Med School Ruins Your Eyes

Ever wonder why you see most doctors wearing glasses or contacts?  I'll tell you: it's because med school ruins your eyes.  We spend so much time staring at a computer screen/power points or books/notes that it destroys our vision.  I started med school with 20/15 vision.  Now, halfway through my second year I have decreased to 20/30 and had to get glasses.  Womp womp.

Oh well, at least I'll fit in with all the rest of my colleagues now!  And my friend told me they make me look smart, so that's a plus!

Hello 2012, I've Been Expecting You

I'm about a week late, but Block 5 has already started out busy, so it took me a while to finish this post.  Before I talk about my goals for 2012, I wanted to look back and see how I did on my goals for 2011.

Last year's resolutions revisited:

1. "Do some serious soul-searching/spiritual discovery": I honestly did give some thought to this throughout the year, but I interestingly ended up in the very same spot I started out.  Which is okay with me, it just means that now I am more sure about how I feel!
2. "Lose weight/maintain a healthy lifestyle": I definitely accomplished my goal of getting back to my normal weight after the holidays last year.  As far as eating healthy and exercising on a regular basis, I tend to go through phases.  At times I eat ridiculously healthy and at one point was training for a half marathon, and then there are other times where I gorge myself and don't work out for over a month.  I think overall, the two phases end up canceling each other out so that my overall lifestyle is about mostly healthy. Also, I have been able to keep off all of the weight I lost in 2010, so I'm really happy about that.
3. "Put more effort into establishing and maintaining relationships":  Friendship-wise, I think I lived up to this goal as good as I could have imagined.  I feel like I've really strengthened a lot of my friendships here in med school, and I've learned to appreciate all my friends for all the different qualities they have to offer.  I've also really enjoyed the cooking/dining out adventures I've had with my friends this year, and I can't wait to have more.  What can I say, we just LOVE food!  I've tried to keep in contact with my UCLA and high school friends as best I can, but this is still a work in progress for me.
4. "Take pictures whenever possible": Along with my diet/exercise goal, I went through phases with this one too.  I think I managed to take a lot of great pictures in 2011, and can't wait to take more in 2012.  I will just have to find more opportunities to take them!
5. "Cook some delicious stuff": I more than exceeded at this goal.  2011 was FULL of cooking adventures with my sister or with my friends.  I grew an appreciation for the Food Network.  I also discovered my FAVORITE cook book store in San Francisco: Omnivore Books.  Towards the end of the year, I stopped cooking as much due to lack of time and excess laziness, but I got a professional mixer for Christmas, so I've been re-inspired to cook again!

New resolutions for 2012:

1. Continue a healthy lifestyle:  I would like to continue to eat FAIRLY healthy.  I also would like to get back into an exercise routine, especially with boards studying coming up, I don't want to just be sitting for 12 hours per day for three months.
2. Gun it up for boards (in non-malicious way):  Since all of our classes are graded Pass/No Pass, I've made the conscious decision to spend less time trying to "get an A" in my classes, and more time keeping my life balanced with friends, relaxation, etc.  After an extremely encouraging meeting with one of the school's student advisors, I am feeling energized and ready to work my ass off for boards.  OB/Gyn doesn't require a ridiculously high boards score, but I would really like to have options when I apply to residency programs. I'm feeling like I can get a really good score if I put in the time.
3. Maintain a balanced, happy life with boards studying (and later with clinical rotations).
4. Blog more: about whatever! Towards the end of 2011, I sort of dropped the ball on blogging.  I got really busy, and also felt like I didn't have much to say.  

So here's to another amazing year!  2012 is going to be a year of hard work, and hopefully worthwhile rewards.  

Jezebel's Woman Of The Year

No, it's not Hilary Clinton.  No, it's not Oprah.  It's Dr. X: an abortion providing physician who chooses to remain anonymous because she risks her life every day for reproductive rights.  I'm happy with that choice.  Don't get me wrong, I love Hilary and Oprah, but I LOVE repro rights!  The full article is here.

