Free Food Count #1, #2, #3 and #4

So I thought it would be fun to start a count to see how many free meals I get though the course of med school. I know I´ve probably already had over 100 this semester... but lets start from zero.

This week I had four. And I even missed a few!

1. Dinner at Emeril´s with the Neurology Department. Mmmm. Steak, potatoes, banana cream pie... and lots of wine

2. BBQ - student appreciation luncheon- pulled pork sandwiches, slaw, beans, bread, YAY!

3. 60th Anniversary party - Psych department at the Chateau Bourbon Hotel, dinner, dessert, drinks, the works

4. Club lunch for medical missions - veggie wraps

Still Screwed... but Significantly More Excited

I found out yesterday that I was assigned to do my first year elective in the Emergency Medicine! I am really excited... as I have been dying to jump in and get some EM experience. I'll be working in a Level I trauma center at a rival med school... but WHO CARES? So excited I can't believe it. Starting in January. Yay!!!

Ok, back to studying for the 3 exams that will be kicking my ass later this week.

Screwwwweeeeddd

That's what I am. So this block is only 3 weeks, 3 classes and 3 final exams. I'm almost at the end of week 2 and can BARELY find a shred of motivation to study. All I can think of is Friday next week when I'm done and heading out to vacation for 2 weeks. Seriously, I've studied a total of about 6 hours this block. Ask me what I know about excitable cells? Not too much, sweetheart. Like I said, I'm screwed... and not in the good way.

New Experiences

So I thought I'd make a list of ways that I've changed over the last year. Not sure if these are due to medical school, having a dog, or building a house... but for SURE none of these would have occurred in my prior life without SEVERE emotional distress:

1. Today dog poop fell on my hand while I was picking it up at the dog park. I just rinsed my hand with water (NO SOAP AVAILABLE!!), and went on with my conversation (while drinking coffee). Normally I would have been itching to get home to disinfect.... but folks, I didn't even think about it!

2. My clean dishes are on a dishrack in the BATHROOM. Why? Because this is the only place I have to wash dishes. Yes, there are probably fecal colonies forming on them. But I'm ok with it.

3. I made persimmon cookies the other day, and threw away the persimmons after getting what I needed for the batter. Later I found out I needed more persimmon pulp for the glace. Since these were the only 2 persimmons in the city I could locate, I actually took the persimmon OUT of the TRASH, washed it off, and used the pulp from the inside. O-my-god. This is huge.

4. This year I cut up a human body. Ok... fair enough this one I'm still not at peace with. I actually still can't go in the anatomy lab without holding my breath. But hey, I did it.

5. My beloved SUV, which I have babied and polished and waxed, and kept its leather conditioned and every knick painted.... is doggie-fied. Hair everywhere. Toys, doggie shampoo, poop bags (empty of course lets not get nuts), etc. I do give it an overhaul every few weeks... but in between it's a total dog car. You would certainly mistake it for a soccer-mom car.

Interviews - Post 2

Everyone is freaked out by the questions that you will (or will not) be asked... Fear not, the point of interviewing is just to assure the admissions committee that 1) you can string along a few words in a mildly coherent fashion and 2) that you aren't "grossly offensive" in some way undiagnosed on your paper application. 99% of interviewers feel the same way... less than 1% are actually "out to get you" (meaning they want to stump you or make you look comparatively stupid in contrast to their all-knowing godly physician-ness).

That being said, lets first discuss what you CAN do to grossly offend the 99% of interviewers:

1) BS'ing. Meaning that you've been asked a question that you don't know the answer to... and instead of owning up that you aren't actually familiar with EMTALA or the HENT receptor or the new CDC guidelines for treating HIV... you decide to BS. A lot of times you've been asked this question on the presumption that you won't know the answer... because the interviewer wants to assess how you deal with stress and how your ego works. They're hoping for a response like "No, I haven't heard about that. When did that happen?" or "I have no idea what that is. I'll have to check it out later." If you BS'd your answer, not only will your interviewer likely know you BS'd, but they'll also think you're an ego-maniac that can't admit fault. That would suck.

