Week in Review

Okay, in advance, I'd like to apologize to the shitty frequency with which I am posting stuff on this blog. I like to produce concise and delightfully arranged blog posts which doesn't happen in a few seconds. However, I will be limiting content and quality to get my news to you on a more regular basis.

Here are the highlights from this week.

---We finished the arms!---

Well, we are a two weeks out from test time and we have finished the arms. Now we just have to finish the legs in the next week and we'll be ready to go. It only looks like we're getting more hectic from here on out, but per usual, I'm trying to keep things balanced. Dissecting the hands was so terrible because there are so many small structures and so much fat in the way of those structures. It really is so complex that you kind of take it for granted.

---Med School Nightmare---

This week brought my first medical school nightmare. I have had many med school dreams over the past couple weeks. I have assessed innervations of the arm at a sorority pool party, I have danced with skeletons, I have trekked down the brachial plexus to the promise land of the axilla, but this was my first nightmare. I was dissecting the flexor muscles of the arm (as I did earlier that day in lab), and all I could see everywhere was connective tissue and fascial planes. There was fascia under that fascia and I had to clean it all out so I could see the muscles underneath. After I cleaned out one layer, there was another layer right underneath that. It was so stressful that I woke up with my heart racing. When I tried to go back to sleep, all I could see were more fascial planes. In the end, I had to take two Tylenol PM to get asleep, and 3 hours later I had to be up for class. Hopefully, that won't be the norm.

---HISTOLOGY QUIZ---

The first test of medical school knowledge came last Thursday when we had a practice quiz in Cell and Tissue Biology. It wasn't that bad and most of the questions were pretty fair. I got 24/25 right and the only one I missed was because I didn't read the question correctly. Starting out med school with a 96% is a good confidence boost for me, showing that I am actually learning something. Woot.

---Smoking Cessation---

After the quiz Thursday, we spent a full day learning how to stop people from smoking, using motivational techniques and patient-centered interviewing. As great as that may seem, I think spending more than 2 mins on motivational interviewing is enough and we had a whole day on it. Although it did introduce me to some fresh nursing students that apparently already have the hots for me, in all my doctory glory. LOL Hopefully, some of these motivational interviewing techniques will help me motivate my parents to eat healthier, although I don't think anyone will be able to manage that anytime soon.

---I have my first nickname of med school....sadly.---

Well my classmate Marcos gave me my first med school nickname the other day. While studying for our Histology quiz, Marcos and I were quizzing each other when he decided he was going to start calling me Frankenstein. Sadly, this story does not end there. He then went on to tell me that he was essentially a master of Histology and started spitting out knowledge about catenins and junctional complexes. Given his cocky demeanor, I decided to put him back in his place, informing him that about half the stuff he just said was wrong. I then made the mistake of following up my correction with the statement, "You know Marcos, if you're gonna just walk around here wagging your d**k around like you're hot shit, somebody is gonna smack it back in your face." Marcos found this so hilarious that he decided to append my nickname to "Frankenstein, the D**k-Smacker". He even came up with a whole comic book storyline history for the character. That was all well and good, but this story came up again in lab, to where I went to hang out with somebody the other day and they said, "Frank, why do you smack d**ks?" As embarrassing as this nickname is, it has made me more approachable to a lot of people and I'm enjoy the new social activities.

---Grand Rounds This Week---

This week at Grand Rounds, we had a paraplegic guy come and talk about his high school football accident that landed him in his wheelchair. It is very interesting to note that the myelitis that took his ability to walk was brought on by trauma, not infection or a virus. Inflammation in precisely the right place at precisely the right time can be devastating for the nervous system.

In my own personal life, I have been having fun with a lot of my classmates and finding new friends everyday. It is probably the most enjoyable time of my life so far. I might even be starting a band with some of my classmates. I got back my car from the repairmen, so expect pictures of that soon. Til later.

This Week in Med School News

Hey guys, so it's been a while since I've posted, a whole week in fact. That is a bit too long for my liking, so I'll try and be better about it. More to the point, here are the highlights from what happened this week in med school.

---A wild Brachial Plexus has appeared!---

Med school started this week by introducing the brachial plexus. It is a crazy bundle of nerves in your neck that is simultaneously fascinating and infuriating. Combined with that, we have to study epithelium in Cell Biology. Honestly, it's really difficult to tell the difference by looking through a microscope, so I think I'm just going to have to memorize which organs have what epithelium. I actually got really excited when they mentioned squamous skin cells on Futurama this week. You know you're in med school when...

---I found a new way to study.---

I felt like I was falling behind this week, so I started searching for new ways to study and stay ahead. Well, I started studying in the "Blue Room," the 100% silent health students study room and I have to say that I don't think I've ever been so productive. Aside from the fact that I think I'm getting sick, I really feel like I'm on my game right now.

