Island Med Student

I finally made it back to the USA. I flew out of the “airport”in Dominica on Saturday morning and arrived in Baltimore around midnight. As I walked through the airport to the baggage claim, I noticed two things right away. The first was the overabundance of food options: fried chicken, pizza, cheeseburgers, and just about anything one could imagine. In Dominica, there are very few restaurants, and certainly no McDonald’s or Taco Bell. The second thing I noticed was the preponderance of overweight people. Everywhere I looked I saw heavy people, and even some who were morbidly obese. I couldn’t help but realize the connection. Of course, I had noticed this before when I lived in the States, but the stark contrast between Dominica and the U.S. really made it stand out in my mind. In Dominica, there are overweight people, but they are a much smaller percentage of the population.

Obesity is a popular topic in the news lately, and the medical system bears much of the financial burden of America’s expanding waistlines. Most major killers in the U.S., such as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease, can be tied to obesity.

As a physician-in-training, I’m trying to get a grip on the problem. By the time I’m practicing, I will likely have a lot of patients who are overweight. It’s important that I understand the causes of obesity and know effective ways to treat it.

Of course, I haven’t lived a completely healthy life myself. I’ve abused my body just like most people, and I’ve paid the price. Over the past few years, though, I’ve really tried to maintain a healthier lifestyle. I try to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and I have worked out regularly for years. I’d say that I’m in fairly good health, and my appearance reflects that. But as a future physician, do I actually have a duty to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Do all doctors have an obligation to live healthy lives and stay at an appropriate weight in order to be effective healers?

This is a very hotly debated question (as seen in the discussion following this Medscape article). I don’t have the perfect answer, but I do believe that it’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and I’m also a huge proponent of maintaining a balance in life. I will definitely eat a doughnut every once in a while, and I’m already guilty of eating at McDonald’s since I’ve been back in the States. I sometimes fall behind in my exercise, and I’ve gone without good sleep some nights. But, I always return to my healthy habits, even if I do splurge every once in a while.

The question is, what about doctors who don’t adopt this philosophy? Can a patient be expected to do as you say, but not as you do? Is it fair to counsel someone on healthy habits and insist that they change their lifestyle, when you don’t hold yourself to these same standards?

As for myself, I hope to continue to live a healthy lifestyle (with my admitted lapses at times), and I hope that this will reinforce my advice to patients. On the other hand, will a patient who is struggling with their weight look at me and believe that I know what it’s like to struggle with a weight issue? Would it be easier to accept instructions from a doctor who also is overweight?

Looking forward, I hope to be able to effectively communicate with my patients and let them know that living healthily is not always easy. I give in to my cravings for peanut butter pie, and sometimes I skip my daily run and veg out with a movie instead. I don’t think that makes me a bad role model, nor will it make me a bad physician someday. I think it just makes me human. Perhaps being able to see a doctor as a human, and not just a role model, is more important than the size of the doctor’s waist.

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

• Steven Pinker, Oliver Sacks, and others on how learning about their brains changed the way they live. – – Slate Magazine
  (tags: interesting)
• What the myth of mirror neurons gets wrong about the human brain. – By Alison Gopnik – Slate Magazine
  (tags: interesting)
• Can “neurotheology” bridge the gap between religion and science? – By George Johnson – Slate Magazine
  (tags: interesting)
• The five biggest neuroscience developments of the year. – By William Saletan – Slate Magazine
  (tags: interesting)
• Fruity cocktails count as health food, study finds – CNN.com
  (tags: news)
• Understanding Empathy: Can You Feel My Pain? – New York Times
  (tags: interesting)

I just got my official first-year grades back. I got four A’s and two B’s. I’m confident that I could have gotten all A’s, had I not been so rusty and confused about how to study in the beginning of the semester. I hope to make my goal of all A’s next semester. I’ve been preemptively celebrating the end of my first year since I arrived in the States. But I think I’m going to go celebrate my sweet grades with a few fruity cocktails. Afterall, according to a study that just came out, fruity cocktails are health drinks!

I recently read about a controversial exhibit opening up at a gallery here in DC. It’s called Bodies…The Exhibition, and it promises to provide a unique glimpse into the beauty of the human body. They have taken a collection of cadavers, immersed them in acetone, and then replaced all the liquid in the bodies with silicone. This is a fascinating method of preservation that allows the bodies to stay perfectly intact so that they can display them in the exhibit.

After seeing a few of the images, and reading the website, I was immediately sold. I’m going to catch the exhibit within the next few days, so I’ll let everyone know how much fun it turns out to be. Please do check out their site, and hopefully you live close enough to one of the cities where it’s being shown to see it for yourself.

Well, I finally made it to the States and was in the Washington DC area by about midnight on Saturday. We flew from Dominica to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then from San Juan to Baltimore, Maryland. Actually, we had an eight hour layover in San Juan, which ended up being pretty fun. I had my first sushi at a little bistro in San Juan. I expected it to be so-so, but I was actually pretty impressed. I almost cried as I scarfed the sushi down. (The pic above is my stuffed dinosaur, Rufie, who I take with me everywhere I go. She’s enjoying a mojito at the San Juan airport.)

Micah’s dad picked us up from the airport and drove us to his home in Silver Spring, Maryland where we stayed the night. In the morning, we drove into Bethesda and had tapas and wine at Jaleo. As we sat outside, feasting on the delicious tapas, I couldn’t help smiling so much that my face started to hurt. Then my bestest friend Laura showed up, and I was in absolute heaven.

Since then, I’ve pretty much been a total lazy bum for the past few days. We’ve been eating tons of food and watching tons of movies. Basically, I’m trying to catch up on everything that I’ve missed out on for the past eight months. As I sit here now in Micah’s parents’ house, I couldn’t be any happier or more relaxed. It really doesn’t get any better than this. Absence makes the belly grow smaller, and now I’m ready to go eat my third meal of the day (it’s not even noon yet). Ahh, cheers to American excess!!

