awarded the Anatomy paid TAships for Fall (almost most probably Winter as well)! It will be a great review for boards and provide $30+ per hour. Not bad!
Whew. One last thought. It's a sign of the computer age that I have to pack FIVE(!) devices with their rechargeable batteries and cables on a vacation (LOL).
1) Notebook PC (e-mail, videos)
2) PDA (schedule, references)
3) Digital Camera
4) MP3 Player (audio lectures)
5) Cell Phone
No, this is normal. I'm not a flaming geek. I still pack books too :-).
July's Epiphany
Becky has been saying my family is on "Grady" time since we were dating 14 years ago. She frequently reminds me that a) I was 45 minutes late to our first date and b) my brother is the only person she knows that missed his own B-day party.
Her family on the other hand, used to go postal if they weren't 15 minutes early - literally! She would get evil looks from her family if we arrived only on-time, which of course got feed back to me for the rest of the evening. The other two in-laws and myself have relaxed them somewhat, but they are still extreme.
This week I finally put these different philosophies of scheduling life into perspective. Becky and her family come from the CEO viewpoint. If time is up, you end whatever you're doing, make a decision and leave. My family, and a good part of the population, come from a Surgeon's viewpoint. You don't leave a job until you're darn sure that it is done to your satisfaction.
I think many medical students fall into this latter category because so many of us are Obsessive Compulsive. I remember not being able to change out my suit until I had picked up a couple hundred pine cones in my yard (almost every day!) or not being able to swim until I had removed every pine needle from the pool in our backyard. For an anon username Dr. OCD would be appropriate, but guaranteed that one has been used many times over!
Her family on the other hand, used to go postal if they weren't 15 minutes early - literally! She would get evil looks from her family if we arrived only on-time, which of course got feed back to me for the rest of the evening. The other two in-laws and myself have relaxed them somewhat, but they are still extreme.
This week I finally put these different philosophies of scheduling life into perspective. Becky and her family come from the CEO viewpoint. If time is up, you end whatever you're doing, make a decision and leave. My family, and a good part of the population, come from a Surgeon's viewpoint. You don't leave a job until you're darn sure that it is done to your satisfaction.
I think many medical students fall into this latter category because so many of us are Obsessive Compulsive. I remember not being able to change out my suit until I had picked up a couple hundred pine cones in my yard (almost every day!) or not being able to swim until I had removed every pine needle from the pool in our backyard. For an anon username Dr. OCD would be appropriate, but guaranteed that one has been used many times over!
Friday, July 15, 2005
July 2005
July flew by. I feel like I got even less done this month than in June. I'm doing more experiments, but not getting any useful data yet. I also haven't managed to get through many papers yet.
The job shadowing ended up going well. But it sounds like my preceptor might have been steering me away from RadOncs due to the competitiveness. I e-mailed someone at OHSU to see if DOs were welcome and she replied, yes, but that 140+ people apply for the ONE residency spot they have per year! UW has 2 and of the residents currently in training, two are DOs, but I get the feeling that I need a fallback.
I've started my residency program ranking spreadsheet which includes RadOnc, Rads and Path programs, in that order, at this point. A lot depends on Becky, since her JD career options would be greatly enhanced in CA. It sounds like we'll probably stay in the Western states but I definately need to do more research on programs; reputations, DO favorability, competitiveness, research, etc.
I finished my one video game for the summer, Jade Empire. It was ok, but nothing like an addictive MMORG. I also got some reading done. I'm trying to finish 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' and 'House of God'. I finished my Biochem review book, so after I get done with those two, I need to jump on Micro Made Ridiculously Simple. I also purchased a Rio 6GB MP3 player on Ebay that I've been using to listen to lectures. I've got about 3GB of songs and 3GB of lectures and it's working well so far. To round out the geek factor, I re-installed my med software on my Pocket PC. Since I got my MP3 player, I had a whole 512 MB SD card to fill up with s/w I purchased off Ebay. Now I have just about three programs of everything.
Working out on the other hand, isn't going too well. We just got the pool up and running after the pump broke down. And the dogs are now in good enough shape to do some running with me. So hopefully I can work off a few pounds and get into a bit better shape before school starts in 6 weeks.
Tucker is helping me rebuild our porch in the backyard. Last weekend we tore off the roof and the 1/3 that is falling apart. Tomorrow, starting at 6am, we hope to get most of the structure complete so that all we have left is the roofing.
Only other event worth mentioning is that we spent the weekend before last at my father's in San Diego. Is was a fun trip and the boys had a good time. Colton even got to ride a horse for the first time.
