So I had a routine optometry appointment this morning, and they put the pupil dilator eyedrops in…..so me, being the nerd that I am decided to take pictures of my eyes, looking out the window…….because the eyes are the “windows to our soul”……so I thought it would be a cool pic, except you can see a shadow of my arm and the camera in it…….and yes, I know I’m a geek.
If you click on the pic you can see an enlarged version of my eyeball.
Now that I’m home my mind is blank over what I should write about. I’ve scheduled my test date for the board exams, which gives me a little over 6 weeks to prepare. It’s definitely been great taking a much needed break from studying since finishing in St. Vincent’s, but I’m ready to be out of my house and get down to business. I finally unpacked my bags and did my laundry, but it does suck a little knowing that I’m just putting most of my stuff back into the suitcase to leave for 
I should continue this blog.
I should stop being a narcissist and keep my thoughts to myself.
I should start a new blog so the rents don’t know the url and I can write about what’s really going on - and how I’m actually not in medical school but am a breeder/trainer of the majestic sea horse.
First off, I’ve decided to keep it, and continue with fluffy reflections (as if there were any other type). Perhaps a recipe section will be added or something....i dunno yet (if you have a suggestion you can anonymously post a comment). Given the title of the blog, and where my next location will be (Detroit!) I may have to change it to 65 days of sun instead of 365. Instead I’ll leave the title as a double entendre of what has passed, and my outlook for the future (whoa…..deep thoughts).Anyways, I have to gear up to study for the next six weeks or so for my board exam....which is why it is a little bittersweet to be back at home.....along with the fact that its friggin cold people!
What I will miss from my time in Vinnies:
A minimum of 3 emails a day from my pharmacology professor, stating his every thought and intent without spell/grammar check.
Waking up and opening my balcony door to the turquoise-blue sea, palm trees, and the wafting scent of cannabis from the neighbors.
The school gym with its ghetto weight selection, boxing bags and a beautiful view of a harbour.
The friendliness of the locals pretty much everywhere you went.
I imagine I’ll start to miss the incessant cat calls/compliments/stares – it really starts to feed a girls ego.
The sun
The warmth
Crazy but relaxed driving style – people don’ honk because they’re angry, they honk to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’.
The serenity
The vegetable and fish market – you can’t beat the freshness.
All of my friends
The rum - they don't pour drinks anywhere else in the world like they did there!
Today is the last day of classes. Not only is today the last day of lectures for the two years of the basic sciences component of my medical studies, this completes the end of my classroom life as I know it. I have been in a classroom learning setting for the last twenty years of my existence. Holy #$&%, scary considering I have nothing to show for it other than some abstract paintings my mom kept from kindergarten, and a few pieces of paper with stickers and ‘important’ signatures. So after thinking about this and its meaning while beginning to pack my things for going home, this was the first thought that popped into my mind:
“So I guess I should probably stop dressing like a 15 year old tomboy wearing cheap t-shirts with tacky pictures on the front”.
Somehow I just couldn’t figure out where a shirt with a Pegasus would be appropriate in the next stage of my journey. There’s always pajamas….
It has been an absolute pleasure living with you all this semester. One could not find a more motivating and well-balanced combination of people to live with. You have kept my goals in check, and my health habits on the wagon. Whenever I would feel myself wavering, it was impossible not to notice the dedication of everyone around me. It has been fabulous to be able to share information with you all and learn from each and every one of you. You are the future doctors that others should aspire to, in exemplifying what it truly means to take care of your health. I feel very appreciative to have found myself in such a supportive environment.
To Lindsey (my motivation to keep going) – I am enamored by your energy, and your flawless phenotype for which I will forever strive to achieve.
To Megan (my secret femme crush) - I am inspired by the way you are able to balance all aspects of your life in a non-neurotic way. I will always smile when I think of your ‘free-spirited’ running.
To Augustine (my aspiration when the going gets tough) – It has been wonderful to have someone to communicate health and life philosophies with. You are a wealth of wisdom, and a great listener.
Thank you for helping make this my best semester ever!
Love Dana
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....
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.
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!!!
Today I had a test.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
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.
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
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.
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 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
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.
Med students have been described existing in a cyclic 2 (possibly three) phase state:
1) Preparing to study for an exam
2) Studying for an exam
3) (Drunk and passed out after the exam)
With that in mind, the following senseless ramblings are just a taste of the bizarre and ridiculous thoughts running through my head (I’m obviously in phase 2)…….phase 3 can’t get here soon enough.
As I look down at my bowl of dried out chicken (forgot it in the oven), romaine lettuce and a mélange of other vegetables I blanch in disgust and force another bite down my throat. I want to throw it away, but I’m absolutely certain that my cortisol levels are through the roof, and if it even tries to catabolize an ounce of my muscle I swear to God I’ll seriously induce adrenal insufficiency on myself (just joking I need my cortisol for the short term memory enhancement right now). I think a great product that would really take off among med students are Soylent Green type crackers. Or food pellets……better yet some sort of automated pellet dispenser that dispenses food capsules with all the needed macronutrients, vitamins and minerals in one swallowable pill……..because its nearly impossible to find time to eat decently, and trying to incorporate 10-15 servings of vegetables and fruit on a daily basis….. compounding this with a 5 inch stack of notes to read through…..only one more week that’s all…..one more week…..
Earlier in the day…..
Ever been scared witless, followed by that feeling of extreme exhaustion after? Yeah, that’s how my day started off. I’ve decided I’m a specist (pronounced Shpee-sist), this is akin to a racist, only instead I’m prejudiced against certain forms of species……like canines…. because they were quite possibly going to tear my legs off and then go in for my jugular this morning. I saw how they were looking at me (the same way I look at a cow……mmmmmm meat……). Something I definitely did not need at high stress times like these. This is how my morning started out on my supposedly stress relieving run …..
- our Landlady, after the downstairs apartment break-in
Sorry folks, I’m out of pictures this week. There were no exciting outings or trips to other islands. I’m afraid it’s going to be pictureless for the next little while as it’s that time of the semester again…..exam time. I thought 4th term was a hectic overload, but apparently that was just a warm up, only a taste of what was to come. I feel as though I’m standing in the middle of a hay field, with a broken pitchfork and instructions to rake and bail the entire field, by hand (and I think I’m allergic to the hay).
They’ve officially put bars on all of the windows in our apartment. I hate it. All I need now are the orange pajamas to complete the look. Before they put the bars up I had my plan of attack in place for potential burglars with my skipping rope and duct tape nearby to use after I took them out with my Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moves…….. (hey, we all have our kung fu fantasies…….....) so it was only a little disappointing when I came home after class to find they had installed the last set of bars in my bathroom.
I was ambushed the other night by a fleet of mosquitoes, and was reminded of the joys of first semester when I thought I had chicken pox again, but it turned out I just had a lot of bites. I think I had to replenish my iron sources the next day because they sucked that much blood out of me. Anyways, I have to go pull up my sleeves and rake that proverbial hay field….
Because the
After watching the Aussies obliterate the English team, we decided it wasn't quite yet time to get back to our studies, and slowly made our way out to a local bar. Aziza, Ashley and I were the first to arrive at the bar, and to our surprise, the English cricket team was out, drinking off their disappointing loss. We ran into the bathroom to try and furiously rub off our Australian flag tattoos we had on for the game before they were spotted, although its remnants were quickly recognized. What a fun day we had, definitely a sport I’d watch again.
