Saturday, February 28, 2009

Ahh Saturday

This Saturday was uncharacteristic for me because I got up before noon. I woke up at 10:00, made some coffee, watched a little tv to help me wake up (ha ha)and then attempted to study. I don't know what the deal has been lately but every single time I have good intentions and try to study the real world intervenes. Kris's car died yesterday. I tried to jump it off, but apparently when the motor is completely dead that doesn't really matter.

Today I was just sitting down to study when I hear the doorbell ring. I'm not so good with unexpected visitors. I wish I was. The problem is I'm just not comfortable being around people when I have no makeup on. I wish I was, but it's just a fact of life. On this day I had on no makeup, a giant zit, slept-in hair, and pajamas (with no bra of course) on. Fortunately it was just Kris's dad and brother there to work on his car and they weren't requiring me to entertain them. After they let me know they were there I immediately scrambled to put on makeup and you know, real clothes. After 2 hours of work and 1 trip to O'Reilly's, they declared the car DOA. Kris rode back with them to Kosciusko to grab my dad's old car.

So after a late lunch I set to work on finishing up a lecture and re-taking one of the dreaded psychiatry quizzes. After 3 takes (with a 3 take limit) I finally made a 100 on it. Now I just have to retake 2 more. Goodbye much needed hours of my life.

While printing out some of our "independent study" documents for pharm I realized I was running out of ink. By the way, I like how teachers call something "independent study" when they really just want to give you more stuff to learn and test you on but not be responsible for teaching it to you. I've never had my ink cartridge refilled, but heard it could be done. I poked around online and figured out Walgreen's was having a $5 ink cartridge refill sale that ended today! Of course I took them up on that.

My best friend Julz happened to be in town this weekend so I decided to hijack her and take her along for the ride. I wanted to visit with her but knew I didn't have any time to do anything FUN. I'm stuck in the nerd hole but can't seem to get anything accomplished this weekend. Anyway, we made it to Walgreen's, got the ink, I saved $12 and got super excited.

Now I'm back home wondering how I'm going to cover 42 lectures worth of information in the next few days. Wish me luck!

Runner's Log (a day late)

2.79 miles 23'52" 270 calories burned. Hooray!

I probably could have gone farther but I kept stopping for breaks to visit Kris at the end of the street. His car broke down right at the entrance to our neighborhood. His dad told him to sit with it for a little while until it cooled down so he sat there for about 20 minutes. I think that completely stopping makes it harder to start back up sometimes.

Here's a gross observation for you. There's this one house on our street where apparently the family smokes because every time I run by I smell cigarette smoke. I can smell it OUTSIDE!!! It just radiates out from the house. They must be having a smoking competition in there or something.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Lazy Productive Day


It sounds like an oxymoron, but that's what I think of on days like today. There was a lab session scheduled for 1/2 of our class, but I had mine on Wednesday so I'm a free girl today! I slept until 12:30. I really NEEDED it though. Just yesterday I left the library and skipped my lunch hour to sleep in my car outside my preceptor's clinic. That's just pathetic. I'm about to cook up my typical weekend breakfast - waffles with scrambled eggs and fruit. Then I'll probably study a little. Then I'll run. Then I'll study into the wee hours. Rinse. Repeat. This is my usual weekend.
I might break it up with a trip to Cups to study when I get sick of looking at the walls of my house or with a movie if Kris offers (he usually does).

I made chana masala yesterday. I stole the recipe off Katie's blog over at http://drkatiegoestomedschool.blogspot.com. (I tried to hyperlink it, but I'm not tech savvie and it didn't work.) She stole it from Martha Stewart. It was de-lish!!! I didn't add the onion because I knew Kris wouldn't eat it if I did, but I think next time I make it I will. Let's face it - he's not going to eat it anyway. I was particularly excited because the sauce had just the right amount of heat. It was so easy too!

