Review: Amazon Kindle

This thing is effing amazing. I don't know which I like better about it: the comfort of reading from it, or the huge discounts you get.

I bought the Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes for $2.37. That was a 67% discount! And I know it's probably a lot more comfortable reading on this thing than the super cheap generic paperback it would have come on. I also just bought SuperFreakonomics for $10, another 60% discount!

I finished my first shorter Sherlock story, A Study in Scarlet. Next I'm reading SuperFreakonomics. After that it's either going to be another Holmes, or the first Twilight. I'm not particularly proud to be reading that, but I want to see what all the hoopla is all about before I bash it (any further.)

Winter Break 2009!

I survived what is supposedly the hardest semester of PA school. Horrah! Not only did I survive, but I came out with a 3.85GPA! I'm doing so much better in grad school than college. I honestly think it's because all the tests are multiple choice. w00t!

Leading up to the break I made a long list of things I wanted to do over the break:

Get some dates on Match.com
Read on my Kindle (that I'll get on Christmas) in public places
Finish Level 2 of Spanish Rosetta Stone
Catch up on V and Flashforward
See Avatar, Up In the Air, Nine and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Sleep

I made quick work with the first one. I had a date planned within 3 days of joining. (And it was actually with my first choice!) And I know I said I wanted "some dates," but does it count that I have a second date planned with the same person after NYE? w00tw00t

I don't have a Kindle yet, but I have started reading Sherlock Holmes, which was the last book I attempted to read before PA school started.

Rosetta Stone is going to take time, but I've done it two nights in a row so far. I'm not going to be able to start it again until I'm back from visiting with my family.

I've watched the first 6 episodes of Flashforward, but that's really good considering the season has only had 10 episodes.

I saw Avatar today. My eyes took a little adjusting to the 3D, but it was entertaining overall. The story was pretty simple - Pocahontas meets Fern Gully, plus a splash of Jurassic Park.

You'll all be happy to know I'm back to my old ways of going to bed late, and waking up later.

It's good to be on break. I refuse to allow the fact that I'll be in my mid-20's once the next semester starts ruin it.

Almost There

I promise a recap on the year is coming.

Lab Medicine, Clinical Application, Pathophysiology are the in the past.

Pharmacology, Medicine and Anatomy await me next week.

You have no idea how much I look forward to this winter break.

Elective Rotation

Chosen. Medical ICU. Done&Done.

PA Hopeful Interviews

I have realized that going to interview sessions to answer applicant questions is an AWESOME place to meet people. It's encouraged for me to ask question of people, and not weird when you give them your contact information. And I'm the only single gay in my class. NO COMPETITION

Look out of your a cute guy interviewing at my schoool ;-)

Dr. K!!!!

Dr. K why has your blog, That Mirror Belongs to Frank, been closed to meeeeee. Please let me into your life, because I live vicariously through blogs. The current status of mine is far to boring to keep my sane. You were just getting to the fruits of your labor!

E-mail me!
gregoryhousepa@gmail.com

Cardiac Innervation.... about that....

So you know how I said I didn't ace Heme/Onc? I lied. I got a 93. I evidently have a knack for blood work results.

This last anatomy exam on the other hand.... That was rough goings. I have no idea what type of functional fibers go where or what innervates what... It was a mess. There were lots of "all of the following are true EXCEPT" questions. You know it's not good when you get it down to three answers and think to yourself, "Wow, I didn't know that maybe A, C and D were true! I've learned something."

Hey, if I commit those five choices to memory, then only 1/5 of my information is faulty. Testing can be a learning experience!

I predict a 56 on the written exam and a 76 on the practical. Womp womp. I accept that I can't win them all. As should all medical and PA students.

Stopped Caring and Still Succeeding

We had our Heme/Onc test today. My class threw a fit during the exam review. I personally had no beef with the test. Was it hard? Yes. The answers don't just jump out at you like other subjects. You have lots of lab values to think about before you can come up with an answer. Everyone started blaming the faculty for not preparing us enough and not telling us what to study. Are they kidding me? They give us the objectives and the tests are made from it. If one of the guest lecturers didn't cover an objective then look it up.