I did it. I really did it. I just took the last exam of my first year of med school. I really feel like I accomplished something huge. Unless I totally failed that exam, I’ll be starting the second year of med school in just a few weeks.

First year was definitely not a breeze. Since I had been out of school for so long, it really took me some time to get into the fast paced studying groove of med school. But after the first few months, I just sort of sailed through. I can’t fathom right now the amount of information that I had to master to make it through the first year.

I’m so glad that I’ll finally have new subjects to learn. In my second year of school, I’ll be taking pathology, microbiology & immunology, pharmacology, behavioral science, and an introduction to clinical medicine class. I’ll finally be learning more of the meat of being a doctor. I’m totally psyched about getting to interact with real (and fake) patients, and learning more about the clinical aspects of medicine.

On my way home from taking my final exam, I actually started crying. I’m so incredibly happy that I’m making my way through the seemingly endless corridor of medical school education. I’ve wanted to be a physician for so long, and I’m finally on my way to becoming one. It’s a little scary thinking of how very far I still have to go, and when I start thinking about all the exams I still have yet to pass, I’m a little intimidated. But I made it this far, and I have faith that I can accomplish anything if I give it all I’ve got.

So, farewell first year of med school, and hello second year! Cheers!

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

So, I guess it’s official now. Thanks to those of you who sent me the link to the announcement for CBS’s new show, Pirate Master that was filmed here in Dominica. Am I the only one who thinks that name sounds like an amalgamation of two other, quite humorous names? Anyway, I think I’ll try and check it out, just so I can make fun of it. But first I have to figure out how to turn on the TV. No, I seriously don’t know how to turn on my TV. I’ve never actually watched it myself. Though, Micah’s turned it on and we’ve watched it together. On second thought, I’m just going to make him figure it out. Anyhoo, cheerios!

I’M FINISHED!!!! I just took my last exam as a first-year med student. I’m pretty sure I just spanked that exam. Unless I am delusional, and I actually got all the questions wrong, I am officially now a second-year med student! I have done it. I almost cried as I walked home just now. I can’t believe what I’ve accomplished in the past eight months. I have learned so much, that I can’t even fathom it. I worked my tooshy off, and I am so excited about all my new classes next semester. YAY!!! Time for some celebration!!!

This morning I took the gross anatomy Shelf Exam. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. I actually knew quite a few of the answers, and I think I might not have done too shabby. Last week I began my final exams marathon. In less than two weeks, I’ve had to take the Shelf Exams in histology, neuroscience, physiology, gross anatomy, and biochemistry. And the cherry on top will be the final exam, which basically covers the material from all subjects that we’ve learned in the past month.

As I was about to commence the gross anatomy exam this morning, I couldn’t help but realize that I have become sort of a professional exam taker. I mean, that’s all I have been doing lately — taking one exam after another (and I’m not talking about short exams here). I have become quite adept at filling out my name and other identifying information on the bubble sheets, and I can bubble the answers in with the precision of a machine. I know how long to spend on each question. I know how to get a good night’s sleep beforehand, and make sure to eat a hearty breakfast in the morning. I always bring the same trusty pencils to every exam, and I never forget to carry my water bottle with me, so I don’t have to leave to get a drink. If I were being graded on my ability to sit in a cold room like a robot and bubble in little circles with a pencil, I’d definitely get an A! Okay, okay, I know this is what I signed up for, but I’m starting to dream about bubbling in little circles with my number-2 lead pencil!

At least I’m almost finished. I only have two more exams to go. And then I’ll finally get a break and will be going back to the States for a week to visit my friends and family. Oh yes, and I’ll probably be gaining some weight during my stay. You see, the food options here in Dominica are definitely much sparser than in the States. Needless to say, I’ll be chowing down on gratuitous amounts of sushi while I’m in the States. Oh yes, and I’m going to avoid performing any tasks such as going to the DMV. If I have to write my name on a form one more time, I might end up breaking the pencil into little pieces!

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

I just finished taking the biochemistry Shelf Exam. I can officially say that right now my motivation level is at the lowest it’s been since I first started med school eight months ago. I don’t want to study anymore. I don’t want to be here anymore. The Shelf Exams were not fun. I knew they would be hard but I didn’t realize how hard. I’m not used to taking tests where I don’t know lots of questions. Now I know why it sucks. It’s killed my motivation. I feel so stupid. I’ve done pretty well on all the exams here so I’m starting to question how I study and the quality of my education here. I mean, my grades here really don’t matter all that much. What matters is my USMLE score. And the Shelf Exams are written by the same people who write the USMLE – the NBME. If I can’t score well on these Shelf Exams, how am I going to tackle the USMLE?

I am trying to tell myself to look on the brightside: I have many more months before I take the USMLE. That means I have tons of time to study. Well, hypothetically at least. I mean, I’m going to be busy studying other stuff as well. Also, I only had a day to prepare for each Shelf Exam. Should I be surprised that I didn’t do well? Actually, I don’t even know how poorly I did. Maybe I will end up with decent scores. I don’t know. I guess I should be happy that I didn’t need good Shelf scores to pass my classes. But I did need decent scores to get all A’s, which was my original goal. That goal is now looking pretty hard to obtain at this point.

I have today and tomorrow to study for the final mini exam, and then my first year of med school is all over. I really wish they would have given us the final mini BEFORE the Shelf Exams. That certainly would have helped with my apathy problem right now. I feel like ripping all my hair out, yet I know that I should focus on taking the mini and getting out of here.

Okay, I’m going to do it. I need to do it. I can’t wait for all this to be over!!!