Liver Boot Camp

Well, as you can probably guess, the weekend was wild. Saturday, I went to Stubbies and the Swamp to drink with some med school peeps, and then I finished the night by watching The Social Network with my friend Nik. Sunday, 5 classmates and I went to Halloween Horror Nights. It was my forefront going and it was really cool. Although, it taught me that I don't scare easily. I had far too much fun and need to get back to the daily grind. One problem, I told myself that my awesome Unit 2 performance earned me a week of no studying. Since the week is almost over, I can say with confidence that drinking and partying this much for this long has given my liver the workout of a lifetime. My tolerance has gone up so much in only a couple weeks of hearty med school partying. I just find myself feeling tired and ragged from all the festivities that it's become a good thing that I'm not trying to study. I can only imagine how hard it would be to learn stuff in this state. As is, the partying must go on. Friday is the big Halloween party that is being thrown by our social chairs, and I find myself now without a costume and without a clue for what to be. We'll see if I can manage to pull out another hit like Wet T-shirt Contest was last year.

Side note: the worst part of having this week as my party week is that this week is when we're learning about the function and dysfunction of the liver and how cirrhosis comes about. How ironic.

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Learning to Forget

It's that time folks. As of 4:15pm Friday afternoon, I finished Unit 2 of my first semester of medical school. The only thing to learn this weekend is how to forget about school and relax. First, let's go over some logistics of schoolness. The two main exams of the day were Anatomy and Cell Biology. I managed to get a 91.5% on the Cell Biology test (90% written, 93% practical). I felt good about that performance since I don't really care about cell bio. Although the average for the written portion was an 88%, and I was hoping to do a little better than that. Compared to cell bio, Anatomy for me is a much bigger deal. Since we're pass fail now, none of these grades really matter, but my anatomy scores are a matter of pride. Last exam, Dr. Williams told me that I scored the second highest in the class by getting a 96 overall (99% was the highest). She followed that up by saying, "You know what that means Frank, you gotta be #1 next time." Well I rose to the challenge and succeeded. On the 140 question exam, I missed 2 answers total, giving me a 98.7%. Based on the class histogram, I was the highest score by 3%, meaning that the person who scored the second highest missed at least 3x as many questions as me. It will be interesting to talk to Dr. Williams on Tuesday to see what she says. I think it has something to do with the lucky test mustaches we drew on.


I decided to go with the curly French kind, haha.



Nick, John and I decided to rest at the tables outside between testing sessions.

Given all that hard work, I earned some nice R&R this weekend. After the exam, we went to Wildflower for the pool party and had some beers to chill out and relax. Here are a couple of pictures.


There ended up being a lot of MS1s there.


Dan was wondering why I was taking pictures, so I told him to pose for the camera. This is the best I got out of him.


We even got Monica to come out. Here she is with Sang, Ivan, and her friend from undergrad.



A bunch of people ended going into the hot tub.


Above is Sheylan, Kanita, Nick, and Anna.


(From left to right) Anna, Jeremy, Shawen, Dan, and Jillian


We slowly got more people at the hot tub. Steve (white shirt), Kim (jeans), and Keisen (blue polo) joined us.


Elissa and Marcos were there too. They might be my favorite people ever.


As you can see from the picture above, they are clearly awesome.

After the pool party, I went with Keisen to his and Steven's apartment. Then most of the MS1s reconvened on Sharab night club downtown. Here's Steven once we got to Sharab. He's clearly ready to dance.


I decided to take a picture of my downtown buddies since we went through the joy of riding the later gator together.


After this point in the night, people started to drink and dance and all of the CoM was getting down and dirty. Hopefully, tonight will be equally epic.

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I've Got your Pituitary Stalk Right Here!

What little sanity that was left in my body is now gone. We have two more days of studying left before our exam (or our Unit 2 "exercise" as Dr. Rarey calls it), and I don't think my brain can make it that far without imploding...or exploding, I'm not sure which is more clinically likely. Even as coherent thoughts leave me though, I keep finding new inspiration from the stuff around me. Monday, while running stadiums, I saw the giant Gator statue out in front of the trophy hall, and it wasn't swarmed with people trying to take their picture with it. Looking at it, I thought to myself, "Yeah, I'm that ferocious; I'm that strong; I'm a gator!" Even though that motivational moment might have been nothing more than the workout-induced endorphins talking, I still felt inspired. I mean who wouldn't be inspired by this guy.


That day, I went on to run three more full sets of stadiums and even made it to the top of the student section doing squats on the bleachers. I was rewarded by a pretty view at the top.


I felt totally awesome and sweaty, and in the end, when I left, it was because I had to get to a dinner date, not because I was tired or sore. Although I wasn't really looking date ready.