2)Talking shit. Hopefully, you're thinking "Isn't that obvious?"... but I've seen candidates come to interviews and complain about the poor organization of the interview day, bitch about how cold the city is, describe how boring their student host was, whatever. Bad form. Because anyone who hears you is going to think "Good god, this person bitches so much they can't even control themselves on an INTERVIEW? Yikes. This is probably how GWU ended up with a disgruntled student submitting some 500 odd complaints against them and getting put on probation. Um, NEXT" Additionally, talking shit breaks the "no assholes rule" (see Interviews - Post 1).

3)BO. Again, hopefully obvious... but for whatever reason some people can't figure it out. And BO comes in the most unexpected packages sometimes. Cute little blonde girls who wear Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior makeup. Who would have ever guessed? If you are even remotely unsure, here's my suggestion. Sit down with your best friend in the entire world (who hopefully doesn't also have BO) and say these words. "I have an important question that will affect the course of my entire life, and I need you to tell me the absolute truth no matter how much you will think it will hurt my feelings. I want to be a doctor more than I care about breathing... and if you don't tell me the truth I will never become one. Do I have BO?"

4) Being ungrateful. In any sense. Please make time to thank your interviewer for their time, thank your student host for their hospitality, and thank the secretary for making the day happen. No one owes you an interview or an acceptance. There are about 70,000 people who take the MCAT every year, 40,000 apply to med school, and about 17,000 get accepted somewhere. If you don't appear grateful, someone else will.

OK, let's move on to the questions you should be prepared for. I've seen med-school interview books with 100's of questions. If you are of normal intelligence, you don't need to "prepare" for more than about 5 standard questions. The rest can be answered by just being honest, humble, and mild-mannered. Here's the ones you should be able to answer cold.

1) Why do you want to be a doctor?

Great answers address the following:
- Why being a doctor is a different/better match for you than your other interests (note that I didn't say to slam other careers)
- The process that led you to the decision to pursue medical school (because you shouldn't have decided overnight)
- The aspects that appeal to you in medicine (like the fusion of humanity and science, or the lifelong ongoing learning)

Less than great answers go something like this:
- My dad was a doctor and I decided to become one when I was 4 (way to demonstrate that you have no free will)
- I broke my arm when I was 12 and that's when I made the decision (probably shouldn't rely on the life-long committments you made at 12)
- I want to be rich, drive a Ferrari and pick up lots of women (OK, I've never heard of an applicant say this, but I have friends who are physicians who say this is why they went to medical school... scary)
- I want to help people (duh!)

The general idea is that you want to show that you have solid reasons for becoming a physician that are unique to being a physician. For instance, if you say you want to help people... that's great.. but why not go volunteer at an nursing home and save yourself a decade of work? That is not a sufficient answer. You need to explain yourself better. When I interviewed I was asked why I didn't want to continue on as a high school science teacher. The interviewer commented that it was similar to medicine in that it helped people, had elements of science, and facilitated learning. I answered that while it did have all those things (which I appreciated about medicine), that I didn't feel that being a teacher was challenging for me. I didn't feel that I was growing as a person. In medicine I could help others while challenging myself.

2) What are your strengths and weaknesses. I hate this question. It's so dumb. As if anyone has the ability to TRULY assess their own strengths and weaknesses, and if they did... who would admit them? Is somebody really going to say "I have a stellar rack, which really helps me get attention from important people" or "I'm incredibly brilliant while the other earthlings are complete morons " or "I am secretly addicted to meth, but I still show up for work on time"

BUT, you should still have some good answers up your sleeve for when this question comes up.

