The Pink Suitcase

The night before the big trip you're packing everything you could possibly need for this damn vacation in your suitcase. Clothes, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, hair dryer, shampoo, suit, shoes- you name it. It's looking like no matter how you try it, there's no way this suitcase is going to close. You sit on it; doesn't work. You squeeze it between a door; doesn't work. You ask the nearest person to squeeze it closed while you try to zip it up; it still doesn't close...

The weeks are beginning to melt together now as I'm getting further into school. We just had a massive anatomy test today. Since last Tuesday I haven't had any time to relax except once when I went grocery shopping with Kelcie, haha. It's been pretty busy. One of the things that has really helped me with the amount of studying I have to do is the atmosphere. At Sonoma State University, my friends were from different majors and had varying amounts of work. One of my best friends had class 3 days a week and no homework. They would play videogames, watch tv, laugh, have movie nights, have parties... all while I was studying. I can assure you that studying seems ten times worse when people are laughing and having a good time in the hallway. Here at Midwestern, everyone has the same workload. All of my closest friends are up to their ears in work as well. As a result, the focus to study is a lot more welcome. I'm beginning to turn into a study machine. I go for hours in front of my computer reviewing lectures and taking notes without eating, speaking, or going to the bathroom. When you know that everyone else is doing the same thing, studying is a lot easier. 

Apart from my good habit of studying, I've developed a bad habit as well. I've begun to get migraines, something I'd never had before. I assume its because of the increased stress and work load. I don't get them too often, usually once a week... twice a week if it's a bad week. I'm taking migraine medicine when they happen and it takes the edge off a little bit. I'll keep an eye on it. 

In happier news, I've been part of a hiring process for the Communications Department. I work at the Communications Department every Tuesday and Wednesday from 8am-9am (tough hours, eh?). They're currently in the process of hiring a new writer and I was asked to help in the process. The applicants for the position were asked to interview me and write up a profile on me... where I'm from, why I'm here, why I chose medicine, etc. I've done two interviews so far and they've been fun... it's sort of weird to be interviewed by a writer. Usually when I'm being interviewed it's as an applicant for a position or a school. I feel like the writers got some good information from me.. there's nothing I'm better at than talking about myself! Some of the questions they asked were about the new healthcare debates and the future of medicine... it made me realize that even though I'm just a medical student, people are beginning to take my advice/opinions seriously and professionally. At orientation we were told, "Now that you're in medical school, people will expect you to be a doctor. Even though you're only a student, people will think that you're already a doctor". Now I'm not saying that these writers thought I was a doctor, but it was weird to know that the comments I made about medicine are no longer my personal opinions but professional opinions... weird, huh?

Mum's coming on Thursday for the White Coat Ceremony. The White Coat Ceremony is a rite of passage, a coming of age for medical students. It's the acceptance of the responsibilities and professionalism of medicine. It's almost like a graduation but a little less of a deal. I'm really glad that she'll be able to make it out. With things the way they are financially, I was worried that she might have to miss it. However, everything has worked out fine and she'll be staying with Kelcie and I from Thursday until Saturday! I hope she enjoys her time here and doesn't find it to be too hot... it's still in the 100's here! 

...finally you manage to zip up your suitcase. As you wipe the sweat from your brow, you notice a pile of clothes you forgot to pack. Is it going to fit? No way. But you have to find a way... once again you struggle to fit the extra items in as they try to spill out the sides. It seems impossible that it will ever fit, but you know someway, somehow it will. You put your head down and have faith in your goal because you know that this is no ordinary suitcase... it's your pink suitcase.

The Little Spermatozoon That Could

It's been a while since I last wrote, but it's only because I've been very busy! I've finally got in to the swing of things at school, learning how to handle the stress of classes and tests while still being able to have a little free time to myself. Kelcie and I just enjoyed a nice weekend in our room... studying, you perverts! The good news is that we managed to find time to go out on a date last night. I took Kelc out to the Cheesecake Factory and then to a movie. We had a great time.

School is going well. We had a club fair where all of the clubs at school present their club and you join the ones you're most interested in. I ended up joining the Pediatrics club, Emergency Medicine, Student Osteopathic Surgery Association, Family Practitioner club and DOCARE, which is a club that does medical missions to third-world countries. It cost me a fortune, but I think they'll be great clubs to be a part of. Classes are getting a little heavier with material. It's not that things are getting harder but rather more content. I was given some of my first embryology lectures and turned out to really enjoy them, which made them quite easy to study this weekend. Nothing is more motivating than to read about poor sperm who run a race for hours just to realize that somebody has already won... at which point they wait around to die.

My Clinical class is turning out to be the most fun. It's only a couple of hours once a week, but it's the class that teaches us all of the techniques that doctors use. By the end of the year we will be able to perform a full physical exam. This past week we learned how to take blood pressure so I was more than happy to try it out on my favorite patient, Kelcie! Needless to say from the picture to the right, she was not too impressed. We had a few friends over on Friday night so I had them take some pictures of my impeccable work for all to see.