I don't know if anyone actually complained that the test wasn't representative of the objectives. I can't comment on this because I didn't even look at the objectives. There is an insane number of objectives. I can't effectively study if I worry about everyone of those objectives. I just study the power point notes and assume that the major stuff will be covered. It's working out okay for me. Not to toot my own horn, but I literally read over the power points once. You can effectively study from them. I didn't see anything on the test that wasn't on the power points. People were claiming that you had to study other classes' materials to do well. Not true.

However, my professor's response to their complaints threw me off the deep end. She was telling us that we HAVE TO DO THE READING and that power points aren't enough to pass. She said that we need to be staying in every weekend and doing work every single night after school. Hey lady, this weekend I didn't leave my dining room table. I literally spent over 24 hours studying last weekend. As for needing to read to pass - that is bull shit. First off, there is NO TIME to do extra reading. The amount of material in the lectures is overwhelming enough. Second off, reading is not required to pass. I'm proof of this. I've never done any of the scheduled reading and I'm doing just fine. The faculty hides behind Reading is necessary for when students call them out on not covering something.

Anyway Pathophys and Heme/Onc were not aced, but comfortably passed. That is the mission objective. Mission accomplished.

Reasons Against Primary Care:

Coumadin management.

Day off before a Pathophys test and what do I do? Studying? Hell no. I make chili and pumpkin bread for the review session later today. Duhhh

Topics on test: Eyes, Ears, Pulmonary, Cardiac, Hematology, Cellular Phys/Inflammation

Baby's First Fail

I got an estimated 78 on my Clinical Micro test last week. Passing is 80. Womp. I hate micro. It's all memorizing. There is nothing to figure out. I need ideas to put together. Things that require memorizing have never worked out well for me. If you give me a pathology where I'm asked the general symptoms or mechanism of action I often will just figure it out during the test, and not have them previously memorized.


Cry for me.

Results

Aced Dermatology, but slightly annoyed I couldn't pull off a 100.

Passed Anatomy with a greater margin than anticipated.

A Day of Revelations

I went to the podiatrist today because I always get bad leg pain when standing for too long. I figured I should finally do something about this before I had to hang out in the hospitals for long periods of time. What she told me blew my mind away. MY RIGHT LEG IS SHORTER THAN MY LEFT!!! Evidently my knees do some crazy movements in order to keep the upper half of me aligned, which she said I do very well all things considered. I don't understand the mechanics of it all but it somehow forces me to put too much weight on my heels and my knees hurts cause I move them too much when I walk. Somehow orthotics will fix this. This is also evidently why the tongues of my shoes always love laterally. Crazy.


The other revelation....

We got the rest of this semesters schedule today. Can you say 2 exams a week for the rest of the year? Strike me dead now.

This Week:

Tests in Dermatology and Clinical Microbiology.

I feel more prepared for one over the other. Can you guess which?

More Lesbians than Gays kicked out of the Army

These people are clueless. The reason there is a "disproportionate" amount of lesbians being kicked out of the military is because lesbians are much more likely to join the armed forces than gay men. Helllloooo, just look at Shambo on Survivor.

Octobre, no es bueno.

This month we have 8 exams. 2 Pharmacology, 1 Pathophysiology, 1 Anatomy, 1 Clinical Micro, 1 Derm, 1 Heme/Onc, 1 HEENT.

I so far have taken the Derm/ANS Pharm test (98) and the HEENT practical (94).

The pharm test was easy for me, but I'm nervous about the next tests because they're more names and less concept.

