Break time

I was only able to spend 6 full days at home over the holiday. It was short but was definitely fun. Just going home and sleeping in my own bed with no real schedule to follow and things to do was awesome. I did eat lots of yummy food, basically caught up on all the food the food that I didn't eat for the last couple of months. I don't like eating out in restaurant by myself, particularly for dinner. Lunch is fine but I'm usually at the hospital during the day and going out to lunch is a luxury. I always make my rounds on a few good local Chinese restaurants, sushi buffet, northern Chinese restaurant.

I kind of like the fact that we didn't go anywhere this holiday, with the exception of the family holiday dinner. Every year that dinner is always a bore and I could never wait for it to be over. I don't really talk to any of the cousins despite the fact that we all lived nearby all our lives. But there was a surprise, my cousin, Bruce, was actually fairly talkative and I found out that he recently became a Christian. I could definitely see a change in him that was very unexpected. God really did something that I would not expect. He and his family are very into Buddhism and all the superstitious beliefs. Aside from the pleasant surprise, it's the same old things, like boyfriends, work, what field I'm going into, how long I'm in town and why so short stay.

I think they really do play a part in my wanting to not go back home yet. They really do make me feel uncomfortable because to them, I'm somebody that they can make use of and get some good advantages. It's almost like I'm a family obligation and they don't even want to try to get to know who I am and why I'm doing the things I'm doing. I don't know. I think until I don't feel that way about them, I won't have the strong desire to really go and stay.

First time Blood Donor

I donated blood for the first time today. I'm not sure what to expect so I kinda just follow my resident and the other student in. I've wanted to donate blood for a while but just haven't gotten the courage to do it. Today, I was like what the heck, just go for it. That's what I did.

It wasn't bad at all. The room that the drive was in today was cold and of course, they couldn't find a good obvious vein on my arms, so they have pick the best one. The pinch when the needle went it hurts, it was more painful than when the draw blood for lab work. If that's how an IV line feels, I can see why patients absolutely hate them. I didn't feel anything when the phlebotomist took it out. It took be about 10 min to fill the bag up with my blood. By the end of the time, my hand was tired from squeezing the stress ball that they had us squeezing. After that I just got a sore arm.

I didn't feel dizzy when I got up but I laid down for a couple of minutes before that. By the time I finished, they had catered lunch brought in, so I sat down the staff and basically had lunch with them. They gave me a Christmas mugful of candies and random things. I also got 2 auto show tickets and a BP gas card of $15. I gave the autos how tickets to my residents since I have no intention of going. I think I'll do it again the next time they have a drive.

Now I just feel extra tired. I wasn't tired before this but I feel like it's already 8 or 9pm. ::yawn::

It's all for a good cause. And I also get to find out my exact blood type.

First Code Death

What an experience. I'm sure because it's my first one that I'm feeling like this. I'm pretty sure that I'll see and experience plenty more codes whether the patient comes back or gone. I'm not quite sure what I'm feeling about what just happened. The patient was at end stage with his lung disease and the family was outside of the ICU watching all of us running off the elevator and into the ICU. By the time I got there with my resident, only the daughter was there and she wanted everything to be done.

The team did 45 min of rescue with CPR and medications. Halfway through it, we all thought the patient was going to make it because he had a pulse and good rhythm. But finally it just wasn't enough and went pulseless again. Finally enough was enough and called time of death.

It was a grim reality check of our life. When I saw the white feet, I had a gut feeling that the patient wasn't going to make it but you can't say that when the family wants everything done. Life is just too short and there's no guarantee that it will be a set number of years that we get. I'm glad that I know where I'm going to be after death, with God in heaven. The death on earth is our sleeping time. I also know that even though I'm leaving my friends and family behind, I'm in comfort knowing that they know where I'm going to be and that we'll all meet again in the golden heaven.

Another that I got started to think about is DNR and organ donation. There are many forms of DNR, but I know for sure I don't want to be on a machine when my brain is dead. Intubation is questionable. All I know for sure is that I want the intubation but only till a certain point. Being on the machine without any brain function might be comforting to the family but I don't see how it could benefit the patient. Anyhoo, these are my thoughts.

Taro and Tapioca Dessert

This is one of my favorite desserts when we go to restaurants. But the restaurants have a tendency to make it too sweet. Now that I've found the recipe for it, may be I'll make it myself so it won't be too sweet. Haha.

Ingredients:
0.70 lb taro diced
1/2 cup tapioca pearls
1 1/2 cup coconut milk, to taste
rock sugar, to tast
4 1/4 cup water

1. Soak tapioca pearls over 3 hours. Add to the boiling water on medium heat. Stir them frequently and make sure that they don’t stick together. After cooking for 20 minutes, remove the pot from heat, cover and let sit for another 30 minutes. The tapioca pearls should be translucent, without any white dots in the middle. They are done. If they are not ready, turn on the heat again and cook for a few minutes more. And then let sit for a while again.
2. Drain tapioca pearls and rinse under cold water. All tapioca pearls should be cool to the touch.
3. Bring water and coconut to the boil, add diced taro. When the taro cubes are cooked half through, add rock sugar until melted, to your taste. Lastly, add cooked tapioca pearls. Done.

