Thanks for the haircuts, Rodney!!!!
So, here we all are! Refreshed and ready to hit the town. We met up with the rest of our class at McFadden's for cocktails and then across the street for dinner at some place that I can't recall the name of. It was great to spend time talking with everyone about everything in the world that had absolutely nothing to do with medicine. Following our lazy dinner on the front porch, we found our way to Nick and Ty's, where I learned that terrible (but ridiculously entertaining) game called "flip-cup". Oh... to be a college student again! Today's lectures were mostly a big blur. Kirsten and I went over to the Watergate for pedicures before our abdomen and thorax gross anatomy lecture. Somehow I think I will survive this whole med school thing. As they say...
it is all about balance!
Haircuts and bubbly!
After our cosmos and tappas at RaKu, we went off to meet our new class hairdresser. His name is Rodney and we spent all afternoon giving each of us fantastic haircuts, while we drank champagne!
We just finished our first round of exams!
The three of us walked out of our neuro exam and went straight to Dupont Circle for some yummie food at RaKu's. We drank giant ten ounce cosmos and then went out for haircuts!
Studying gross anatomy-- the forearm!
This is me,
before our first round of exams. We were pummeled with what felt like a semester's worth of material and tested on everything over the course of 6 exams spread over this past Friday, Monday and Wednesday.
Formaldehyde olefactory party!
Today, in the hallway where we all have lockers, I had just gotten out of the gross lab and was still in my sexy green scrubs. One of the girls (also just left the gross lab) walked by and said... "someone smells good!" and she walked over to me and said, "oh! it's you!". Usually everyone puts on lotion or a spray of this or that to cover the formaldehyde ick. Well, I was wearing my usual CK Euphoria from early in the morning and I suppose relative to the base lingering smell of formaldehype it's nice. So I was feeling all fresh and good about myself. Then I decide to go straight home without changing. So I get on the Metro without changing out of my scrubs, because I smell great, right? Well, in the crowded rush hour train all of a sudden I could smell the formaldehyde all over me. It's like it came out of the front pocket of my scrubs shirt or something. Those poor people I was squished into, on the train! I guess after hours around the cadavers you stop smelling it, so a fresh spritz of perfume is apparent. But once you're out in public, the smell of the gross lab really stands out. Ooops! I'll have to rememeber that.... no matter how good I might smell for gross lab, it will never be acceptable to interact with the public in such condition. :)
Clinical apprenticeship in Chinatown.
Today, I met my mentor who I will be working with for the next three years. He's a very nice doc in internal medicine. Today we saw half a dozen patients, with maladies from bronchitus, backpain, GI pain, dementia, runny nose and basic blood work. Dr. Lee was extremely thoughtful to his patients and also to me. He invited me to listen to the lungs of the patient with the runny nose. I got to palpate a woman's abdomen, who had an unusal mass inside. Anyway, he should be a great doctor to work with. I like the location, too. I also like the fact that a good proportion of his patients are Chinese. It reminds me of San Francisco. Philadelphia and DC don't have a large Chinese population, like SF and I miss them. Very sweet people... and they always wear really cute socks! Remember the old woman I blogged about two years ago, who was wearing the playboy bunny socks? Adorable! Our patient, today with dementia had yellow Hello Kitty socks. Even Dr. Lee commented how cute she was! I think I'll like this part of school. Is there any part that I don't like, so far? Not really! I must say that med school is pretty great. I love it!
Other than my preceptorship, I learned about the muscle that causes goosebumps. It is a tiny little smooth muscle, called the arrector pilli. It is responsible for causing the follicle and hair to become more perpendicular to the surface of the skin, and causing the follicle to protrude slightly above the surrounding skin... TaDa!
GoosebumpsAdditionally
(Stef and Amanda... this one's for you!)... do you remember when we were in Van Pelt library discussing the production of sperm? Because women produce one ovum every month that we give off through menses, men produce a gazillion more gametes everyday... so what happens to these "extra" players? Someone at our study table thought that was why men had wet dreams. That it was to get rid of the extra sperm. Well, I learned this week for a fact (in our lecture on epithelial cells) that the really long branched microvilli called
stereocilia, that are inside the male tract, are responsible for absorbing fluid. Their main role is to suck up the extra sperm! I think the big joke last year was that I would go off to medical school and learn the mechanism, to answer our late-semester study-session procrastination ponderances and report back to everyone else with an answer. Well, now you know! It is all about the STEREOCILIA, baby! If they didn't exist, I imagine that wet dreams would occur much, much more frequently.
Happy Subaru! Washed and waxed.
Today was the first time
ever, that I handwashed and waxed my lovely car. My car is now smiling brighter than before and also drives incredibly fast. You know... because shiney red cars are
really fast! It turned out to be quite an ambitious endeavour, for this lazy Labor Day, and just as I started to buff off the wax, it began to sprinkle outside. Buffing is tough... especially when it is raining out!
In memory of a student, who was murdered
Today, I read an email from my old boss at Penn, while I worked with VUB. As it turns out, one of the students in the computer course I taught, was murdered night before last. This is unbelievable. What a sweet, sweet kid he was! Outside of class, in the halls, I talked with him. He told me he thought my hair was pretty when I wore it down. It made me laugh and smile. A sensitive kid, he was aware of the people around him and he wanted others to feel good. He was generous with his words, thoughts and even gave another student the sandwich he brought for himself, upon hearing she was hungry. He used to tell me that he didn't know how I did it... teaching all summer long and then leaving for medical school. But I know he could do it, too. Every assignment I gave out and exam I made for the class, he aced. He was smart as a whip and certainly from a most unfortunate circumstance, living with very little, but shooting for a good education. He could have done it. Given more time to live, I know he would have done something great! I wish I could go to the memorial service for him. What a sweet, sweet kid. I just cannot believe what has happened!
