Day 100: Pause

Today’s inane image of the day:

Challenge: Can you guess what we’re modeling here? [Leave comments with what you think this is — no OUWB students, please!]

I apologize for the lack of updates lately — Mike flew into town late Friday and I have been busy relishing his presence since then [I even took him to school with me yesterday and today!]. Since things are still pretty hectic around here, I’ll just leave you with my PRISM reflective writing piece [fictional, about anatomy lab, not my best work but still something!]:

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Day 95: The OUWB family

Today’s inane image of the day:

THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I have to say… the U.S. is definitely missing out on these Coffee Crisps! [Kudos to my favorite resident/Big Sib program coordinator for passing these out during his Radiology lecture!]

Imagine this: 50 medical students dressed in various types of gym apparel sprawled across a large Beaumont Hospital classroom with every square inch of the carpet completely covered in colorful beach towels and yoga mats. As the lights are turned off, a meditation audio plays. Interspersed are extended moments of silence when suddenly every slight noise seems to make a racket. As time passes, you can hear the breathing rate slow to a steady, calm pace. After a few more moments pass, you hear one student’s slow, steady breaths turn into snores.

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Day 93: Thoughts on the OUWB curriculum

Today’s inane image of the day:

On Saturday we had the opportunity to practice taking blood pressure measurements at the Michigan Institute of Urology‘s Men’s Health Event. At the end of my shift, I felt like a pro at it!

One of the most frequently asked questions that I get is about the OUWB curriculum and how it works. Since our class is only a few weeks away from the conclusion of the first semester, I think it’s an appropriate time to reflect upon what our curriculum has been like thus far.

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Day 87: …but this rerun has an alternate ending

Today’s inane image of the day:

I absolutely *love* when holiday cups reappear at coffee shops. Especially when they have corny statements on them like “When we’re together snowmen come to life” [what is that supposed to mean, anyway?!]. Oh yeah, and that’s Robbins behind my cup…

I will start by saying that as of this morning, I officially passed my BFCP2 Midterm exam.

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Day 85: This feels a lot like a rerun

Today’s inane image of the day:

The wall of Starbucks that I tend to stare at when I’m sick of staring at my lecture notes. I never realized how calming the act of looking at this wall was until after I snapped this photo.

There’s not much more I need to say aside from I’m disappointed. There’s no one to blame except myself and there’s nowhere to go except forward. I could shower you with really optimistic quotes about learning from one’s mistakes or something like that, but I just don’t have the energy.
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Day 83: Maybe this is it

Today’s inane image of the day:

An activity Dr. Bee had us do during class on Tuesday… we placed felt “muscles”  over the correct area of one of our dissection group members.

On Thursday, we had another patient panel. This particular patient is the mother of a daughter with a mild form of OTCase [ornithine transcarbamylase] deficiency. What caused my tears to flow during the presentation was that she watched her first born child [a son] pass away merely days after his birth due to this inherited X-linked metabolic disorder. [Because the mutation is X-linked, and males only have 1 “X” chromosome, they usually present with the full form of the disorder. Females have 2 “X” chromosomes, so they can be asymptomatic carriers and pass on the mutation.]

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Day 79: More sweets and exam rumination

Today’s inane image of the day:

A surprise gift from a dear friend [come exam-time, I tend to increase my intake of fried carbs… so this was extremely appropriate!]

This week really started off well — although I’m not a huge fan of Halloween [it stopped being fun when we got too old to go trick or treating…], our class found a slew of candy and treats sprinkled throughout the day [I feel my arteries clogging just thinking about how much saturated fat I consumed yesterday]. The weekend was relatively productive and I had a much needed lunch date yesterday [Palm Palace is amazing… did I ever mention that I love garlic?]. All in all, I can’t really complain.

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