Serve hot or cold.

Medicine Floor

I started on my Medicine rotation. The residents and the interns are great. They are super smart and more than willing to teach. My first week was uneventful. Had a patient with angioedema from ACE Inhibitor and another patient with chest pains that wanted to be in the hospital for the holiday. Then I had the Thanksgiving and the Friday off. So really not much.

Just finished the second week and had a new team of the resident and intern because of the new month. They are chilled and fun to be around. I'm definitely enjoying my time on the floors with them. They are very efficient so a lot of the times we would all finish our rounding by 10am. They assign the students about 2-3 patients at a time. And a lot of the time, whenever there's a fairly simple procedures, they would let us do most of it. Pretty neat.

This week we've got a couple interesting ones. We had a Ludwig's angina, Steven Johnson Syndrome, Ascites due to Schistosomiasis and another due to alcohol. I was also able to observe a bone marrow biopsy. St Mikes definitely is not lacking in any interesting diagnosis.

The biopsy and aspiration has pretty much turn me off on Heme/Onc. The biopsy wasn't too bad but I don't think I can handle the painful melodramatic screaming. That's not the worst part for me. Just thinking about how the whole patient population is dying from cancer of some form and the point is to prolong their lives, even though we know it's hopeless. I know that the whole profession is like this but Heme/Onc was more obvious.

As more and more I think about my choice for the rest of my life, I working more and more to set myself up for anesthesiology. Hopefully that will pan out for 4th year rotations. It's still a little too early for it, but there's a lot of leg work since I'm going to go the allopathic route.

I finally settled on the COMLEX Step 2 dates.
July 7 - PE
July 16 - CE
USMLE Step 2 CK will depend on how the studying goes. If I do take it, it will be late July/early Aug.

Thanksgiving on the East

This is the first Thanksgiving away from home. I'm spent it with Kirstin's family. She is my closest friend in med school. Her family is very much like mine so it was very comfortable. I definitely enjoyed it and had 2 thanksgiving dinners, one at her brother's place and the second one at her home. It was yummy. My favorite was the Pumpkin Gingerbread. I found the recipe that her mom used and I'm going to try it one of these days.

We also did the Black Friday shopping but we did it at 9am. It was all girls, her mom and her sister (Katie), Kirstin and I, so we did the usual stops, NY&Co, Express, Victoria's Secrets and Bath and Body Works, JC Penny. I have bought sweaters, enough to last me for a long while. I was able to buy the gift for the girl I picked from the inner city organization. So all in all, it's been a good couple days of break away from the hospital. The weather was good until I had to drive back from Saugerties. That day started off with flurries, then raining then icy rain. The road wasn't bad at all but the drivers were kind crazy. 3 accidents along the Thruway which took me 3 hours to get back when it should've taken me 1.5-2 hours. Oh well.

I'm just glad that I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving by myself and in Newark. Thank God for giving me a friend in med school when I didn't think I would find a good Christian girlfriend.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

The yummy pumpkin gingerbread that I didn't think I would fall in love with. I had it over Thanksgiving at Kirstin's place.

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (applesauce substitute)
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice and cinnamon.
3. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

can use pumpkin pie spice to substitute all other spices

Surgery Rotation

Long hours on Surgery rotation. Leave my apartment when it's still dark and come back after sundown. I don't think I have seen the sun for the month of surgery.

There was definitely a lot of learning for the month but it was a lot abuse from the political turf war in the OR and the pimping. Starting with the turf war, because I wasn't an UNE student and that this is the first year that we are doing surgery at St Mike's. They still haven't figure out where Kirksville and Kansas City kids fit in. We are the step kids while the UNE kids are their real ones. Oh well, we are bascially getting screwed politically both ways. I just wish our school would quickly figure out what's going on.

The learning part was awesome though. It was mostly from the residents, Drs. Sub, Wr and Mwan. They are very willing to teach and tell us their crazy stories. They tried to help us during the rounds of pimping too. They are the ones that I'll miss after the month, not the actually surgeries. From the past month, I definitely learn that I can't physically do the surgery. I can't stand up for long hours and the worst part is that my skin just about react to anything randomly. My hands reacted to a pair of latex free gloves, partly I think it's also from those aweful gowns too.

This month has definitely crossed surgery off my list. But Anesthesiology is back on my list and very high too. I actually spend a lot of time with the anesthesiologist whenever I'm in the OR watching and not scrubbed in. I'm really leaning towards anesthesiology, not easy especially with my Step 1 scores. Oh well. we'll see where God opens the doors for me.

Psychiatry anecdotes

There are a few stories that are worth sharing.

This patient hears voices but the voices are not violent at all. So the doc try to provoke him by provoking his voices to see how much control the voices have. Doc said, "I'm f**king your mother. She is a prostitute. I'm f**king her." His voices didn't respond to the provocation, only said that the spirits from above will judge on the last day of earth. This was repeated multiple times. This was just not the usual provocation and much more shocking.

