The 1/3 Mark

I'm one-third of the way through my first semester at Baylor, and one-ninth of the way through the classroom-based portion of medical school! Time passes amazingly quickly here -- I think it's because I barely have time to breathe. Can you believe that when you visit a doctor, he/she has gained a textbook-based medical knowledge in only 2 years? They are throwing so much information at us, basically assuming a priori that we will never be able to master all of it. By exposing us to everything, they are hoping that we will absorb a maximum amount of information. Well, their theory is working pretty well on me. I feel like I've learned so much new information. This was epitomized during the anatomy portion of our exam, when I correctly identified about 80% of the pinned cadaver specimens. I could read x-rays, give the correct innervation of several dozen muscles, identify very similar-looking muscles and ligaments, and list all their functions. All this in 6 short weeks, and this was only a small portion of the vast amount of material tested over the course of our 2-day Block I final.

I slept until 12:30 PM today after deciding not to set an alarm last night. I figured that I'd require a little additional sleep to make up for lost time over the past 6 weeks, but I never would have imagined an afternoon wake-up. Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into...

In my 4 days off from school, I plan to spend an afternoon at the beach, attend the 80s party, host a party of my own on Saturday, watch Rice get clobbered by UT, and find a place to watch the Eagles beat up on the 49ers on Sunday. I also would like to make some progress on revising the data analysis of my summer labwork at Rice, read a book for pleasure, hang a few pieces of artwork at my condo, and write up 2 short papers for my elective class (called Compassion and the Art of Medicine). With 1 day already down, this promises to be an eventful and fun-filled mini-holiday. I hope to enjoy myself before enduring the rigors of cardiology and pulmonology starting Monday.

Expect another update in approx. 6 weeks time. *I'm being only semi-serious*

Music of the Moment: "Blue Day" by American Hi-Fi