Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. This time last year, I was back at home, working three jobs, and did not know whether or not I would be accepted into medical school. I was enjoying my year off, but I had so much uncertainty. It is crazy how much has changed for me since then. I have moved across the country, I have committed to my career path of becoming a physician, and I have met the most amazing people in the world (my CHM family). It is easy to go day to do without reflecting on all that you have, but I can honestly say that I am truly grateful and feel so fortunate for how my life is going and how many amazing people that I have gotten to know within the last year. 

As for our Thanksgiving festivities, S and I just finished eating our delicious Thanksgiving feast and now he is zonked out, so I thought there was no better time to blog! 

This years menu: 

• Scalloped Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Stuffing
• Chicken (the grocery store was out of turkey/we were too lazy)
• Mac&Cheese (S wanted it because it is Chandler's favorite Thanksgiving food apartently haha)
• Crescent Roles
• Sparkling Cider
• Pumpkin Bread
• Cheese Cake

Now all I have left to do is....the dishes...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

IPPR Project

This last week, I completed a mid-term reflective project for school. The only instructions we had for this project was to do something...ANYTHING...that reflects on either the patient-physician relationship or our vision for the future practice or something that we have learned about patients. So, basically everything about the project was up to us. Well, the three year old living inside of me decided that the best idea was to write a children's book. I have always loved to write, hence the blog; so, I was actually pretty excited about this idea.

The book is about a little Duck, named Dudley, who wakes up sick. His mom suggests that he goes to the doctor, but he is scared and does not want to go. In the end, he does go and learns that physicians are there to help. He feels much better and learns that going to the doctors is the best thing to do when you are sick.  The book ends with the following message:

This tale of Dudley goes to show, 
When you feel ill, to the doctor you go! 
For doctors will take care of your sickness and flu, 
While also making sure the emotional you is well too. 
Doctors will treat all patients with kindness and care, 
They look beyond fur, feathers or hair. 
Like Dudley, you too may get sick one day, 
But the doctors will always be there to make you feel okay. 

I was originally planning on typing in the entire book into this blog and inserting the illustrations. However, many of my classmates, family members and even faculty have suggested that I look into getting this book published. So, that is my next goal! That means, of course, that I will not be able to put everything in here. However, I promise that if my book gets published, I will provide the link and if it doesnt, I will evenutally type the book in this blog.

For now, here are some pictures of some of the pages:

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Today was the first day of snow here in East Lansing, Michigan! While a lot of my classmates were not too excited for the snow fall (because it is still pretty early in the year for snow), the Californian in me was ecstatic! I was in the middle of my histology lab when I realized it was snowing, so I ran out of class and brought a friend with me to take pictures of me in the snow while I played.

After I went back in, I realized just how unprepared I am for the winter when snow comes and doesn't stop. So, I decided a trip to make a trip to our local Meijers (which is the most amazing store in the world--basically a walmart PLUS grocery store). I am now the proud owner of ear muffs, warm gloves, a snow-wind-shield-scraper, and magical spray that is supposed to melt ice on your windshield super fast. This weekend, I plan to also purchase a parka-type of jacket and warmer boots that wont fall apart in the snow! The only thing that I wish I had that does not exist at this moment is a nose-muff. I am sure I am not the only one that has a cold nose basically anytime it gets even slightly cool outside. So, I really think someone should invent one. For now, here is my best attempt....

And simply because of the title of this post...

Cultural Clashes in Medicine (Book Review)

Although most of my day is spent studying for my pre-clinical science classes, I am also taking several courses that teach me the doctoring skills I will need as a physician. One of these classes, "Clinical Skills" is a course that spans over my first two years that  specificaly explores the social/psychological/cultural aspect of medicine. This semester, it has been split into two parts. The first was centered around how to conduct a patient interview. This class was structured with a few lectures, 4 mock-patient interviews, and weekly small groups to review the recorded videos of these interviews. The first interview I completed was INCREDIBLY nerve racking...but after that, they became much easier and much more natural. I am so glad that we had these mock interviews, because I feel I am now much more prepared to talk to patients when I am conducting physical exams, participating in shadowing experiences, and during my clinicals starting in my third year!

The second part of the semester in Clinical skills is called the "IPPR: Introduction to the Patient-Physician Relationship." Last week's lecture and small group focused on how cultural diversity affects how a doctor and patient interact. We had a lecture from a faculty member who is originally from Oregon, but spent several years practicing in Greece. She described some of the differences she faced while working as a physician in another country and about how shattering some of the realizations she had were. For example, the American health care system is largely centered around a collaborative patient-physian relationship that encourages communication and combined decision making. In Greece, however, our lecturer was looked down upon and somewhat discredited when she tried this method. This just demonstrated one of the many different paradigms of medicine in this different society.