Here's another one, this patient first came into the ward very paranoid and doesn't want any students around, but our doc basically said that if she wants to stay, the students are in. At first we didn't know why he did that, but she did eventually talk to us and tell us what's going on with her. The next day, the other male students came and want to talk to her but she refused because she thought they were cops. Once we explained that they weren't, she was more than happy to talk. We got to know her very well and really do wish her well. So on her last day, as her leaving the ward present, we got our doc a cop hat right before we see her. Then we brought her into the office, she just stopped at the door and her jaw just dropped and refused to step into the office. It took her a full 5 seconds to realize that there are no cops, just our doc with a cops hat. Ha Ha. We all had a good laugh.

Being a doc is really what you make of it, fully dependent on relationship with the patient. As our preceptor says it, the best therapy is the physician-patient relationship.

Psychiatric ending

Psych ward out here is mostly for chronically ill patients like schizophrenia, depression or bipolar. The patients here are interesting. I kinda forgot that in the city, "crazy" people like to hit on single gals. In undergrad, I always get hit on by guys on the bus, either crazies or foreigners. So it's been a while for me. It's kind of funny now. For the past 4 weeks, I've had about 5 male patients flirting with me and 2 marriage proposals. What a crazy world since to them, this is all reality but I know that it's only reality in their minds, delusion or hallucinations. Part of me find that it's really frustrating dealing with them day in or day out because it's not something I could understand. But it's actually good for them since they can re-focused by coming into the psych ward and not doing something harmful outside on the streets.

The patients here really know how to play the system. The key phrase they use most often is "I'm thinking about killing myself." That will get them an automatic committed admission to the ward where they don't have to pay for rent (Medicare pays), get 3 meals a day, a bed and people to talk to. But the thing is most of them really do have a pysch problem. It's just that our system is not perfect and can be totally be taken advantage of.

Another thing that they do is the they come in around the 25th of the month when they ran out of money from social security check then they will stay until the 3rd of the next month when they get the next check. This is particularly true for the druggies.

Even though they play the system, our preceptor plays with them too. His reasoning was that it's better for them to be in the ward and trying to get help then get in trouble out on the streets. That does make sense and it seems to be working. To each their own.

Psychiatric start

Finished peds rotation almost 2 weeks ago. The NBME shelf exam, end of rotation exam, wasn't too bad. It was mostly case scenarios and trying to figure out what the diagnosis for each case was. I got the score back and I passed. I didn't really study much, just read the Blueprints and Pretest. Well there goes my first end of rotation exam. One down, 7 more to go.

Now I'm on psychiatric ward. It's an inpatient unit with mostly schizophrenics and depressed patients. So far it's been interesting. Even though some of them has the same diagnosis, they all behave very differently. The best or the funniest part is our preceptor (our doc in charge). He's in his 70s and is from Cuban so his accent is still quite heavy. He likes to lecture us on philosophy and it would be on a tangent topic of what we have asked. Also he talk to us about treatments that slightly far fetched and antiquated. Between him and my psych professor in med school, I feel like most of the psychiatrists are very eccentric and borderline being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.

So far the schedule has been morning group session where they talk about their goals for the day and meeting anyone that's new. Then either exercise session or we read then lunch time for us. After lunch, we see the patients with either Dr Gomez, our preceptor, or with Dr. Lizardo, the doc for the involuntary committed patients. It's been a relatively light rotation with lots of time for reading, chatting or taking breaks. I got to know a few students from UNE, Firas, Ryan and Eric. They are funny and very informative. This is the first time since I've been here where I feel like I'm actually meeting people and being able to talk to them.

We'll see how the rest of rotation pan out.

Kids and parents

It's been a couple weeks into my peds rotation. I'm able to do more in terms of physical exams, but I still don't feel like I'm training to be a good physician. I don't know if it is because I'm not learning much or that I have not much of a way to communicate with the patients since they pretty speak Spanish only. By now, I can understand them most of the time but I can't speak so that pretty much limit my ability to do any one on one.

The one thing that I feel like I've learn the most is listening to the lungs. I am getting to where I can actually what rhonchi, rales, crackles and wheezing sound like. A lot of these kids come in having asthma exacerbations and getting sick from the new school year. We even had one come in having croup.

One reason why peds is not for me is that the parents are not my thing. The kids are actually ok but the parents just not my thing. The most common thing is having an obese kid come in and the parents ask what they can do to help their kid to lose the weight. But when you really tell them what to do, they say that they are doing all that but I'm thinking "Wow! you did all that and the kid still gain 10-15lbs since the last visit." Carzy parents.

First Day

I just started my Peds rotation today. I am assigned to a private clinic setting with 2 docs. Today was a lot of kids coming to get their school physicals signed. It was a lot of the same things but there are variations. I saw some of the cutest kids.

The one thing that strikes me was that I'm at lost half the time. It wasn't because of being the first day, it was the fact I have to listen hard just to understand the patients. Majority of the patients speak Spanish. It's been so long since I have really listened and tried to understand Spanish. I was surprised at the words that I was able to pick just today. I'm guessing by the end of this month, I'll at least be able to understand Spanish like I was in high school. Haha. Who would've guessed.