For Strengths:
Pick something that the interviewer CARES about. Like I'm resourceful, I'm a mediator, I'm innovative, I'm a strong bench researcher, I speak Vietnamese, or I get along with most everyone. Pick something that will affect THEM, but doesn't sound too boring or egotistical. It's a fine balance. Don't pick something subjective like "I'm nice" or "I'm intelligent"... because frankly, you have no way to assess that yourself.

For Weaknesses:
Well after the Obama, Clinton, Edwards debate a few years ago you now really have to answer this question well. For those of you who missed it... all three were asked about their weaknesses... Clinton answered that she is too hard of a worker, Edwards said that is is too philanthropic (or something like that), and Obama said that he's completely disorganized and his desk is a disaster. Well the media jumped all over him for admitting that he was disorganized yada yada, and his response was "I must have misunderstood the question. I thought I was being asked what my weakness was... and I guess I was supposed to answer with a strength disguised as a weakness"

Point taken. Answering with a strength disguised as a weakness is well, weak. Lame. It makes you look like a pompous ass, actually. So you need to come up with a real weakness. But not too much of a real one. Don't go around admitting that you cut yourself when you stress out before exams or that you steal $100 bills from your Grandmother's secret jelly jar. You should also avoid admitting anything that will send up a red flag on your application. Don't admit weakness in regards to grades, stress, not getting along with people, not liking sick people, not being able to deal with authority, having a learning disorder, not sleeping regularly, having OCP, etc.

Pick something either 1) totally unrelated to med school 2) something that is a subjective weakness or 3) something that USED to be a weakness but you've overcome it.

Examples:
- I used to interrupt people because I get excited about what they are talking about... but I've tried to become conscious of it, and I don't do it as much anymore
- Everyone in my family plays tennis except me. I'm terrible in sports and I'd like to work on that.
- I'm really bad about keeping in touch with my old friends. I get so busy sometimes months go by before I notice.
- I eat a lot of junk food because I have a crazy schedule, and I always say I'm going to start packing healthy lunches for myself... but I never do
- I ask a lot of questions out of general curiosity which I think people can mis-interpret as me doubting the validity of what they are saying. I have really had to work on how I frame my questions.

These are truthful, but pretty benign in the grand scheme of things. You'll give off the impression that you're authentic, but smart enough not to reveal anything inappropriate.

Pink Glove Video

This is Awesome!!!

MBIO

What's your first thought on seeing MBIO? Well the dumb-ass that I am, I thought my next class was molecular biology. Which I was pretty freakin excited about. Imagine my disappointment when I found out MBIO stands for metabolic biochemistry. Shit.

No Way

Who'da thunk it? I'm becoming VERY interested in genetics. But that's not the weird part. Pediatric genetics. In case you think I've mis-typed, I'll say it again. PEDIATRIC Genetics. Genetics class has been over for 2 weeks and I'm still coming home and watching documentaries on Tay Sachs and Gaucher's. I see the kiddos with Progeria and I love them with every ounce of my heart. I want to kiss the rocker-bottom feet of kids with Trisomy 18. I think what I'm feeling is overwhelming. I dream about them at night. But I am especially in love with the Progeria kids. That part isn't new. I remember seeing a show as a child about children with Progeria, and I was fascinated. Now I just want to help their heart conditions and keep them pain free and help them to avoid respiratory infection.

The bad part is that I cry. A lot. I don't know how to overcome this particular obstacle. My boyfriend thinks I am too sensitive to be a peds geneticist. His attitude is basically "Holy shit woman, you're crazy enough with no reason to cry.... I can't handle you working in a place where there really is reason to burst into tears all day long." Fair enough. But I still love it. The things I don't love about it? Most genetic diseases aren't treatable. It's like "Yup, you've got disease X, sucks for you". Also, about 100% of genetics work is in the clinic or the lab. Two things I'm not totally hip on. No procedures, no surgery, nada. Unless you combine pediatric genetics with something like critical care... but sheesh... that's a whole lotta years of residency. Yikes.

