Island Med Student

• Dog 'Guilt' Probably Just Reaction to Owners' Cues, Study Finds - washingtonpost.com
  (tags: interesting)

I just got home from taking the USMLE Step 2 CK. Everything was going just fine and dandy until about halfway through. What is the worst possible thing that could ever happen during the middle of a huge, important exam? You guessed it, my female anatomy turned against me. I started having the worst cramps in the WORLD! I mean, I was in excruciating pain (gals out there know exactly what I mean). The pain was so unbearable, that I couldn’t focus. So, I just pushed through, but wasn’t able to really read the questions. I did a lot of guessing and didn’t read every word of the questions. I didn’t have any supplies with me, and you’re not allowed to leave the building. So, basically I was screwed.

Anyway, I am now loaded up on ibuprofen and feeling a little better. I’m mostly just glad to have the whole thing over and done with. I’m sure I probably still did okay, just maybe not as well as I could have. Oh well. Such is life. In 20 years I will prolly look back on it and laugh.

Anyway, it’s time to relax and unwind and get back to all the stuff that I have been ignoring for the past few weeks. I think I will start with a beer and a bubble bath.

Check out my post on Medscape about the long, strange trip that is med school.

Click Here To View the Entry

That’s what I just did to my very last NBME Step 2 CK practice exam. I completely rocked it! As a reward to myself, I’m going out tonight to a comedy club in the city. I finished all my errands for the day, so I’m going to enjoy myself now. Next up, 3 more days of hardcore studying. After that, the exam. Hawt!

(Note, I am a dork.)

Life for me is pretty cool right now. Today was my last day of radiology. I have one week off until I start an adult inpatient psych elective. I take the USMLE Step 2 CK in 4 days. I will be taking the last NBME practice exam tomorrow. It should be an excellent proxy of my real score on the exam. I have all kinds of random medical facts floating around in my skull right now. Am I freaked out about the exam? Not really. In true Kendra fashion, I’m not really sweating the exam. I never was one to get my panties in a bunch about a test. It’s just yet another hoop that I have to jump through to prove that I can be a doctor.

In other news, I went on another awesome run today. I think I have run over 40 miles so far this week. Not too shabby. And I have the legs to prove it. Is it just me or is the best thing in the world going for a super long run, hitting it as hard as you can, becoming completely soaked with sweat, and then coming home and taking a shower and putting on comfy clothes? Seriously, it is so sweet.

I just ate some yummy vegan Thai food. Speaking of, Jorkers, thanks for the comment about my tagged Del Sol! You made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants! (I liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.)

The food is kicking in, and my poor bones are tired, so it’s time to watch some mind numbing movies and call it a night. Only four more days of studying, and I can finally take a breather. Hugs to the world!

Note: Photo is me post-shower in my comfy clothes and chillin in bed. Miso happy!

I’m too tired to write anything right now, so please enjoy a blast from the past photo of my happy place (yes, that’s my blue hair and dirty butt). Good night and sweet dreams world.

I take the USMLE Step 2 CK in exactly one week (July 1). Do I feel prepared? Yes, actually. Do I have more to study? Yes, definitely. My studying has been progressing fairly well. I don’t know everything, but I definitely know a heckofalot more than I did before I started studying.

So, I just wanted to apologize in advance if I don’t post every single day. My schedule is fairly packed. Although, I must admit that my current guilty pleasure is a 2-hour run every day. I have become addicted to it. And I think it’s preserving my sanity, so I’m not going to stop.

In other news, my doggy doo Scope has a nasty ear infection that I’m treating, and someone tagged my car. That’s right, someone tagged my incredibly awesome, coolest car ever, Honda Del Sol. I thought that there was some tagger law against this kind of thing. I mean, my car is not a box van. It’s a cute little white love ship. Why would someone tag it? It upsets me, but I’m not destroyed. One of the benefits of owning a car that has very little actual monetary value is that things like this aren’t the end of the world. I can prolly just cover it up with some white-out.

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Time to sit on my fire escape and watch my garden grow!

Check out my post on Medscape about losing yourself in medicine.

Click Here To View the Entry

• Doctor and Patient - Taking Time for the Self on the Path to Becoming a Doctor - NYTimes.com
  (tags: news)
• Doctors Say Current System Impedes Medical Care : NPR
  (tags: news)
• Are Doctors The Problem With Health Care? : NPR
  (tags: news)
• Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
  (tags: news)
• 'Wicked Plants' Creep Through Brooklyn Gardens : NPR
  (tags: interesting)

Here is the long-awaited list of some more “stuff learned” in radiology. As always, this list is very incomplete.

1) You have to have at least 400 cc of fluid to be able to recognize and diagnose a pleural effusion on x-ray.

2) A positive HIDA scan is when you can’t see the gallbladder.

3) To best diagnose an aortic dissection, you should get a CT with contrast.

4) If someone ODs on heroin, you miss see massive pulmonary edema on CXR.

5) A right lower lobe pneumonia does not obscure the right heart/lung border, but the middle does.

6) A left upper lobe pneumonia obscures the left heart/lung border.

7) Osteomyelitis tends to go to the vertebral discs, not the body.

8 ) MRI can date a fracture, whereas x-ray and CT cannot.

9) A sign of tethered cord syndrome is a sacral dimple.

10) Charcot’s joint happens to diabetics. Because of neuropathy, they feel no pain, although their feet can be destroyed all the way to the bone.

11) A fat pad sign is seen with a fracture. The fluid in the joint displaces the fat pad, and you can see it on x-ray.

12) Osteomyelitis doesn’t show up for over 3 weeks on x-ray, so doing a bone scan can help you better diagnose.

13) Your “5 friends” on a chest x-ray are trachea, heart borders, hemidiaphragms and costophrenic angles, and aortic arch. You should also look at the hilum, and pulmonary vasculature.

14) Beware “breast attenuation” on female chest x-rays. The breast tissue can make the film appear more congested.

Note: Photos are of my bestest buds in Dominica, the Ren brothers. Oh how I miss them!