Anyways, I'll just have to see where this goes.

Death

Death seem to be everywhere, especially recently. People that I know of from home church, my friends' friends' relatives, relatives of people that I just met at the new church. Has it always been that many or has I just become aware it more as I get older and going through med school?
I don't remember death as something as prominent when I was younger. My grandmother's death in '93 and my grandfather's death in '96 didn't make me to be more aware of it. Yes, my grandmother's death eventually led to church and to Christ. My grandfather's death was the first one where I was actually present for. But neither one brought me the awareness that I have now.

I really do wonder whether it's age or is it my career choice in medicine? I'm sure for others it's the age thing but for me, I think both played heavily in my life. I have to deal with death and the possibility of death with patients in my daily life as a physician and I have to figure out early on about what my perception of death is.

One thing I am very glad is the love, hope, grace, mercy and trust that I have in Christ. I have the comfort in knowing that I will be taken cared of whether it be on earth or after death. Death is not really the end of all because I have hope in Christ. It's just a time for a long nap before joining God in His kingdom where I can praise Him and everything is so perfect that earth pales in comparison. Wonders will never end.

Week of Little Things

Oh Boy! This week was not busy but just lots of things to take care of. The first grocery of the apartment and the little things that my apartment needed, ie nite lites, flashlight, butcher knife. I spent too much time looking for a decent and cheap pitcher for making iced tea. That shouldn't be hard but it was. It seems like people here don't use it or they buy ones that are overpriced.

Then I have to take care of car insurance, registration and losing my CA driver's License. Really didn't want to do that but if I want my car to be legal here in Jersey, I gotta lose it. ::sigh:: Totally not happy about it. So I went to transfer my insurance from MO to NJ within State Farm. I find out I have to pay arms and legs for insurance, tripling what I was paying in MO. Totally not cool. So I spent a couple of hours shopping for insurance and now I'm with Geico. They only double what I was paying in MO and I get Roadside Assistance. How awesome is that. It's the one thing that has gone my way. :)

Then I went to get a library card. The library around my place still uses the catalog index cards system and not computerized. So I have to wait another 30 days before I could check books out from another local library. Ugh.

Then I find out I can't order checks from WaMu because I have changed my address and I have wait for 30 days. And on top of that, the branches here can't do any maintenance stuff because the CA system is different than the Jersey ones. They are suppose to be a nationwide banks. I'm ready to pull my hair out.

Nothing is going my way and the errands are taking too long to get done. So I'm catching up on the TV show, The Closer as a comfort. On a side note, I found those caffeine mints that I've bought in Walmart in Kirksville. I found them in CVS. Yippee.

Week in Weston, Florida

Back from a week in Florida during a hurricane season with a girlfriend. The week was muggy, warm / hot and wet. It literally rain for a couple of hours 3 days out of the 7 days we were there. The place we stayed, Mizner Place in Vacation Village. The place was gorgeous. We mostly sat around the pool and got sun and read random fiction. very chilled. We gone a yummy Italian restaurant not once but twice. The first time we got their appetizer caprese and it was yummy. The second time we got dessert instead, Italian canoli and Tiramisu. oh boy were they yummy beyond description.

We also went to one of the sports cafe and the bad for you fried seafood. Tried conch fritters which I'm sure I've had before but it was in Chinese soup that my mom made. We also tried one of the one of the more upscale restaurant for their yummy fresh fish. I had the seared halibut. It was done to perfection. We went to one very popular Asian buffet. It was only $11 and they've got sushi and hot foods and green tea ice cream. We have definitely had our share of unbelievable yummy food.

We spent half a day in the famous Everglades. We took the tour of the Everglades via an airboat, like the ones on CSI Miami. Saw bunch of crazy native birds ie vultures. Saw 2 alligators in the swamp. Then we got the alligator show and took pictures of me holding a baby alligator (Liana).


The Airboat Ride in the Everglades


The Gator in the Swamp; Vultures waiting for meat


The Gator Show


Me and Baby Liana; Lovely sign :)


Last nite out

More pics of the resort to come.

First week in New Jersey

The drive to Jersey from Missouri took forever. With all the breaks, it took me 15 hrs or so to get to Harrisburg then another 2.5 hrs to my apartment. It just felt like forever. I don't think I would ever want to do it again. It was cramp driving and not much leg room. Ugh.

Then we sort of unpack a bit then me and my parents took a tour of East Coast for 5 days. It is my second time but their first. It was still fun but my favorite this time is Niagara Falls and the Bostonian atmosphere. Perhaps I might spend some time in my fourth year there. Who knows.


The Brooklyn Bridge

Fake or Real? Wax Museum, NYC


Capitol Hill, White House, Washington D.C.


Hershey's Chocolate World


Niagara Falls


Bostonian Lobster (yummy)


Boston Harbor Boat Ride

Will be going to Florida to enjoy the sun next week. Be a fun boring bum.