The HEENT practical was pretty hilarious. My class-bffl and I happened to be partnered together. He was a nervous mess. He introduced himself as a "Physician Student Assistant..... Student." Couple this with the fact that he's from the Dominican Republic and has learned English over the course of the past 4-5 years. He did a good job. The only problem was that he was having crazy coughing fits. He didn't cough all day except for this. It was kind of funny how many times he had to stop to cough. But the thing that got my professor literally bending over laughing was when he was doing the otoscopic exam on me and just started coughing all over my face. She also was the fear in my eyes when he was checking my throat. Why not guarantee I get the Spanish Influenza and cough right into my throat! It was also really funny how high he jumped and how loud he yelled when he was racking his brain for the thing he missed. "THE SINUSES!!!!!"

I think I took the cake though. I went through my practical and at the end I asked how much time I had left. She told me 15 minutes, half the total amount of time. I MUST have forgotten something huge. I had never gone through the examination that fast. I went through all my motions and couldn't figure it out. I don't know how it dawned on me, but I remembered. In a state of shock and embarrassment I said aloud, "O-M-G, I didn't take vitals." My friend and professor both gave the biggest sighs of relief once I said that.

Today I took the Anatomy test. That was not good. The written part I think I did fine (read as: passing) because I knew AT LEAST half the answers and the rest I was able to get down to two possible answers. I'm assuming I follow the laws of probability.

The practical on the other hand. God who knows. I'm just hoping for passing. Thank god they made this class pass/fail.

How Not to Help the War

While on line to get a required flu shot

RN: So why did you want to be a PA and not a nurse?
Roommate: Because I don't want to wipe ass.

fin.


This is not considered helpful in terms of mending the gap between nurses and PAs.

Accomplishment

Visual contact of the Fundus: check.

My Life Challenge

I one day want to treat a DIC patient, and keep them alive. Critical care gives me a hard on.

Relationships

I have always been told that med and PA school will break relationships. This idea has not yet deterred me from still trying to meet people and get myself into a relationship. But recent events have made me think that maybe I'm lucky for not being successful in my endeavors.

Roommate has been in a relationships since freshman year of college, the past 5 years. Last year they stayed together strong, even though they were multiple states away from each other. This year they live in adjacent states, very close to each other, and shit couldn't be going worse. It has been well agreed what the cause of this issue is. GF is not liking the fact that he has a whole new life and she's "stuck" at home, not meeting new people, not where she wants to be professionally, etc. She feels neglected, and I say honestly and objectively that she has no reason to feel like this. I call my friends out when they treat their significant other like shit. Roommate is easily the greatest BF I've ever met, and she's letting her insecurities get in the way of seeing the true situation at hand. Trust me when I say there has been a lot of drama going on.

I have become chief adviser/therapist/bro to Roommate. Not an unfamiliar role, but more intense since this was a relationship that was looking towards marriage - something that people my age are only starting to breach. I've provided all the analysis and advice I can. I know that I'm dead on, and I know that if I were listened to there would be the greatest likelihood for success. This is the kind of stuff I do, and I strive at it. Roommate agrees with my analysis, but isn't heeding my treatment plan because it goes against his philosophy of "picking your battles." I've yet to convince him that this is a battle worth fighting.

The weirdest part about all of this is how emotionally taxing this is on me. I have legit anxiety about all of this, and can't even imagine what Roommate is experiencing. (Especially since we're probably finding out tonight if this relationship is continuing or not tonight -gaaaaah!!!) I think it's because I really have been in the trenches, unlike other experiences. This is a good thing though. I've been trying hard to work on my empathy and being in touch with my own and others' emotions. When I was seeing patients last week I was definitely trying to reflect a little more on the situation, instead of letting their neurosis get on my nerves. I've been trying to give Roommate more emotional support as opposed to just rationalizing everything like I generally do. It's definitely weird handling the whole situation in a less "masculine" way. In the past I would probably worry about how I was coming off, not wanting to seem too "gay." But hell, that's exactly what I am and that's exactly what he's getting.

I just hope I don't lose the logical/rational side of me by embracing these new feelings. I wouldn't want to have to change this blog's title to "The Future Izzie Stevens, PA."