Pimp's Elbow

Another week gone. I think that's 6 weeks. Wow it feels like I've been in med school forever.

I know I took a test on monday, and then every day after that I've been focusing on Anatomy. That's the big exam this next monday. 25% of my grade, in a lab component and an MC component.
I was doing some thinking about it. For muscles alone, I have to know the name and action of about 90 muscles. Yes, a muscle can be tagged and I could have to name it. If you would have told me 8 weeks ago I would know the name of 90 muscles, just in the upper and lower extremities, I would have thought you were nuts. This is besides the nerves, arteries, veins, bones,other secondary structures, and clinical correlations of everything. My medical vocabulary has really shot up. Apparently your vocab doubles in your 4 years of med school. I would totally believe that.

One clinical correlation we learned about is called tennis elbow. If you can imagine repeatedly doing backswings in tennis, your get an inflammation. Well the instructor asked what activities involve repeating this motion. Of course tennis and ping pong and others were mentioned. I turned and said quietly to geneice "slapping bitches?" So we laughed, and she decided to rename it "Pimp's Elbow" (leaving golfer's elbow to be renamed ho's elbow - figure that one out on your own).

Last night I was at anatomy lab till 1am! I was there reviewing with others from 3-6, dinner from 6-7, studying the bones with someone from 7-10, and then lab again from 10-1. I still can't believe I did that, or that I have to hit the books in the same amount all weekend. It's not that I don't know it, it's just that the more I say it over and over the more it sticks into long-term memory - which is good for being a doctor, not just for the test. And that's what matters.

Speaking of tests we got our biochem grades back! I got a 94! :) 3 people got 100 so I officially hate them. But whatever it was multiple choice. I never get 100 on that. And I should be doing well since I majored in biochem and all. The class average was about 72 or so. People did well in general which is good. Hopefully I can rock the next one too, although it's less material I've already had before in undergrad.

Mike will be here in one week! :)

Test 3 Complete!

Got up at a reasonable time. Ah. Watched the Kerry speech while eating. It was really really good.

Went next door to corner bakery to have coffee + studying. It was very productive.
Ate lunch. Went to campus earlyish for my curriculum committee meeting. It was alright, kinda slow and filled with people who like to talk. I had to leave in the middle for my test, and I was the only M1 who showed up so it was kinda awkard.

The test was alright. Only 30 questions, but they were a lot of ID so I got through it quickly. There were 4 or 5 questions that I swear they never went over in class, but I think I guessed pretty well. I heard they pull some shit out of nowhere so I wasn't too stressed.

Came home after. Did some treadmill finally. Did laundry too. Made some super tasty Panang Curry! I'm so proud of it - with baby corn and red onion and chicken. mmmm.
Then I made monster cookies. Although, for some reason they didn't stick together, so it's more monster trail mix. Oh well, still super tasty.

Watched some of the new anatomy review video. There are 5.5 hours to watch so it'll take a few days. That's the big test next week.
Oh, and Daily Show is rerun tonight, but new tomorrow.
It did feature the Cooter! A must-see!

weekend o' fun

Friday night I studied. Yes that's right, I studied. That was after volunteering all afternoon at the doctor's office. I got to take a couple blood pressures and such so that was good.
I watched Anatomy review videos at home.

I slept till noon on Saturday. Wow that felt good. Then I cleaned since I was overdue. It really is nicer to study in a clean apartment. I studied some anatomy and histo in the afternoon. Then, the other lgbt med students at uic met at Crew, a gay sports bar (no that's not an oxymoron). We actually met up with other gay med students from other chicago schools. It was surprisingly a lot of fun and like the only social thing I've done with peers in a while. It was really great to just hang out with them and not have to study or talk about med school, although we ended up talking about med school since we essentially have no lives.

I took my anatomy quiz today after making biscuits this morning! I got about 50% right for some reason. I know about 90% of the muscles and veins, 70% of nerves and bone features, 50% of the artery stuff, and maybe 25% of the "stupid shit" (that's how I'm referring to ligaments and sheaths). So I just have to learn more of the stupid shit and study some of the arteries a little better and I should be fine, as long as the test has a good proportion of muscles and nerves.

Studied more histo cell biology for tomorrow's exam. Went to Trader Joe's for groceries. It was a bit of a schlep but definitely worth it. They have some great stuff. :) Ate dinner, studied more, watched the Emmys (Daily Show won 2 awards - best writing and best variety show!), studied histo even more. Just took the practice quiz and only got 4 wrong so I'm in good shape.