Packing and Mum & Dad ::sigh::

How I hate packing all my things into bags and boxes. It's so annoying and tiring. Ugh!! Now I just wish my mum is here to sort out all my things and my dad is here putting things into bags and boxes nicely. It was impressive what they did for me when I first needed to pack for med school. Parents are just amazing. Thank God for my parents.

I'm moving my things tomorrow and driving Thurs. I will be very sporadic with internet, but I will check in once I get internet.

Boards are officially DONE!!!! (for now)

Scores are in ..... And I passed. YIPPEEEE!!!! Scores are not exactly what I was hoping for, but under the time constraints and the set of questions I got, I'm happy with the scores.

COMLEX 574/87
USMLE 205/84

Once rotations start, I'll start prepping for Step 2 for next summer. Ugh. More tests.

I'm officially a 3rd year.

I'm looking forward for my 2 weeks of traveling come August. 1 week with my parents traveling the East Coast and 1 week with friends in a Florida resort being a bum and enjoying the sun.

Crazy Week ....

This started with me agreeing to come back home to volunteer as the Arts & Crafts translator for Sacramento's Chinese Culture Camp. I was scheduled to fly back on Tues and land at 11am and immediately get myself to the camp and start my work. My flight leaves from Kansas City at 7:30am and it's a 3 hr drive from Kirksville. So I left my apt at 2:30am and got to the airport around 6:30am with a 1/2 hr nap and 15 min detour on the airport exit. At the same time, I got a cold which started 2 days before. My nose was so stuffed that I couldn't sleep before my drive. All in all, I was up for 36hrs when I got back from the first day of "work".

Work was fun. Translating what the teacher from Taiwan was teaching and at the same time teaching the kids the Chinese Arts & Crafts. After the day is done, my mom and a couple of her friends were in charge taking the 3 Taiwan teachers out to dinner and sometimes after dinner program. This was from Tues to Fri.

For the after dinner programs, we have gone to Tapioca Express for Shaved Ice. We walked around Old Sac and the Delta Boat and the walkway along the Sacramento River. After that we went to Leatherby's Creamery for their gigantic banana split and sundae. The next night we took a walk along another small river in a residential neighborhood. The highlight of all those were the conversations. The conversations were non stop and full of laughter.

Then on Sat, my family and I drove to SF for my brother's white coat ceremony at his dental school. They don't have a different white coat for students. Their coats are the same length as the fully licensed docs, unlike mine. Then we spent the weekend hanging out with my brother at his apartment and had some yummy food. We spent some time playing card games and did some grocery shopping in Chinatown. We at Thai food, Taiwanese food and Korean food. All in all, it was great to be able to hang out together as a family. It's been a while since we were able to do that.

Taiwan Scallion Pancakes

These are one of my all time favorites lunch/snacks in undergrad at UCLA. Then I didn't have access to Asian market in MO to buy the frozen ones, so I learned to make it.

Ingredients :
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of oil
3/4 cup of boiling water (more or less)
4 tbsp of vegetable oil or sesame oil
1 cup of finely sliced scallion

1. Mix the flour and salt together and then add the 1 tbsp of oil and the boiling water to the flour. Mix thoroughly to form a dough then knead for 5 minutes.
2. Form it into ball, cover and let rest in the mixing bowl for 20 minutes.
3. Form into a log and cut into 4-6 pieces then roll each piece into a round disk.



4. Brush with oil or sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions. Roll into a cylinder and then coil it into a snail shape. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. Flatten the dough with your hand and then roll it out again.
6. Heat up non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush it with some oil. Pan fried both side until golden brown.
7. Cut into wedges and serve with any dipping sauce of your choice.

Beautiful Storm

Last nite was really hard to fall asleep, but it was really beautiful. The thunder rolled like crazy. Everytime the thunder clapped, there was a car alarm going off. The lightning was amazing. It was so so bright that lit up my room through my windows. The rain was pattering like crazy. Just my type of weather. It was amazing to see this kind of storm. I'm very glad that God has put me in Missouri where I can enjoy this type of weather where the sunny California doesn't get even in the winter.

Unfortunately, I'm discovering a really weird allergy, perhaps mold. It's making me cough like crazy. It's not an itch but more a slight pressure pushing down on me but coughing relieves the weird pressure. One thing I'm definitely glad to leave behind in a little over a month is the darn allergy. They drive me crazy.

Few things been going through my head ....

As the clinical rotations coming up, few specialties have been running through my head, wondering what would fit me and what I want better. Hopefully I'll eventually find something that will fit. I have come down to a few: OB/Gyn, Anesthesiology, Allergy/Immunology, Heme/Onc. We'll see in the next few months.

This is one of the few things that I have found while I was searching online regarding specialties and personality. This one is very interesting.

This one is just for fun for being the perfect resident. Hopefully, it'll be amusing to you as well.

Hopefully, God will open the right doors and lead me in path that will do His work.

Updated Schedule for Boards

This is the updated version of my study plan for the 3.5 weeks. It was pure torture.

