A short and sweet summary...

It has been a struggle to wake up for the past 2 weeks in the morning. Apparently this is what a burn-out feels like and it will not get better from this point on (according to a 4th semester friend). Despite all this insanity, I have been making myself go to the gym at least twice a week. We'll see how long that is going to last. My body has been protesting against my long study days... BIG time, to the point where I couldn't ignore it anymore.

Our second Mini is in 12 days. Where did all the time go??? Really. I do not understand. Wish things would slow down a little so I could rest a bit. The second year of med school is so miserable, in all honesty, even though the content is amazingly interesting. Of course it is always 'so much to do and so little time x 1,000,000,000'. A very inspirational friend just got matched with her residency program recently! I am so proud and happy for her as I know EXACTLY how painful and difficult it is to get through all these years of torture. At the same time I am very envious and can't wait to be able to celebrate that wonderful moment myself. Must get through this...

On March 17 I will be singing at the school's talent show with a friend on the acoustic guitar. That will be a nice distraction from all the unhealthy study habits.

I miss Vancouver and wish I was home for the Olympic craze. 'Nuff said. Back to studying till my brain farts. G'night everyone!

ps. I put up Miho's picture because he just looks SO FUNNY in this photo... perhaps a little too serious??

Volcanic Eruption

On Feb 11 I believe around midnight, a dome of a volcano collapsed in Montserrat. How did I know? The next morning when I woke up and opened the door, everything was hazy outside. For a second, I had to pause and take it all in, trying to decide what exactly was different that morning compared to before. I stepped off the porch and slowly walked to the gate, slipping on volcanic ash the entire way. Well of course at that time I had no idea that it was volcanic ash that I was stepping on. I thought there was a sand storm when I was asleep... wait now, where did Dominica get all this sand?? When I got to school and had a chat with the locals, they told me about the volcanic eruption in Montserrat. That entire day I was inhaling all that ash - school was giving out masks for the respiratory-sensitive, and many students picked up a mask for themselves. It was SARS-memoir all over again... I didn't bother. Instead, I just breathed normally outside, deeply. Then I coughed a bit. Ha, oh well.

Good news is that my Mini turned out well. Behaviour is a bit disappointing but not to the point of no return. I could work on it for the next exam and impress myself then. All the other hard subjects, namely Pharm, Path, and Micro turned out decent. Phew! My effort was not in vain, though I really need to learn to curb this pre-exam anxiety (that hit me this time... that was tough)! Alright, gotta get back to studying. Hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics! Wish I was home for the opening. All the best to the Olympians!

Yet another screaming wound...

So... I wonder when these will stop? Guess never ever. And ever. Today's exam was difficult. Definitely a wake-up call on how much harder and more efficient I need to be in terms of studying. The Mini consisted of Pharm, Micro, Path, and Behavioural, with Behavioural being the toughest! Now, I was warned that Behavioural is going to require quite some effort, but I didn't expect the questions to be so heartbreaking on the exam. As I was reading through them, it felt like they were tearing my cornea into pieces, little by little... The exam was longer than usual as well, a total of 143 questions in 2hr and 45min. Here is a taste of only the crust of medicine. Yet it is intense.

Pharmacology was tricky with the calculations. I was never sure if I remembered the formulas correctly. Leading up to the exam I tried to do practice questions more than once. But there was so little time that I had to carefully plan out my study time so I could look at every lecture at least once. And once it was - for Behavioural and some Path lectures. Lesson learned: I need a new way of studying this semester. Forget the 'let's read a few chapters in the book to understand this better'. It is all about how to maximize your brain capacity for the shortest amount of time given - so you can pass and make it to the next semester. Initially I tried to set my goal as to learn to retain information for the long run. Well, it is not gonna work if I continue to be a Ross student. The amount of material we are being fed is so overwhelming that I think I might just have to master rote learning (which is difficult for me)...

However, I am thankful that Mom was there for me today when I needed to let out my sadness and frustration in how incompetent med school makes me feel. She is always great at steering me away from silly depressing thoughts. I spent the night with a close friend pigging out on Chinese food and watching Wolverine (a quite awesome movie, actually, with some amazing effects). Enough said, I think I am ready to be up on my feet again tomorrow and go at it full speed for the next exam!

You can push me over but you can't keep me down.

Burn baby burn!

One day and a half left for studying. Maybe two days - if I don't sleep... yes I am considering it but my body will most certainly not approve. My brain feels like it will undergo self-combustion any time now. My eyes are tired and dry. My vision is blurry from too much reading in one setting. AHH! And I can't scream because my landlord is sleeping and my roommate is on the phone. If I didn't pursue medicine, I'd probably be running my marathons right now. The only stress I'd be experiencing would be the physical stress from logging those miles while exercising my heart! One can dream... right?

The electron micrograph on the left is of Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic worm that can directly penetrate skin and cause what is called 'swimmer's itch'. It is also part of the reason why my brain is overloaded... Since I am wasting my time blogging, I am going to bore y'all with some of what I am trying to learn in the next 30hr. We had a lecture on parasitic worms and protozoans. Wish I took a class on Latin - that's all I can say...

Hermaphroditic flukes (Definitive host: mammals. 1st intermediate host: crabs. 2nd intermediate host: fish, crustaceans, aquatic plants/vegetables)
Paragonimus westermanii - in crab meat, infects the lungs, eggs found in sputum
Clonorchis sinenesis - in fish, infects the liver and bile duct, eggs found in feces
Fasciola hepatica - in aquatic plants, infects the liver
Fasciolopsis buski - in aquatic plants, infects the GI tract, eggs found in feces
Heterophyes heterophyes - found in fish, infects the GI tract

Schistosomes (aka. blood flukes, distinguished by presence/shape of spines on their eggs. Definitive host: mammals. Intermediate host: snails) Schistosoma mansoni - in contaminated water, intestinal - blood smear ID
Schistosoma japonicum - in contaminated water, intestinal - ID eggs in feces
Schistosoma hematobium - in contaminated water, urinary - ID eggs in urine
All the above listed are Trematodes (aka. flukes) and now all the species below are Cestodes (aka. tapeworms). Yes, those cute looking creatures... (staining photograph on the right is of Paragonimus westermanii).

Diphylobothrium latum - fish tapeworm
Taenia saginata - beef tapeworm
Taenia solium - pork tapeworm
Note: For Taenia spp. ID eggs and proglottids in feces. If ingest contaminated meat, intestinal disease develops. If ingest eggs (of T. solium only), will develop tissue disease -> Cysticercosis

There are still 3 more pages to go... but I think you are all falling asleep just like me. Good night!

Sick....

It finally hit me... I am currently lying in bed with a fever and it's hot, inside my body and outside my house. Sigh! I have been feeling somewhat under the weather for the past week or so. And when I ended up sitting next to a non-stop 'cougher' 3 days in a row in the small computer room without windows, I had a bad feeling coming on. Well, here it is. I am sick. My Mini is in 4 days and I already don't have enough time to study all that I have been taught. Right now my body and my mind are both struggling. I have been lying in bed for the past 4hr. I couldn't even watch the lectures today because my head feels dizzy and I feel as if I am walking on air. I will try to review at least today's material this evening then I am just gonna call it a day and get some rest. This week has been real rough and I think the stress and insufficient sleep were partly to blame as well. Darn it. As I watched one student after another getting sick 2 weeks ago I had been praying that it wouldn't happen to me...

I made myself some tea with ginger and just hope that this fever will settle. Back to resting...