Island Med Student

Please check out the post I wrote on Medscape about having to put my pride aside, and use the “h” word.

Click Here To View the Entry

Share This

It’s only been 24 hours, and it’s already happening. I’m beginning to lose my mind. I went to the health clinic today, and the doctor put an ace bandage on my ankle, wrote me a script for some pain meds, gave me a set of crutches, and instructed me to go the ER in Roseau (about an hour away) to get an x-ray. Of course, me being me, and me being a med student, I ignored the instructions. I’m still hoping that it’s not broken. At least the swelling and pain had decreased by this morning.

I’m very immobile. I don’t like it worth a bitsy. And I don’t know what that means. All I know is that I need to move. I want to go for a walk and watch the sunset. I need to feed my puppies dinner. I want to say hello to my friends. I want to swim in the sea. I want to be able to get to the bathroom in less than five minutes. I want. I want. I want. I need. I need. I need.

Does anyone out there know how to contact those evangelist folks? The ones where you can call in and send them $100 and they’ll heal you via the power of Christ remotely? I need one of those. I’m going insane in my invisible prison. And my ankle is quite uncomfortably numb.

PS: Pic has nothing to do with this. I just happened to find it. It’s me at our mannequin fluff party. Back when I still had two good ankles to stand on.

Share This

Caution: If you would prefer not to hear me bitch for the next few minutes, please stop reading now.

I have had a rough few days, and I think the only thing that could possibly make me feel any better, and prevent me from banging my head against the wall right now is to write down the current list of sucky things in my life. So, here goes.

1) My laptop broke a few days ago. Again, this sucks because there is no Mac store on the island, and my laptop is my life. I go to school on it. I write on it. I study on it. It connects me to the rest of the world. This sucks a big one.

2) I lost all the pics and movies from my trip to Boiling Lake. (Update, Micah was able to save them, but still, it sucks that I had to experience the emotional trauma.)

3) I lost my “special” notebook- the one with all my super special notes in it. I have no idea where it is. I’ve looked everywhere. This time, I don’t think it was stolen, but I must have misplaced it. Major suckage.

4) My puppy Molly lost her collar and ate my running shoes. Nuff said

5) I’m majorly behind in my studies, and I have four massive exams on the horizon.

6) I owe all of my friends and family many calls, emails, and hugs (not to mention the other pile of emails in my inbox awaiting replies).

7) Today, as I was running along a gorgeous trail, I fell and injured my ankle. At first I thought it was a sprain, but all signs are now indicating that it may in fact be broken. I’m in Dominica. The hospital is far away. There are no ambulances (that I know of, though there might be a bus or something). I have things to do. I don’t have time to deal with a broken ankle. Running is the only thing that brings me great pleasure. If I can’t run, or at least get all sweaty from exercise, I will rapidly spiral downward into a pit of despair. I don’t want to imagine med school without exercise. I can’t even fathom it. My break is coming up in three weeks. I might have to go on vacation with a broken ankle. This sucks immensely.

8 ) I lost my favorite (made by a cool Rasta guy) anklet.

Yes, there are worse things in life. But right now I don’t care about them. All I know is that I feel completely broken.

Okay, that did help a little.

Share This

Please check out the post I wrote on Medscape about making it through my first clinical evaluation.

Click Here To View the Entry

Share This

On Sunday, me and my bestest friends took a hike to the Boiling Lake here in Dominica. Eventually, I’d like to write a longer post about the adventure, but I’ll give the abbreviated version here. In short, the hike was AMAZING. We hiked for about three and a half hours there and back through the Valley of Desolation, sulphur springs, and up and down many hills. It was an intense hike to say the least. Really, words can’t describe the adventure, and neither can photos, really.

We took many wonderful pics and videos, but I had a catastrophe last night where my laptop broke and I lost all of them. We’re working on salvaging the pics using a special software, but it hasn’t worked yet. I really hope we can get them back because the photos will do a better job at conveying the beauty of the land than I can with words.