The daily schedule starts at 8am before I went home and 7am after I flew home. Study until lunch around noonish then lunch break till 1pm ish. Then study again till 5-6 ish pm. Workout, shower and dinner until 8-8:30pm. Start the final round of studying till 11-11:30pm. Before I went home, Fri, Sat and Sun ended by 10pm. After I went home, Fri and Sat ended at 10pm and Sun took a break after 8pm spending with family. I definitely felt burned out by the test time and definitely did not want to look at any books or questions anymore.

The books and qBanks used:
First Aid
BRS Phys
HY Immuno, Neuroanatomy
Kaplan Pharm, Anatomy, Phys, Biochem
COMLEX Review (BRS) for clinical anatomy and OMT
Rapid Review Path (Goljan)
Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple
Goljan PDF Review files
Goljan Path Audio
Kaplan Audio
USMLE World and assessment
Kaplan COMLEX qBank

A couple of us went through the Kaplan audio lectures and books and listen to Goljan path starting from Feb to end of April. This was a pre review of the basic sciences from 1st year. We did this once a week on Sat for about 5-6hrs. But we also did other subjects on our own time over spring break and during the week. On average it was 2 hrs every spent on boards, other than Spring break. Our school provided all the Kaplan materials and had Dr. Raymon, who lecture the Pharm for Kaplan, for a weekend. That weekend was totally worth it.

Here's the practice scores over the 3.5 weeks:
Kaplan Pre-test 35%
CBSSA (March) 51 - correlate to 150
Kaplan Final (end of April) 53%
USMLE World assessment - 54%
CBT from NBME web - 69%
USMLE World - 55% completed, started with 35%, ended with 55-64%

Based on practices, I was scoring around 210-225 for USMLE. My goal is to get the national average of 220. But I'm glad for anything over 200. For COMLEX, my goal is the same, the national average of 500. Hopefully, I'll get it, but the test was bad enough that I'll take the passing score.

I'll update when I get the score report. Hopefully, it'll be good news.

USMLE World conversion - (UW x 2.4) + 84
COMLEX conversion - USMLE Score = 0.24 x COMLEX + 69

Boards are DONE!!!!

Boards are finally done. It was the longest 3 1/2 weeks worth of studying. I took the COMLEX on Tues then USMLE on Sat. Let me tell you, those are not fun and very scary.

First for COMLEX, I thought I was going to be fine going in to take the test. I got there early almost 1.5 hr early. But it was fine, I spent some quiet time going over the final cramming. Then I waited around the waiting room to go through the registration. I was schedule for 9am but I ended up starting at 8:30am. It was a fully 8hr exam with 45 min lunch. I didn't get out until 5:30pm with a fat headache. The test itself was interesting. Every year the test like to focus on one topic heavily while still covering everything else. This year was on Neuro. I got the version where it was at least 50% neuro related. The people who took it the day before and the days after mine weren't as heavy neuro related as mine was. What luck I got with the test. It got so bad that when I got out, I felt like crying because I don't think I have passed. I marked half of the questions and there were 2 blocks of question set where I ran out time going over the marked questions. I make it a point where I always put an answer to the question when I go through it the first time just so I won't run into the running out time problem. Now I'm justing praying to pass, I don't really care how high the score is, just need to 400/75 on m score sheet.

The questions themselves were interesting. There were ones where I literally had sit there and guess what they are trying to ask. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what the point was with those questions. There were other questions that are very straight forward. The OMM portion of the test was very much what we've had on tests for our OTM class. But there were a few where I'm sure the proctor had an amusingg time watching me trying to position myself as the question asked. There were Chapman's point, treatment/diagnosis positions, and tons of upper extremity. I only got one sacrum question. My neuro questions were pharm, anatomy, path and others where I couldn't quite place into categories. The questions were not topics that I've had in class or perhaps, the professors just completely turn me off on neuro and I'm just in the denial phase. Anywhoo, the questions were what I was expecting.

Then Sat, I took USMLE at the same center and I arrived at the same time. So I did the same thing in the morning as I did for COMLEX. I started the test at 8:30am and finished at 4:30ish pm. The test was what I expected since I have done 55% of USMLE World qbank. The test was easier than the qbank. I felt very comfortable with the test. But really nothing stands out, the topics the tested was very equally distributed. They didn't really favor one topic or the other. The questions were more staright forward unlike the qbank where it requires multiple steps to get to the answers. There are a few on the tests that are like the qbank. I can't really say much since I like to binge and purge after the test. All I can say is that I felt much better after USMLE than COMLEX. Hahahaha. I will be laughing and rolling around if my USMLE score is better that my COMLEX score especially since I'm a DO student at KCOM.

We shall see in about 6wks time, early August. Long wait. ::sigh::

I will post the schedule that I end up with.

Cars, Colors and Personality

People whose car is:	Have confidence that is:
Emerald green	5.5% above average
Dark blue	3.2% above average
Silver	1.2% above average
White	Average
Sunny yellow	3.7% below average
Orange	4.1% below average
Bright blue	5.5% below average
Bright yellow	8.3% below average
Red	8.8 % below average
Black	14.6% below average

This is the gist of an interesting Yahoo! article on cars, now that the gas price is so high. I think it's just trying to make news in place of the same old news about gas. People really got nothing better to report.

