Hooray for Puppy Parties!

The party was a success - or so I thought. Not only did people show up, they had fun! Never much of a lack of conversation, lots of good food and drink, and entertainment in the form of Penelope and A's dog, Tucker. Of course we had to indulge in discussing a few of the idiosyncrasies of fellow classmates. But, that happens pretty much anytime a big group of us gets together so I guess it's to be expected.

As for the psych/behavioral science board this morning, I'm really glad I didn't study more than 20 minutes :) Here's a sample question:

A patient of yours with long-standing hypertension comes in 3 months after you've subscribed blood pressure lowering agents and their blood pressure is 160/100. What do you say?

A) A lot of people have problems remembering to take their medications. Do you ever have problems like that?

B) Your blood pressure is still high. Have you been taking your blood pressure medication?

C) Your blood pressure still isn't under control. Do you ever forget to take your blood pressure medication?

Then there were 2 or 3 other responses that were clearly wrong - or so I thought. Call me crazy, but aren't these all saying the same thing? Wouldn't it all depend on the tone you used? Now do you see why I'm glad I didn't study any longer?

I can already tell it's going to be a great weekend. My house is the cleanest it's been in months - maybe ever? So no distractions on that front. Lots of running and studying in the forecast. Hope everyone else's weekends are fabulous :)

Penelope, ftw

I've been meaning to let everyone know we finally gave the pup a name - Penelope!!! I know it wasn't even in the running, but as soon as Kris said that one I knew it was right - just enough sweetness and just enough spunk.

I can't get over how much smarter girl dogs are than boy dogs. This pup is tiny - 9 weeks old - can be held with one hand, and has already learned to walk over to the door when she needs to go outside to potty. AMAZING.

Also, I'm not sure if it's just because she's still a puppy and growing, but I love how you can plop her down on her big doggy pillow/bed and she'll just cuddle up and go to sleep without protest. Puppies = awesome.

P.S. - Mama, mark your calender for September 1st - September 25th. I'll be working with Dr. Holdiness (score!) and eating up all the good food you're going to cook for me and entertaining you with crazy patient stories. :)

Names for Consideration So Far:

Sassy
Busy
Idgy (Fried Green Tomatoes y'all)
Zooey (we both like Zooey Deschanel, the actress from Elf and other things)
Chloe

She really is very sassy. Our 1.5 yr old niece was at our house earlier and you should have seen them playing!

By Popular Demand

I walked into class today to a chorus of 6 friends saying, no not saying, DEMANDING to see pictures of the puppy. Little do they know I haven't even printed off a picture since I got my camera 3 years ago. It's pretty bad. Don't know what the aversion is. Anyway, y'all should feel very good about your peer pressuring abilities because here they are:

i LOVE group projects

Can you sense the sarcasm? Actually it's not that bad I don't guess. I had all guys in my group this time and it went really smoothly. Except for the fact that that's all I've done this entire weekend because I had to put in 6hrs just for my part and now I have the wonderful job of compiling everyone else's info into a Powerpoint. Not sure how we're going to get through 30 slides in 10 minutes. I guess we'll just read them like our professors do. Ha.

In other exciting news - wait for it, wait for it...

We got a new puppy today! She's a black cocker spaniel and she's already christened our house with poop. She's 9 weeks and really playful. Surprisingly she hasn't cried or barked yet. I think we're going to get along just fine. Pictures and updates to come. Not sure what we're going to name her, but I'm hoping for "Sassy." All suggestions in the comments section will be considered.

Meeting with my group and getting the dog took up most of my day today. Yesterday was filled with working on my part of the group presentation and sleeping 'til noon. Friday I went to my uncle's retirement party and looked at a lecture or two. So all in all it's been a fun weekend, but not a productive weekend. I know I keep saying it, but I've GOT to get serious.

Oh yeah classmates, guess what I got to (had to?) do with my preceptor Thursday?
If you guessed a digital rectal exam, you guessed right. Fortunately it was on a female to check for occult blood so I didn't have to worry about feeling for the prostate. It wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. (I was REALLY dreading doing one of those.) Here's all the awkward "procedures" I've done so far:
*venipuncture (as of Wednesday)
*digital rectal exam (as of Thursday)
*Pap smears/bimanual pelvic exams (several during the summer with family med)
*stapled an inebriated man's huge scalp laceration (probably 4-5") back together (during the summer in the ED).

GET EXCITED:
5 more days of class
5 more tests (UMC)
4 more national boards
1 giant STEP