May term, Summer, and Fall Schedules are UP! :)

Pretty excited about the classes I want to take, too. :)

May term I am taking DNA Forensics. Excited about this. Should be an easy A, interesting class, and its only 2 weeks long.

Summer I have Physics 1 and Physics 2.

Fall term I am taking Gross Anatomy, Adolescent Psych, and Quantitative Chemical Analysis (the only class I need to minor in Chem).  Why am I excited about this schedule? Because I will have Mondays and Fridays OFF and only have Gross Lab on Wednesdays.

I fell today at school. The ground was wet and I was walking downhill and apparently my foot just slipped. I ripped a big chunk of flesh off my knee - it's cut pretty badly. And then scraped about a foot down right on my shin bone. Ouch. Also mashed my hand, pretty sure it will be bruised tomorrow. :(

So, rough day, but excited about registration now.

April 12 can't come fast enough - there are only 20 slots for undergrads in Gross - hoping I get one of those slots because otherwise I don't know what I will do for fall!

Alpha Epsilon Delta. Midterms. NUTS! :)

I am being inducted into Alpha Epsilon Delta Thursday. They are hosting a banquet afterwards, so I felt that it was pressing for me to find something to wear to this event. Saturday I spent an entire afternoon shopping, trying on dress after dress. I have lost over 30 lbs since December, so not only do I not really have anything appropriate to wear to a banquet, I CERTAINLY don't have anything appropriate that fits me anymore. I am very excited about this banquet, and yet it is bittersweet. I am going alone, because my 8 year old has a soccer game that same night, at the same time. I hate missing their events. :(

Midterm grades were what I expected. Immunology- A. Cell Biology-A Cell and Genetics Lab- A. Organic Chemistry - B. Calculus - B. Not thrilled about the two Bs, but those are both classes that I really tend to struggle in. I was debating about whether or not to drop calculus, but as I am planning on taking Cal-based Physics this summer, I feel that the calculus will be necessary.

School is great. I am so happy right now. I don't know how to explain it, I just have this general sense of happiness and peace. I feel confident that this is the path I want to take. I feel grateful that I have my amazing family and my awesome friends to help me down this path. It's just a general sense of contentment that I have that makes me happy. :) And also a little nuts.

I can't believe it!

Spring break is OVER! :( tomorrow it is back to the old grind. I have Organic chemistry, calculus, cell biology and genetics lab, and resistance training. I would rather be in the hospital looking at Echos.

I feel like I accomplished a ton this week. I have a good bit of the organic final study guide completed, I shadowed about 25 hours, I read 2.5 books, I did 2.5 hours of volunteer work through hospice, my house is spring cleaned, my laundry is caught up. . . . pretty good for just one week. :)

I also did a lot of work on my memoir, which is coming along quite nicely. I have 18 pages single spaced so far.

I am feeling pretty bummed about going back to school tomorrow. I did not get to sleep in much this week, nor did I get a TON of schoolwork accomplished. I feel like I will really have to push myself this week to get a lot of work done in calculus-  we have a test Friday, and that is not an easy class for me. I guess what I need to do is focus on how "at home" I feel in a hospital setting, and remember that the studying and hard work I am doing now will pay off in the end when I am a REAL doctor and I get to really help people.

Only 5 more years! ;)

Spring Break Job Shadowing - Days 3 and 4.

Day 3, my friend Teresa joined me at the hospital for a day of shadowing. There wasn't as much to see Day 3, as the doctor that I was shadowing was behind on paperwork and spent a good deal of time dictating and working on the computer. There were a few patients to see, however, and still much to learn.

One of the things I really feel that I really feel I strengthened over the course of this week is the way I feel about the patient exam. I am much more comfortable around patients after this week, and I believe that this will really help me in medical school when I have to do my first physical exams and have to get patient history for the first time.

I feel really strong in my ability to look at an EKG or echocardiogram, and I have heard several murmurs with a stethoscope.

What an awesome week. I really don't want to go back and work on organic chemistry after this week. I really wish I was done with school and could just skip right to the work in the hospital!

Job Shadowing During Spring Break: Day 2.

Today was another long day of job shadowing a cardiologist. We saw a lot of the same patients we saw yesterday, as well as new patients. The cardiologist I am shadowing was paged multiple times to the ER both days, and it was interesting to see what these kinds of cases look like from the doctor's perspective. I have been an ER patient before, but never got to see what the doctors see.

I really enjoy the hospital environment. One thing that job shadowing has helped me realize is that I definitely want to work in a hospital environment, not in an office. I am sure that for some doctors working in an office setting is wonderful and a perfect fit for them, and maybe when I am really old and approaching retirement, the office will be a better fit, but I really like the hospital environment.