People whose car is:	Experience:
Black, dark blue, or silver	Consistent moods
White, sunny yellow, or bright blue	Modest mood swings
Orange, red, bright yellow, or emerald green	The most pronounced mood swings

Boards Schedule

These are the planned schedules by the month and the 4 weeks that I've got left. I'll post the updated one when I've taken the test. I have already went through the basic science materials once starting in February. Here goes the crunch time!! Wish me luck!

US Healthcare musings ....

I find myself in the midst of studying for boards and class keep turning to the presidential candidates' talk about healthcare. It's very disconcerting to see how US is failing its healthcare system and how it's taking the citizens and the providers down with it. I truly wonder how long before the system collapses, leaving the people with nothing. I knew the system was bad in college, but these past 2 years have really open my eyes to see what is going on and how the people are hurting while the insurance companies are making the big bucks and the providers are having a really hard time in keeping quality care and keeping their own overhangs (paying their own bills).

PBS Frontline did an episode on different countries' healthcare system showcasing what's working and what's not. I find it very refreshing because T.R. Reid (the host) actually showcased the good and the bad and gave his own opinions whether it could work for the US or not. There's no perfect system but what I saw was the any changes towards universal system is a step forward in our nation. It will provide care for everyone that makes up a country. The health of the people is the health of a nation, no matter how good one's justice system or how capitalistic a nation is. It definitely worth the 1 hour of watching it so here's the link to PBS Healthcare Frontline.

I'm in the opinion that it's going to be super hard for US to change because the basis of US as a nation is not to have the government in complete control of anything. It's one reason why US broke away from Britain in the 1700s in the first place. So to have the government being in control more that it is in already is like betray the basis of US. Another point with US is the concept of being an asylum for the needy in the world. I'm all for US being an asylum but US is not really giving those people a helping hand beside giving them a country with promises of freedom. Sure, there's the welfare, Medicare and Medicaid systems in place, but those system and the capitalism in the nation make it really hard the the to stand on their feet after leaving the systems. The systems as they stand now are all or nothing. What they really need is a graduated process where people can be on it for a certain length for everything, then taper off on the benefits once the people find a job to support themselves. Right now there are too many abuses to the systems and they have strayed from the ideals that it started with in the 60s.

Upon reflection afterwards, I find that this is definitely God's work because it's definitely showing how incompetent people are no matter how smart we are in thinking that we can learn from others' mistakes. It's all in God's hands and whatever the outcome is, everything is happening according to His plans laid out in the Bible. We can only take comfort in knowing that God will not and will never forsake us and will always be there to carry us through. I can only take comfort in that as I'm getting closer and closer the beginning of my career in dealing with the crazy attempts in changing the healthcare system.

Needless to say, please pray the candidates for the upcoming election in doing the right thing for US and moving us forward in the appropriate direction.

A Wonderful Reminder

God is not early; God is not late;
God comes at the PERFECT time.

9 Types of Medical Studes at ATSU-KCOM

The medical students types of our class, mimicking the 12 types of physicians. Haha.

Tornado Watch on Thurs then Snow/Rain on Sat ....

In the span of my life, I've never thought that I would get to see a tornado or hurricane watch/warning. Thunderstorm and snowstorm weren't such big of deal since it can't do as much damage and not as scary as tornado or hurricane. But the tornado watch was definitely made the Thursday much more interesting. It was a mix between warm air, rain and crazy crazy wind. The wind was just blowing everywhere. It was never in one direction.

Then Sat, close to mid April, we've got a mix of snow and rain all day with the temp in mid 30s. This is not April weather. It should be warm and springy not cold and wet, can't wait til the real spring comes along. This late winter thing is starting to get slightly annoying.

Wish me luck on apartment hunting/calling in Jersey. Hopefully, I'll something reasonable.

Prepping for Summer

Found this video for pareo ... always wanted to know how to tie them. They are just so interesting and fun.

Dreary Spring Rain

I'm back in the state of Misery (Missouri). And let me tell you, it's definitely dreary and dark. It may be spring by the calendar but definitely not by the temperature. It's in the 30s and raining/ snowing/ slushing like no other. What a time to need to be start studying hard core for Boards. Ugh. This week is the week which Boards studying is going at full speed. So much to do and so little time.

On top of that, I need to start calling up Jersey apartments. Hopefully, I'll find something that is reasonable.

On a side note, any ideas for a decently priced summer vacation for a week in August would be welcomed.

CA Update

Back in CA for the week. The weather has been great, in the high 60s. I only need to wear a light shirt with jeans and FLIP FLOPS, my fav. They are so convenient, get in and out of the house fast and my feet getting some sun. What a concept.

