Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
M3
Officially a third year, as of yesterday.
Nastiest thing that happened today: draining an abscess on a patient's kidney. Think toothpaste the color of chocolate milk / infant puke, and that's what (barely, with the help of multiple saline flushes) came out of the draining catheter.
Most ironic sight of the day: a person standing outside the hospital, wearing a shirt with the slogan "Let's all get together and fight/beat cancer" or something like that,....
...(wait for it)...
... smoking.
Nastiest thing that happened today: draining an abscess on a patient's kidney. Think toothpaste the color of chocolate milk / infant puke, and that's what (barely, with the help of multiple saline flushes) came out of the draining catheter.
Most ironic sight of the day: a person standing outside the hospital, wearing a shirt with the slogan "Let's all get together and fight/beat cancer" or something like that,....
...(wait for it)...
... smoking.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Don't think I'll ever use the phrase "Died Laughing" again...
"In a similar case (Anderson, 1936; Cited by Martin, 1950), a patient literally died laughing following the eruption of the posterior communicating artery which resulted in compression (via hemorrhage) of the hypothalamus. 'She was shaken by laughter and could not stop: short expirations followed each other in spasms, without the patient being able to make an adequate inspiration of air, she became cyanosed and nothing could stop the spasm of laughter which eventually became noiseless and little more than a grimace. After 24 hours of profound coma she died.'"
^The things I learn while studying neurology for Step 1. Cannot WAIT until Friday is OVER!!
^The things I learn while studying neurology for Step 1. Cannot WAIT until Friday is OVER!!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Summary
Wow, I just realized that I haven't posted anything in a *really* long time.
Quick summary of life events since I last posted: took an exam, took a trip over Spring Break (which was AMAZING), came back and took another exam, got my bridesmaid dress for a friend's wedding, took another test, took another test the next week, had OSCE (I *really* hope I didn't fail. I do so well with patient encounters unless I know I'm being video recorded, and then I just do stupid things like forget to wash hands before taking the patient's vitals, or forget to introduce myself, or forget to ask the patient's age, etc.), had another exam, and finally, had one more exam.
Then we had "shelf exam week." The Pathology one went OK (I think), the Micro/Immunology one actually wasn't that bad except it made me realize I need to know viruses a LOT better than I currently do, and Pharm.... haha, well lets just not talk about the Pharm shelf!!
So now I'm in full-on Board-study-mode and haven't really been doing anything blog-worthy.
I'm super-excited about being done with 2nd year / classroom lecture based learning. I cannot believe that I am almost halfway to an MD. :-D
Quick summary of life events since I last posted: took an exam, took a trip over Spring Break (which was AMAZING), came back and took another exam, got my bridesmaid dress for a friend's wedding, took another test, took another test the next week, had OSCE (I *really* hope I didn't fail. I do so well with patient encounters unless I know I'm being video recorded, and then I just do stupid things like forget to wash hands before taking the patient's vitals, or forget to introduce myself, or forget to ask the patient's age, etc.), had another exam, and finally, had one more exam.
Then we had "shelf exam week." The Pathology one went OK (I think), the Micro/Immunology one actually wasn't that bad except it made me realize I need to know viruses a LOT better than I currently do, and Pharm.... haha, well lets just not talk about the Pharm shelf!!
So now I'm in full-on Board-study-mode and haven't really been doing anything blog-worthy.
I'm super-excited about being done with 2nd year / classroom lecture based learning. I cannot believe that I am almost halfway to an MD. :-D
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Endocrine and Reproductive
We're currently doing endocrine and reproductive.
This has me (slightly) depressed for two reasons:
1. I really hate studying pictures of diseased genitalia for hours upon end. (There's a REASON I know I will never be an OB/GYN!!)
2. Facebook keeps informing me that a significant majority of the (non-medical) friends that I grew up with, cousins, classmates from undergrad, etc. are currently with child. Then I have to study all the complications of "advanced maternal age" and it's frustrating to realize that's where I'm heading, because medical school is consuming all of my peak reproductive years. Now, granted, I haven't yet found the male specimen with which I'd like to procreate. Nor am I certain that I want to have children. Neither of these facts really lessens the resentment I feel towards med school right now.
But really, all this may just be an excuse that I use to channel the resentment I already felt towards med school for other less tangible reasons.
