Nearing the End of 2nd Year

Well, in a few short weeks my core classes will be finished and I will be mostly studying for Board Exams (USMLE, COMLEX) and gearing up for rotations. My third year rotations will mostly be taking place around Fairfield and Napa, with two rotations out in Stockton (psychiatry and hospital-internal medicine). That isn't until the end of year 3. My schedule only permits one month of vacation, which I intend to take right at the beginning so I can extend the time that Itake USMLE and COMLEX by a month - an extra month of studying will make a big difference, especially since that is ALL I will be doing. I am leaving a week between the COMLEX and the start of rotations to go on a vacation though - it's my only vacation, I should try to do something!

The unfortunate thing about Touro University is they do not let us finish school very early. We are in actual classes up to April/May, many mandatory, while other schools have already finished second year to give students time to study for boards! No wonder Touro students perform more poorly on boards. It's hard to keep up with boards and classes at the same time. Luckily a lot of the boards review is starting to overlap with what we are currently studying, so hopefully that'll help out a bit.

I also had an interesting extra-clinical experience - we are required to do a visit and then 6 month follow-up with a geriatric patient at a nearby retirement community. When I went to visit, it so happened that my patient had fallen in a parking lot that day and did not feel up to visiting the clinic, so the head nurse told me to make a house call. In a way, it's kind of ironic that my first "house call," once a traditional type of doctor visit, is probably the only one I shall make in my career. It was a little awkward, but kind of cool to examine a patient with an acute injury in the comfort of her home (in case you were concerned, she was barely injured - extremely lucky considering she is an 83 year old female with history of osteoporosis and is on anti-coagulation medications - she could have easily broken her hip, leg, or wrist, or ended up bleeding a ton).

On another "fun" note, we get to do rectal, breast, and vaginal exams on paid "patients" this week...not particularly looking forward to it, but at least I have experienced all three, so it's not an entirely foreign concept. We are getting into the genitourinary and pediatrics sections now so ... time to race to the finish line. I still have some fun stuff planned - next week double date to Sattui Winery for complimentary tastings, thanks to being wine club members. Anyhow, back to boards review...

Spring Semester and Boards

Well, just finished the 3rd week of Spring Semester - this unit is gastrointestinal, endocrine, reproductive, and dermatology - or GERD. Just signed up for our "Project Prepare" time slots, where we get to practice breast, prostate, and vaginal exams on hired "actors". We always kind of wonder what kind of people choose to do this sort of work, but hey, in this economy, why wouldn't they?

At any rate, the first week we covered mostly dermatology, and the second and third weeks have been focused on the endocrine system (so the pituitary, adrenal glands, pancreas, etc.). I am also getting geared up with my boards review program. I am taking Boards Bootcamp, where we get video lectures, as well as a study plan in the mean time. Near the end of the program we attend some live lectures locally. We got a super discount because at first we committed to the comprehensive program which was supposed to have weekly live lectures and cost 1700 or so, but we were going to get it for about 1300, then when we didn't get the minimum number of students to sign up, they upgraded those who did sign up to the elite program which normally costs 2200 (but we still only paid 1300). It's a lot to work on, but frankly I enjoy studying for boards more than Touro material - it just feels like it's better organized and more relevant. Anyway, I devote my Sundays to studying Boards material - works out well because my boyfriend works essentially all day on Sunday, and Monday-Thursday, so I don't feel like I'm neglecting him too much.

I have been managing to have a little fun on the side - spending time with my boyfriend, hosting a New Year's Party, heading out to a brewery here and there, a movie or two, played nearly all the way through Fallout: New Vegas. Even trying my hand at some new dinner recipes. Now I just have to re-incorporate an exercise regimen...

Oh, I also got all two of my wisdom teeth out a couple days ago - first time going under anesthesia. But there was barely any after-effect and I'm recovering quite quickly. It sucks not being able to eat much solid food, but because I only had wisdom teeth on my left side, I can still chew a little bit on my right without disturbing my stitches. The whole procedure was only about 25 minutes, I was surprised.

Fall Semester: Finished

Well, the Fall semester of OMS 2 has come and gone - it was rather intense, neuro-musculoskeletal-other stuff. Next up is Dermatology, Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary, etc. Should be interesting - this is all the neat stuff. I think I will actually attend lecture this time because a lot of it is interesting stuff to me and I'd kinda like to get back into that. Right now it is Christmas time, and I'm home for a bit but mostly school is still on my mind. Board exams are coming up, so I have to take a diagnostic Step 1 for my boards prep course, which starts in January. Also, our 3rd year we start rotations so we had to rank and send in our requests for certain rotation locations. I'm trying to stay local, but so is most everyone else - most people are in relationships or have kids so it is a challenging position. We hear the results shortly after class starts again.

So...what with rotations, boards, end of fall semester, board prep courses, and trying to have some semblance of a social life, been quite busy. My other blog has been sorely neglected of late...hopefully I can get back to it soon. It seems I never have a spare moment to think even. For now, just trying to enjoy a few days off and plan a New Year's Party.

Season's greeting, everyone - stay warm and safe this holiday season!

Fourth Week In...

Posting has been lacking due to the insane amount of stuff I have been up to - being a second year is no simple matter. Nor is moving. Anyhow, I am finally settled in the new place - which has a gorgeous view and is pretty darn spacious and awesome - because it is "technically" within Vallejo's city limits, it makes the property values a lot lower, so the rent is surprisingly affordable.

