Back in the Saddle

You are all probably wondering where I've been! I got a bit lackadaisical about writing during the summer, not only because you probably couldn't stand to hear any more about my rat experiments, but also because I spent a lot of my free time just relaxing. I accomplished a lot of nothing this summer; besides the research work, I spent time cooking yummy food for my family (If I wasn't in med school, I'd be a chef), reading books (I finally read that teenage vampire series that my daughter has been begging me to read, and it was actually quite good, if you like a dark Romeo and Juliet kind of story), and a lot of TV. Primarily I watched ER, starting with the first series (which began what, 12 years ago?). It was fun to watch because I know just enough about medicine to follow along, and not too much to bash the show and point out all the unrealistic flaws (hopefully I'll finish the series before I know too much and can't enjoy it any longer....).

But alas, the summer fun is over, and it's back to the books. We just had our first exam yesterday, after two weeks of sitting on my butt in lecture for four hours a day, and it wasn't so bad. I'm happy to say that I don't have that "Oh my God the sky is falling" kind of look on my face that the poor first years do. I'm not sure if it's because second year is a bit easier (more clinically relevant, and we are now familiar with the language of medicine), or if it's because we are just used to the stress of always being behind, and having way too much to study. The first years look like a herd of deer caught in the headlights of a line of bulldozers. There is no way out, and you are going to be squashed.

But they will pick themselves up, dust off the dirt, and continue moving forward, as we all have. The best thing about being a second year med student is that stress is familiar, and you know what to expect. You already know what it takes to survive, and you have morphed yourself into a marathon study-er. In addition, as mentioned above, the classes seem so much more relevant because they are taught by MDs instead of PhDs, so you are learning not from someone that spent 20 years in a lab studying an ion channel, but instead someone who spends time with

patients, and can tell us what's really important in taking care of people! Ye haw! That's what I came to med school for!

Our first class is circulation, which deals with the heart, kidney, and lungs, what diseases occur in these systems, and how to treat them. The one great big difference in this year's learning is that we need to remember what they are teaching us! Not just for the exams, but for life! We need to remember the nuances of reading an EKG, the symptoms of mitral valve stenosis, and what drugs to give for congestive heart failure, because very soon we will be taking care of patients! Ye gad! That's like letting my 15 year old with a permit drive to the coast! Scary! It seems impossible to think that starting next year we will be seeing patients, albeit of course we won't be the final say in the treatment, but you can bet that the attending will be pumping us for the correct answers (if anything I watch in ER is true.)

So the first exam is done, many more to come, and I can happily say at this point that I am still thrilled to be in medical school. Cheers!