Well, we'll see. I'm just thrilled that something has grabbed me.

Med School Can Only Get Better From Here

So every speck of Anatomy is done. Class. Lab. Lecture. Final Exam. Lab practical. And the anatomy shelf exam. Holy smokes that took me for a ride. FYI: We have to take regular final exams for each class which are written by the professor at our school. THEN, for certain classes we take a "shelf" exam... which is a standardized subject exam given to med students everywhere. The test questions are recycled USMLE 1 questions... so we're getting some practice for the boards. The anatomy portion was alright... but the embryology portion was hellacious! Better start practicing embryo before Step 1.

So my theory is that if the rest of med school is as cool as the other classes I've taken (excluding anatomy of course) that things can only look up from here. I'm headed into Histology, Physiology and Molecular Biology come Monday. Yay!!

Just a Few More Hours

And I'll be done with anatomy... and back to posting. Sorry it's been so long.

Ode to Betty

Betty is our cadaver. I didn't name her... but to the best of my recollection she was named after Betty Davis. Which I'm not sure is all that appropriate considering that she was in her 80's, bald, and we certainly never saw her eyes. Well, not then at least.

Poor Betty. She was rather anomalous and gave us a rather tough time more often than not when looking for a certain structure. She had a port-a-cath (that can really throw you for a loop if you aren't expecting it), no musculocutaneous nerve in the brachial plexus, a titanium knee, a brain aneurism, no gallbladder, a barely visible uterus, essentially no authentic teeth, no tonsils, and the teeniest biceps muscles ever (like bandaid size). All that and she died of Hodgkin's.

And then we did horrible things. We hemi-sected the leg, bisected the clitoris (ouch), removed her head, transected her head, filleted her lungs and pulled out her eyes. Her breasts went into a zip lock, as did her brain, and the head of her humerus floated around the humidor for months until it looked like a red rudolph nose.

But that's not what I wanted to say.

I wanted to say thank you to Betty. And to Betty's family. Thank you for donating your body so that I could learn medicine. No matter how much I hated every single minute of it, no matter that my eyes burned every day, no matter that I stunk and had latex allergies. I do appreciate that people are willing to sacrifice any last shred of dignity so that future physicians can intimately learn the human body.

And learn it we did.

And Betty, for the record, I was always your advocate when those who shall remain nameless affixed your (rather large) labia to your external acoustic meatus and called them ears.

This is Amazing!!!

Harvard Cell Animation

Thanks ADoc2Be! I love this beyond words!

Interviews - Post 1

So now I'm taking requests. Someone asked me to write about the interview process... and oh, boy do I have a lot to say about it. Much more than could possibly fit in one post... so maybe this will have to be the first of a few posts...

Here's My Thoughts...

1) On manners. Holy crap, I have seen some DOOZIES! For Christ's sake! Mind your manners. Do I sound like your mom? I'm guessing some applicant's mom's didn't spend much time on this topic... so lets do a quick recap. Most schools have a "no assholes" rule... and these things will definitely disqualify you.

-Elevators... these work better if you let people OUT before you try to get IN. Yes, we know your excited, but don't trample the faculty

-Cussing- So I have the mouth of a sailor under normal circumstances... but not on my interview day. Not to staff, faculty, nor to students. Don't get too comfortable. Everyone can hear you

-No complaining! For god's sake I don't care if you only eat omega-3 grass fed beef. Shut up and eat the bun and the pickle. No one wants to hear it on an interview.... not to mention you come off like a giant asshole.

-Bragging to other applicants about your Yale interview and 42 MCAT? Tacky.

-So you hate this school and the city and it's your last choice and you are hoping to GOD that you get into Mt. Sinai instead? By talking about it you are breaking the "no assholes" rule.

