Onto CFM

This weekend was full of a lot of studying for my Renal final and the Renal Pathology exam, followed by taking said exams. They were actually quite hard and I had to calm myself down in the middle of the main final because I started to get scared of what would happen if I failed. I did not even come close to failing though so that was great! Now we have two weeks of CFM which means open book exam and no crazy studying. I do have to do a full history and physical in the morning which is slightly terrifying because we havent done that in forever. I tried to look over everything tonight but I really wish I had a few more days. At least I will look like I'm greatly improved next week when we do it again (look for the positives, right?). After tomorrow my schedule is glorious for the next two weeks and I can't! This weekend features a trip back to California for my 5-year reunion at Stanford, some great football games, and I get to see my family and my puppies! Can't wait!

New Phone!

My new phone came today and I am so excited! I got a nice new Vera Bradley case and updated everything. Some things are just so weirdly fun and exciting. Besides that I got a lot done today. I sold both of our Michigan v. Indiana football tickets for when I go to California next week (yay!), I cancelled two mail accounts I've been meaning to cancel for a while, and the work on our condo is pretty much done minus a little paint. Good times!

Nothing too exciting

This weekend was quite nice, but the weather sucked and it poured. I had nothing to do so I got some sleep in days, went shopping (but didn't buy anything), had brunch with a friend, and watched some football. Michigan, Stanford, the Niners, and the Raiders all won, and as of tonight the A's are up and one game away from clinching the ALDS. Good times for my sports teams (sorry Cal). This week is our last of Renal and then two weeks of CFM with a glorious schedule which features many mornings off. I will gladly take extra sleep in days, thank you very much! Thats all really :)

A Few Days of Chaos and No Sleep

This week has been pretty crazy and most of my free time has been spent in urgent care and the ER. My sister got cellulitis in her foot/ankle and it got pretty bad so after a trip to urgent care and the follow up visit she was sent to the ER for 24 hours of IV antibiotics. The poor girl also had to suffer through FIVE attempts at IV placement before it was all set up for treatment. Crazy. This pseudo-admission (she just stayed in the ED since it was going to likely be less than 24 hours) also meant that I played chauffeur and food getter in between trying to sleep and get to class. I was happy to do it, but now that it is all over, BOY, am I exhausted! I can't wait for this weekend that is free of quiz and there will be plenty of time for relaxing and sleeping in and doing a whole lot of NOTHING (plus shopping). My sister is now fine and the IV antibiotics definitely helped a lot. Lets hope the new oral meds continue to get rid of the nasty bug. I only wish they had cultured it because I really want to know exactly what it is! Now it time to watch a tiny bit of TV and hit the hay for a hopefully long nights rest. Whew!

Hey Again

I know I've been lacking in the blogging department lately, so sorry about that. I've spent this whole week sick which has been really fun, and last weekend I spent all of my time at school studying for and taking my respiratory final exams which went well. We are now in the renal sequence which is a bit confusing overall, but hopefully it will come together. I have a quiz this weekend so I must go study soon again, yay. Next weekend we have another non quiz weekend so that will be nice! Last night we went to my friend's apartment building to celebrate her birthday. It was nice to hang out with people agin for a little bit, since I havent really done that much with anyone outside of class for a while now. So now it's off to the LRC for renal fun. Ciao.

What the Fox Say?

Watch this. You will be happier. You're welcome.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE)

A weekend away

Over the weekend I traveled to the east coast for my college teammate Hilary's wedding! It was in Marblehead, Massachusetts and it was wonderful. So good to see Hil and a few other friends from college. I flew in Providence, Rhode Island (got to add a new airport to my list, woot!) and rented a car to drive to Marblehead. It was a really quick trip but I'm glad I was able to go. Other than the wedding I'm just getting through respiratory. It's not my favorite sequence thus far, but that's okay. It's over after this weekend so it's really short.

I also went to water polo practice last night. I had a great time and it's making me really want to play. I'm just going to play it by ear and go when I can, but not feel obligated to go when I'm too tired or too busy. Who knows if I will actually play for the whole season, but it can't hurt to get a work out in every so often do something fun that I enjoy.

Cardio done and onto Respiratory

Cardio just finished over the weekend and now we are in the Respiratory sequence, which still has a lot to learn, but lecture time is seriously less (though one of our lectures did go 36 minutes overtime today, ugh). This afternoon we had some optional hospital visits, which turned out to be more like three hours of workshops. I started in the simulation center and learned how to intubate on a dummy. I only "broke" one tooth on my first attempt, but got the tube in the right place. The other two times I got the tube in without any problems and never "killed my patient." After intubation I learned how to do bronchoscopy in the sim lab. I got the hang of it pretty quickly and it was really cool! After that we learned about ventilators and I was sitting right in front of the respiratory therapist. He decided that I got to be the dummy to use the ventilator (not with an endotrachial tube, just with a mouth piece). It was so freaking weird and not all that lovely when you don't actually need it, especially when the PEEP is high since you can't really breathe out very well against it. After the ventilator demonstration we went to a patients room in the critical care unit to learn a little bit about a case. Boy did I feel useless, but I have to remember that after only three lectures (all of which were introductory and one of which was only radiology) I am not supposed to know everything about respiratory physiology yet. The one thing that bothered me was seeing the nurses interact with the patient. They were changing her since she is on a ventilator and they kept laughing at what they were doing (the patient seems fairly conscious too) and even dropped some feces covered pads on the floor of the room. It seemed fairly unprofessional to me, but what can I do at this point. After the critical care unit we went down to the pediatric pulmonary labs and saw how PFTs are done. I volunteered first, but some other guy in my class jumped in and I didn't get to get tested. Sad. That was the last stop for my small group and then I headed home.

When I got home I saw that the meal I had prepared in the slow cooker was WAY overcooked (guess I should underestimate the time given from now on) and basically inedible, which sucked. Oh well, I learned for next time. Just sucks that I lost all that really good quality chicken. Instead I made delicious cheddar and onion quinoa muffins for dinner and they were amazing!! Thank you Pintrest! I have become addicted, but there are so many good recipes, especially for desserts. After dinner I got to learn how to do a male GU exam. How fun. Tomorrow I have my session with a standardized patient where a few of my classmates and I get to practice the male external genitalia exam and the rectal exam. Not something I have ever envisioned doing in my lifetime; hope it isn't too awkward. I feel bad for the man getting 6 rectal exams in one day by people who have no clue what they are doing! At least he is getting paid handsomely! 

My lovely dinner muffins packed with yummy (and healthy) goodness

Back to the pool

Today I went to my team's water polo practice and got in the pool again. Still not sure if I am going to be able to commit to playing water polo this season, but it was nice to see everyone and get back in the water. Thats all really! Now its bed time. Tomorrow needs to be a long day of studying!

Football Season Begins Again

Yesterday was the official kick-off of college football Saturdays for the year! I am so excited that football is back! Molly and I went the the Michigan vs. Central Michigan game yesterday day and it was great! The score was incredibly lopsided (59-9) but it was a fun atmosphere nonetheless. Those blowout are always much more fun when youre on the winning side, and I have sure been on the loosing side of those enough in my life (see Stanford's results from when I was in college, including a 1-11 season my junior year). Speaking of Stanford, their kickoff is next weekend against San Jose State and I'm excited to watch at least part of it after the long anticipated Michigan-Notre Dame "Under the Lights" game! Stanford has a crazy late kickoff, but they have high expectations this year. Makes me nervous, but should be fun! We've never been favored in all of our games like this before in my lifetime so it's so crazy! Anyways, it was a fun day yesterday and I can't wait for the rest of the season!