AMWA

Day 251: Where’s the “pause” button?!

Amanda Xi

Today’s series of inane images:

[To make up for the serial silence, I thought I’d post a series of images that represent what has been going on in my life…]

While in Miami, I had the opportunity to meet the Keynote Speaker: Gloria Steinem!
This was the view from our Sofitel Miami hotel room [except we didn’t spend any time outside…].

Dessert at the Anniversary Gala was amazing…

We’ve started our last block of the M1 year: Respiratory.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the AMWA 97th Annual Meeting in Miami, FL — I had a wonderful time getting to know one of my classmates, meeting other AMWA members from across the country and listening to the insightful words of the session speakers. Dr. Remen‘s soft-spoken words from the Friday evening reception really stuck with me — she noted that many see the world as broken, as something that needs to be fixed… but suggested that we see the world is hidden and needs to be discovered. Additionally, another talk entitled “How to succeed in practice” started out with some basic advice: don’t burn out. The speaker then proceeded with minimalistic slides leading up to the main piece of advice: in order to succeed in practice, you have to love it. Although he essentially stated the obvious, the session was well-presented [i.e. comical and lighthearted] and I find that sometimes we just need to be reminded of what’s important to keep going when the going gets tough.

With the end of the M1 year quickly approaching, I keep wondering where I can find the “pause” button — I seem to need every moment of the day to attend lecture, complete assignments and keep up with extracurricular commitments. This essentially translates into our Respiratory material taking the backseat until [maybe] this weekend. Although I understand the need to test our competency with written assignments, sometimes I wonder about whether the timing of due dates was considered — we have a 4-5 page Literature Review paper due Monday and another 2-3 page Position Paper for PMH due on Wednesday. Sure, this doesn’t sound like much, but when I sat down and started to look into the assignments, I realized that they would take much more time than I seem to have.

The frequency of updates will be sparse in the upcoming weeks — we have 5 weeks left in the semester, but our block of 5-6 exams (depends on if you count the Anatomy Lab Practical) start in a little over 3 weeks. I’m sure that everything will magically work out and summer is right around the corner, but right now, in this moment, the future looks daunting.

Happily, I’m sure I’ll take some stress off tonight at our Med Ball — Social Committee has been working hard the last couple of months to make this a reality and I’m really excited to see all of their hard work pay off!

Until next time…

Day 149: Brief musing on specialties

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

This was the sky’s “Good Morning” today — this photo was taken from a study room in O’Dowd [I highly recommend these rooms early in the morning… so peaceful to watch the sun rise].

For our PRISM session next week, each of us is required to complete the 150 question MSPI-R assessment on the Careers in Medicine website. Not surprisingly, the speciality it said I was most compatible with was OB/GYN. Huh, you ask? Haven’t you been raving about interest in anesthesiology, radiation oncology and cancer genetics? Why did you know you would get OB/GYN [beside the fact that the survey asked predictable questions]?

Well, first and foremost, I really enjoy working with the female population [which is probably why I was so involved in the Society of Women Engineers and now the American Medical Women’s Association]. Women indeed have different needs and I find it fascinating how distinct males and females react to problems or emotional expression. I love the connection and the firsthand understanding. And babies are absolutely magical.

But, I don’t know if I really want to dedicate the rest of my life to women’s reproductive health. Maybe after my clerkship I’ll change my mind. Or maybe it’ll push me more toward breast cancers. Or maybe I’ll be back here exactly where I started [hopefully not that last one!].

Bah! It stresses me out not to have a more concrete idea of where I want to and hope to be after medical school.

Day 35: Making progress

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

Ahhh! There are various strains of gram positive bacteria on my kitchen counter!
…oh, wait, I put those there…

By putting post-it notes of the various bacterial strains that I need to know a little too much about [well, actually, I’m glad I know all of this now so that I can stop eating and touching anything since it is all COVERED WITH MICROBES!], I am not really accomplishing much… except maybe reminding myself that this surface has probably come in contact with many of the microbes that I’m currently learning about. I think it’s time to pull out those Lysol disinfectant wipes for the 100th time today…

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Day 24: Everything, all at once

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

I am proud of how quickly I put together this board, and designed and ordered the t-shirts in time for tonight’s Women in Medicine event at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.

Today was a blur of… seemingly everything all at once. Operating on < 9 hours of sleep in total for the last two nights [while some people seem to be able to function on 4-5 hours of sleep each night, I need at least 7 to feel okay] made it difficult to study for our mini-TBL today, let alone take it [good thing it was straightforward!]. We also had a quick AMWA meeting to discuss the Women in Medicine event in the evening before heading to a very long pathology lecture, followed by a rushed [and hushed] epidemiology lecture. Thankfully, our epidemiology lecture ended early and I did not have to speed like a madwoman from the OU campus to Royal Oak Beaumont.

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Day 12: Getting the ball rolling

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

I feel like free advertising for water companies… anyway, I was just admiring how important water is to feeling your best! 

Today was quite an exciting day because we had our first official American Medical Women’s Association [AMWA] at OUWB [click on the link and “Like” us on Facebook!] meeting and it was a huge success! We had a great group of motivated women and men [yes! we do not discriminate by gender!]  contributing to the discussion and we have set our elections meeting for this upcoming Wednesday.

I’ll keep you updated on all the great events we have.

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Day 11: Beaumont, Big sibs, PRISM, LDR and everything else

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

Our first PRISM session was about expectations and wellness!

Most Thursdays, we have an excuse to wear our bright white coats because we have all of our classes in one of the Beaumont locations [today was Royal Oak]. I had the chance to walk through the small farmers’ market that sits right outside the South entrance and was happy to find the tastiest vegan desserts at the market. I can’t wait to go back and buy some baked goods next week!

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