In small group, we discussed a novel that we were required to read called "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." When I saw this on my reading list for the semester, I was not excited to read it initially. I knew that my semester would become hectic and reading a novel was not in the picture. However, on my road trip over to Michigan (which seems like a lifetime ago), I started reading it and actually really enjoyed it!

The book centers on a Hmong family who brings their daughter, Lia, in to the Emergency Room in a hospital in Merced, CA because she was having a seizure. It turns out that Lia had a severe and life-threatening epileptic condition that often ended with Status Epilepticus (which basically means a seizure that doesn't stop or a series of seizures that occur one right after the other). Although the doctors recognized this, were able to diagnose it, and came up with a treatment plan, the communication and cultural boundaries between the medical team and the family were too large to get over. The Hmong believe that everything happens because of one's soul. They interpreted her seizures as a Spirit entering Lia's body and knocking her down (hence the title of the book). So, as much as the doctors tried to explain that this was a true medical condition that needed to be treated, the parents didn't give Lia her correct medicine and did not follow her treatment plan because they simply could not understand what the doctors were trying to convey. The story takes a lot of tragic turns, including CPS being brought in because Lia's parents (somewhat) unknowingly not giving her medications and Lia having "the big one" that ended up leaving her in a vegetative state. That author questions whether or not Lia's state at the end of the book could have been avoided if the physicians would have attempted to understand the cultural differences more or if the parents would have followed the physician's orders. Like I said, I really didn't think I would enjoy this book coming in, but it really has changed the way that I will look at my career. For my med school blog readers, I really recommend this book if you have not yet read it! 

Disney Mania

My first non-medical school post in quite some time...

Anyone who knows me how ridiculously obsessed I am with anything Disney-related. I am a 5-year old at heart and always will be. So, some nights (like tonight), I forgo my obligations and stay in to watch Disney marathons...its fabulous.

Tonights selections:
1) Beauty and the Beast
2) The Little Mermaid
3) Rock-A-Doodle (Not a disney movie, but still Disney-like!)

Also...My roommate Jess introduced me to this amazing video that I just had to share:

Its amazing. 

Oh...and some exciting news...S and I are going to Disney World in December!!! I'm so excited. :) 

Casting Clinic/Scrub Session

There are a TON of student interest groups here at CHM. Basically every medical specialty has an interest group, which offer a ton of different speakers, panels, or clinics that give insight into what their specialty is like. I have gone to several events that these groups have offered, but my two favorites have been the Casting Clinic and the Scrub Session.

If you want to shadow surgeries, you must first get trained in how to make sure you are providing a sterile environment for the patient that is undergoing surgery. There is a meticulous process that must be followed, starting with washing your hands like CRAZY, to how your robe is tied, to the proper way to enter and exit the operating room.  I knew that this was an important part of surgery, but to actually learn the process was pretty awesome.

Casting Clinic: The Family Medicine Interst group put on event that taught us how to put on/ take off a cast! We partnered up and put on all of the materials. We then took a lot of permanent markers and signed each others casts like we were in Jr. High (obviously!!). Finally, we learned how to use the saw to take off the casts. The final step was definitely the most nerve racking part of the process, because we were afraid of hurting each other, but no one was injured! It was such a fun clinic...I can't wait until I put a cast on someone who actually has a broken bone!

Extracurriculars

In my last blog post, I talked about the Teddy Bear Clinic, but I have also gotten involved with a couple extracurricular activities that I thought worth mentioning.

Anyone who know me well, knows that I go CRAZY if I am not involved with extracurriculars. Ever since I was a little kid, I have always loved being busy with a lot of different activities. In undergrad, I was a little overly excited and got myself involved with a little too much. So, in medical school, I knew I would have to tune it down a little bit and focus myself on my academics, before thinking about getting involved with extra stuff.

Now that I have found a good balance, I have found myself involved with 4 things:

1) Teddy Bear Clinic
2) Student Council
3) Admissions Ambassador
4) Friendship Clinic.

If you want to hear about Teddy Bear Clinic, read my last blog! :)

Student Council: I was elected to a student council representative spot by my class. I am very excited for this role and am excited to be a voice for my class. As of now, the 10 of us elected to student council are just called "representatives." However,  in the next few weeks, we are electing President, Vice-President,  Secretary and Treasurer. I have not decided for sure, but I think that I would like to be Secretary. Stay tuned.

Admissions Ambassador: As part of the admissions process at MSU, the interviewees have one faculty interview and one student interview. Since I interviewed last winter, I thought that this was maybe something I would be interested in. So, when we received information about it towards the beginning of the semester, I attended the informational meeting and signed up. I actually am conducting my first interview tomorrow. I am kind of nervous, but I know that my interviewee is MUCH MUCH more nervous than I am. So, I am going to forgo my fears and hopefully put her at ease.