---I decided not to run for my class executive board.---

After talking to my Big Sib about exec board, I've decided not to run for a position. As much as I love doing leadership positions, they are wholly underappreciated and they aren't going to expose me to the medicine I want to practice any more.

---Scott left for Austin.---

Well, ma buddy Scott, pictured right has now left for Austin. The city, not some

dude named Austin. It's that great beyond filled with skeezy hipsters and crazy

Texans. I will miss our fun, but I hope he keeps me updated on his fun in A-town

and reads this blog often...or I will hunt him down.

YOU HEAR THAT SCOTT!

Have fun in Austin.

---I have a one year plan in place.---

My goal over the next year is to get a position TAing the undergraduate neuroscience course over the summer while shadowing neurosurgeons and setting up some research opportunities during break. Hopefully if that all works out, I will be getting paid a decent amount of money to do what I love during my last summer break.

---I went to Physical Therapy for my back and it was awesome.---

My car is in the shop still, but so is my body. Since the accident, you may remember, I have had a lot of back/neck pain. Well, I finally got sent for PT and had my first appointment this past Friday. My physical therapist seems very knowledgable about the spine and actually educated me a lot on what should be going on and what is going on. After doing the exercises he told me to, my back has been feeling a whole lot better. The therapist said that since I'm young and healthy, he could get me as good as new in 4 weeks, with two sessions a week. Hopefully, that's true. Although I've noticed a considerable decrease in my back pain just over the past day so something must be going right for me.

---My Mindfulness in Medicine class started.---

At the start of school, I signed up for a Mindfulness in Medicine class. It's all about meditation and being able to refocus the mind. I think it will be pretty helpful since I've been having difficulty in school with trying to go at the speed I need whether it's fast or slow. For our first session, we ate a raisin and took roughly 5 minutes to look at it, smell it, feel the texture, and taste it. It was very interesting as I don't think I've ever taken the time to observe all of the stimuli that comes along with the simple act of eating a raisin. John, my cell bio lab partner, summed it up by saying, "I've never been so intimate with something in my mouth." I had difficulty keeping my composure after that. It was enjoyable and I look forward to our next session next week.

---We saw a lady with humeral cancer at Grand Rounds.---

All of the patients they show us at grand rounds are outstanding. This Friday, we saw a lady who presented to her family physician with shoulder pain. She had no signs of muscular tear or damage, but it could have just been a sore ligament. Well, her doctor ordered an XRay and saw some strange bone absorption in the head of her humerus. After that, she was sent to Shands and given much more diagnostics. Eventually, they decided that she had a tumor in the head of her humerus and that she would have to have surgery as soon as she could to remove it. They set her up with 3 weeks of chemotherapy and then took her to the OR. It was interesting listening to her talk about how the doctors wanted to just take the whole arm, but she told them to try and save it at all costs. Well, in the end, they removed the tumor and some of the muscles of her arm and fused the head of a cadaver's humerus to her own in a similar way to the picture below.

In the end they were able to re-attach all of the tendons and she was left with full function in her arm. About 3 weeks later, she competed in a windsurfing contest and crashed into the water, holding on to second place, but re-tearing her rotator cuff. She now has full range of passive motion in her arm, but she does not have enough strength to lift her forearm above her shoulder. It was great to see how someone could go through all of the trouble of cancer and end up with such normal function and a great attitude. I was inspired.

---I went to a med school party.---

Last night was the first time I went to a non-sponsored party by people in my med school. It was fun. I met a couple law students and got to know a lot of my classmates better. It was a great night except that a lot of my friends got towed. I ended up driving them home. Saturdays are now my school-free days and I think it's going to be great. After all, I have to get my schedule ready for when football season starts. Now to continue enjoying my Saturday by going to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice with my roommate. There are many more stories from this week, but I'll post them a little later.

Day 3 of Orientation

The third day of orientation has arrived and past, and by now I can say that I think I've hit my groove. I've managed to wake up on time every morning. Aside from falling asleep early last night and missing some night time recreation, I haven't been late to any events, and I can say with confidence that I've made a few friends in my class.

