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From a path lecture today. Yes, you can have a condition called BOOP.
Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is an inflammation of the bronchioles and surrounding tissue in the lungs. BOOP is often caused by a pre-existing chronic inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis. In cases where no cause is found, the disease is called cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.
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For those of you not in the know, September 19 was talk like a pirate, dress like a pirate day. My friend Amanda did it up proper. Here be the pics - come get yer booty!
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Learn all about my first cardiac patient, Harvey, who has no legs.
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I can never really put into words how much I love my daily run. Even though I go almost every day, it’s always a new adventure. It’s always a soul lifting experience. It always opens my eyes and ears.
Today, I put my iPod on random (I normally use a playlist) and just kept running. I did my standard 8 mile route. On the way back, just as the sun was setting, and I was passing by the beach, a Black Eyed Peas song came on. Where is the love? I know I’m a dork, but I think it was the perfect song for that moment. And I realized how much I love the lyrics. Here they is:
What’s wrong with the world, mama
People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas
I think the whole world’s addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that’ll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin’
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that’s exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y’all, y’all
People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love
The love, the love
It just ain’t the same, always unchanged
New days are strange, is the world insane
If love and peace is so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don’t belong
Nations droppin’ bombs
Chemical gasses fillin’ lungs of little ones
With ongoin’ sufferin’ as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin’ really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin’ wrong
In this world that we livin’ in people keep on givin’
in
Makin’ wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends
Not respectin’ each other, deny thy brother
A war is goin’ on but the reason’s undercover
The truth is kept secret, it’s swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love
Where’s the love, y’all, come on (I don’t know)
Where’s the truth, y’all, come on (I don’t know)
Where’s the love, y’all
People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love, the love, the love?
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I’m gettin’ older, y’all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin’
Selfishness got us followin’ our wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema
Yo’, whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead of spreading love we’re spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feelin’ under
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feelin’ down
There’s no wonder why sometimes I’m feelin’ under
Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found
Now ask yourself
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love?
Sing wit me y’all:
One world, one world (We only got)
One world, one world (That’s all we got)
One world, one world
And something’s wrong wit it (Yeah)
Something’s wrong wit it (Yeah)
Something’s wrong wit the wo-wo-world, yeah
We only got
(One world, one world)
That’s all we got
(One world, one world)
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I’ve always been super sensitive to many cold medications, but I never really knew the exact mechanism. Thanks to med school, I now understand what happens to me. A good example of my experience would be the first few weeks of med school. I had a nasty cold and I kept loading up on daytime cold meds to be able to keep up with my studying. Well, after taking the meds for about a week, I was hallucinating every day. I constantly felt like I was floating and I realized that I had become detached from my own body. I had a sense of depersonalization - like my life wasn’t really my own, and instead I was just a spectator, watching somone else’s life from high above. I can’t even begin to explain how strange this was.
When I finally quit taking the meds, it was like a cloud had lifted from my world. All of a sudden I was in the driver seat again. I felt like I had been asleep for a week, and I came back in touch with reality.
I now know that the two offending ingredients were dextromethorphan and pseudoephedrine. The dextromethorphan, which is a cough suppressant is also a dissociative hallucinogenic. It is an NMDA receptor antagonist and hence has similar effects to PCP. Pseudoephedrine, which is added as a nasal decongestant is basically amphetamine. It is a sympathomimetic amine, and eventually causes vasoconstriction. One of the rare side effects happens to be hallucinations. It turns out that I am one of the lucky few to have the rare side effect (I know this because I hallucinate when I take pseudoephedrine without the dextromethorphan).
So, there ya go! There’s the nice medical explanation of why Kendra becomes legally insane when she takes daytime cold meds. If you ever happen to meet me while I have a cold, be sure to stop and say hi. We can both look at Kendra and laugh at her strange behavior.