I enjoy seeing hospital procedures as well. Some of the procedures i have seen in the hospital this time include cardioversions and catheterizations.  I enjoy the procedures the most. I like the choreography of surgical procedures, the scrubbing in, the sterilized drapes, the cleanliness, the way everyone seems to know exactly what they should do next and where they should go.

Looking forward to tomorrow. :)

Job Shadowing during Spring Break: Day 1

Today was day 1 of job shadowing this spring break. I spent 9 hours following a cardiologist around. It was a really great day, we spent a good deal of time looking at echos- I feel good about my newfound ability to recognize an aortic valve on an echo! And we also looked at EKGs and he taught me how to read one of the strips. My doctor gave up the elevator for lent, so there was a lot of exercise involved as well!

I really enjoyed cardiology. I was familiar with a lot of the medications used and conditions they were talking about because I lost 2 of my grandparents to congestive heart failure, so I felt like I had some idea of what they were talking about. I also got to hear a heart murmur on a patient with a stethoscope.

One of the best things that happened today was that a sweet patient's wife told me that i would make a great doctor. :) Really fun, I enjoyed myself and can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Pre-Med Career Day at UMMC.

Yesterday I spent the day at the School of Medicine at the University Of Mississippi Medical Center.

They had several speakers. They had a lady who is on the  admissions committee telling us what they look at when deciding who to accept. They had a person from financial aid talking about ways we can pay for school. And they had the dean of student affairs telling us about student life on campus. During lunch, med students rotated from table to table, talking to us about what life was like during their year. We could ask them anything we wanted, and they were willing to tell us - EVEN their MCAT score, which it seems people don't like to mention. :)

Then we went to mock lectures. My friends and I were signed up for genetics and pathology, but the genetics professor never showed up so they came and took us to the pharmacology lecture - MUCH cooler, I'm sure. In the pharmacology lecture they had a patient simulator - and he had a heart attack. They went over which meds they were going to give him in the ER, and how you can administer nitroglycerin every 5 minutes, etc. Then the patient coded and student volunteers gave CPR and administered a shock. It was very interesting, the material was very relevant, and I think everyone was riveted. What a great way to teach pharmacology!

The pathology lecture was what really had me riveted. I loved the slides of arteries, he had some that were 90% occluded and then one that was occluded by a thrombus. He gave scenarios and showed us different slides based on those scenarios. I really really liked pathology.

After that we went to a meeting area where different student groups had set up tables explaining what they were about. They had a dummy and i got to intubate him. :) they also had fake arms to practice drawing blood but the line for that was too long. We got to pick up treats from various tables, including pens, bandaids and candy! :)

I really really enjoyed this. I felt like it made me excited to go to Med School. It reinforced the fact that I REALLY need to work on the MCAT study materials that i have this week while i am out for Spring Break. It made me see how badly i REALLY want to become a doctor.

Tomorrow i will be shadowing a cardiologist. I am looking forward to seeing some really neat stuff while I am shadowing him. Hopefully he will have procedures/patients all week so that I can get a lot of really good shadowing hours in over Spring Break. It is hard for me to find the time for volunteer work and shadowing this semester, with 17 hours plus research, and 3 kids and a husband. Hopefully next year will be a lighter schedule, but with Gross Anatomy on the agenda I am thinking it will not be. ;)

Because I don't have enough going on . . .

A few weeks ago I decided to write a memoir, and I found that as I began writing, there was a LOT of stuff inside of me that wanted to come out. It has been cathartic, and somewhat painful. I am calling it "Fatherless" at this point, but that is only a working title.

Hoping to make a lot of progress on this over spring break! ;)

SPRING BREAK! :)

Only 2 more days of classes until Spring Break! And I am PSYCHED! ;)

I registered for the MCAT - doomsday will be August 5.

I am going to the Med School Saturday for a Pre-Med Career Day thing. It is a day full of meetings - meeting doctors and medical students, hearing about what med school is really like AND things to do now to help me get in. I am SO excited.

Spring Break will be spent at the hospital as well - going to be job shadowing a really cool guy I know who just happens to be a cardiologist. Should be fun and informational - and will look good on my CV.

Tomorrow I meet with the volunteer coordinator for hospice. She is taking me to a few local nursing homes and introducing me to the staff so that I can get started with my volunteer work. I am really excited about this - and certain that I will enjoy this type of work as well as learn a lot about various conditions and diseases. That's the plan anyway.

Busy busy busy. That's been the story of my life lately. But it is all exciting, and all of it is just taking steps to get closer to my goal!