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* 2 small onions, finely diced (1 1/2 cups)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 1/2 cups crushed canned tomatoes (I used 3 c. tomato sauce)
* 1 teaspoon ginger powder
* 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
* 1 dash of cinnamon (I add cinnamon to every tomato-based dish I make)
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 tablespoon curry powder
* lowfat plain yogurt
* 1 fresh lime


Directions
1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onions, and cook until they begin to brown. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add the spices. and cook 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes and chickpeas. Bring to boil. Then reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes.
4. When it was ready I served it over rice and put a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of lime over it. Then I put the leftover lime in a frosty beverage (wink, wink)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Just a Thought

Maybe one of my Lenten vows should be to get places ON TIME. That one might just change my whole life. Hmmmm.....

Runner's Log

29'01". 3.18 miles. 308 calories burned.
It was so pretty this afternoon I just had to take advantage. Fortunately Kris and Woodrow kept me company. Kris rode his bicycle and Woodrow ran with me. Whenever I take him with me I get an arm workout as well - he is 30 lbs. of muscle and likes to drag me around a little. I don't complain when we're going uphill, but it got a little pitiful when he was chasing after Kris on his bike and yelping because I couldn't run that fast! (Thanks for not slowing down for us Kris. Gosh... The nerve of some people.)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Hello world! I've been enjoying Fat Tuesday, but it sort of snuck up on me this year. I have usually obsessed about what I'm going to give up for Lent for about a week before this and then I eat/do all those things I'm giving up on Lent. Well, that didn't quite happen this year. I'm still trying to make up my mind. For the last 7-8 years or so I've given up some combination, and most recently all of the following: fried foods, carbonated beverages, fast food (with the exception of salads from takeout places), ice cream, and pizza. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but you get the gist. This year I want to do something a little different. I thought about going vegan, but I'm not sure I have the time/patience/money to overhaul my pantry. I thought about things like running at least 10 miles per week or studying at least 1 hr daily for the STEP on top of all my other work. There's just a few things I know I'm going to try to do. I'm open to suggestions though. Here's what I've come up with so far that I'm definitely doing:

1. Giving up all form of dessert. SO hard for me!!! I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. This could get interesting...

2. I'm definitely giving up the carbonated beverages - maybe permanently? Wouldn't you be proud of me frylime? I've actually done this one every year and I've noticed it gives me more stamina when running. One of our teachers explained why one time, but darned if I can remember it now when I need to most (the STEP is looming. Have you heard?)

3. Oh yeah - I'm giving up facebook and popsugar (except for Sunday check-ins just to make sure noone's messaged me something really important or trying to get in touch with me. That's just rude.

4. I'm going to limit myself to checking my e-mail and all these wonderful blogs I read 2x daily - once in the morning, once at night/afternoon. That's going to save me lots of time and make me more efficient.

Seriously, leave me suggestions in the comments section. I'm open to them. Also, they just make my day.

Ooh - I really need to quit gossiping too. That's a bad habit of mine, but I've been much better about it lately. When you don't go to class/study with people you have much less of a chance to really gossip.

By the way, I'm not Catholic. I'm Methodist, but my youth group started doing this forever ago because we did have a few Catholic kids that attended our youth group and we all thought it would be fun. It's kind of stuck since then. I have good intentions ALL the time as far as studying, running, etc... but they're usually not all accomplished. I NEVER break my Lenten promises though, which is why I have to think about them really, really hard. Help me out peoples!

On an unrelated note - I went to see my preceptor today and he really put me and my partner to work! We took histories on every single one of his afternoon patients! And we only missed 1 question. That is, our preceptor only asked 1 question that we didn't think to ask. Maybe we're learning things after all.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

All Clean, All Better

Ah, my house is clean! Last night Kris let me know that his little brother and little brother's fiance were coming into town. This always ends up with us having dinner together, then the boys drinking beer and playing video games, the girls talking about wedding shenanigans and school stuff (she's in nursing school), and late night trips to get ice cream. Needless to say, it's a good time and it's always a good surprise when I hear that they're coming into town.

