One week down, 8 years 51 weeks to go (give or take a year or two)...but what a week it was! I never thought that I would be so busy during my first week of medical school, but I also didn’t think I would be having so much fun. We’ve had a lot of science classes each morning, and I almost wish I had taken a couple more science classes during undergrad so I wouldn’t feel so intimidated when “the-student-who-did-a-master’s-degree-in-most-complicated-science-at-world-renouned-university-overseas” starts correcting the teacher on the first day about the subtle differences between different enzymes I’ve never heard of in the liver. I think to myself, “Hmm, I can barely follow this lecture. I sure hope I’m not the only one who doesn’t have a clue as to what they are talking about. I don’t even know enough to be able to ask a question. If I raised my hand, all I would be able to say is, ‘Time-out! We need a re-do. I don’t get it. One more time from the top!’” Needless to say, I’ve been studying to try and drink from the proverbial “firehose” of information that the professor has eluded to many times this week. After spending a few hours preparing my talk for Sunday, I spent the rest of my Saturday catching up. I’m sure I’ll eventually “get” all that I need to, I’m just still trying to find my groove.
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a basic first responder’s course. Apparently, once you are in medical school, people think you know stuff. They asked people to raise their hands if anyone has had a relative call them up in the last week, asking for medical advice of some sort, and about half the class raised their hands. At any rate, I now know enough that if something were to happen to a stranger while I was riding the subway, my best bet is to pray that there is someone else on the train that has more medical experience than me, because I don’t think I could be of much help to them!
(WARNING FOR THE WEAK STOMACHS: MEDICAL DESCRIPTIONS AHEAD) On Thursday, I met my “first patient,” my cadaver. She is probably around age 40-60, extremely well-preserved (relatively speaking), somewhat short, not-too-skinny-and-not-too-large, and quite beautiful (in a non-disturbing kind of way, mind you). I have a lot of respect for the people who donated their bodies for us to study. I was able to see someone perform a procedure to put in a chest tube on our cadaver (used if someone has a collapsed lung). I was able to feel the hole made in between the ribs, all the way to the lungs. I’ve never touched a human lung before, but now I have. We started dissecting the chest and the arms, and the first step was to take the skin off those areas. Strangely enough, it was relatively easy for everyone in my group, myself included, to jump right into things. There was a definite learning curve associated with using the scalpel to remove the skin, but I eventually got the hang of it. I think I look pretty good with a knife in my hand, if I don’t say so myself. J This was by far an amazing experience, but I know there is a lot of work ahead.
The week before last, we were able to take a boat ride on the Hudson river around most of Manhattan at night, and we cruised right past the Statue of Liberty as it was all lit up. What a cool sight! It made me realize that we really are in New York (well, I guess the subways, the buildings, and all the masses of crazy people kind of gave it away earlier, but you know what I mean!).
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a basic first responder’s course. Apparently, once you are in medical school, people think you know stuff. They asked people to raise their hands if anyone has had a relative call them up in the last week, asking for medical advice of some sort, and about half the class raised their hands. At any rate, I now know enough that if something were to happen to a stranger while I was riding the subway, my best bet is to pray that there is someone else on the train that has more medical experience than me, because I don’t think I could be of much help to them!
(WARNING FOR THE WEAK STOMACHS: MEDICAL DESCRIPTIONS AHEAD) On Thursday, I met my “first patient,” my cadaver. She is probably around age 40-60, extremely well-preserved (relatively speaking), somewhat short, not-too-skinny-and-not-too-large, and quite beautiful (in a non-disturbing kind of way, mind you). I have a lot of respect for the people who donated their bodies for us to study. I was able to see someone perform a procedure to put in a chest tube on our cadaver (used if someone has a collapsed lung). I was able to feel the hole made in between the ribs, all the way to the lungs. I’ve never touched a human lung before, but now I have. We started dissecting the chest and the arms, and the first step was to take the skin off those areas. Strangely enough, it was relatively easy for everyone in my group, myself included, to jump right into things. There was a definite learning curve associated with using the scalpel to remove the skin, but I eventually got the hang of it. I think I look pretty good with a knife in my hand, if I don’t say so myself. J This was by far an amazing experience, but I know there is a lot of work ahead.
The week before last, we were able to take a boat ride on the Hudson river around most of Manhattan at night, and we cruised right past the Statue of Liberty as it was all lit up. What a cool sight! It made me realize that we really are in New York (well, I guess the subways, the buildings, and all the masses of crazy people kind of gave it away earlier, but you know what I mean!).
Our boat ride view at night.
Sorry about the blurry picture, we were on a moving boat...
Ashley had two job interviews this past week, and one of them was for a position here on the medical campus at Columbia. These are the first interviews she’s had while looking for a job, so we were very happy and excited about them, knowing that many prayers are being answered. We now hope that an interview will turn into a job offer, and hopefully it will be one that is near us.
Scott
Scott
It didn't matter how hard an exam was, there is always someone who gets 100% and finds the error in the exam, it is definitively obnoxious. But you also find that many students who are debating anatomical variations because they TA-ed anatomy for 2 years and taught the summer anatomy course are struggling to pass their psych or biochem tests.
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