The events for the day were far from thrilling. The first part of the day was dedicated to "Diversity" and all that implies. The first presentation was by the two assistant deans for minority affairs and while they were informed about the subject, I couldn't help but feel that I was being preached at. I always come out of listening to diversity presentations feeling bad about being a white male, lol. Following the deans was a presentation by two 2nd year students about diversity in our class and in prospective patient populations. It was actually one of the best diversity presentations I've seen in a while. It started with us filling out a survey about experiences, mainly about discrimination. We then passed our surveys around ten times so we each had some random survey. Then we were asked to raise our hand if the survey in front of us had answered yes to each of the questions. It was shocking just how many students had been discriminated against. Most of our class is pretty fit and almost all of them said they were discriminated against for their appearance at some time. The presenters went on to talk about how to observe and embrace diversity in our professional lives when dealing with patients. It was really entertaining because they played clips from Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs, showing the major problems that each group encountered whether it was dramatic or humorous. Diversity, while it may not seem that important is actually a major influence in almost every part of our lives and I really enjoyed learning how.

After the diversity presentations came the most enjoyable part of the day. One of our associate deans brought in a patient of hers to talk about experiences in the medical field and how they can change your life. This girl, Kelly, and her mom started by showing us a lot of pictures through Kelly's life from when she was a little kid to now, showing us a lot of photos from treatments she went on. Kelly's mom then told her story. In about 2-3rd grade, Kelly was taking part in a language study at P.K. Young when she was given an MRI to look at language development. A Graduate Student saw the scan and that night went to talk with Kelly's dad at their home. Kelly's mom, an oncology nurse, was at work. The graduate student told them that they had found something on the scan and that they had to call this neurosurgeon, handing them a card with a name and number on it. Scared and confused, Kelly's parents worked their way through the bureaucracy and got an appointment with the neurosurgeon. At that time, they were told that Kelly had a brain tumor between her medulla and her pons. The neurosurgeon went on to say that Kelly should most likely have radiation therapy to treat the tumor since surgery was too risky. As she grew up over the next few years, Kelly had radiation therapy to treat her tumor. Eventually she was put on some steroidal medications to deal with some of the side effects. As she underwent these treatments, she ballooned up, gaining 70 pounds in 3 weeks. Due to the radiation and steroids, her bones and muscles became too week to handle her body weight and she was forced to move to a wheelchair. After several years, she developed scoliosis and hip flexor weakness due to a lack of physical therapy while in the chair. She was forced to undergo over 10 more surgeries to put in rods to straighten her back and help alleviate pain. During this time, her family was selected by the make a wish foundation to go to Washington D.C. where they had a blast. Eventually, they came home and still nothing seemed better to Kelly's mom. After all of the treatments they went through, they were still concerned. They began seeing our associate dean for pediatrics and after a while, Dr. Novak (our dean), became suspicious of the results she was getting from Kelly's neurological exam. They took her original scans before the UF Tumor Board and were told that it wasn't a tumor. Kelly never had a tumor. This was confirmed by specialists in St. Louis. After this revelation, all of the departments working on Kelly's case went silent. They were treating a girl with a tumor and now that she no longer had a tumor, they felt no need to be involved in her care. Eventually, Kelly was diagnosed with Alexander's Disease, a very rare genetic disorder involving the degradation of myelin on her nerves. All of the treatments Kelly had been through from radiation and steroids to all of the treatments to curb the side effects were all for nothing. At that point, her family knew what they were dealing with and were able to plan out how to handle her medical care from that point on. After they finished this heart-wrenching story, we, med students, were allowed to ask some questions. One person asked Kelly how she felt about this whole experience. She responded, "I just wish the doctors would say, 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure, let me look something up' rather than 'you have this, I'm sure'. When everyday is filled with tears and heartbreak, you just become happy for what you have and what you got. If I went and was angry about this or was sad in the corner, who's that helping? No one. So I go out and volunteer wherever I can and do as much as I can, while I can." Her story was so sad, but she seemed so resilient and happy. Just hearing her in all of this was a moving experience. It showed me many of the screw ups that will pop up in medicine, but at the same time, it showed me a truly resilient girl and her family that, through all of the mistakes and all of the pain and sadness, prevailed with a great attitude. I really enjoyed her talk. At the end, Dr. Novak presented Kelly with a College of Medicine pin and a Certificate which was very nice.

The rest of our day seemed menial. We got lunch and watched a presentation on health disparities throughout the U.S. and especially in the Gainesville Community. They showed us the Shands Mobile Clinic that goes out around town offering health screenings and free care, which seems like such a great opportunity. After that we went to the computer testing center to learn how we will be taking tests. We also got our formal pictures taken and were trained in information security. At the same time, Dr. Cooper, our head of evaluations, had our class take a study survey about stress. From what I'm told, they will be using this and other surveys from time to time to gauge how stressful the experience of med school is on our class and how they can help us deal with that stress.

Tonight they have free bowling planned for us which seems really exciting. I will be hitting the lanes and making some more friends in the near future hopefully. In the realm of good news, my car should be headed to the shop on Friday to be fixed and I should be getting my new camera tomorrow. All in all, things are looking up, and I only expect great things coming soon.