After the 4-day weekend, I was a little behind. I didn't use my 4-day weekend to my advantage. Instead of being ahead, I got a bit behind. So to catch-up, I had to sacrifice 2 days of pre-reading and some hours of sleep. By Friday, I was fully caught up and ready to go. Normally people use the weekend to catch up, I plan to use the weekend to review.
On a side note, after I came out of class on Friday, there was a bit of panic from students. Apparently, SGU sent everyone an email giving a warning about a Tropical Storm will hit Grenada. I didn't even know about it until someone told me. Then, I checked online, and we would be hit by the corner of a TS called Tomas. The email also said they'd be shutting the water off and most likely the electricity won't work either. So everyone was buying water bottles like crazy and flashlights. I refilled my 1 water bottle. In my house, we have 2 water tanks, that's only for us, so there's no problems. As for the electricity, can't do anything about that, will have to study using paper notes. I had a flashlight from Canada, but it had no batteries. All the stores, including the grocery store were already closed by the time I finished class, so there was nothing more I could do. My cellphone would be my flashlight as it already is when I come back late in the night.
So the storm was supposed to hit us Today (saturday) at 2 pm. It's 12:17 pm right now and the latest storm tracking says that it will miss us completely. It's not even raining here, bright and sunny day. So all that panic for nothing. Good thing I didn't panic.
This blog is about my life in Grenada as a Medical school student.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
the 4-day weekend
On Thursday, I completed all my anatomy and biochem notes. On Friday, I studied Anatomy, but I also completed my ultrasound notes. On Saturday, I completely finished re-reviewing my notes and started doing questions. I have 30 more questions and I'm done with Anatomy.
On Sunday, I had an island tour trip planned with some friends. I had to wake up at 6:30 am and meet them at 8:15 am for the trip to start. This island tour was similar to the island tour organized by the school, but better! It was a very thorough tour, and I got to visit many more places that I've never seen before. They took us to many beaches, 1 restaurant, some waterfalls, a rum factory where we actually got to sample 5 different flavors of rum.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
69th to 81th days
Nothing much has been going on. The lectures are continuing as normal. The past 2 weeks, I have not had any anatomy labs, which is a good thing and bad thing. It's good because I don't have to wake up at 6:30 am, change into my scrubs and go to the lab for 4 hours and then class. It's bad because I'm not getting as much practice.
We did have a special lab this week that involved examining a robot patient. From a BME's point-of-view, this was great. Though when I got there, it was just a dummy that has been programmed to say yes or no, most of the visceral structures can't be seen and there's a microphone inside that simulates the heart beat, breathing, etc. I thought the design would be a little bit more complicated, but what can you do. I think there are some universities with a very complex robot body that can mimic some symptoms.
It's also a 4-day weekend because Friday and Monday is a holiday. What are my plans? Study and study. Ok, I do have an island tour planned on Sunday, but I can cancel that if I really need to. Though, I'm pretty much ahead in all subjects, but I need to continue reviewing so that everything sticks in my head!
We did have a special lab this week that involved examining a robot patient. From a BME's point-of-view, this was great. Though when I got there, it was just a dummy that has been programmed to say yes or no, most of the visceral structures can't be seen and there's a microphone inside that simulates the heart beat, breathing, etc. I thought the design would be a little bit more complicated, but what can you do. I think there are some universities with a very complex robot body that can mimic some symptoms.
It's also a 4-day weekend because Friday and Monday is a holiday. What are my plans? Study and study. Ok, I do have an island tour planned on Sunday, but I can cancel that if I really need to. Though, I'm pretty much ahead in all subjects, but I need to continue reviewing so that everything sticks in my head!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
61th to 68th days
The week after the midterms, I continued studying so as to not fall behind. On Friday, there was a talent show where students of various talents performed and people watched for free. One of my friends did a guitar solo and my roomate was is in the "Cardiac Arrest" team. This team is a hip-hop dance group. All the talents were pretty good. I could've performed, but I don't have time to practice any of my talents except medicine.
On Saturday, there was a huge party on the beach, called "Sandblast". This party is the biggest party and only happens once per term. I went and had fun. I met some friends and there were free banana boat rides. There was also some shows. Afterwards, I was in a "good shape" to be able to walk back home with no problems. I couldn't say the same for my friends who were in "bad shape" or worse.
I'm keeping up with all the new material and reviewing my notes meanwhile. My favorite tv show now has officially become, "House". This is what I watch while I'm eating. In undergrad, I never watched House because I had no medical knowledge to be able to understand the episodes. However, now it seems to be a great show that I'd recommend to anyone with a medical interest. The main doctor, Dr. House also reminds me of someone in the family!
On Saturday, there was a huge party on the beach, called "Sandblast". This party is the biggest party and only happens once per term. I went and had fun. I met some friends and there were free banana boat rides. There was also some shows. Afterwards, I was in a "good shape" to be able to walk back home with no problems. I couldn't say the same for my friends who were in "bad shape" or worse.
I'm keeping up with all the new material and reviewing my notes meanwhile. My favorite tv show now has officially become, "House". This is what I watch while I'm eating. In undergrad, I never watched House because I had no medical knowledge to be able to understand the episodes. However, now it seems to be a great show that I'd recommend to anyone with a medical interest. The main doctor, Dr. House also reminds me of someone in the family!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
50th to 60th days - Lots of studying and midterms are over!!
