So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

Yesterday was the first day of fall (my favorite season), and although it was still hot here in Sacramento, I could totally feel it.  Traditionally to most people, fall symbolizes dying - whether it's the sparse but colorful trees withering with the loss of each leaf, or mourning the final disappearance of the summer sun. To me, however, fall represents a time of change, and while I'm not entirely sure what changes are in store for me, I have a good feeling about this season.

Lately, I have been learning a lot more about myself and others, and I've started to get a really good grasp on the things I want out of friendships/relationships. I am finally starting to have the courage to refuse settling for less.  I think my yearly horoscope put it in terms that totally make sense:

"You'll no longer be able to give yourself short shrift or buy into co-dependent dynamics that put your needs on an eternal backburner. You're learning the hard way how to love yourself the way you want and deserve to be loved. Relationships must honor, dignify and respect your noble qualities to pass your stringent litmus test. But the good news is that you're learning to stand up and voice your romantic needs. No longer will you fall prey to the trap of giving in hopes of getting -- and that makes all the difference."


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On another note, this morning was the Body Donor Memorial Service for the families of the cadavers we have the privilege of exploring in anatomy.  It was a beautiful ceremony, with touching speeches from my classmates, and moving musical performances.  I sang with some of my classmates in an acapella group we like to call "Acoustic Shadows".  The name is a subtle nerdy med school joke (see what an acoustic shadow is here).  We have been practicing for about a month, (besides our two week fall vacation), and I think the performance turned out really nicely!  It was nice to be able to show a little bit of our appreciation for the donors, and I hope that the families at the service appreciated our song.  

And here is a video of our performance!

This is what we do with our "free time" in med school...

This last Friday was Mirth Control - a school wide roast of everything med school/medicine related.  Each class puts on a skit/video and they are judged by a few faculty (the 4th years always win).  I am one of the directors of the class of 2014's production, and while it took up a lot of my time the last few weeks, it was so worth it!  We lot a lot of our classmates in the video and the final product turned out really funny (I think), and at least we really impressed the rest of the school even though we didn't win.  I wasn't able to be at the actual event since I was already enjoying my Vegas Vacation, so I missed out on the other class' skits.  Anyway, here it is! I hope you like the song I wrote/sang (Anatomy Sabotage Song) hehe... Enjoy:

*the premise behind our video is that since med students are always hanging around the Medical Education building ("MedEd") at all hours of the day, it becomes a sort of "club"/social scene.  This is our take on that.

Made it through my first semester of med school!

I spent this afternoon working on my very last assignment for the "semester" at Old Soul at 40 Acres.  Love that place!  The food, tea, and atmosphere is great, but you always leave reeking of bacon... :/ lol.  I had the special of the day: a spicy vegan sandwich with corn chowder and Golden Thread tea.  Delish!

Yep, I'm officially done with Block 1!  I made it! This should be considered a medical school milestone, right?!  Looking back, I can't believe how much information we learned, and yet somehow we all managed to pull it off.  I'm a little glad to be done with the wonderful smells of anatomy lab, but I will miss Colonel Mustard.  Its so amazing how much we learned from his body.  What a wonderful gift to give!  I am very appreciative that people like him are so generous.  I am signed up to be an organ donor, but one of these days, I might just sign up to be a body donor (too)?

So... overall opinion of med school so far: ITS SO INCREDIBLE! I feel so lucky to be here.  I am so thankful for all of it.  To all of those pre-meds out there wondering if its ever gonna get better... IT IS SO WORTH IT!  I still pinch myself every day.  If medicine is your dream, don't listen to anyone tell you that you can't do it.  There were times when people doubted me (none of the important people  ;) of course) but here I am!  If you truly want it, and for the right reasons, the stars will align for you (as they did for me).

Clinic - Take 3

Yesterday, we had our second anatomy practical.  It wasn't too bad, I accidentally mistook the anus for a vagina, but hey, it happens to the best of us!  A bunch of us dressed like uteri in honor of studying the pelvis.  Yep, dressing like uteri, that's what med school is all about!

Last night, we all went to a fundraiser for MEDICOS Nicaragua (Fall Ball).  Basically, it was a high school dance for med students, but fun nonetheless!

(haha Jade and I did a prom pose)

I almost bailed out on going to clinic this morning since I knew last night would be a late one, but I decided to go anyway (since this is one of very few free weekends).  I am SO glad I decided to go!  I absolutely LOVED Paul Hom Asian Clinic (my favorite so far).  The patients were amazing, the students were so nice, and the doctors were really fun to work with!  Today was a musculoskeletal day, so we had an orthopedist doctor there and a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor.  They were so awesome to talk to!  Today was really cool because I really enjoyed dealing with musculoskeletal problems.  I wasn't really considering going into ortho, and to be honest, I had never even heard of PM&R, but I am a little interested in both now.  It excites me to be interested in more things than just OB/Gyn.  I wanna keep some options open, ya know?  And to top off a great day at clinic, I even got to learn how to draw blood on an MS2!  I'm not gonna lie, I was really scared.  After that whole fainting incident, I have been scared that I am a big wuss deep down, but I did it!  And I got it right the first time!  I guess I am not a total failure :P  I would definitely consider this another "medical school milestone".

I have been feeling a teeny bit homesick, so I am going to Apple Hill on Sunday with my family!  Can't wait to go, I haven't been in YEARS!

Lung baby?

Yesterday afternoon in anatomy lab, we dissected the cadaver's chest. I took a dissection anatomy class at UCLA, so when we dissected the muscles/axilla I already knew what to expect. The chest, however, was uncharted territory for me. It was so cool because we lifted the ribcage off like the hood of a car (excuse the awkward analogy) and the lungs were just sitting there, waiting to be explored. I especially liked this particular dissection because the lungs weren't all juicy and gross (*cough* the back). Anyway, we had to remove the lungs from the chest cavity, and it felt oddly like what delivering a baby (via cesarian) might feel like... It was pretty trippy! I know this sounds gross, but I actually liked the texture of the lungs. They were really squishy and sorta felt like memory foam.

I can't to shadow an ob/gyn and actually see what a delivery is like first hand! I really hope this whole "fainting at the most mundane medical procedure" thing is not something that comes up again... Next time I am going to eat a much hardier breakfast beforehand and maybe try to expose myself to things that might make me unexpectedly faint. Ugh, it's just annoying because it's something I can't even control!