I cannot wait for this post-test weekend. I am way overdue for some relaxation!!
This has me (slightly) depressed for two reasons:
1. I really hate studying pictures of diseased genitalia for hours upon end. (There's a REASON I know I will never be an OB/GYN!!)
2. Facebook keeps informing me that a significant majority of the (non-medical) friends that I grew up with, cousins, classmates from undergrad, etc. are currently with child. Then I have to study all the complications of "advanced maternal age" and it's frustrating to realize that's where I'm heading, because medical school is consuming all of my peak reproductive years. Now, granted, I haven't yet found the male specimen with which I'd like to procreate. Nor am I certain that I want to have children. Neither of these facts really lessens the resentment I feel towards med school right now.
But really, all this may just be an excuse that I use to channel the resentment I already felt towards med school for other less tangible reasons.
I cannot wait for this post-test weekend. I am way overdue for some relaxation!!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Things That Annoy Me Online
This frustrates me incredibly. When I am online, I am not reading a book. I do not need to "turn pages." I wish to use the lovely invention, "scrollbar," as this is a highly efficient way of scanning text and images at a rapid pace without having to wait on each page segment to load individually. I realize that this is probably a devious way of increasing the ads-to-article ratio, but seriously they could just have the ads rotate (if they can do it on the electronic billboards I know they can do it on a website!!)
I also boycott products with really stupid commercials. But that's a story for another day.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Pulling the Printer Plug
I have a Lexmark printer. It has most of the features I need (2-sided BW/C print, scan, copy, WIFI) and a lot that I don't (photo, fax, etc.) And, most of the time, it works OK.
But some days, it wakes up and decides that my life has been going too smoothly. Today was one of those days.
10:00am: I finished doing dishes, laundry, cleaning bathroom, and the rest of my weekly efforts to resist the inevitable entropy and sat down to print my notes from Friday's lectures. Three documents, about 24 pages. That's all I needed. This is what happened:
10:01am: Document 1 prints in black-and-white. Normally, this would be OK, but this was a pathology lecture and I really wanted color images. Which is why I had selected "Print in Color" and "Save" before clicking "Print."
10:02am: I open the printer and verify that both black and color cartridges are present and aligned correctly.
10:03am: I try to print Document 2. The first page comes out with color images. Hooray!! The second page is printed on the back of the first, correctly. Hooray!!! The third page...
...third page...
...third page?????
The third page never comes out.
10:12am: I attempt to restart the printing from my cache. I get a "command unsuccessful" response. I attempt to delete the document from my cache. I get no response.
10:17am: I restart my computer. The document begins auto-printing! Hooray!! Images are in color!! First page prints correctly!! Second page prints correctly!! Third page...................????
10:40am: After successfully proving my superiority, I decided to just let all electronics remain turned off for some time while I studied First Aid and Robbins.
3pm: Back to Friday's notes. More of the same printing errors.
3:15pm: Googled "print job won't print won't delete stupid lexmark" and found instructions to manually remove a spooled print job. (Control Panel >> System >> Admin Tools >> Services, scroll to "Print Spooler" and restart it)
3:25pm: Print job still stuck in cache.
3:30: Googled again. Found instructions to manually delete a print job from the spool folder (Computer >> C: Windows/System32/Spool/PRINTERS and delete the files in that folder).
3:31pm: Pop-up informed me that "files are currently in use by spooler.exe, cannot delete at this time."
3:31:01pm: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
3:33pm: Restarted my laptop and booted in safe mode.
3:35pm: Deleted the accursed files.
3:37pm: Restarted my laptop
3:40pm: Cache clearing successful!!!
3:41pm: Printed the whole of Document 3 successfully!!!
4:00pm: Created a shortcut to my kill switch
But some days, it wakes up and decides that my life has been going too smoothly. Today was one of those days.
10:00am: I finished doing dishes, laundry, cleaning bathroom, and the rest of my weekly efforts to resist the inevitable entropy and sat down to print my notes from Friday's lectures. Three documents, about 24 pages. That's all I needed. This is what happened:
10:01am: Document 1 prints in black-and-white. Normally, this would be OK, but this was a pathology lecture and I really wanted color images. Which is why I had selected "Print in Color" and "Save" before clicking "Print."