I went on to have a great dinner with Joe which also helped ease the mental fatigue I've been experiencing. Things clearly aren't going that badly for me, and best of all, even if I'm going crazy, I'm still really happy with where my life is right now. Side note: As you may have noticed from the picture, I have a goatee now, mainly due to the fact that my previously mentioned anatomy teacher Dr. Williams informed me that men don't look good with goatees. I shaved on Monday morning and showed her; She has since rescinded her statement.

Just to make you feel better knowing I'm not the only one going insane, here are some of my classmates.


Here are Shawen and Dan. Shawen told me later in the day that she saw me taking the picture, so she tried to act as candid as possible. Shawen is a little crazy in general, so this week is going to be fun. They both were laughing at Adnan and Emily who were being particularly ridiculous as seen below.


Emily said that she always makes weird faces in pictures accidentally, so she decided to up the ante and go for intentional weird instead of accidental this time.

I love med school.

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Teacher Frank

Well, I just spent 2 hours teaching my friend Bobby about the anatomy practical. My feet hurt, I'm tired, and my back pain is coming back. Teaching can be so tiring. Back to it by 6 am tomorrow, haha.

Getting There, Slowly

The week moves on and we keep on moving with it. My schedule this week seems more an more delightful the more I look at it. This morning was terrible. Even though our test is this week, our Essentials of Patient Care class (or Epitome of Pointless Crap class) decided this Monday would be the best time to test our overall knowledge of clinical practice skills. That means we have to conduct a 20 minute interview encompassing a patient's total complaint, medical history, personal history and physical exam. Needless to say, memorizing all of the minutiae of the full medical interview was annoying and time-consuming. When the time for my interview came, I felt only slightly prepared, and even though I skipped a couple major parts of the exam, my fake patient said that I did amazing. To celebrate finishing the exam, Sheylan, Kathy, and I decided to get lunch at the Shands south tower. After 3 pictures, this is the best I got.


After lunch, we had our last lecture of new material until the test. Learning the respiratory system in an hour while confusing, was a nice departure from the dragging lymphatic lectures. Right now, I'm sitting in lab as we go over slides together. Take a look at the awesome people I do Histology with.



(From left to right) Anna, Rachel, Felicia, and Jorge



Here's a picture of my Junior Honors buddies. (from left to right) Sang "Gooey", Tim, Steven, and Monica

Monica got paranoid when I took that picture of them, so I better post this before she makes me delete it.

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The Beauty of the Outdoors

As some of you may know, I've been suffering from some serious allergy symptoms over the past week or two. Well, this past Friday night, my parents took me to dinner and then bought me some extra strength Claratin-D. I took my first dosage this morning and I've been symptom free all day. I used to avoid the outdoors like the plague when I could since my symptoms would only worsen when I was outside. In addition to being cloistered away in study rooms, I haven't had a single moment to enjoy the outdoors all week. Those times have changed. Earlier today, I spent two hours studying outside, and right now, while I'm waiting to meet my friend to watch Dexter, I can't help but revel in the cool, beautiful night around me. Isn't nature beautiful?

The Good, The Bad, and The Orbicularis Oris

Well, life is where it is now. No matter how hard I try to maintain some level of individual identity with my schedule and study habits, I feel constantly driven by the wills and needs of my friends and classmates. Ergo, even though I don't feel like studying this Sunday, I'm studying this Sunday. I have even hidden away at my secret study table at Crispers, where I can hide from the world and my friends. See my sweet setup below.




I have developed a new attitude for these next few days though. You just gotta take what life throws at you, enjoy it, sort through all the mess and then come out the other side not worrying about it. This applies greatly to studying for my massive Friday test as well as the consistently terrible performance of the Florida Gators. Even though the Gators sucked, I got to see the suckage up close with my med school peeps and my friend Jeremy. It was great! In the same way, learning about your Orbicularis Oris can teach you a lot about facial expression, but it can also give you discrete nerdy ways to sexually harass people. My friend Steven has already harassed a third of our class using nerdy medical talk, and I thought I was a good creepster. The true message of all of this dribble though is that even in the crap load of bad that life throws at you, there's some good. Also, it teaches you to beware med school students names Steven.

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Sooooo Tired

I made the mistake of letting people study at my apartment til about 1 am. This morning, I just happened to be attending an anatomy boot camp at 6 am. On top of only having 3 hours of sleep, I made the second mistake of taking a benadryl with food after boot camp. The combined action of food stealing blood from my brain and the mess making me drowsy has made me absolutely exhausted. It's a good thing I have to teach like 20 of my classmates about cranial nerves in about an hour. Hopefully, I don't pass out, heh.