On a related note, if you would like to read a memoir written by a physician similar to Dr. X (but obviously not anonymous) check out this book: This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor by Susan Wicklund.  It's quite eye-opening and made me cry in the first chapter, so that's always a good quality.

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot, And Never Brought To Mind

    Another year gone by, another year of my youth spent buried in books, but another year closer to my lifelong goal of becoming a doctor.  Okay okay, so I don't spend all of my time studying.  I try to keep a good balance, and I think I do a pretty good job.  And I still love what I'm doing.  Sometimes I just like to be dramatic.

   2011, overall, was a year of growth and discovery in my personal life, a year of cyclic burn out and energization in my professional life, and a year of prolonging the delay of my future "gratification".  Now that 2011 has come to a close, here is a recap of some of the highlights (and lowlights?):

The year I shadowed OB/Gyn's in jail and in L&D several times, falling even more in love with women's health

The year I went to Vegas with my med school buddies...

... Then went again with my sorority friends...  

... Then went again-again with my sorority friends

And apparently, I just keep wearing the same dress

The year I rode Amtrak all the way from San Diego to Sacramento all by myself

The year I took up a new hobby and ran my first half marathon (the farthest I have run to date)

The year I became a student leader for reproductive rights through Medical Students For Choice

The year I traveled to Baltimore, MD for the MSFC Annual Meeting 

The year my "UCLA relationship" ended (which subsequently allowed me to discover the triple threat of comfort food: egg rolls, shapes mac & cheese, and wine)

The year I tried online dating, and dated a ninja turtle

The year I went on a fantastic Eurotrip with my family

The year I went to Hana's beautiful wedding in Hawaii

The year my grandma scared the crap out of us all when she had her TIA

The year my sister unexpectedly had to have her ICD replaced

The year I helped write and direct a nerdy med school video

The year I rediscovered how much I love to sing

   Well, that sort of sums up a lot of 2011 for me.  I'm excited for 2012: I think it's gonna be a good one. 

It's Interesting What Brings People To My Blog

You may know this already if you have your own blog, but on Blogspot, you can see statistics about who visits your blog, etc.  You can see what websites/URLs refer people to your blog, as well as what search terms ultimately lead them to it.  One search term that has always lead people to my blog is "university falls" or "georgetown falls".  These are a set of natural waterfalls pretty close to Sacramento that are easy to hike to, and you can safely slide down them into pools of water, which is really fun.  They are a well-kept secret, though, and most people only know about them by word-of-mouth - which is why I think a lot of people end up at one of my old posts about them when they try to google it.  

Recently, a new search term has been leading people to my blog.  And when I first saw it, I was quite confused.  Apparently, a few people per day are lead to my blog when they search "stepped in dog shit".  At first I had no idea why this would lead anyone to a blog about being a medical student, but then I tried google-image-searching it, this came up:

Picture of my sister cleaning dog shit off her shoes from a long time ago

Random!

I'm 3/8 A Doctor!

    I've been wanting to write a post for a while now, but Block 4 got the best of me.  It was particularly time-consuming and difficult, especially since I was feeling really burned out, but I made it through, as usual!  Block 4 was one of those "semesters" in school where you 'half' understand everything most of the semester - and it's not until the end, when you are studying for finals, that everything really comes together and that lightbulb goes on in your head.  I ended up doing surprisingly well on all my finals, so I'm feelin' good.  It's funny because during Block 4, I didn't feel like I had a lot to blog about, so I just never did, but now looking back, there are definitely some highlights I could have mentioned.  Better late than never!

    I went to Baltimore, MD with the other MSFC officers for the Annual National Meeting.  We had a blast, met a lot of extremely impressive people, and left feeling recharged and re-inspired.  One of my favorite parts about the conference was that we got to take home plastic uteri and IUD insertion kits (Mirena and Paraguard!).  You're probably wondering why anyone would be so excited about something like that, but I was so giddy, so judge all you want!  My plastic uterus has a very nice home, displayed out in the open on my desk now.