The house has been a wreck for the last few weeks what with the painting of the living room and test week and all. I decided with company coming into town it was high time to remedy that. So I woke up bright and early (read - 10:00) this morning and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned... I cleaned the guest room, the guest bathroom, swept the floors, filed bills. Now the house looks livable and I feel about a thousand times better.

I studied for a good long while yesterday so I don't feel too bad for taking the night off. The one thing I hate the most about med school is the fact that even when you're doing productive and necessary things like, I don't know - laundry, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, cooking, taking a bath, running, etc... you feel GUILTY. You feel guilty because you're not studying. Maybe that's just me. It seems to be the consensus among a good many of us though. I'm not letting the guilt get to me as much lately, but I know this summer is going to be hard what with the STEP looming and all. I'll need a little of that guilt to get me motivated to study while it's all sunny and beautiful outside and everyone's playing. Anyway, that's enough for today. I'm off to fit in a lecture before they arrive. Hope everyone's weekends have been fabulous :)

Friday, February 20, 2009

Runner's Log

My longest run yet!!! I know because Lance Armstrong came on my iPod and told me.
4.05 miles, 35'34"
Calories burned - 393 Woot!
This makes up for the catastrophe that was this morning.

Clearly Not My Day

After the upset that was the psych quiz I decided to make myself feel better with a little of God's nectar - I made myself an espresso. As I was sitting down to work on a transcription and drink my fancy drink, the cat decided to jump on the table, knock the espresso on the floor, spill it everywhere, and break the teacup I had it in. Grrr........

One Way to Piss Me Off

Make me spend 2 hours taking an open-book psychiatry quiz and I still come out with a 74. How does that happen??? I did learn that if I spend at least 1 hour obsessing over this I might have OCD. I'm well on my way.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I Am...

a procrastinator. I'm still pooped from last block!!! I've yet to really start studying pathology for this block because we're studying the kidneys and I HATE the kidneys. I haven't started pharm yet because we don't have a handy-dandy already slapped together drug list. So what have I done all day?

I'm nearly finished painting my living room - finally. I cleaned our bathroom. I took a bubble bath. I did listen to one lecture on vaccines. I think I already knew 99% of the info in the lecture though, so not quite sure how productive that was. Now I'm about to watch Grey's. Then after that I'm determined to learn about those stinkin' kidneys. Send some motivation this way please!!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Follow ups

Here's some answers to comments I've received in the last few days.

Laura - I followed Dr. Dempsey around. Isn't she wonderful?

Amy - I think what I like about family medicine right now is the fact that it's all about variety. You get a little taste of everything. Neuro, ortho, cards, are all interesting on their own, but why pick 1? It's kind of fun to see it all. That being said - I'll probably go into something super specific like pediatric urology. Ha!

Runner's Log

3.28 miles (5km) 34'12" Now I need to study!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hypotensive and Hypertensive?

So I was supposed to meet with my preceptor today to see patients, but he was in clinic for about 15 minutes so I went around with one of the residents. She's one of my favorites and has the best doctor-patient interaction skills I've ever seen.

In my 3.5 hours there we saw 6 patients. Two of them had the exact same name and were put in the exact same exam room, one right after the other. Weird. They couldn't have been more different though. One had never been on any medications and was 65. The other had more doctors, surgeries, and prescriptions than I could keep track of. She was nearly in shock when the doctor told her that a family medicine doctor could do more than just annual pelvic exams. "You mean, you can refill my prescriptions too?" Uh, yeah... Maybe not your morphine and hydrocodone, but we'll get to that later. I think when you're taking so many pain meds that you require daily phenergan or else you vomit all over the place it's time to reevaluate the situation. Whatever though. I don't know much. I'm just a student.

I got to hear 2 heart murmurs, though I really don't think I would have caught them if I hadn't known they were there. They were both very faint. I got to see otitis externa for the first time - that's just an infection of the ear canal and not an inner ear infection. Basically the canal looks red and inflamed with some flaky debris.