All week so far, I've been stuffing my face with yummy Chinese food. My stable food group, can never live without them. And the shopping, what deals that I've found on some really good name brand. I've got a Coach winter knee length peacoat for dirt cheap. I normally don't like shopping, but being cooped up in MO has definitely brought out the shopaholic in me. My BABY brother got himself into a few mess, like he always does whenever I'm home. That's soooo normal of him ;)

But I was a good girl, I did do some Boards studying, just not as much as I've planned. I've got anatomy done and didn't get to pharm like I've planned. Oh, well. Last fun break before major studying. It'll do.

Anyways, I'm turning 24 tomorrow. Then I'm leaving to go back to Misery.

Something that is funny

Random catch up in my life ....

It's been a while. So to get caught up in my life. I'll be moving to Newark, NJ in August for my third and forth years for rotation. So I'm looking for apartments online and need to make a trip out there to look at them physically. I'm definitely excited to get out of this middle of nowhere small town.

For school, class is going and I think I'm getting used to all the tests and it's a norm to see one and not panic. Nonetheless, I'm in a slight freak out about taking boards in June. I'm taking taking 2. First one on Jun 10 and the second one on Jun 14, before the chill summer quarter. Please pray that I'll be diligent in studying from now until then and that I can pass both of them just one time through. It'll not be pretty next couple of months. ::sigh::

Other than that, there really aren't much going on in my life. Same old student lifestyle that I'm definitely getting bored of and I know that I'll regret saying this in the coming months to years. I'm bored to the point that I want to do something fun this summer. I have about 4-5wks off and I want to go somewhere, like a last fling before crazy work starts. We'll see, perhaps Spain.

Fox Genera and species: Vulpes vulpes Collective Term: A skulk of foxes Description Appealing and cerebral and of average size, the fox is a close relative of both the wolf and dog personalities and displays typical canine qualities of loyalty, passion and creativity. Largely misunderstood to be a shy, retreating individual, it's the fox's unique stature as a small carnivore that defines its survival strategy. Because it cannot succeed in the world using brute force alone, it must rely on its sharp mind and engaging personality to garner resources, and it consequently spends a lot of time in its head -- giving the impression that it's trying to outsmart its friends. So the fox is often surprised to learn that its intellectual pursuits are intimidating. So, the fox tempers its serious nature with a sardonic sense of humor and engaging playfulness while interacting with its eclectic community. It expects others to be as honest about their strengths and shortcomings as it is of its own, and while these high expectations don't make the fox a snob, it expects its friends to first demonstrate their worthiness before returning the favor with loyalty and devotion. Foxes are typically successful in the work place but their competitiveness and ambition sometimes makes coworkers feel belittled. They would never deliberately take advantage of others, but their single-mindedness often blinds them to their feelings. So they thrive in their own businesses and like to surround themselves with family and friends in these ventures. Although they demand consensus in all decisions, they dominate discussions and steer the plans to reflect their own agenda. A discussion with a fox is invariably stimulating and challenging. Its great curiosity and worldly experience makes it a wonderful conversationalist and it's able to hold forth on a number of different topics with ease. Sometimes, however, the fox will view a conversation as a competitive challenge, which proves to be off-putting and annoying to its companions.

Careers and Hobbies
Computer programmer Lawyer
Doctor Advertising

Chess Gambling
Debating Jeopardy

Famous Foxes
David Duchovny, Hugh Grant, Johnny Cocharan, Michael J. Fox.

Bison Genera and species: Bison bison Collective Term: A convention of bison Description As is typical of a herbivorous personality, the bison is a resourceful, determined individual with a strongly conservative bent. Not one to rock the boat, it avoids drawing attention to itself while it quietly goes about it business. It is a pragmatic, strong shouldered individual who excels in the art of compromise and is resourceful and dedicated to the pursuit of resources. No one would ever accuse bison of being handsome; they have plain, placid faces that are difficult to remember, and their staid temperaments complement their looks. Although their large frames can handle any physical confrontation, they would never go looking for trouble. By keeping a low profile with their heads down, their reputations as methodical plodders often elicit unkind remarks from jealous associates. As a consequence of this backbiting, their implacable expressions sometimes mask a deep seated inferiority complex. A bison is a wonderful provider and its family never has to worry about life's essentials or being able to afford the obligatory annual holidays. And it controls the purse strings masterfully. Not that it's stingy though -- for friends actually find the bison to be extraordinary generous and altruistic. It's the bison's powerful herding instincts that shape its parenting technique. Youngsters are well versed in the lessons of uniformity and are encouraged to join socially conforming groups like the Boy Scouts or the 4H Club. These family-oriented individuals would never go on a vacation without their children, and prefer educational destinations rather than theme parks and pleasure resorts. All told, the bison's children grow up in a traditionally stable environment and seem none the worse for wear. But, bullhead is the bison's middle name, and its inflexibility is not unlike the stubborn obstinacy of the warthog. It's just that once a bison has ruminated on a problem, it sees no need to second-guess its conclusions; so changing a bison's mind requires a patient and novel approach.

Careers and Hobbies
Accountant Manager
Politician Banker
Lawyer Judge

Vacationing Long walks
Chess Golfing

Famous Bison
Al Gore, Bob Dole, Gerald Ford.

Check out your own animal personality www.animalinyou.com