I haven't posted anything for 10 days and that's because I've been busy studying! All my midterms are finished - Biochemistry, Histology, and Anatomy. After a lot of late nights in the library with many thunderstorms and running in the rain, it's over! Overall, I think I did pretty well, but I'll wait until my scores come out. Anatomy, by far was the toughest of them all, as expected. It was also the one that I studied the hardest though.
After the long exam, I got some food and went home. Then, in the night, I went out with some friends to "Fish Friday". Basically we take a taxi to the city where there are some streets that sell all types of fish varieties including fish fries, cakes, kebab, shrimp, lobster with noodles. It was good and I had some ice-cream after.
The next day, I went to the beach, did my grocery shopping, laundry, cleaned my room, went to school for a wii tournament, and then finally for dinner, I went with some friends for street meat.
After the long exam, I got some food and went home. Then, in the night, I went out with some friends to "Fish Friday". Basically we take a taxi to the city where there are some streets that sell all types of fish varieties including fish fries, cakes, kebab, shrimp, lobster with noodles. It was good and I had some ice-cream after.
The next day, I went to the beach, did my grocery shopping, laundry, cleaned my room, went to school for a wii tournament, and then finally for dinner, I went with some friends for street meat.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
48-49th days - Anatomy and Histo labs
I had a 2-hour Histo lab on Monday and a 4-hour Anatomy lab on Tuesday. Histo's always the easiest, once you know the slides, there's nothing you can do stop me. The problem is sometimes I go overboard and tend to say everything about the slide once I see it. This was the case this time. I normally hold back when other's are presenting, but after the presentations are over, we do practicals. In practicals, the clinical tutor can show us any slide and we have to say what it is. I can't help it if I don't hold back now. People are starting to think I'm getting cocky because I'm just saying what I see in the slide every time. So looks like I need to hold back yet again for even the practical....
In anatomy lab, it's the same stuff. We had abdomen again, but with some new stuff. It's fun to go through different cadavers and point out abnormalities and differences you see. This is the stuff I like the best and anatomy is the closest thing to what I will be doing for the rest of my life as a doctor. Most of the professors already know me by face, if not by name. There's a professor who's asked my name 9 times (and I thought I had bad memory). I like my anatomy group too, they're all smart and nice people. Today, we had a question on Meckel's diverticulum and the rule of 2s. The rule was 2% of the population, 2 in. long, 2 ft. from ileocecal valve, occurs in 2 yr. olds, and there are 2 types. I had all of those things, but I also said that 2% are symptomatic. Suddenly, a lot of people started disagreeing with me. The MIT girl in our group said, "I wrote a paper on this, trust me, it's not 2% symptomatic. You must have gotten that off of wikipedia". I said nothing further and gave in. I went back and looked it up and found in the NIH and American Journal of Emergency Medicine including that 2% ARE symptomatic! I wonder if I should even bother telling my group because they think I only use wikipedia to find things lol.
http://www.ajemjournal.com/article/S0735-6757(07)00440-8/abstract
The anatomy lecture we had today was about medical imaging. The professor was teaching it was a PhD and a surgeon. He said that he spent 6 months trying to understand the MRI and can only talk about it for 10 mins. In terms of reading the radiographs, he knows his stuff, but in terms of the physics, he has no idea.
In anatomy lab, it's the same stuff. We had abdomen again, but with some new stuff. It's fun to go through different cadavers and point out abnormalities and differences you see. This is the stuff I like the best and anatomy is the closest thing to what I will be doing for the rest of my life as a doctor. Most of the professors already know me by face, if not by name. There's a professor who's asked my name 9 times (and I thought I had bad memory). I like my anatomy group too, they're all smart and nice people. Today, we had a question on Meckel's diverticulum and the rule of 2s. The rule was 2% of the population, 2 in. long, 2 ft. from ileocecal valve, occurs in 2 yr. olds, and there are 2 types. I had all of those things, but I also said that 2% are symptomatic. Suddenly, a lot of people started disagreeing with me. The MIT girl in our group said, "I wrote a paper on this, trust me, it's not 2% symptomatic. You must have gotten that off of wikipedia". I said nothing further and gave in. I went back and looked it up and found in the NIH and American Journal of Emergency Medicine including that 2% ARE symptomatic! I wonder if I should even bother telling my group because they think I only use wikipedia to find things lol.
http://www.ajemjournal.com/article/S0735-6757(07)00440-8/abstract
The anatomy lecture we had today was about medical imaging. The professor was teaching it was a PhD and a surgeon. He said that he spent 6 months trying to understand the MRI and can only talk about it for 10 mins. In terms of reading the radiographs, he knows his stuff, but in terms of the physics, he has no idea.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
47th day - Amazingly loud and long Thunderstorm!
It is 3:36 am as I write this and it is because I started sleeping at 12 and I woke up from the sound of the thunderstorm. Normally, I would just keep sleeping, but this one definitely wins the prize as the loudest and longest thunderstorm I've ever experienced. I would record it, but I'm too lazy for that. The weather forecast said we were hit by a heat wave and so we may be having t-storms the whole week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)