Going crazy

So I started the final phase of Alwyn Cosgrove’s Afterburn lifting routines, that I’ve been doing for the last 14 weeks or so. My geeky biochemistry alter-ego likes to refer to it as Cori Cycle Conditioning, as every morning I play the mental game of Dana’s Brain vs. her Liver (basically mind over matter). Every now and then I encounter a group of 5 guys at the gym in the morning whom I scathingly refer to as the “Coffee Shop Boys” (CSBs), because they all sit around and spend the majority of their time hogging benches to chat on. It pisses the hell out of me, and when I’m pissed at the gym, it’s very difficult to focus and get an excellent workout in. Well, the CSBs were there this morning, and I gave them my best “I’m hiding a crow-bar up my pant-leg” stare every time I had to grab weights, and they were blocking the way while chatting it up. Not the greatest way to start off my day….and lets just say it hasn’t improved…my bed and the fetal position is looking really tempting....

An Obligatory Post

We have approximately 21 days till our final set of finals. I'm ready to be done. It's not that I don't love the island, its just that I am so sick of the daily grind, and the complete lack of motivation I have for studying. Normally I am excited to start my day when I wake up in the morning, instead I find I am pushing myself to do the bare minimum to get by.
Anyways, enough of my whining depression. Last night our class went on a 5 hour boat cruise, with a DJ and steel drum band aboard. The music was wonderful, and it was nice seeing a lot of people from my class out.......but by the end of the 5 hours I was relieved to get off the boat and away from the crowd. I think I get a little anxious when put in unescapable enclosed places after a certain time period......
Here are a few pics from the evening:
The steel drum band really made the night. By the end of our evening everyone from our class was up and dancing. It was funny watching how we would all dance from one side of the boat to the other as it rocked back and forth on our ride home.

Rikin got his hair corn-rowed and he totally looks like a thug. I did my best tough-assed impression.













The bottle in my hand is actually not beer, but a very refreshing non-alcoholic beverage called 'Bitter Lemon'. If I could, I would ship a case home so you could all try it.
I almost forgot to mention - we finally found out our clinical rotation placements for next year. I will be stationed at St. John's Hospital in Detroit! I am soooooooo ready to be done with this vicarious book learning!!!

My head hurts

Today I had a test.
It was fun.
A full 7 hours of fun.
Fun like dental drilling.

Without anesthesia.

I'm going to go anesthesize myself now.

My 2 Cents

When I first wrote this it ended of being a full two page rant…..but then I realized it’s probably not the most exciting thing to read for most, so here’s a snapshot of how I feel:

Since the new vaccine protecting against cervical cancer has come out, I’ve been reading articles over parents’ opinions on whether their daughters should be vaccinated. Questions over whether vaccinating will promote under-age sex are a popular topic of argument between parents and some non-secular authorities.

I am outraged. If a known cancer causing disease can be eradicated from the face of this earth, does it really matter how the disease is transmitted? This was an especially annoying opinion I read of one parent:

“Paul, 41, initially believed that protecting Freya against a sexually transmitted disease — when she has only the loosest concept of what sex actually is — was simply irresponsible”

Well Paul – does your daughter know how she can catch measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, tetanus, and hepatits B? Did you try and explain those things to her when she had those vaccinations? My guess is probably not. My guess is that it didn’t even cross your mind to explain it to her, because regardless of how those diseases are transmitted you are protecting the present and future welfare of your daughter.

I would go as far to saying that HPV virus causing cervical cancer is the last thing that teenagers and many young adults are thinking about when they engage in sexual activity. I highly doubt that a female knowing she is protected against cervical cancer will alter her attitudes and values on sex – those morals will be well formed (and partly instilled by her parents) before she makes her decisions.

In Africa studies have shown that male circumcision is protective against HIV transmission in heterosexual males. Suppose the government strongly urged parents in the Western world to have all uncircumcised males circumcised, I wonder if the same hostility would arise on whether it would promote promiscuity or not.

There are many things that facilitate the spread of disease – poverty being the number one cause in most parts of the world, but in a society of plenty, it is sheer ignorance that provides an ample breeding ground for infection.

An enjoyable test

Are those two words even allowed to be next to one another???

We had practical clinical exams this past week. I had mine today, and I have to say that although I didn’t really believe those who took it before me – it was fun! We had 7 different stations that involved everything from history taking, physical examination, x-ray reading, EKG reading, and prescription writing. It was great because at the end of each patient oriented station we received feedback from both the patient and the clinical tutor, so it was a very effective learning experience. At the beginning of the semester we were in a state of disbelief when they mentioned we’d be taking a history and doing a relevant physical within 7 minutes. On my walk home from the exam it finally dawned on me……wow, I’m really gonna be a doctor!

I’m totally riding this wave of adrenalin out, because boy has there been some serious depression around here these last couple of weeks. I heard what the weather is like up there….I’m seriously seriously sad to be leaving the Caribbean in another 4 weeks :(

Rejoicement

Because you all really wanted to know....and I'm so glad I don't have a pituitary adenoma.... the hypothalamic-pituitary axis is back on track....and if you don't understand what I'm referring to its probably better off that way because these types of details shouldn't really be shared in the first place....but YAY! I did a celebratory dance when I found out....

Culinary coping

After a great weekend in Bequia I returned to the immutable gloomy slump our class seems to be in. So seeing that I will be unable to feed off any other source of somewhat positive energy I had to devise a plan of my own. I needed a new goal list, a renewed focus, and an afternoon of cooking to sort things out. Within my three hour cooking bender I managed to produce spinach and flaxseed pie, chicken coconut curry, chicken stirfry, and roast zucchini. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to freeze half of everything, but it felt good to be focused on getting something done (and anytime I can be alone to hum phantom of the opera music always seems to dissipate worries). So without this post sounding any more boring than it really is, here’s a pic of what I woke up to on Easter morning.

Sometimes I have to remind myself "hey, at least I'm not cold", and everything feels just a little bit better.

After the Storm

Well, after finishing the midterms, and moving through phase 3 and back into phase 1 of med-student life, I tried to find some suitable pictures to post up. Unfortunately my deviant-eyed face popped up in far too many of the pics, and so here are a few of the more suitable ones.
As if we haven’t been stressed out enough, our week has been filled with extra classes, assignments, emergency meetings, and the decision for some to move back to Grenada in light of recent events. We have two comprehensive exams approaching, and I think most people feel burnt out, angry, and depressed. Its weeks like these when I wish I was in grade school again. I could stay home feigning sickness on the couch, curled up with a comforter sipping flat ginger-ale, while waiting for my Tata to come home from work to pet my head and say “it’s okay child, everything’s gonna be alright”.

Scary stuff

For as tough as I tell myself I am, or as strong as I may feel when I’m doing my workouts it all shatters when I read something like this:

All 5th/6th Term Students:

Please be aware that we had 2 breakin's last evening. Unfortunately, one of these crimes involved a sexual assault of a female student. The deadbolts in the last breakins have been defeated by cutting into the door-jam and then apparently levering over the deadbolt. Please be vigilant and follow the usual safety procedures

ESJ

And I think it really sucks sometimes to be a girl, and have the feeling that you want a male around to feel protected……I really resent that, because realistically when I think of the majority of guys in my class (not all, but many of them), they’d be just as powerless as most girls in the same situation. But they’re guys, and being sexually assaulted is not at the forefront of their minds.