Probably the best part was when during a yearly check-up type thing for a new female adolescent patient the mom busts in during the doctor's history and starts asking questions about some online drug prescription plan thing that sounded kind of shady. Then the little girl busts in and says "Mom, this is MY time." Priceless. It was so true.

We also had an older patient who was STILL bitter about a breast lump from 5 years ago that wasn't picked up by radiology. She tried to tell us that calcifications in the breast tissue were a sign of cancer because they signified change. Umm no. You don't tell patients with calcification (a very normal thing that can happen in older women) to go out and get a double mastectomy. Whatever though. It's just kind of funny when the patient tries to tell you how to do your job. I'm not bitter though.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the whole reason for the title. We had one patient who was hypertensive and obese (no diabetes Laura. She wasn't the trifecta :)) She was on no meds for hypertension. She had never been on any meds and was otherwise healthy. So the resident was going to start her on a drug for hypertension. Then she tells us sort of on the way out the door that she FAINTED last week. The way she described it was typical vasovagal syncope (fainting due to hypOtension). She got up from a seated position, walked to the bathroom, and woke up on the floor. This happens when blood pools in your veins when sitting or lying. You require the muscles of your legs working to pump the blood back up to the heart (and brain). Then she also mentioned some tingling sensations in her face and a feeling of something stuck in her throat. Seriously? Needless to say the doc decided not to go with the meds just yet and to get a further workup of the patient - EKG. The problem? No insurance. A simple in-clinic EKG is about $800 when you're self-pay. Some places don't care and just do all the tests, no matter how expensive or necessary. UMC tries to work with you and figure out what tests can be delayed, which are most important and the cheapest meds that are the most effective.

Anyway, that was just a typical day at the clinic. I kind of love family medicine so far, but I'm not sure that I won't fall in love with something else next year. I'll keep y'all updated.

Note to Self:

Black linen shirts are nice in theory, but bad in practice - especially when you have a white dog and wear a white coat. Doh...

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Runner's Log

2.77 miles, 25 minutes. Felt good!

Valentine's Day and Why Kris is a Superior Gift-Giver

Remember how I didn't have Kris's gift 3 days before Valentine's? Well, things got busy and I couldn't think of what to get him. So the morning of I woke up and made him a "gift certificate" for a round of putt putt golf. I put it in an official-looking envelope. How was it official-looking? Because I wrote those exact words on the outside in big red Sharpie. Ha. He also had a sweet card, Reese's hearts, and flavored Tootsie rolls in a cute bag. So at least it looked nice. Anyway, he was happy with it.

Then came time for my gift - he freakin' got me a hot pink iPod nano! Are you kidding me? We set a limit of $20. I think he broke that unless he's a major thief or something. I'm not usually a super-girly hot pink kind of girl, but I think it's pretty sweet since it was a Valentine's gift. Anyway, I'm VERY excited about it. While it was er, fun, "sharing" his iPod, it wasn't really convenient. He would take it to work and then I'd wait for him to come home before I went to run with it and sometimes it would be too dark by then and I wouldn't end up running at all. So hopefully I'll be more on track with my running from now on.

After our gift exchange I got ready and we went for a late lunch - or breakfast for us at Cock of the Walk. It was a bit overcast when we left the house but it cleared up once we got there. I indulged and had fried chicken. Yum. After we ate we went out and fed most of our left over french fries to the ducks and seagulls. Some of the seagulls even caught the fries in mid-air. It became a game where they'd fly down by our heads, hover for as long as they could hoping for a fry, and then fly off. The ducks didn't like this very much since they're pretty much water and ground-bound.

