Blog Reader . . .

I read many medical blogs at this point. I feel like the more I get to know about the medical field - what it is really like for those who are really in the trenches - the more prepared I will be when I finally get there myself.

One of my good friends is married to a resident, and I enjoy hearing her stories about being the wife of a resident, even though hearing about the long hours SCARE me. I am glad that when I make it there my kids will be quite a bit older and I will be quite a bit wiser! I just want all of the info as I go along so nothing will come as a shock.

Tomorrow my family and I are leaving for our Disney World vacation. When I come home I will be jumping right into the 4 summer classes I am taking. So this is my only break! Looking forward to starting the next batch of classes though!

Thinking Ahead.

Right now I am reading a book called "Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors" by Brian Eule. It is about Match Day - when Medical School graduates are placed with the hospital where they will do their residencies. I am in the part of the book that talks about that 'Dramatic Year' - the internship year. I read about these brand new doctors visiting their patients, making decisions that will either help a patient or hurt them, and I feel a little bit jealous - because that is what I want to be doing - and a little bit scared. Okay scared isn't a big enough word - maybe terrified is more like it! What am I getting myself into?

When I read that laws have been put in place recently to limit a residents' workweek to 80 hours and guarantee them 4 days off a month it is a little disconcerting. And when I read that they are one of the most underpaid jobs, because when you divide what they make by the hours that residents work . . . .well it makes me wonder why I am doing this.

Then I remember that this is my dream. This is what I have been working for. Someday I will be one of those residents, just trying to survive on no sleep and save some lives, and reduce people's pain and it will be worth it in the end.

Nerdy Science Girl

Today was a "me" day. For Mother's Day I got a gift card to the day spa. I had a pedicure, facial and massage. YAY! Super relaxing and wonderful.

Afterwards I was walking around Anthropologie and I found BEAKERS!! They look like real glass beakers! So of course I bought 2 and put them in my bathroom. I haven't decided if I want to use them as flower vases or as a storage item for cotton balls and q-tips. . . . hmm. . . how should a science nerd use decorative beakers?

Obsessed.

I have been buying books on becoming a doctor. This has become somewhat of an obsession for me. Right now on my bookshelf there are 3 books on taking the MCAT (which is a year away for me), a pack of anatomy flashcards and a pack of medical terminology flashcards, a dictionary of medical terms, "Match Day" by Brian Eule, "The Best American Medical Writing" by various authors, "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" by Michael J. Collins, MD, and "Just here trying to save a few lives" by Pamela Grim.

These are all recent purchases. I have other books from previous trips to Borders and Barnes and Noble. I have books on my Kindle, such as Body of Work, which I LOVED.

This is my obsession. I may even be addicted. :) I think this is a good problem to have.

Another note on books - all of my textbooks for my summer classes have arrived! :)

Two Years In, Two Years to Go!

This has been an amazing journey for me. I am not a typical pre-med student, I am almost 30 years old, I have been a stay-at-home Mom for the last 10 years and devoted all of my adult life to being a wife and mom.

Last year, as the date my youngest child would start pre-school approached, I began thinking about what I wanted to do with myself. My husband has always said that eventually he wanted me to get a job - preferably when all the children were in school. I have worked for a small church preschool Mother's Morning Out program for the last 6 years, and have always been home when my children needed me. I have gone to every field trip, every school party, every event.

And then: my baby was almost 4 and I was thinking about what I wanted. And this dream kept surfacing, this dream of being a doctor. I wanted to do something wonderful with my life. I wanted to make a difference in the world. I wanted to do something that would make my children and husband proud. So in January 2009 I registered for online classes through a community college to work towards my prerequisites, and I have never looked back!

My first four classes were Advanced Comp 2, Public Speaking, World History 1, and Computer Concepts. I received As in everything except Public Speaking, where I got a B. I began to feel anxious about my GPA and my ability to really do this. That summer session I took Intermediate Algebra, World History 2, and American Literature 1. Again all As except for a B- in American Lit the minimum grade for an A is a 95 . . . and i just missed it. Fall of 2010 I entered a real classroom for the first time in 11 years. I was scared to death - I felt sure I would be the oldest student in every classroom, that if I told people I was pre-med they would laugh at me. I entered these classrooms and discovered that not only was I not the only "older" student, I was also not the only pre-med student at this small community college.

Fall of 2009 I took Biology 1 and lab, Chemistry 1 and lab, World Literature 2 and College Algebra. I found taking classes within a classroom setting - for the first time in a long time - to be much easier than the online courses. I received all As in those classes, and felt a surge in my confidence.

I was invited to join an honor society called Phi Theta Kappa - and was inducted during the fall semester of 2009. I applied to a local college that has a very high acceptance rate into Med school - Mississippi College. I still had doubts about getting accepted, this constant feeling of not being good enough. But finally I received my acceptance letter and also my scholarship letter! I am receiving $4,500 worth of scholarships - the maximum allowed for students who are not living on campus. I will be starting school there Fall 2010.

Spring 2010 I took another 4 classes - Chem 2 and Lab, Bio 2 and Lab, statistics, and art appreciation. All As again. :) I now have a 3.868 GPA.

This summer I am again taking online classes through my community college - Old Testament, New Testament, sociology, and Medical Terminology. I am excited about taking online classes again - because I will be home with my three girls for the summer, and not putting them in child care.

My plan - to take a full course load at Mississippi college in the fall and spring, as well as next summer (child care for my girlies - boo!) and then take the MCAT next summer. I want to finish my bachelors at MC in 2 years - that is my goal and my plan. I am so excited and want to share my journey with others who may be thinking about becoming the doctors of the future!