Oopsies

Hey Y'all!

Clearly posting has been on the light side lately. One could describe it as non-existent. Whoopsies. In the past two months I have prepared and taken my USMLE Step 1 exam, had a month's vacation, moved to a new city and began orientation for third year. Calling it busy would be an understatement. Now that I am getting back into a routine I think it will be easier to start posting regularly. Especially as I start third year rotations and have exciting things to talk about!

That's about all for now! I have an ACLS megacode tomorrow to study for so I'm off to do that.

Hope you guys are having a great June!


P.S. To read an awesome post about my step study head on over to Daily Medicine Blog !!!

End of Semester and Shelf Exams

Hey All,

Sorry I've been MIA for the past for the past few weeks. We have been finishing up our semester and taking NBME Shelf exams in Pharmacology, Microbiology, and Pathology. Its been CRAY-ZEE. I have been studying pretty much all day every day. It all payed off this past week. I passed all three! Yay! Second year is officially over and I am on to studying for Step 1. 

I was lucky enough to be able to take some time off between my last shelf exam and starting to study to be with family. It was wonderful and really helped me fuel up for the long days ahead. I find there is no better way to prepare for long stretches of studying than to hang out with my family and friends. They keep me focused on what is important and on my long term goals. 

How are all of you doing? Did you have a good Easter? In the upcoming week I'm going to make a post about how I studied for my shelf exams and what I wished I had done differently. Stay tuned!

Bloglovin

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/14788621/?claim=42jtm3euaxb">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Hey All! 

I'm trying something new. I have had a bloglovin' account for a while (its a great way to get all of your favorite blogs in one place!) and thought that it was time for me to join. 

If you have an account, follow me!

Hope you're having a great weekend! 

Daily Medicine Blog

Hey all!

Today you can find me over at Daily Medicine Blog talking about long distance relationships. If you haven't checked this blog out before you are seriously missing out. It is truly amazing. 

Here is the direct link to my post: http://dailymedicine.co/2016/03/17/going-the-distance-tips-on-long-distance-relationships-in-medical-school/

Hope you guys enjoy it!

Time

Hey all!

These past few weeks have been crazy! We just finished out last unit exam on Friday and are now onto two weeks of NBME Shelf Exams and Clinical Skills Exams. We had our last classes this week and our last mandatory class last Friday. (All but a few of our lectures are recorded so that we may choose to watch at home or come in to class.) I cannot believe that soon I will be finished with my second year of medical school! Where has time gone?

My grandmother used to tell me all the time that the days are long, but the years are short. I would nod and tuck it away, but to a kid time seems endless. Medical school is without a doubt showing me how right she was. The individual days have seemed to drag on and on and on. Hours spent in the anatomy lab felt like days. Studying cases made some days feel like years. Yet, suddenly it was over. It was infinite and fleeting all in one.  Second year repeated this pattern. Didn't we just start learning pathology? When did taking a history become so second nature?

As I sat in our final mandatory class, Case-Based Learning if you're wondering, I looked around at my classmates. It was the last time that I would see many of them until fourth year. (We are split into different clinical campuses next year and I am at the smaller of the two. There will be about 40 students at my campus.)  I will miss them. My class has become like a large, dysfunctional family and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. They are amazingly funny, passionate and caring individuals. I know they will be amazing physicians.

I guess that the point of all of this is just to remind not just you, but me as well, to enjoy this time. Yes. Enjoy your time in the hell that is medical school. It is a completely unique experience. Soak up those late night study sessions. Appreciate the work you put in. Embrace the bonds you are forming with classmates. It will be over before you know it. 

Life Lately

Hey All!

The gorgeous little park we found!

Just wanted to do a quick catch up. This weekend my boyfriend (who I will call B on here) came for a visit to celebrate our four year anniversary. (Time has just flown by!) We didn't do anything particularly special, just hung out and went on a mini road trip. It was lovely. On a side note, B and I love to do mini road trips/day trips where we just drive around and see where the road takes us. We almost never take highways. You miss so much when you do! We found a delightful little county park that was basically deserted, despite the beautiful weather. While there we met a woman who was involved in a bird rescue program and got to meet her stunning red tailed hawk. I didn't want to startle the bird, so I didn't take any pictures, but let me tell you. She was gorgeous! 