I must be off since I have a test early tomorrow and I have to wake up early to get a couple of hours of review in before it starts. So long and keep exercising!

-Student Dr. Benjamin D. Smith

The Ultimate Map and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

Let's pretend I told you that by this time next year, I expect you to know the map of the world. I'll start you off easily, perhaps by giving you a continent at a time to study. Let's start with Europe. While studying this part of the map, you must take note of all its important features. What are the countries within that continent? The capitals? How about oceans, major lakes or rivers? Where are the important mountain ranges? What is the English Channel and what is its relationship to France? Now that you've studied these important aspects of the world on a map, if I gave you satellite images of these same continents, could you still name those aspects?

The sacrum, with the coccyx
at the bottom end

This is what anatomy is like. Spending copious amounts of time studying drawings and books of the 'world' and then naming the parts on a human cadaver. We just finished covering the region of the back. We learned about all the muscles of the back, the nerves, blood vessels, and bones. So far I find it pretty interesting.... a huge use of time, but interesting. Labor day was this past weekend but unfortunately I didn't spend much time relaxing but studying for my exam. I still had one day to myself so that Kelcie and I could relax, but the other two were spent studying up material for my anatomy exam. Next monday is a biochemistry exam so I will start studying for that this evening... no rest for a medical student :D

Not from my school, but a taste of what OMM is like

Osteopathic physicians are unique to their traditional/allopathic counterparts in one specific aspect; osteopathic manipulative medicine, or OMM. OMM is a form of medicine that uses the idea that the body always tries to heal itself. As any type of physician we do not really mend a patient ourselves but use drugs or therapies in order to encourage the body to heal itself. OMM is what it means; manipulation. By using our hands we find certain places on the body where pressure or other forms of manipulation can do the body good. The idea is that osteopathic physicians try this method before prescribing any medication. If a patient has had shoulder surgery and is having problems with shoulder pain during recovery, rather than throwing pain-killers at them and slamming the door, DO's will perform various manual therapies around the area in order to release tension and thus reduce pain. Sometimes these methods will not work as well as medications and sometimes they will work better. The idea is only that alternate methods are taken into consideration before using medication. A study by Johnson et al found that only 6% of osteopathic physicians actually use this procedure with half or more of their patients while 33% reported using it on 5% or less of their patients. Needless to say, the use of OMM is up to the physician's discretion. I'm open to the idea of using OMM in my practice, especially if I do go into pediatrics or family care. Today during OMM lab we learned a lot of techniques to discover somatic dysfunctions (abnormalities) in the spinal and sacral regions. It was a lot of fun learning to use your hands as most of you know that I'm a very hands on learner.

One of the hardest things I've found to cope with in medical school is not the late nights studying, the pressure of exams, the high class exam-averages that I must compete with, or even the fact that sometimes I'm so busy studying that I forget why I came here in the first place. The hardest thing I've had to handle is touching people. It sounds ridiculous but it's true. I thought that of all people, I would be the least bit uncomfortable at the thought of touching others, but there's something so weird about it. I'm referring of course to my OMM course where I have to do a lot of pushing and feeling on others... and I'm not talking about holding hands or giving back rubs to friends. Each week I'm paired with a different student that I haven't had a chance to meet before and after a hasty handshake and a "should I be the doctor, or you?", I have my hands deep into the student's crotch feeling around for the bony landmarks of the hips. There's just something unsettling about the whole thing. I'm perfectly content for others to perform the procedures and exams on myself, but once its my turn to begin fumbling around their privates like an idiot, trying to find these subtle bumps while the whole time trying not to get charged for sexual harassment, I become uncomfortable! Perhaps once I get to know them more I will feel better. I'm sure that if I were paired up with one of my good friends, I would have no problem. But in the real world, in a clinical setting, will I have time to make friends with patients?

Kelcie digging through the apartment dumpster
to retrieve my precious knife that she accidentally
threw away!

On the home front, everything has been fine. Kelcie and I are doing great at home. She's just started her classes now and is spending a lot of her free time reading textbooks, studying for her classes in neuroanatomy (and I thought my anatomy was hard!). We try to keep Saturdays open so that we can spend some much needed time together, but we always make sure to have at least an hour a night to relax with each other while watching one of our favorite tv shows! Kelcie has been extremely good to me and has been baking tray after tray of cinnamon rolls, which has unfortunately caused me to gain a few pounds.. but they're too good to pass up!

Give me a needle and I'll give an injection. Hand me a scalpel and I'll slice through flesh. Give me a stethoscope and I'll listen to the constant dull thud of their heartbeat. Ask me to palpate the posterior superior iliac spine of my patient with my bare hands? It's gonna be a long ride.