The start of this year has been centered on Neurohistology, Psychiatry, Cranial OMM stuff, and learning how to do more focused Physical Exams. We will be also doing an extra clinical experience at a retirement home to learn more about geriatrics and the problems that face that particular demographic. Neurophysiology is very detailed, so that has been taking up most of my time. Money is also super tight. However, our living area is great, my friends are close enough for us to visit regularly and for us to host things every so often, and school is closer, and I have a lot of time to study in the evenings. Not to mention the occasional social events like LAN parties or themed parties. Still have time to do a half-hour or hour of games a day - I need a nice way to de-stress, and the latest one, plants vs zombies, can be played with just a mouse, leaving my other hand free.

Almost time for school...

Well, my 2nd year is coming swiftly upon me - apologizes for the lack of updates, these last few weeks have been crazy. After Bolivia I went to the Galapagos Islands for a week with my family, then I came home and my boyfriend and I sorted stuff out and plan to move in together this fall. It'll be nice having him there, after a year of long distance. We had to look for apartments and budget my financial aid money, since I took out a bit less than I probably should have and so we don't have much breathing room.

Our first unit will be Neurology - so we get to learn brain functions, nerve stuff, etc. It is supposed to be really hard, so I'm glad I've had a sequence of Cognitive Science courses at UCSD. I have at least two textbooks I can refer to if things get too complicated. I am also reviewing old material from Semester 1 - I want to review old material and make flashcards for it at least once a week, since it'll be good practice for the USMLE/COMLEX when that comes around in the Summer (shudder).

I may continue my research on bacteriophages, I would like to, but we shall see. Also, since I took Medical Spanish last year and went to Bolivia, I now have a spot for an elective for fun, so I am curious what will be offered. Anyhow, tonight I drive back up to Northern California after spending the rest of the summer in San Diego - Kit will be following me up in a few days, but I have some meetings at school on Monday and that was our assigned moving day, so I have to get up there. I got a new phone too, a Droid Incredible, which is, indeed, quite incredible - I love some of the medical apps - particularly the drug interactions app. Really cool. It'll even tell you the details and why.

Third Week in Bolivia

Rather late update, I know, but I figure I shall update for the third week when I went in the mobile medical units. The first day I went up to a school where we did general health exams on the classes of kids - most were under 10 years old. They all had horrible teeth, some were malnourished and had herpes skin outbreaks, a few had upper respiratory problems, and we were checking their fingernails since parasites in fingernails is a big way they enter food. We dispensed two de-worming pills per student, and returned the next day to extract broken teeth beyond hope of repair. I even have pictures this time! Since I had been watching the examinations closely the previous day, I volunteered to help conduct the exams the next day, so I got to do essentially half of the kids. I hope they understood my accent well enough.

Another point about their teeth - a lot of them had teeth so bad that they also had abscesses...poor kids. A few less typical cases include...tonsillitis and bronchitis. All in all, it was a very interesting experience and gave me a chance to get some hands on experience. I listened to the kids with stethoscopes and was able to discern bronchitis (and we were just listening through clothing too...you definitely let a lot of things slide when you're on the go in a third world country).

The next day in the ambulances was our last day doing hospital stuff and I went in the mobile unit that parks at various street locations and takes walk-ins for treatment. Most of them were all alcoholics or pregnant ladies, and the guys would stay and talk for 10-30 minutes at a time about their problems...got really boring, and I could understand what they were saying too. The stories just all sound the same after a while, and so we did very little actual medicine that day. The only good thing that came out of it was a female patient came by who had a mitral valve defect - mitral regurgitation - and we were able to hear the valve defect in the flesh so to speak. It was definitely more pronounced than the audio clips we had been given to listen to during our last examination.

That's about it for medical stuff in Bolivia - the next day we went to Lake Titicaca until Saturday, then I just hung around until Wednesday, when I got to leave for the Galapagos Islands with my family! I was so happy to return to the US when I finally got back - after being in Bolivia for 3 weeks, seeing familiar food, familiar settings, stores, etc. felt great. Anyhow, I shall soon begin posting on the various medical conditions I saw or heard about in Bolivia. Until then, off I go.

Second Week In Bolivia

Well I am into my third week now, but this post shall mostly be about last week. Last week was...interesting. I will briefly describe the weekend - we went first on this crazy hike up to the Muela del Diablo. It was quite neat. The next day we went on a bike ride, something like 55km down the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. Ended up going down from bout 14k feet to 3.5k feet into the rainforest where there was an animal sanctuary so there were lots of really friendly monkeys, birds, etc. Some insects too. No pics, alas, since these computers dont have memory card readers.

Anyway, Monday was fine, I followed Dr. Fernandez around for a while. Tuesday was more of the same. Wednesday I shadowed in Obstetrics and Gynecology, since we were all switching locations on Wednesday and I was absolutely miserable. Cannot stand OBGYN. First off, the sight of pregnant women, babies, breast feeding, etc. is definitely NOT my thing. Next, I know very little about pregnancy and complications. Finally, all the doctors spoke super quietly so it was near impossible to understand anyway. Then Thursday I tried to hang out mostly in ER but that got kinda boring, since it was mostly UTIs and women with abdominal pain. Friday we were going to leave early to go to Lake Titicaca for the weekend, but one of the guys in our group was feeling pretty ill from some bacteria, so had pretty bad GI upset... so we ended up not going. Me, the doctor, and the other girl in our group went shopping for souvenirs and went to the Coca museum, which had a lot of interesting information about the history of Coca in Bolivia and the world. Saturday...three was more souvenir shopping. As was Sunday, but we also watched a lot of partidos de futbol! Wednesday we had gone also, but it was just a local game and there was not as much skill as in the world cup. It is a pretty big deal here.

Anyway, this week we are spending mostly in the mobile units, checking out schools and kids in the streets. It is pretty neato, but I will do a full report later, since we have only done this for one day so far!