2) On outfits. Oh, the horror. Almost every applicant (guy or girl) is wearing a black suit and a white shirt. Every guy wears a red "power tie". Yes, I got the memo that you are supposed to dress conservative. That means take out your tongue ring, cover up your tattoos, and leave your zoot suit at home. It DOES NOT mean that you have to dress for a funeral. My friends and I talked about this before our interviews and we vowed to be conservative yet to be ourselves and stand out. And guess what? We all got complimented for dressing DIFFERENTLY. I wore a charcoal Tahari pantsuit (conservative, yes?) with a blue and purple embroidered tunic underneath. On another interview I wore the same suit with a pink silk shirt and a chunky shell necklace. My friend "T" wore a beautiful grey suit with a medium blue shirt and yellow tie. My friend "K" wore ivory dress pants with dark red patent leather heels and a beautiful sweater. Everyone looked professional and conservative, but we all stood out from the other applicants. Think about it. What would YOU want to see after interviewing 128 penguin college grads in black suits and white shirts?

While I'm on the subject, please make sure your outfit "fits". As in, your interviewer isn't staring at your pink bra through your gaping blouse buttons, and your lateral malleolus isn't visible because your pants are too short.

3) On TALKING - so we all know your going to get questions from your interviewer... but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the questions YOU are going to ask your interviewer. Because you better. You better act interested and involved and so thrilled to be there that you just can't stand it. Your goal is to make your interviewer excited about talking to you. You need them to remember you when it's time for them to write their review about you. You don't want some professor scratching his head trying to remember which penguin you were and what the hell he should write about you. I've found that the best way to be remembered is to make the interviewer feel GOOD. If they are having fun, they will remember you. I don't care if you have the most crotchety old geezer interviewing you... you can turn the situation around. Start asking them questions. About THEM! For instance, "So what brought you to this school?" or "What made you decide to go into oncology?". Best option, look around for something to comment on. Pictures of grandkids? Ask about them. A Navaho blanket on the office wall? Mention how you saw one just like it on the Antiques Road Show that appraised for $40k. Anything. Make conversation and make it authentic. Remember, everyone's favorite subject is themselves. Get them talking. They'll remember you, and that's less time that YOU will be in the hotseat answering questions about that C+ you got in O-Chem.

Let's Talk About ADCOM's

I've been getting some wonderful emails from non-trad pre-meds who are wondering HOW ON EARTH to get into med school with a (super) sketchy academic background. I should know, since I'm an expert on sketchy academics. Let's talk about what it takes to get into medical school if you have some SERIOUS academic deficiencies.

The trick is knowing how the system works.

Many pre-meds think "Well, my GPA is ridiculously low, but my MCAT is ok, and I have six years of research that should outweigh my low GPA. I mean, undergrad was so long ago. I've matured since then. Not to mention, I have tons of clinical work, and I know I interview well... so this should work!" Right? WRONG!

The truth is that ADCOMS don't review every application and they don't take into consideration the applicant's whole big picture. It's not that they don't think that your six years of research should outweigh your GPA. The problem is that your low GPA and MCAT aren't getting you to the "second round" so to speak of the application process. Your application isn't even making it someone's desk. ADCOMs get thousands upon thousands of applications. Usually there are only a handful of reviewers (who are busy physicians themselves). They can't possibly read every application.

Applications get read by one of two* ways...

.

1) By score. ALL applications are given a preliminary score. Every school's scoring system is different, but essentially it revolves around GPA and MCAT. For instance, one school I interviewed at outright told the applicants their scoring method for review. These numbers are arbitrary... just for demonstration purposes (please don't email me and ask if they are real and what school!) They take the GPA (say 3.2) and convert it to a two digit# (32). They then add that to your MCAT score (say 31). Your score would be 63. The school used a cut-off (say above a score of 60) to decide which applications to review in depth. From those reviewed in depth, a certain number will be selected for interviews. So you can see how if you are weak in your MCAT but strong in GPA (like a GPA of 3.7 and MCAT of 24) you could still get a full review. But if you are mediocre in both areas (or REALLY weak in one area), you'll never get reviewed no matter if you're an Olympian, Rhodes Scholar, Brad Pitt, etc.

