You walk in wanting to apply for a credit card. Before you know it, he's throwing pamphlets at you trying to convince you to open up an account with them. Then he finds out you're a student. Then he starts telling you about their line of credit. Then he finds out you're a medical student. Then he wants to know how you went about preparing for your MCATs and your opinion of Kaplan. Then he wants your email address so his son can ask you questions about admissions. By the time you extricate yourself, you're late to pick up your friends for dinner. So you speed home on Gateway. Then because it's the end of the month, a cop catches you going 20 over the limit. Then you get a ticket and you've gotten demerits and you're poor and you don't want to go for dinner anymore because dang it, you're poor. Now you don't want to tell your mother because she will start yelling ad infinitum. Darn him...
The sun is shining, the birds are singing, all the undergrads are done (or almost done) exams and we still have another month of school =(
To top it all off, for our last class on Friday afternoon our prof decided that we should taste-test laxatives! So we can better empathize with our patients when we start doling these things out like candy. Maybe it was because it was Friday afternoon and all of us would much rather have been on a patio in the sunshine somewhere, maybe because it's the end of the year and we all need a break, maybe because they served it to us in little cups resembling shot glasses but 2/3 tasted like various types of alcohol:
Docusate - Looks like Tempra, tastes like tequila
Lactulose - Looks like corn-syrup, tastes like Triple Sec.
Senokot - Looks like @$$, tastes like @$$.
Thankfully 2/3 come in pill form. One more month 'till Europe...
Life is slow otherwise =) Oncology is a little slow in getting started so I've caught up on all my emailing/calling. The comp is quickly approaching and one of these days, I'll get scared enough to crack open the Toronto Notes. But not yet. It's too nice outside, I have passes for a free movie and a free Marble Slab cone. Life is good =)
Congratulations to the girl we'll one day call "DOCTOR Troidy Ko" =) Medical Doctor, Doctorate in English, who cares?!?! You and I know both know that we'll find a way to connect our two disciplines no matter how obscure.
Ever since Candice's engagement, life has gotten a little more nostalgic. It's strange and wonderful to think about the girls we were 10 years ago. About how much we've shaped and molded each other's lives and personalities. How every significant event, both good and bad, in our lives has somehow been made even more significant by the privilege of being able to share it with best friends and having them react with pure joy. I love the 3AM rule. I don't use it too often and most times, I know my issues aren't worth waking anyone up over but I love that it exists. I don't care if 'best' is the superlative, I'll have 3 best friends if I want to. And I do =)
On another happy note, my grant application for the summer was accepted =)
Hopeful...
After a while you learn
The subtle difference between
Holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't always mean security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman
Not the grief of a child
And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is
Too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way
Of falling down in mid flight
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers
And you learn
That you really can endure
That you are really strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
With every good bye you learn.
Veronica A. Shoffstall
I'm not an English, touchy, feely, abstracty-kinda person. Quite the opposite in fact, but I love this poem. And it reminds me that most days, I'm my own worst enemy.
Busy, busy week! Finished my last anatomy bellringer ever! Celebrated with the world's GREASIEST meal at Dadeo's complete with deep-fried oysters and deep-fried sweet potato fries =) Now they've added a glorious conniption called 'sweet potato poutine' to their menu and while my heart and stomach say YES! my arteries scream NO...
Tonight, we headed out for dinner and bowling for a friend's birthday =)
The Birthday Girl =)
Guilt-free dessert (we EARNED it)This weekend: studying for my Head & Neck final interspersed with multiple church services and hopefully a trip to West Ed as a reward for having worked so uber-hard =)
Last but not least. I *heart* Ebay!!! Picked up some shoes that I've been eyeing for more than a year and I was able to get them for more than 50% off the retail price =) Next up is to replace my Diesels which I love with all my heart but which have been completely destroyed over the last 2 years...
That means we started at 8 this morning and we didn't stop until 10 at night on a Friday. And tomorrow I wake up at 7 to make the long drive to Ponoka for rural clinical skills day. Some days, you really question your choices.
Before, when people told me they wanted to go into medicine, I'd be really happy and excited for them and would've done everything I could to help them along. This year, before doing any of that I'd ask them: Why? Are you sure? Are you really sure? Is there anything else in the world that you could see yourself being happy doing?
Because some days it's too hard. Some days it's hard because you sat in a lecture hall for 14 hours and your brain has turned to mush and you've developed pressure sores on your bum. Some days it's because you've been in the anatomy lab for too long and you've pickled your brain and sprayed cadaver juice in your eye. Some days it's because someone has been a real idiot and you have to tell the patient that you might not be able to fix this one. So you have to be sure, really sure because otherwise is it worth it?
When I finally got home at 10:30 tonight and got into the shower and stopped going through the motions of life and actually thought about my day, I realized that yes, this is what I want to do. This is really what I want to do. I could drag myself out of bed every single day if this was the only thing that I had to look forward to when I opened my eyes (hopefully it isn't). And some days, that's the only thought that keeps you going.
Friday - finally got to do a full history and physical exam on a patient by myself. Halfway through she starts having problems breathing and starts to panic. I try and calm her down and get her to sit up, then I listen to her chest and I start to panic *frantically presses call button for the nurse!!! Nurse comes in, takes one look at her, straps on the oxygen mask and starts giving her IV Lasix*. Needless to say I didn't get through a full physical although she had undoubtedly the finest crackles of my life.
Saturday - volunteered to do heart rates and BPs for the free dental clinic. Lots and lots of practice, free lunch, really nice people. Fun! Then a walk down Whyte on a gorgeous day! Found a really cute, cheap wallet. Phone rings, OMG!!!!! CANDICE IS ENGAGED!!!! SHE'S ACTUALLY ENGAGED!!!! Screaming, crying, children staring at me as I have a small meltdown in the middle of the sidewalk. Continue shopping, inhale a slice of pizza, go see V for Vendetta (a really good movie!). Come home, full intentions of studying, end up MSNing with the bride-to-be and get absolutely nothing done.
Sunday - church, studying for TOSCE, then phone non-stop for 4 hours. First the boy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I know I'm a few days late blogging about it but you know and I know that I didn't forget. From now on, all birthdays have been automatically programmed into the Palm so I don't forget. Cut boy off early, phone date with the bride =) Teehee!!!! Weekly fix of Grey's Anatomy.
Monday - school for 4 hours, then TOSCE. My patient is not an alcoholic (woohoo!) so it saves me having to preach on a subject I know almost nothing about. Extra anatomy hours. Rush home, throw frozen pizza into the oven, go see Lucky Number Slevin (another really good movie! And it was free! And not even in theatres yet! And they searched us before we went into the theatre to make sure we didn't have recording equipment). Come home, studystudystudy.
This morning - drag myself out of bed early to yap on phone (again). Oops, overslept. That's ok there's still 45 minutes. Get dressed, head to hospital, find out that I actually DON'T have clinical skills and got dressed up for nothing. Crapcrapcrap, come home, write disjointed blog. Will go study now because we're cutting our head in half this afternoon so I have to know my stuff and remember what it'll look like whole.