On Monday B dropped me off for class and then we went to the local zoo. I love the zoo in cooler weather. Not only is it half price, it is also not crowded at all! We were lucky enough to see the tiger up close, as well as several elephants. The penguins were being fed while we were watching, which was super cool to watch. They sure were picky eaters!

B left this morning while I was in class. Saying goodbye never gets easier, but I just have to keep in mind that it is only temporary. This is our last full week of classes of MS2 year. Its CRAZY. Where has time gone? Didn't I just put on my white coat for the first time? Next week we have our last (ever!) unit exam and then the Shelf exams come rolling in. I'll be posting more about that in the weeks to come, but for now I just want to sit back and soak up this time. Soon my classmates will be split up between two campuses and then my rural medicine peeps and I will be flung across the state. I want to appreciate my time with these wonderful people while I can.

That's about all my lovelies. I hope you are enjoying the beginning of a new month!

How I Got Here

No not a birds and the bees talk... sorry to disappoint.

I thought that a good place to start this adventure would be to tell you all a little bit more about me and my path into medicine.

I grew up in a rural county in Upstate NY. (For all of you wondering how rural anywhere in New York can be, let me tell you!  I grew up no where near New York City and actually have only visited once. It’s a pretty good drive, about 6 hours, into the city.) In the trailer park where I lived, many of my neighbors were unemployed most of the time and had very little education. Teenagers dropped out of high school at 16 and many had children around the same time. Several of my neighbors had done time in jail. Many of us were poor, but with little to compare it to all of us kids thought that the circumstances were normal.

In school I sought to distance myself from my peers from the park (as we more or less affectionately called it). Because to many teachers, park kids were lost causes in an already overworked school system and other kids did not want to associate with us. So throughout elementary, intermediate and middle school I worked hard to separate myself. I did very well and had achieved high grades and many school accolades by the time I reached high school. Again, in high school I excelled. I performed in several different bands, was president of clubs and the National Honor Society. I was the first student from my school district to become a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship program. I  graduated as salutatorian in June of 2010.

Early into middle school I realized that I wanted to be a physician. I had had some health problems and was consistently amazed at how doctors used science (my favorite class at the time) to help heal people. I shadowed a doctor in 7th grade and was hooked.

I started at the University at Buffalo for my undergraduate degree in the fall of 2010 knowing that I wanted to do a pre-med program. Because I was an Honor's College student, I had to take several additional courses involving service learning during my time there. These courses were eye opening and extremely informative. I enjoyed helping serve the inner city community of Buffalo and learned a great deal from the people that I met. The classes themselves were interesting, however I began to notice that in all of our readings and discussions poor was synonymous with an inner city location. This idea felt like a slap in the face to all of my neighbors and friends growing up. Thus began my research into poverty. I was surprised to see that my experience was not unique. Rural poverty is a huge issue in the United States, but it frequently goes ignored. I began to bring these facts with me to service learning class meetings to discuss how ideas and theories of poverty could be applied to rural areas. More and more I found a distinct lack of interest in discussing how to improve the lives of the rural poor. This fueled a desire to learn even more and eventually I realized how medically disadvantaged many rural areas are.  This knowledge triggered a "light-bulb moment". I knew that I wanted to help rural citizens gain access to appropriate medical care and I knew that I wanted to be able to provide that care.

With that in mind, I applied specifically to my medical school's rural medicine program and I was ecstatic to be accepted for their class of 2018. I graduated from Buffalo in May of 2014 with a major in Biomedical Sciences and minors in Latin language and literature and Pharmacology/Toxicology. That fall I started at my current school and am now in my second year.

The fact that I want to dedicate my life to serving the very same group of people that I tried to get away from is amusing to me. Life is funny like that sometimes.

Whew… if you made it all the way through that you are a pro! I hope that it gave you a little bit better of an idea of how I got here. I'm sure I will go into more detail with some of these points at a later date, but for now if you have any questions please let me know!

As a reward for making it all the way, here is a lovely sunset from my childhood yard. The park is behind me.