Test at 2 tomorrow. I'm also now on the M1/M2 Curriculum Committee and we meet at 1. I get to put my bitching to good use!

today

dinner with steve and shane at tasty italian restaurant.
4 hours of anatomy lab - i learned a lot today.
got our physio grade. i got 79%. pass level is 57% it's all pass/fail so i'm doing quite well.
i skipped 3 hours of histo this morning, didn't want to go the for not-so-great lecturer.
i get to study all weekend for anatomy and monday's histo exam on cell biology.
tomorrow i spend about 4 hours with my LPC person. :)
GLSMSA meeting went well. they all liked the "i think i might be straight" brochure. we're having a dinner on saturday night.

brief update

two tests over. lots more to go. still no grades in physio or biochem exam, even though they're multiple choice tests. i thought both were fair and relatively painless

did carpal tunnel and hand muscles/arteries/nerves today in anatomy. pretty neat.
anatomy overall fluctuates between manageable and overkill/stressful. i may try to get some extra help
gonna have the next glsmsa meeting this week. hopefully something fun with them after as well.

am volunteering with my lpc doctor on friday. their office does occup therapy - aka physicals for policemen and firemen applying for jobs. should be interesting to say the least. ;)

haha

Excellent "political ad"

TV Commercial

"If you or someone you know attempted or committed suicide while taking the drug neurostrin, please call the law offices off..."

Wow that's some poor wording.

the funniest thing ever (today)

Wow.

(for me, not for you)
http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/prof/M1/courses/physiology/

Wacko party of one, your table is ready

2 hours of histology with 2 separate lecturers.

#1 - this fabulous grandmothery jewish women with the full new york jewish accent. she spoke about the nucleus. she was literally one step away from "and if the transcription factors were made in the nucleus and not the rough endoplasmic reticulum, everything would be bad and the cell would be all faklempt." It was quite fun to listen to her. Geneice put it best "she seems like she's gonna walk up to someone in the front row, lick her napkin and wipe some dirt off a student's face." shmootz geneice...shmootz.

#2 - she read her lecture. no, i'm not kidding. she actually read almost word for word. she sounded so nervous, her voice was shaking. it was about cell membranes - the 3rd class to have a lecture on cell membranes this year. i might skip her next lecture since I don't need to be read to.

a new physio teacher. a nice short indian/hispanic/arab guy. (I sit in the back! and his accent was hard to place) He was pretty funny. Apparently tomorrow he's gonna talk about erections the whole time. should be interesting.

last day of this biochemistry lecturer. she's been great, pumped the lecture out in 35 min and told us all everything we need to know for the exam too. gonna miss her.

i went to mo's office hours for lunch again. have i mentioned i hate pre-med students? This is what I heard: "Thank you for emailing me back responses to the 13 questions I asked. I have some follow-up questions." When there was a lull, he actually went to ask another one! I cut him off "excuse me, I have some questions to ask to if that's alright." Naturally mine were interesting and conceptual, which all got "hmm...that's a good question" or "interesting, i never really thought about that." I guess it's the phd-researcher part of me. but i finally got everything i needed answered.

We had our vital signs workshop today. I actually learned something relevant - how to take pulse, respiration, temperature, and blood pressure. It was useful and we coined the term "shake it like a mercury thermometer." About as current as shaking a polaroid picture. ;)

From there I met with the "board" of the gay-straight alliance group. I think we can actually do some good stuff this year. And it's good to have 2 other "out" friends to talk to. We had a physio review led by the M2s which was quite helpful. I know more than I thought had stuck so I'm happy about that. They gave us some mnemonics too, which are obviously not as good as mine.

As I was leaving, Jonathan asked if I wanted to walk with him to the md/phd lecture. I wasn't going to go, but he told me the email said it was required. Oops. So I went and we had good dinner - pitas, hummus, grilled lamb&chicken&veggies, tasty rice, grape leaves, and baklava! Plus I actually understood the speaker. They implant tiny wires in the brain which emit electrical charges and "confuse" the neurons, allowing removal of pain or maybe even stopping symptoms of Parkinson's. All neat stuff.

Zell Miller is a wacko. His speech was angry, and apparently he yelled at Chris Matthews to "get out of my face" and challenged him to a duel. I hope the Daily Show gets that footage for tomorrow's show. btw tonight's daily show had the most amazing "campaign video" for bush - it was like F 9/11 condensed to 4-5 minutes. It'll be rerun again and definitely worth watching.

And where the hell was Mary Cheney? I need to study and not be watching politics. Well, it was a good break.