Then we decided to go play putt putt golf since we both enjoy it, the sun was out, and the weather was fairly mild. Some of the holes were a little slick, but we made it. We both got a hole-in-one at one point or another. Kris beat me by 3 strokes though. Then we went and checked out movie times. Taken was playing at 10:00 so we decided to head home and relax a little before heading out to see it. We headed home, drank some champagne out of some of the crystal glasses we got for our wedding and Kris played video games while I started setting up my new iPod. Then we headed out to see the movie. It was so good, but so scary. My heart rate was way way up at some points. For those who don't know - it's all about a girl who goes to Paris with a friend for a sort of senior trip deal. They get kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. The girl's biological father is some sort of a retired awesome ninja guy and works to find her. That's all I'm saying. No spoilers here. I'd recommend it and I'm not usually an action movie girl.

Overall we both had a fabulous day. I'm glad since usually days that are built up like Valentine's or birthdays don't tend to go so well. I think it is just because they are so highly anticipated that nothing ever lives up to what's expected. This year we just kind of played it by ear and went with things that we knew would be fun - no stress involved. Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow and do what feels right. That's one of the things I'm figuring out this year. If it doesn't feel right - don't do it. If you wake up at 6:00am with plans to study but feel like crap - go back to sleep. If you had plans to cook an immaculate dinner but now feel like cheap takeout - go for the takeout. Don't beat yourself up over silly details. Okay, I'm off my Oprah soapbox now. Have a fabulous week everybody!

So...

Valentine's Day was yesterday. It was really fun and I'm sure I'll do a whole post about it later, but for now I'm at Cups trying to get some work done. Here's the problem. We finished Micro and picked up 3 new classes - Psych, Preventive Medicine, and Biostatistics. That's not really a problem. They're all pretty common sense I think, but I keep getting my coursework for Preventive Medicine and Biostats mixed up!

So I just finished reading a bunch of articles that I know went with the 1st lecture - but I don't know if it was the 1st lecture for Biostats or Prev Med. I know I just reviewed the Intro powerpoint - but I don't know which class it was for. These are simple problems that can be remedied very easily, but it just kind of throws a wrench in the way I go about studying. I go on a lecture-by-lecture basis. Once I've reviewed everything from a lecture, I mark through it with a highlighter on my schedule. Maybe they should just combine these classes next year and save the future M2s a couple of headaches.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

3 Days 'til Valentine's AND...

I STILL don't have Kris's gift. I have some "fluff" stuff to go in the bag with it, but not what I am actually getting him. We vowed to only spend $20 so I was thinking a funny DVD like Role Models, but it isn't being released until June. Oh no! Any funny movie suggestions?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tachycardic

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've had an impending sense of doom ever since I woke up this morning. I did get literally 1/2 my hair chopped off today so maybe that had a little do with it. I think it has more to do with the fact that we got a TON of busywork dumped on us today. I also realized the rest of my week is nearly eaten up with school engagements when I really just want to play and recover from the last 2 weeks. Or maybe it's my psychic 6th sense coming out. I'll let you know on that one...

Runner's Log (a day late)

20 minutes - 2.43 miles. I was on fi-yah!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Also...

If I hear one more comment about "the recession" or how "MS is the fattest state" I might cut somebody. At least once or twice a week in classes we hear about MS's obesity rates. YOU'RE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR!!! I run. I recycle. I pay my taxes. I don't want to hear about it. That's all :)

How is it Monday Already?

I'm so confused as to where the weekend went. I know I spent most of it painting my living room, but I'm still not finished!!! I'm only 1/2 way finished. I also went to Baptist Saturday morning with my mom to visit one of her good friends. It felt so nice all weekend I meant to go running, but instead I just painted.

Today made it clear the weekend was over and it was time for chaos. I usually spend the 1st week of each new test block just getting organized. I file away all my old notes from last block, print off old tests from this block, download the newly updated schedule - because there's always a change, download the new transcription schedule, etc... It goes on and on.