That's it for now. Hopefully I'll have more to write about next month, a trip to Seattle, Miho moving in, great research results, finishing more review material and getting in decent shape. Shoot high right? :-)
The job shadowing ended up going well. But it sounds like my preceptor might have been steering me away from RadOncs due to the competitiveness. I e-mailed someone at OHSU to see if DOs were welcome and she replied, yes, but that 140+ people apply for the ONE residency spot they have per year! UW has 2 and of the residents currently in training, two are DOs, but I get the feeling that I need a fallback.
I've started my residency program ranking spreadsheet which includes RadOnc, Rads and Path programs, in that order, at this point. A lot depends on Becky, since her JD career options would be greatly enhanced in CA. It sounds like we'll probably stay in the Western states but I definately need to do more research on programs; reputations, DO favorability, competitiveness, research, etc.
I finished my one video game for the summer, Jade Empire. It was ok, but nothing like an addictive MMORG. I also got some reading done. I'm trying to finish 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' and 'House of God'. I finished my Biochem review book, so after I get done with those two, I need to jump on Micro Made Ridiculously Simple. I also purchased a Rio 6GB MP3 player on Ebay that I've been using to listen to lectures. I've got about 3GB of songs and 3GB of lectures and it's working well so far. To round out the geek factor, I re-installed my med software on my Pocket PC. Since I got my MP3 player, I had a whole 512 MB SD card to fill up with s/w I purchased off Ebay. Now I have just about three programs of everything.
Working out on the other hand, isn't going too well. We just got the pool up and running after the pump broke down. And the dogs are now in good enough shape to do some running with me. So hopefully I can work off a few pounds and get into a bit better shape before school starts in 6 weeks.
Tucker is helping me rebuild our porch in the backyard. Last weekend we tore off the roof and the 1/3 that is falling apart. Tomorrow, starting at 6am, we hope to get most of the structure complete so that all we have left is the roofing.
Only other event worth mentioning is that we spent the weekend before last at my father's in San Diego. Is was a fun trip and the boys had a good time. Colton even got to ride a horse for the first time.
That's it for now. Hopefully I'll have more to write about next month, a trip to Seattle, Miho moving in, great research results, finishing more review material and getting in decent shape. Shoot high right? :-)
Saturday, June 25, 2005
June 2005
June is just about gone. I don't feel like I've accomplished alot, but it has been fairly relaxing.
To start, research has been frustrating. I've been muddling through experiments and am just now getting to do (and understand) some statistically relevant protocols. However, Dr. Jones left for vacation last week with a parting gift of 58 MB of papers for me to read, at least 50 or them. I just finished one today that was a bit disturbing. We should have found and read this one last quarter. They did exactly what I am proposing but with UVA and fibroblasts instead of clinical radiation and endothelial cells. Hopefully we'll be able to leverage their work (protocols and results). Since it was written in 1999, I'm a little afraid of how many more papers I need to read to catch up with what they've done since then.
I've also been job shadowing with Dr. Steinway, a RadOnc here in town, a couple mornings this week while Dr. Jones is on vacation. It has been interesting from a patient standpoint but a little disquieting on the career side. He even suggested I look at Radiology as a field with more opportunity and growth, even in patient treatment. The impression I got was that RadOnc is an expensive therapy of limited value not that genetics and chemotherapy have advanced so much. I need to look into all of this a lot more. I've had Rads (or Inv'l Rads) as a 2nd choice for a long time so that hasn't changed. It even came up Rads as my #1 match on a career questionnaire. But I don't really know that much about what they do and what the future for Rads looks like.
Not sure if I mentioned it, but my dog was finally diagnosed with Valley Fever. The good news is that he doesn't have a chronic joint problem and the treatment is only $33/mos for 6-9 mos vs. the $300/mos it was recently, before the patent ran out. He's doing much better and doesn't have to wear the sling we had him in for weekend, until it chafed his 'underarms' raw.
The boys are doing well and enjoying swimming. They have lessons in the morning and we swim in our pool most evenings. They are definitely improving and Connor is even interested in joining a swim team.
Last weekend I went to the American Medical Association Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) convention in Chicago. As our school chapter's VP, I went with Jill (Prez) and roomed with Jason (former Prez) and Kohl (classmate). It was a great time. I especially enjoyed working with the UofA students and getting to know them. The meetings went well and DOs were definitely welcomed. Most of the fluff resolutions were struck down and the good ones passed. We got to meet several local physicians at a breakout room for the Arizona Medical Association (ARMA). I think that by getting our faces in front of some oldtimers we are doing a lot to improve perceptions of DOs. The weather in Chicago was incredible. And we got to see Navy Pier and the BodyWorlds show. The latter had plastinated cadavers posed to educate viewers on anatomy and function. I can't believe the show was protested in Germany where it started for desecrating the human body. It beautifully immortalized the human form. I also realized how much anatomy I've forgotten as Jill and I argued over names.