2) The second way you can get a full review is by recommendation. And not just by anyone. This means that someone that the ADCOM values (not YOUR mentor, college professor or hometown doctor calling to say how great you are) has requested a full review of your application. This is usually a professor in that medical school, a donor to that medical school, a top doc in one of their affiliated hospitals, or someone else of consequence to the ADCOM. In some schools, such as mine, a med student can ask the ADCOM to review the application of a candidate they like.

*Ok, I lied. There is one more way you can get a review. That's if you yourself are high profile (ie. an Olympian, Rhodes Scholar, or Brad Pitt). I didn't make that an official category... I guess I figure the Brad Pitt's of the world should have to figure some things out on their own.

So the point of all this? If you can't get your application through the system via route #1 because your academics are too sketchy, you sure as heck better start making friends (route #2). My best advice is to find THE med school that you want to go to (this should be a reasonable school.... probably not Harvard... but hey, anything is possible)... and GO THERE. Move across the country, get your Master's degree there, do research at their teaching hospital, teach their undergrads, sweep their floors, do something (ANYTHING) that demonstrates your abilities and puts you in touch with the right people. After you've proven yourself (after about a year) you can start asking for favors and poking around looking for ways to get in.

Not only is this how I got into med school, its how MANY people get into med school.

Last Anatomy Lab

I thought this day would never come. Tomorrow is my last, LaSt, LAST, ever, EvEr, EVER anatomy lab. And I'm never going back.

Ella, The Patient Has the Disease... Not You

Today in genetics class a family came to present their son... who had PKU. PKU patients are unable to break down phenylalanine... and must observe a VERY restricted diet for their entire lives. They essentially cannot ingest any excess protein. Ever. No dairy, no meat, no beans, no cheese, NADA. Food must be purchased from special "low-protein" manufacturers. Severe mental retardation can occur if they don't follow this diet. Imagine trying to raise a child with such severe dietary restrictions. No cupcakes. No eggs. No hot-dogs. No roast beef sandwiches.

Then, in the middle of the presentation, I got hungry. Like REALLY hungry. Stomach growling, shaky, hypoglycemic hungry. Must have been all that talk about food restriction. I wanted to pull out my crackers... but I figured that might be bad form... since this little kiddo was running around the auditorium. What if he saw my peanut butter Ritz and decided he wanted one? What if I induced some crazy craving in him? What if he went nuts screaming about peanut butter crackers? What if his parents called me out in front of the whole auditorium and loudly said "Excuse me, could you please put those away?" I could only think about how I feel every time I try to go low carb for a while... and how much I crave crackers. Especially with almond butter. How I feel when I am on a diet and somebody tempts me with an Epoisses cheese plate and fresh baked french bread. Finally I couldn't take it anymore... I snuck one at a time when the kid was at the other side of the auditorium.

So I'm jealous...

Of those girls. You know the ones. The ones in class who sit there... ever so calm and collected... knitting. Yes folks, I'm jealous of the girls that knit. There's several in class. They don't take notes. Well, I don't take notes either... but not for any cool reason like knitting. I don't take notes because it's too boring and I won't read them anyways. I'm just, well, doing nothing.... just thinking up a million new ideas every 10 seconds and listening to lecture. I guess I'm an auditory learner. I'd love to have something else interesting to do. When I was an epidemiologist I had to review tons of ID cases. Which was ever so boring, and took me FOREVER. But I noticed that if I piled on a few more senses... like simultaneously drinking tea, listening to an audio book, face-booking, AND reviewing cases... I could get them cranked out significantly more efficiently. Now maybe all that wouldn't work for making it through lecture... but knitting.... that's another story. It all looks so soothing... beautiful yarn, complicated stitches, back and forth... and then poof! The next day the fuchsia yarn turns into a cute sweater... that she's WEARING. Then I'm envious all over again. She can make CLOTHES while sitting in med school. If only I could do that with shoes....