We were e-mailed just this morning to let us know that our 1:00 was mandatory. Then during that class they made our 1:00 for tomorrow mandatory! Well guess what suckers... I've had a hair appointment for tomorrow at 1:00 for the last week and I'm not about the break it. They never send around a role sheet anyway. I've needed to get my hair cut for about the last 3 weeks. I'm just ready for a "style." I've been growing out all my layers and whatnot for the last year and while my hair does feel a lot thicker I guess I'm just not an all-one-length plain jane kind of girl. It's boring. So tomorrow I'll be getting something different.

I'm off to more painting, but I really need to be working on the 2 transcriptions I was supposed to do today, making an appointment with my preceptor, and making appointments for dinner dates with my friends that I've put off for the last month. Oh dear...

Friday, February 6, 2009

Oy...

The test today was pretty rough. It's not that it was difficult, per se, but it was that I was so completely underprepared that it seemed difficult for me. I'm sure it was easy for some people who actually studied more than a day or 2 for it. I guess I'll know better next time.

I'm currently recovering with a chips, queso, and a beer. I just finished watching the Grey's Anatomy I missed last night. I must say they're stepping up their game. Earlier this season I thought they were circling the drain, but this episode was a lot better.

That's all. Have a great weekend everybody!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Runner's Log

35 minutes, 3.25 miles - because I walked, A LOT. Ha ha.

I was surprised to see 3 fellow classmates working out today after the pharm test. Perhaps we needed to blow off some steam? 4 tests down, 1 to go. Then I'm taking the longest nap ever and staying up all night to paint my living room. Can't wait!!!

Damn that Pancake Lady

She breaks my heart every time. As soon as I walk in the cafeteria she announces, "No more pancakes!" and then the person in front of me always gets the last 2. I try to explain to her that pancakes are my only joy during test week but she's not having it. Oh well - I guess my hips will thank me later...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I Love it When...

the 2 ditzy secretaries in charge of proctoring our Intro to Clinical Medicine exam get to class 5 minutes late, then proceed to tell us in their best kindergarten-teacher voices: "Alright y'all - you need to be quiet now because we're passing out the test."

Seriously? Maybe you need to get here on time. Don't they know the value of our time quadruples during test week? Do NOT waltz in the classroom late and then tell us to hush. Especially when it takes you 15 minutes just to pass out the test. Gosh...

These are the same secretaries who didn't bring enough scantrons last time we had a test. They're both about 25, wear heels or stilleto boots everyday, and sit around probably talking about where they get their nails done.

I'm not moody or anything. Less than 48 hours 'til test week is over!!!

How to Start the Day Off Right, er Correct...

1. Get enough (at least 6, less than 12 hours) sleep.
2. Take a bubble bath.
3. Moisturize.
4. Put on something warm.
5. Go to Broadstreet.
6. Get coffee and toast.

I mean, what could be better?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Micro is OVER!!!

Wahoo!!! We took our last test Friday and our national board on it this morning. I must admit that even though that class was pretty much torture about forcing you to learn every little detail, I think it really helped for the boards. This is the 1st board I've ever taken where I actually had a clue for every question I saw. I'm sure I didn't get them all right, but they at least gave you enough information to reason out the question if you DID know the material. We'd seen it all before. So that was nice. I was tired by the end though. 3 hours and paragraph-long questions does that to me. Anyway, must study for the "easy" test now along with pharm.

Monday, February 2, 2009

I Don't Want to Work

I just want to paint my living room and sew stuff! When I'm stressed/sick of school during test week it makes my creative side want to come out in a big way. I want to go to Wal-Mart, buy a sewing machine (because my mom has the one I usually sew with right now), get a simple dress pattern and some fabric, sit in my living room with Steel Magnolias on and make a freakin' dress. Then I want to wear it. I will not have this urge (quite as much) once test week is over.Last test block I painted a picture that is now hanging in my guest bathroom.

On an unrelated note - I broke out my crock pot again today. Threw in some chicken breasts, cream of chicken soup, let it cook on low for 5 hours. I'm about to put some shredded swiss cheese and crumbled bacon on top. Whip up some mashed potatoes and green beans and call it a night. Yum.

Now - back to studying for pharm and micro. Blech...