10:02am: I open the printer and verify that both black and color cartridges are present and aligned correctly.
10:03am: I try to print Document 2. The first page comes out with color images. Hooray!! The second page is printed on the back of the first, correctly. Hooray!!! The third page...
...third page...
...third page?????
The third page never comes out.
10:12am: I attempt to restart the printing from my cache. I get a "command unsuccessful" response. I attempt to delete the document from my cache. I get no response.
10:17am: I restart my computer. The document begins auto-printing! Hooray!! Images are in color!! First page prints correctly!! Second page prints correctly!! Third page...................????
10:20am: I turn off my printer. I turn off my computer. I turn my computer back on. I turn my printer back on. Auto-printing begins!! Color images!! This time, the printer manages to print just 1 and 1/3 pages!!
10:28am: I press the printer's power button. It refuses to turn off. I press and hold the power button. Still doesn't turn off. I crawl underneath my desk and pull the plug.
3pm: Back to Friday's notes. More of the same printing errors.
3:15pm: Googled "print job won't print won't delete stupid lexmark" and found instructions to manually remove a spooled print job. (Control Panel >> System >> Admin Tools >> Services, scroll to "Print Spooler" and restart it)
3:25pm: Print job still stuck in cache.
3:30: Googled again. Found instructions to manually delete a print job from the spool folder (Computer >> C: Windows/System32/Spool/PRINTERS and delete the files in that folder).
3:31pm: Pop-up informed me that "files are currently in use by spooler.exe, cannot delete at this time."
3:31:01pm: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
3:33pm: Restarted my laptop and booted in safe mode.
3:35pm: Deleted the accursed files.
3:37pm: Restarted my laptop
3:40pm: Cache clearing successful!!!
3:41pm: Printed the whole of Document 3 successfully!!!
4:00pm: Created a shortcut to my kill switch
I. AM. NOW. PREPARED.
PRINTER, I DARE YOU
TO EF WITH ME AGAIN!!!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
two.fourteen
I am actually anti-Valentine's Day. But, we're in the middle of cardiopulmonary module right now, and when I saw this picture in "The Only EKG Book You'll Ever Need" I decided it was just too good not to modify for this purpose.
And just to set the record straight, I'm not anti-Valentine because I don't have a Valentine. I mean, I don't have one, but that's irrelevant. The true reason I'm anti-Valentine because I think it's just a commercialized bit of romantic fiction that encourages poor financial decisions. I mean, seriously, who wants a stuffed bear that's as big as a kitchen table? Or a 50-lb box of chocolates that will make *you* as big as a kitchen table?
Valentine's Day is just not my style. I'm more of a spontaneous-weekend-picnic type of girl.
And just to set the record straight, I'm not anti-Valentine because I don't have a Valentine. I mean, I don't have one, but that's irrelevant. The true reason I'm anti-Valentine because I think it's just a commercialized bit of romantic fiction that encourages poor financial decisions. I mean, seriously, who wants a stuffed bear that's as big as a kitchen table? Or a 50-lb box of chocolates that will make *you* as big as a kitchen table?
Valentine's Day is just not my style. I'm more of a spontaneous-weekend-picnic type of girl.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
"Bad Project" is THE MOST HILARIOUS THING EVER!!!!!
This is amazing. I think it is better than Gaga's version actually.
Now I have to return to ultra-cram-study-mode trying to catch up from spending last week in the ER (as a patient, not a care provider >.< )
Now I have to return to ultra-cram-study-mode trying to catch up from spending last week in the ER (as a patient, not a care provider >.< )
Monday, January 10, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Aaaaaannnnnd we're back!!
Though I'm having a hard time convincing my brain it's still not on holiday.
In other news, I registered for Step 1 today. Goodbye to all forms of life and communication with the outside world until July. :-[
Also, free e-books! @ http://www.freekaplanebooks.com/ I'm not doing the Kaplan test prep class, but extra source of questions (for free!!) never hurts!
In other news, I registered for Step 1 today. Goodbye to all forms of life and communication with the outside world until July. :-[
Also, free e-books! @ http://www.freekaplanebooks.com/ I'm not doing the Kaplan test prep class, but extra source of questions (for free!!) never hurts!
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