Not only was the scenery amazing, but I went with some of the coolest people I know. We painted our faces with sulphur mud, swam through an amazing gorge with a waterfall in the end, and jumped off a cliff into the sparkling water. In fact, if you’ve seen the Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest movie, you’ve seen a glimpse of the gorge we swam in (the scene with the cages made out of bones.)

Thankfully, some of my friends did take pictures as well, so even if mine aren’t saved, I’ll have those to share. As soon as I get the pictures together, I’ll be posting an album. And hopefully, the video footage will be spared, and I’ll make a nice video.

If you ever come to Dominica for any reason, I highly recommend you do the hike. It was a life altering experience for me, and I’ll treasure the moments forever.

Share This

My run today will forever live on in the hearts and minds of Portsmouth, Dominica. Today at 4:00 I was supposed to go running with my running crew, but it was literally pouring mangos outside, since it’s now the rainy season in Dominica. The crew backed out because of the rain, but I decided to go anyway.

As I was coming around the corner in Portsmouth, my clothes were reaching maximal wetness. I was wearing a pair of cotton running shorts, with no waistband. I could feel my shorts getting heavier and heavier with rain, but I pressed on.

And then it happened.

As I leaped into the air to dodge a puddle, my shorts fell down to my ankles.

That’s right folks, I pantsed myself.

Of course, everyone noticed and let me know with their hooting and hollaring. I pulled my shorts up, and continued on my run. Well, there are only so many roads in Dominica, so I had to pass all the same people again on my way back. Apparently, they had not forgotten the incident, because they screamed at me as I passed by. I think I might be some sort of new Dominican national hero.

Share This

Well, I finally got to see Michael Moore’s new flik, Sicko. It definitely made me think. Please check out the post I wrote on Medscape about my thoughts on the U.S. healthcare system.

Click Here To View the Entry

Share This

I think I have a bad case of med school fever. This semester has really started to pick up, and because I let myself slack and have a good time a few nights this week, I’ve fallen slightly behind in my studies. I totally know that I can catch up, but it’s starting to all feel a bit overwhelming. I got my grades back from my second exam, and I totally rocked it. The material is not overwhelmingly hard, there’s just a lot of it, and I have some oral exams and clinical performance stuff coming up. I’ve been studying hardcore since 8:00 this morning, and I’m started to tire from the intensity of it all.

I only have two more weeks of instruction left, and then all kinds of exams. But it will all be over in about a month, so that is pretty encouraging. I just have to make it until then.

(The pic above is Mimi and Sayeh, the coolest first semesters in the world. We were all riding in a boat to a party at a place called Purple Turtle after our last mini.)

Share This

Living without electricity is becoming an interesting game for me. Please check out the post I wrote for Medscape about the constant battle between studying and sweating.

Click Here To View the Entry

Share This

Well, I’m back from the dead again. Not that any of you even knew I was gone, but I was. Yesterday I took the second ginormous, killer exam in my second year of med school. It was definitely a little insane, though I think I probably did okay. After the exam, as I celebrated with all my friends (aka drinking and trying to forget about the insanity of med school for a few hours), I had one of famous mini epiphanies.

Med School is kind of like the human sexual cycle (hey, we even learned about this in med school!). In the weeks before the exam, it slowly gets crazier and crazier and as time progresses, you can see the physical and emotional changes of all the students (the excitement/arousal phase). The week before the exam, the tension on campus is so thick you could cut it with plastic cutlery. And the final three days are so intense, you lose all track of time and space, and you are completely obsessed with the exam (the plateau phase). And then finally, the exam arrives. When you’re taking the exam, physical existence is forgotten, and everything but the piece of paper in front of you becomes a blur. You are consumed by it (the orgasmic phase). And then of course comes the post-exam high. You calm yourself down with a few alcoholic beverages and reflect on your accomplishment (the resolution phase).

So there you go. Who said med school wasn’t exciting?!

(The pic above is from last night’s celebration at a bonfire.)

Share This