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First Time Studying At Home

Well, it's finally happened. I have finally studied school at my apartment. Why has it taken so long you might ask. To me, my house/apartment is a fortress of solitude. It is where I go to escape all of the med school life, but tonight I just wanted to have a beer and learn something. This led me to invite some of my friends from soccer over to enjoy a 6-pack and get intimate with the lymphatic system. Nik, Keisen, and Kim showed up and we learned a decent amount. It was actually quite good. Kim didn't want to be in the picture, haha.




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Studying Has to Look Cool if That's All You Do

As I've been meeting with my friends to study for our upcoming test, I've realized how much cooler studying has become. Well, it looks cooler at least. Every single thing we med students do to study anatomy or histology looks so intense. We're either handling human skulls, carrying around microscopes and slide boxes, or utilizing very intricate texts or computer programs to visualize just what is going on in your body. Today, I just leafed through my lecture notes on a tv as big as my bed (see below). I'm basically trying to say that even though I spend most of my day studying, I'm still totally cooler than you. LOL




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I Can Feel It In The Air Tonight, Oh Lord!

The atmosphere amongst my classmates has never felt more strained or stressed. I actually feel weird about school because I'm not freaking out about the test coming up next Friday. Although that isn't that surprising, given that my friends have classified me as an alien.

--alien - n., a student that just gets med school material in an unnatural way...because, after all, they aren't like us.

My alien status has been confirmed by many, but they still accept me into the fold. I think it's because I teach a lot of the material I already know to my classmates. It's not like I have a choice though since Galactic Regulation 3585.47v says I have to. Siiiiigh, the life of an alien isn't easy....but it sure is fun.

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Location:Newell Dr,Gainesville,United States

Done With PT

Last Friday, I had my last visit with the physical therapist. It was great; I've never felt better as far as my back pain goes. The beauty in the end of physical therapy is what I get to do afterwards, EXERCISE!!! Last week marked the start of my new exercise routine, stadiums on Monday and Wednesday and soccer with classmates on Friday. This week I had to modify my routine, because of preparation for Gator Growl (seen below).


However, soccer will still go on and I will get back in the proverbial workout saddle. Hopefully, I will be able to drop the 20 lbs I gained since the start of med school, hahaha.

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Location:Newell Dr,Gainesville,United States

My Lab Partner John

I decided to take a picture of my lab partner John for my blog at which point he said, "Show them my weiner." Here's the picture I got. Enjoy!




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School is School, But Not Exactly

Well, learning to become a doctor over the past couple of weeks has been fun, as you can probably imagine. A lot of people have asked me how I'm enjoying it all. My usual response has been "it's school." Well, the more I go through this rigamarole called med school, the more I realize that while med school is school, there are some very salient differences. Here are a few of them.

1. Self-motivated Mornings

This picture will give you a decent idea of what it looks like outside when I leave for school.




Now, while I've had my fair share of early mornings, med school will stand out as one of the only times in my life that I have willingly chosen to wake up at 5 am in the morning, not because I have something to do, but because I want to get a head start on studying for the day. This fact shocked my own father when I told him. "Who are you an what have you done with my son," he said upon hearing my usual schedule. Waking up early might be one down side to med school, but you gotta change the person you are and the things you like to become the person you want to be.

2. Abnormal = Normal

Med school has taught me in a few short weeks that sanity is for people with free time. Roughly three times a week, I suit up and go into the anatomy lab to cut inside dead bodies like it is no big thing. The other day at Zaxby's, I spent 15 minutes talking to a classmate about the clinical significance of a patient with "milky penile discharge" like it was regular dinner conversation. As we approach our Unit 2 test date next Friday, I have no doubt that people will start losing some marbles, but the beauty of it is that in med school, this is all just normal.




3. High School All Over Again

Whether it's the uniform schedule, the smallness of the class or the constant gossip traffic, med school feels a lot like high school, except replace a bunch of horny teens with a bunch of horny 20-somethings that can drink, smoke, and have an in-depth knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases. It is a formula for disaster and fun. In a few short weeks, I feel that I've gotten to know some of my classmates better than some of my friends that I've known for years, dirty side and all. The best part of it all though is that you suffer with these people, and through your suffering, you can't find time to be fake or affected. You just have to be you, given the above, a slightly weirder version of you, but still you. As we revert to this high school state, we also see our professors revert. Our embryology professor regularly gives in-class quotes of the day and motivational speeches that I thought I lost with young adulthood and acne. However, I would let him read me "The Little Engine That Could" any day of the week...like he did yesterday.

Whether or not my above points have helped you see the schooler and squirrelier side of med school, I can tell you without a doubt that med school is the hardest thing I've ever done and the end result just happened to be some of the best moments of my life.

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I am not that terrible of a blogger.

So I know that I'm terrible at posting on this blog. However, expect many more small posts to come as I can now post blog entries from my new iPod touch!! In fact, I just posted this from my iPod touch. Talk to you soon readers!


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