I still haven't finished Rapid Review Biochem but am getting some review in. Now I'm reading a couple pleasure books (e.g. Anatomy of Hope) and catching up on a lot of movies. I'm even close to finishing the one Xbox RPG I wanted to play this summer, Jade Empire.
Still, there's a lot to do this summer. Tucker is coming over tomorrow to help me replace 1/3 of the back porch that is falling apart. The plan is to tear down the weak part and create a list of supplies we need from Home Depot. I hope we can also replace the front brakes on our Accord since Tucker knows what he's doing there too. Hopefully his family and Dan/Miho are joining all of us for dinner tomorrow and some cool off time in the pool.
That's just one item of many on the todo list. We'll see how many I can get done with everything on the plate, such as the drive to San Diego with the family next weekend to see my Dad. Hopefully my new MP3 will get here by then so I can listen USMLE Step 1 lectures in the car.
That's it for now. I seem to be much more consistent on Student Doctor Network than here, but I'll try to improve.
To start, research has been frustrating. I've been muddling through experiments and am just now getting to do (and understand) some statistically relevant protocols. However, Dr. Jones left for vacation last week with a parting gift of 58 MB of papers for me to read, at least 50 or them. I just finished one today that was a bit disturbing. We should have found and read this one last quarter. They did exactly what I am proposing but with UVA and fibroblasts instead of clinical radiation and endothelial cells. Hopefully we'll be able to leverage their work (protocols and results). Since it was written in 1999, I'm a little afraid of how many more papers I need to read to catch up with what they've done since then.
I've also been job shadowing with Dr. Steinway, a RadOnc here in town, a couple mornings this week while Dr. Jones is on vacation. It has been interesting from a patient standpoint but a little disquieting on the career side. He even suggested I look at Radiology as a field with more opportunity and growth, even in patient treatment. The impression I got was that RadOnc is an expensive therapy of limited value not that genetics and chemotherapy have advanced so much. I need to look into all of this a lot more. I've had Rads (or Inv'l Rads) as a 2nd choice for a long time so that hasn't changed. It even came up Rads as my #1 match on a career questionnaire. But I don't really know that much about what they do and what the future for Rads looks like.
Not sure if I mentioned it, but my dog was finally diagnosed with Valley Fever. The good news is that he doesn't have a chronic joint problem and the treatment is only $33/mos for 6-9 mos vs. the $300/mos it was recently, before the patent ran out. He's doing much better and doesn't have to wear the sling we had him in for weekend, until it chafed his 'underarms' raw.
The boys are doing well and enjoying swimming. They have lessons in the morning and we swim in our pool most evenings. They are definitely improving and Connor is even interested in joining a swim team.
Last weekend I went to the American Medical Association Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) convention in Chicago. As our school chapter's VP, I went with Jill (Prez) and roomed with Jason (former Prez) and Kohl (classmate). It was a great time. I especially enjoyed working with the UofA students and getting to know them. The meetings went well and DOs were definitely welcomed. Most of the fluff resolutions were struck down and the good ones passed. We got to meet several local physicians at a breakout room for the Arizona Medical Association (ARMA). I think that by getting our faces in front of some oldtimers we are doing a lot to improve perceptions of DOs. The weather in Chicago was incredible. And we got to see Navy Pier and the BodyWorlds show. The latter had plastinated cadavers posed to educate viewers on anatomy and function. I can't believe the show was protested in Germany where it started for desecrating the human body. It beautifully immortalized the human form. I also realized how much anatomy I've forgotten as Jill and I argued over names.
I still haven't finished Rapid Review Biochem but am getting some review in. Now I'm reading a couple pleasure books (e.g. Anatomy of Hope) and catching up on a lot of movies. I'm even close to finishing the one Xbox RPG I wanted to play this summer, Jade Empire.
Still, there's a lot to do this summer. Tucker is coming over tomorrow to help me replace 1/3 of the back porch that is falling apart. The plan is to tear down the weak part and create a list of supplies we need from Home Depot. I hope we can also replace the front brakes on our Accord since Tucker knows what he's doing there too. Hopefully his family and Dan/Miho are joining all of us for dinner tomorrow and some cool off time in the pool.