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Freak out? Me? Never?! Okay, I lied. I’m seriously freaking out. Could it be the extra strong coffee? Or have I just bit off more than I can chew? Check out the post I wrote on Medscape to find out more…
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So, I was sitting here tonight thinking of how many things I love. My friends, my family, good wine, dancing, buddha statues, prune yogurt, etc. And I was going to make a list of all the things I love. But then I realized that it would take a very long time. So, instead I’ve decided to make a list of the top ten things that I don’t love (in no specific order). Here it goes:
1. People who intentionally butt in front of me in line for no apparent reason.
2. Opening up what looks like a perfectly ripe avocado, only to find out that it’s already gone bad.
3. Hangovers.
4. Racist people.
5. Stubbing my toe and losing a toenail.
6. People who are convinced that they are completely correct, and have nothing left to learn in life.
7. Going to sleep when there is so much more fun stuff to stay awake for.
8. Having a background in science and almost two years of medical school under my belt and still not being able to figure out why my vegetable crisper keeps filling up with a greenish-yellow liquid.
9. Mean people.
10. Making lists of things I don’t love. (I just realized that making lists of things that I do love is much easier, and actually more fun.)
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I’ve received some emails from students about making it through their first semester here at Ross University. Here is a list (I’ve probably missed some things that I’ll add later), which may be helpful. If you’re an old skool Rosser like me, feel free to add anything that I’ve missed.
1) The first week is crazy, and you’re figuring everything out. Try to not get stressed out, and just roll with the punches .
2) The printroom is especially crazy the first week. If you need to print stuff, try to do it early in the morning or late at night when the library isn’t a zoo. Otherwise you will wait 100 years to get your stuff, and everyone is freaking out (which is super stressful).
3) Many first semesters are immature and they bitch A LOT! Try not to get dragged down in their crap.
4) Focus on developing a good study schedule that works for YOU. But don’t be upset if you have to try a few different approaches before you figure out one that works for you.
5) Expect lines everywhere (the bank, Subway, library, etc). Nothing will be short and sweet.
6) Figure out how you want to take notes—electronic or paper, etc. If you do choose to go electronic, make sure you back up your data somewhere in case your computer freaks out on you (like mine did). If you decide to print out your lectures, don’t forget to print them double sided (and I like to do 6 slides per page). Otherwise you’ll have more paper than you can handle in a few weeks.
7) Don’t feel like you have to study EVERY second. You don’t. Trust me. Study well, but don’t study every second, otherwise you’ll burn out early. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
8 ) There are many helpful files floating around on campus. Ask any upperclassman, and they will most likely give you copies. If not, let me know and I will be more than happy to give them to you.
9) Getting adjusted to the island isn’t easy. Like most things, it takes time. Try your best to relax and realize that you’re in a new country, with new rules. You can’t expect everything here to be like it was back home.
For more tips on studying, you can check out this post.
Note: The pic above was taken today. Look closely, it’s me, and my pups Scope and Molly in our standard post-studying /post-eating naptime scene.
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Please check out the post I wrote on Medscape about being a fourth semester med student, and on my way to taking the USMLE Step 1.
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I promised that I would write a post about my trip to Guadeloupe, but I have a million things to do today, so let’s just say that I had a good time! Classes started on Monday. Of course, since I don’t go to class, I have just been running errands and waiting for them to post the lectures to Mediasite. I started watching them last night. Clinical stuff, yay!! I knew I would be excited about finally learning the clinical relevance and integration of all the material that I’ve learned, but this is even cooler than I thought! We have 2 patient simulators (Stan and Harvey) that we get to learn on this semester. Also, we get 2 trips to the hospital, and hopefully a chance to watch an autopsy as well (yay!). I’m so excited out of my mind about all the new stuff to learn. I can already tell this semester is going to be more difficult than the last, but because it’s more clinically oriented, I think I’m absolutely going to love it! Yes, I am a total dork. More to come soon!
My name is Kendra and I am a third-year medical student attending Ross University School of Medicine. I went through my basic science training on the Nature Island of Dominica, hence the name of this blog. However, I am currently living in Brooklyn, New York, where I'm doing my clinical rotations. I am a life enthusiast. I talk to strangers, cut the tags off of my pillows, and I don’t carry an umbrella with me because I prefer to get wet.
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