Match Monday

     It's official y'all - I have a job!!! Today MS4s across the country found out whether or not they matched.  I matched!!! And so did BF! Now we just have to wait till Friday to find out if we matched together, and to see where we're gonna end up.  Luckily only 2 out of about 96 people in our class had to SOAP (formerly known as the "scramble"), which is less than previous years, so people generally did OK.  Whoever those two people are, and for all those who had to SOAP, I wish them luck, and I hope it all works out.

 

Mirth Control

     If you've been reading my blog for some time, you'll probably remember me mentioning Mirth Control before, but if you're new to my blog, I'll explain.  Mirth Control is an annual event at my med school where each class puts on a comedic video or skit roasting the medical school experience.  Its a wonderful tradition which allows medical students to take a step back from studying or working, and just laugh about how ridiculous this whole process is.  For all four years, I have co-directed our class' skits.  While at times it was a stressful, frustrating job, there were so many other times it was so much fun to do.  This year, as MS4s, we were in charge of hosting the whole event, which was quite a task, but I think we threw a pretty good show.  :)  I'm really proud of everything we did over the four years, and especially what we did this year.  I'm really glad the show went well, but I have to say I'm even more glad its over, so I can start working on moving out.  Even though all of the work I put into co-directing this each year had absolutely no bearing on my resume, I'm still really glad I did it.

Class of 2014 

     Well, if you are in need for some laughs, or if you'd just like to see what the heck "Mirth Control" is all about, one of my class mates was kind enough to put together a Youtube playlist of a lot of the clips from this year's show.  Our class skit was a spin-off of the Hunger Games, but instead it was the "Match Games."  Enjoy!

Here is one of my favorite clips - its the different "districts" 

of the medical school training for the "Match Games"

One week

    It so close I can taste it.  Everything I've been working for has lead me to this point. One week left! It also helps that this week is super busy. Tomorrow is Mirth Control, the annual school roast event that I've been working on for months. I'll be sure to post some of the videos on YouTube afterwards.

      I'm really glad I'm ending the year on Family Planning.  Though I actually do have to do some work, it has been so fun actually doing things I care about, learning a lot, and hanging out with people I love and respect.  

     I actually started getting all sentimental today.  After tomorrow, no more Mirths.  In one week, I'm gonna know exactly where I'm going, and I'm gonna have to deal with it, for better or worse.  No more mystery or intrigue.  On the flip side, I can at least move forward after that.  Start planning my next step.  So here's to all the other MS4s out there.  Enjoy these last moments of medical school.  And my the match be ever in your favor! 

I couldn't have made this story up if I tried

     I am about to tell a story I already know some people won't believe.  It's okay, if I wasn't there myself, I probably wouldn't have believed it either.  It was one of the most unexpected, serendipitous things that have ever happened to me in my life thus far, and I will never EVER forget it.

     It all happened so quickly.  I was walking to the hospital for a meeting, and in my path, about 50 feet from the hospital entrance, a man shouted for help.  He was supporting his wife, who was standing, obviously pregnant, and grabbing onto a nearby trashcan for support.  

I ran over, and asked, "What's going on?"

The man replied, "I can feel a head!" 

     At this point I'm thinking to myself "Oh $@*&..."  My first thought was that we had to get this lady to Labor and Delivery.  Bystanders are starting to walk up now, asking if I need help, and each time I say, "YES! Go inside and have the front desk CALL L&D! Tell them to get down here NOW!"  I must have sent about 4 different people in to do this.

So I asked her "Do you think you can sit down on this bench?"

"NO!"

"Okay, how many weeks are you, Ma'am?"

"THIRTY EIGHT!!!!!!" 

     So far, all of this has happened in a span of about 30 seconds.  I proceed to put my bag down and roll up the sleeves of my white sweatshirt.  Next, I crouch down near her legs (she is still standing) to see what is going on.  And as soon as I'm in the crouching position - PHOOMP!  The baby is out.  It just falls out!

     The dad and I both reached out and caught that slippery little sucker together.  He lets go, and here I am: holding this little baby with my bare ass hands, bodily fluids every where.  Baby was a bit blue, and wasn't really breathing yet, so I rubbed its belly to imitate the "vigorous stimulation" that I always see the L&D nurses do.  It started crying, and the next thing I thought was "WHY ISN'T ANYONE HERE YET?!"  More people were passing by, asking if we needed help, and I asked them if they had anything to wrap the baby in to keep it warm.  These wonderful passersby didn't hesitate a single second, ripped off their coats, and handed them over for us to swaddle the baby in.  