That's just one item of many on the todo list. We'll see how many I can get done with everything on the plate, such as the drive to San Diego with the family next weekend to see my Dad. Hopefully my new MP3 will get here by then so I can listen USMLE Step 1 lectures in the car.
That's it for now. I seem to be much more consistent on Student Doctor Network than here, but I'll try to improve.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Two weeks gone already?
Jeez! I'm through two of my fourteen week vacation and what do I have to show for it?
Spent a few hundred bucks seeing a veternary surgical specialist for my almost three year golden Retreiver, who has to be one of the most expensive dogs in the world by now. At least we think we found the problem; a tear in his medial shoulder ligament. He's in a sling for the next two weeks which pretty much rules out a trip to the Grand Canyon next weekend. However, I really hope this cures Cedar. He's too young to be lame and suffering this much pain. And selfishly, I want to go running with him again.
The Fellowship is going ok. I am learning a ton and really enjoy working with Dr. Jones when he's available. However, I've had a string of bad electrophoresis experiments. We're going to try another Monday and Friday we'll irradiate some newly glycated samples. I'm really crossing my fingers that this week things will start to turn around. I need to start getting some results. I also started working with cells, so I hope we can finish up the protein work and concentrate on cells soon.
Tomorrow is a combined B-day pool party for the boys. I hope we have a decent turnout. Most of their friends are already traveling and can't make it. They just got out of school yesterday! The noteworthy event there was an assembly where Connor got on the Principal's list for having a 3.75 or higher GPA. They only start tracking GPAs in Third Grade so Colton wasn't eligible for it.
Oh, last weekend, during a Memorial Day sale Becky & I ended up purchasing a Polaroid 26" HDTV, the flat panel LCD kind. It's very cool and we got a great price for it. Since it's wide angle, the picture is about the same size as our 31" CRT that is sitting in the corner now. We also started a free trial on Netflix so we've been watching a ton of movies. I even got around to signing up at the Glendale library. I purchased a couple of used books and borrowed 5 DVDs (the max).
Schoolwise, I'm catching up on Student Doctor Network (SDN) threads and giving a lot of advice to up-and-coming MSIs. I'm about 1/2 through my Biochem review book but presently am sidetracked with a Cancer book I got at the library for a buck. It's on alternative and complementary therapies which will be good information for a DO Oncologist to have.
That's about it. I need to exercise more, get started on home repair projects and make better progress on reviewing didactics from last year. That leaves a lot of room for improvement :-).
Spent a few hundred bucks seeing a veternary surgical specialist for my almost three year golden Retreiver, who has to be one of the most expensive dogs in the world by now. At least we think we found the problem; a tear in his medial shoulder ligament. He's in a sling for the next two weeks which pretty much rules out a trip to the Grand Canyon next weekend. However, I really hope this cures Cedar. He's too young to be lame and suffering this much pain. And selfishly, I want to go running with him again.
The Fellowship is going ok. I am learning a ton and really enjoy working with Dr. Jones when he's available. However, I've had a string of bad electrophoresis experiments. We're going to try another Monday and Friday we'll irradiate some newly glycated samples. I'm really crossing my fingers that this week things will start to turn around. I need to start getting some results. I also started working with cells, so I hope we can finish up the protein work and concentrate on cells soon.
Tomorrow is a combined B-day pool party for the boys. I hope we have a decent turnout. Most of their friends are already traveling and can't make it. They just got out of school yesterday! The noteworthy event there was an assembly where Connor got on the Principal's list for having a 3.75 or higher GPA. They only start tracking GPAs in Third Grade so Colton wasn't eligible for it.
Oh, last weekend, during a Memorial Day sale Becky & I ended up purchasing a Polaroid 26" HDTV, the flat panel LCD kind. It's very cool and we got a great price for it. Since it's wide angle, the picture is about the same size as our 31" CRT that is sitting in the corner now. We also started a free trial on Netflix so we've been watching a ton of movies. I even got around to signing up at the Glendale library. I purchased a couple of used books and borrowed 5 DVDs (the max).
Schoolwise, I'm catching up on Student Doctor Network (SDN) threads and giving a lot of advice to up-and-coming MSIs. I'm about 1/2 through my Biochem review book but presently am sidetracked with a Cancer book I got at the library for a buck. It's on alternative and complementary therapies which will be good information for a DO Oncologist to have.
That's about it. I need to exercise more, get started on home repair projects and make better progress on reviewing didactics from last year. That leaves a lot of room for improvement :-).
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