Contraception Workshop

Manual Vacuum Aspiration On a Papaya

Plastic Uterus For IUD Insertion Practice

I like this picture, even though almost everyone is blinking

Our Swag

    A few weeks ago, roomie and I had our second annual Class of 2014 Festivus Ugly Sweater Party.  If you recall from last year's party, it was so fun that someone's hair caught on fire.  If you can believe it, this year was even crazier.  It was really fun to see everyone let loose towards the end of an exhausting block and before buckling down/getting serious about finals.  For this year's ugliest sweater contest, someone suggested a Zoolander-inspired runway walk-off, and man was it a HIT!  It started out innocent enough, but shirts started to come off, etc.  It was HILARIOUS.  I hope we continue this traditional festive gathering for all four years of med school. 

They even did the Zoolander underwear trick

    Now back to some school related thoughts.  As you may or may not know, the USMLE Step 1 exam (aka "boards") is coming up for me in April.  If you don't know about this test, think about the MCAT, but on steroids.  Yep, it's like that.  At least the material on it is more interesting and relevant to my interests than some of the stuff on the MCAT (i.e. phySUCKS).  Anyway, it's a HUGE deal, and the score we get on it determines what kind of residency program we will be able to get into, so it's pretty damn important.  I have been dreading boards since we started our first year, but after meeting with one of our student advisors, I am actually feeling ready for it.  I'm not excited to devote even more of my precious time to studying, but after the advisor encouraged me, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can rock it if I put in the effort, so I'm feeling pretty ambitious at this point.  (I hope this energetic feeling stays for a while!)  Now I just need to decide on a date!  For some reason April 1 is sticking out for me - we'll see!

    That's all for now.  Look out for a "2011 Recap" post, and a "2012 Resolutions" post.

I Run To Get a Dose of my Own Medicine

13.1 miles.  If you would have told me that I was going to run that far a few months ago, I would have told you that you are crazy.  Somehow, one of my amazing classmates wrangled about 45 of us MS2s (medical school second years) into running the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco.  Before training, I could only run for 25-30 minutes or about 2.5 miles if I worked REALLY hard.  Now I have run for three hours at once and for 13.1 miles.  The biggest hurdle for me was the pacing.  I realized that I just have to run pretty slow (so basically a jog) in order to be able to go long distances and times.  If I run too fast, then my asthma acts up and I just can't breathe, so I might be slow, but hey, jogging 13.1 miles is still pretty good, right?  My official time for the half marathon was 2 hours and 46 minutes, which I was happy with.  My goal was to get under 3 hours.

The Nike Women's Marathon was one of the coolest events I have ever participated in.  There were 20,000 runners and many spectators, mostly women, which was super empowering.  The crowds were so encouraging, and some of their signs were HILARIOUS.  Some of my favorite signs said:

"Run like there is a shoe sale ahead"

"Toenails are for sissies"

"Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass"

Among the spectators were families, friends, cheerleaders, bands, coaches, and even a gospel choir... and you know how much I love gospel choirs!  They gave me goosebumps, they were so beautiful!

I was lucky to have been able to run the whole way with friends, which made it so much more enjoyable than if I had to do it myself.  One of the most amazing parts of the race was when I rounded the corner and saw the finish line.  I literally felt a surge of adrenaline through my body, I got all tingly.  Suddenly, I just could not help but to all-out-sprint towards the finish.  I surprised myself how fast I ran those last hundred feet or so - I almost thought I was gonna puke, but luckily I did not. Haha.

The firemen in tuxedos and the Tiffany's necklaces were just as exciting as I anticipated.  Overall, it was an amazing experience, from training to the finish line, and I really hope I can do it again someday.

By the way, we all thought it was quite poetic that in the week before and after the NWM, which benefits leukemia and lymphoma research, we happen to be learning about leukemia and lymphoma in Hematology.  

**Side Note** The title of this post relates to one of my biggest inspirations to exercise and stay fit: that we, as physicians should practice what we preach.  How can we tell our patients to eat healthy and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle if we, ourselves do not lead by example?  That is why I run to get a dose of my own medicine - a healthy lifestyle is more powerful than any pill.