     Finally, some volunteers came out with a wheelchair.  This poor lady still had her placenta in, cord attached to baby, so we wheeled her in, getting her to the right people and setting to get the care she needed.

     I was only 15 minutes late to my meeting, but for the rest of the day, I couldn't stop worrying about this woman and her baby.  Had I done everything right?  What if mom or baby had a bad outcome?  What could I have done better?  I suppose I didn't really actually do anything except help her get to where she was trying to go.  

     The next day, I went to her room, just to check if everyone turned out OK.  

"I'm not sure if you remember me, but..."

"OH WE REMEMBER YOU.  Thank you so much for your help.  Would you like to hold the baby?"

     Everyone was fine.  They were laughing about the story they have to tell.  And I got to hold that sweet little baby.

* Patient details have been changed or omitted to protect patient privacy

Scratch That

     In my last post I talked about how I was going to be stepping back from my research for a bit after some set-backs occurred.  Well, I was wrong.  My research mentor actually wants to move to the next step of re-submitting for IRB approval with modifications like right now.  So, I thought I was only going to have to worry about planning Mirth for the next two weeks (which is plenty to handle itself), butttttt I was wrong.

     Man, at least I can say I really ended 4th year with a bang!  I have been SO BUSY!

The Tower

     Last month, when I was playing with my zombie tarot cards for some insight into February, I got a card that didn't make much sense to me at the time - the tower.  The tower represents "a sudden change, questioning conventions, destruction".  Naturally, a card like this would worry any normal control-freak.  But there's no point in worrying over things that haven't happened yet, especially things we don't even know about yet.

     A few days ago it came crashing down on me.  Though my research project had been going slower than I originally anticipated, it had at least been moving forward.  I had collected my first month of data.  I sat down to enter all of the data and perform some rudimentary preliminary analysis on it (to have something to turn in for my fourth year med school research project).  What I found was worrying.

     My research project involves a survey, and unfortunately, over half of the respondents weren't answering the most important question appropriately.  Based on their responses, they most likely didn't understand what I was asking for.  At this point, I was disappointed, but I kept moving on.

     I met with my research mentor to go over the preliminary findings (for the purposes of my medical school project due), and as soon as we got to the part about over half of the respondents not answering that question appropriately, he threw me off that tower.  "Oh, you're gonna have to stop your study then," he said bluntly.  "Basically, we're gonna have to go back to the drawing board, rewrite that question and start over."  He was very reassuring that this stuff just happens in research, and that we'll get the study done in due time, but it will likely have to be my residency research project.

     While I completely understand the reasoning behind it, I was still a little surprised.  I wasn't quite expecting something this drastic in response to the lack of appropriate responses.  And what was even more of a surprise, was how this all made me feel.  I would have expected to feel angry or frustrated, especially considering the amount of time and effort I have put into this over the past YEAR, however, I felt relieved.  I definitely want to finish, and someday publish, this study, but now there is no way to finish the project before I graduate, so it essentially has to be put on hold while I figure out how to reword that part of the survey - and where I'm going to be next year.  So that means I actually get a bit of a break from it while all this other crazy Match and graduation stuff is going on.  *phew*

     Oh yeah, and 22 days till Match...

In the grand scheme of things, 30 days is the blink of an eye

   Yep, shit is getting real now, y'all.  30 days until Match Day - the day that our fate is decided.

What I've been doing to keep my mind off of it:

• Co-hosted a bridal shower
• Performed "My Angry Vagina" in the Vagina Monologues
• Spending 9 - 5 in a dissection anatomy didactic
• Working on the class yearbook
• Planning and filming stuff for Mirth Control
• Scrambling to work on and finish my research project that is due next Friday (to get credit for 4th year).  Unfortunately, I only have preliminary data to turn in for the school project deadline, but I plan to submit a more complete project later for actual publication. 
• Zumba, running, Hip-hop, and dieting
• Crafting when time permits (not often lately)

   I'm getting more excited, and trying not to be worried, because there is absolutely nothing I can do at this point to change the outcome of the match.  I just wanna get it over with, rip the bandaid off, and find out where we're going to spend the next 5-7 years of our lives!