Friendship Clinic: This is another activity that I have been excited to do for quite sometime. It is basically a free student-run clinic for underserved populations in Lansing. S actually volunteered at this in his pre-clinical years, so I have heard good things about it. I was supposed to start volunteering last Saturday. Unfortunately, my paperwork to volunteer had to go through MSU and then through Ingham County Health Department before I could volunteer. I did not know this. So, when I turned in my paperwork on Thursday, I was sadly informed that it would not be processed in time for me to volunteer. I really hope that once it does get cleared, I can volunteer...and I hope its soon!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Since starting medical school, I have been looking for extracurricular activities that I could become a part of, while still making sure I wasn't taking too much time from my studies. So, when I first heard about the "Teddy Bear Picnic" at an activities fair, I knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of.

This program was a one-day fair for local children in the East Lansing community. The MSU Children's Health Initiative set up this fair to provide children with an educational and fun day of bringing their stuffed animals to the "Teddy Bear Hospital." There were a lot of different booths: ranging from general pediatrics, to pediatric oncology, to pediatric dentistry, to pediatric surgery, to pediatric dermatology. Each booth had its own unique  activities planned for the kids. Some of my personal favorites were a casting booth (sport's medicine) and a Pulmonology booth, which game the Teddy Bears some oxygen.

I was assigned to the "Cardiology" Booth. There were 4 main parts to what we did:
1) Listened to the teddy bear's heart with our stethescopes
2) Told the children that their bear's heart sounded healthy and talked to them about healthy things they can do to make sure they have a healthy heart like their furry friends (exercise, eat vegetables, etc).
3) Hooked their bears up to an echocardiogram (that had a film playing of a human heart) and teach the children the basics of how our heart pumps blood through our bodies.
4) Gave the children some coloring books and work sheets about heart anatomy and healthy heart choices.

The purpose of the day was to educate kids about the basic healthy aspects throughout the different booths and try to get them comfortable with the idea of going to a doctor.

It really was a great day and I am so happy that I became apart of Teddy Bear clinic during my first year, because that means I have three more years to be a part of it!


This video was from last years event, but you can still kind of see what its all about:

Success and Failure

It has been SO long since I have blogged. I knew I would be busy in medical school, but boy am I! My plan is to update this blog a lot over the next few days, to catch up with all that has happened over the last (almost) two months. So, I am going to start with the academics...

After my last blog post, I was just beginning my medical school classes and was just about to take my first round of exams...So, I guess I will start there. My first exam was Physiology...I am happy to state that I actually got a 100%. Thats right...100% on my first medical school exam. I was stoked, to say the least. The next week, I had my second exam: Biochemistry. My score: 95%! I felt invincible. I was obviously studying a lot, but I was so happy to see that my hard work was paying off. In undergrad, I often felt like my studies went un-noticed and, because of the curve, could not do well no matter how hard I worked. Here, I at least felt like my hard work was being recognized. Then, on the Monday of my fourth week of classes, I had my very first Anatomy Exam. Since I had done so well on the first two exams, I was expecting that this exam would go similarly. However, I was in for a surprise....I failed. Thats right, I failed. It was the first time I had ever failed in my life. I was crushed. I did not know what happened. I felt like that was the end of my medical career. I thought I would have to go speak to academic advisors and that they would make me extend into the class of 2016 or that I would be put on academic probation.  I obviously overreacted. In reality, I only needed to get 142 points. I got 141. So, I didn't fail that badly and, in retrospect, I think this may have been a blessing. It kicked me into the motivation that I needed. I have since developed the necessary drive and skills to succeed in my classes. I have continued to do well in my physiology class and have successfully passed (and did quite well) in my first class (Biochemistry)!! I have also since figured out that Anatomy needs to be the largest focus of my studies. Since this realization,  I have done quite well on my last few anatomy exams (last one = 93%) and now have quite a cushion for the rest of the semester. :)

When I first wanted to write a blog about medical school, I wasn't planning on including academics...especially not my specific grade points, but now that I am in school, I realize the importance of the struggles that I have faced. I know that I can not be perfect in school, but I work really hard and am very proud of myself for how well I am doing. If there are any current or future medical school students reading my blog, I hope that sharing my first failure provides a sort of  hope that just because sometimes you don't succeed academically, you can work through it and do well in the end!

As for now, I am officially half way through my first semester and absolutely loving it! I may study 15 hours a day, but I really enjoy what I am studying and have the best class-mates in the world. I know that I would not be nearly as happy with life right now if it wasn't for them and am so incredibly happy that I chose Michigan State for my medical school!