Boyfriend as Psychiatrist

Ahhh. Dating a psychiatrist. Well, I guess we're past dating because we own a home together... but just for fun, I'll say we're dating. So of course you've heard that all psychiatrists are crazy. Well let me clear up that rumor right now. It's true. My boyfriend is nuts. In a good way. Most of the time.

The cool thing about dating a psychiatrist is that he is acutely insightful about everything he does wrong. For instance if I say angrily, "How many friggin' times do I have to tell you....If you don't RINSE the sponge with hot water and SQUEEZE it dry, it gets moldy. Do you SMELL that? Do you want to eat off a plate cleaned with THAT?" He'll say "Ok, you're right. That sounds logical. I'll try to be better. I'm not promising anything... but I'll do my best to remember." Ok, so this kind of psychiatrist talk gets under my skin a little... cause it seems a little condescending but what can you really say to that answer??... However, it sure beats "Yo bitch, if you'd do the damn dishes yourself we wouldn't have this problem"

Additionally, what's cool is that he always sticks up for me by labeling others with Axis I disorders to make me feel better. For instance, if I am complaining about how Alisha is too boy crazy and a drama queen... he'll be like "Well, she's classical histrionic. Hypersexual type." Or if I complain that somebody stood me up twice for a meeting and didn't call he'll say "He's so ADD he can barely function"

Ok, the part that sucks is that when you're dating a relatively insightful person... you're supposed to be insightful and reflective too. On demand. Which I'm not. I'm much more of a "go to bed pissed, wake up a little grumpy, forget about it an hour later and never think about it again type of person". I am definitely NOT a "lets talk about this, what could I do better, here's what you could do better, yes in retrospect a good compromise would be, kiss and make up" type of person. And dating someone who is a "lets talk about" kind of person can make you feel incredibly immature when you just prefer to skulk and steam for a little while, then forget about. Because the disconnect leads to "I really don't think we properly resolved that problem last month. I think we should talk about it again and make a list of the things we should do better" from him... and all I'm thinking is "uh....what argument????"

There IS Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

10 Ways to get a Free Meal in Medicine...

1. Resident recruitment dinners

2. Pharmaceutical dinners

3. Club meetings at lunchtime (technically this would be lunch I guess)

4. Hang out near the doctor's lounge... someone will invite you in

5. Clinical trials investigator's meetings

6. Dean's hours

7. Department weekly meetings (Cardiology has AWESOME food. Big budget I guess)

8. Interview meals

9. Journal Club

10. Academic Conferences

You can pretty much LIVE this way... my boyfriend brings home PILES of food after conferences or things left over from a journal club. Tonight we're going to a resident recruitment dinner. Yay!

Sympathetic Crying

I'm a sympathetic crier. And a sympathetic vomiter. And a sympathic sleeper (I can't STAND seeing someone cozy sleeping while I have to study. I instantly fall asleep). But today I'm talking about crying. Because I think I've just recently discovered that I am WAYYYY too sensitive. Not in a "she said something mean about me" kind of way. Rather, I let myself get emotionally wrapped up in my patients. Or any patients. I have the syndrome. Thinking that what's happening to my patients is actually happening to me.

For instance, in genetics class we have patient presentations. Patients with genetic diseases come with their parents to discuss their experience with the disease process. I'm practically in tears the whole time. And once the parent starts crying I really lose it. Today a mom started crying when she discussed finding out that two of her children had the same genetic disease. She started, then I started. Not full on snot and tears, but enough to where I feel the hard lump in my throat, my eyes get watery and my nose a little flushed.

And recently a prominent physician at my school was murdered. I didn't know him AT ALL beyond simply seeing him in the hospital. But I lost SLEEP over this, folks. And we all know how precious sleep is these days.

I guess I'm just wondering if this gets better?