living the dream

M1 striving for greatness while learning life's lessons

[sarahseeandersen]

[tastefullyoffensive]

by Sarah Andersen

[wayfaringmd]

GPOY today while I’m trying to force myself to ignore my headache and sleepiness and do my 75 dictations so I can be free tomorrow. I may have only done 10 so far……

[talesofanoms1]

Week 5 Reflection

So it is coming up to the time frame where it’s going to be a week before the exam. Emotions are a little tense, but it’s not an unfamiliar feeling. I actually would like to flip switches.

I think school is interesting because I have friends, I have my roommates, but I still don’t know if I’ve found my niche. My roommates are kind of my people right now, but at the same time I feel like they’re not. 

I’m a rather terrible person in regards to being able to explain the feels (hence Daria) - but I’m trying.

It might be... that I’ve found my way into this new hallway / door, but I’m still doing the niceties. I’m still doing that weird arm dance where idk wtf to do with my hands, why are these things even a part of my body. I know I need to enjoy the process, but I want to just... feel like I’m settled already. I think I’m realizing that as much as I like change and new things, I like some kind of familiarity and sense of comfortableness. As much as there’s a part of me that loves to destroy things, I kind of want to keep some of the things that made me happy to continue to make me happy. Being a human is annoying. 

Hope everyone else having feelings filled Sunday are taking care of themselves today!

Remember - you’re doing the best you can, you’re enough, and life is too short to not pay to get rid of ads as you’re listening to music.

[whatshouldwecallme]

My best friend and I trying to make it through our 20s

[talesofanoms1]

Hello, just a quick recommendation, you may like the blog Medical Etymologies. It's about medicine and unique in its kind. Have a nice day :)

Thanks for the recommendation!!! It is super cool!

[talesofanoms1]

Week 4 Reflection

So here we are post-labor day weekend/post first exam of medical school

current feelings:

1. all right all right!!!! that was TOO bad  2. omg how much harder is this going to be ... what if i’m one of those who starts out okay and then completely fail 3. avoid avoid avoid avoid 4. anxiety because of how much avoidance is happening 5. kick myself into working 6. anxiety and constant sour candy eating

JK - kind of

In reality - the exam didn’t go as poorly as it really could have, but I am trying to make sure that I stay on top of everything so that I don’t end up knowing only 85% of the material before the exam... I KNOW i sound RIDICULOUS, but let me live out my fantasies until they puff away 

anatomy lab is kind of like... ugh. I think I just really appreciate going into lab and being alone at my cadaver while listening to podcasts and dissecting. Do i sound like Bones yet? 

we are starting to learn some actually cool stuff in OMM now!  Which i think i appreciate - it doesn’t seem as monotonous as before.

everything else has taken a serious backseat - and i am determined to hopefully get caught with all of this weeks lecture this weekend... there are people having get togethers this weekend, but I can’t go because i’m just going to end up being a silent wreck thinking about everything i need to accomplish

I went to cultural competency training event the other day. And actually... it wasn’t uncomfortable, I didn’t hate it, and the conversations were actually extremely eye opening. Everything was presented in a way that didn’t automatically illicit the wall that everyone gets whenever we discuss cultural differences. granted... it was three hours - but I loved the message I think we all ended up taking away at the end. and coming from a job where trainings like this was part of the lifestyle, that’s really saying something. I think I would say that was my highlight of my week 4. 

I hope everyone out there is appreciating the hustle and continuously living the dream. To severely paraphrase what this surgical residency director told the young hopeful surgical residents/baby med school students -- you have a better chance of getting into the program if you’re a competent, intelligent, and respectful. You have to want it and you have to work for it. Don’t base it off of numbers.

Here’s to continuously going after the crazy dreams and avoiding the haters

[talesofanoms1]

Things to remember for my next exam

It is the eve of my first med school exam and, yes, I shouldn’t be on here, but just gotta get these thoughts down before I forget

-review the lectures that were assigned that day on that day -DO the lectures that were assigned that day on that day -try to use board practice questions with your studying if you can -you are a kinesthetic learner, don’t let all your best learning be done the night before the exam

Here’s to getting out onto the other side

[introvertunites]

[talesofanoms1]

Week 2

current status: sitting in a cute coffeeshop listening to protein lecture

We had our activities fair this week and WOW what a flashback to freshman year of college... where you try to sign up for anything and everything. It also doesn’t help when you don’t know what type of doctor you actually want to be.

The universe is my oyster apparently. 

Anyways - lab has been picking up. The smell of formaldehyde is slowly creeping in, but I am trying to fight it off and still smell like a normal human being most days. It is a hard struggle though. My friend’s friend asked him if I worked in a morgue because I was telling him that I was going to school last night to study “dead bodies”. #thisismedschool

There have been multiple times this week when that thought of - holy crap I’m actually in med school learning skills that I’m going to have to perform sometime later in my career - reallllllllly screwed with my brain. Is this real life?? It’s sometimes unreal. 

Other than being conflicted about clubs and smelling like chemicals, class in it of itself hasn’t been too bad. I’m starting my anatomy drawings again, so be prepared for some pics because some of these - if I may say so myself - are gonna be masterpieces :D

My first exams are next week along with our first “patient” interaction. It’s actually me taking vitals and the H&P with a patient actor, but it’s kind of nerve-wracking. Let’s hope I don’t mess up and have to pretend I heard the systolic pulse while I’m taking blood pressure.... 

[wayfaringmd]

what are the different specialty stereotypes (for example, the jock orthopedist etc)?

Family Medicine - touchy feely save-the-world types who focus on the big picture instead of minutiae.

Ortho - dumb jocks / carpenters

Internal Medicine - super nerds, very inquisitive, thrive on minor details

Radiology - pale hunchbacks hyped up on coffee so they can stay awake in dark rooms in front of screens all day. Always either super quirky or boring as watching paint dry.

Neuro - the nerdiest of all the super nerds

Anesthesiology - the guys who smoked a lot of weed in undergrad…and probably still do. Super chill folks. 

ER - adrenaline junkies who function better OFF their ADHD meds. They all drive X-Terras or Jeeps or bike to work.

Psych - A little on the crazy side themselves. 

Pathology - Foodies and food obsessed (srsly lots of things in pathology books are named after food). All wear glasses due to prolonged exposure to microscopes

Derm - Perfect skin, manicured nails, always offers Botox or steroids

Pediatrics - Colorful socks, bowties, no white coats, and superhero costumes on Halloween. Girl/Guy next door types. Most likely to be seen at ComicCon in cosplay.

Urology - Usually fun loving guys who are everybody’s buddies. And they have so. Many. Weiner Jokes.

PM&R and Sports Medicine - very nice ex-jocks who got a shoulder injury and couldn’t do ortho but who still have active lifestyles. Had difficulty deciding between PT, ortho, and neuro for the rehab components.

OB/GYN - Amazons. Fiercely protective of their patients, and not afraid to chew you out in a heartbeat. But they won’t mess up their makeup while they do it. You’ve seen Mean Girls, right?

General surgery - Workaholics. A chance to cut is a chance to heal. 

[damnedifyoudeeohh-deactivated20]

Kind of makes me want to go into OBGYN instead :P

[modernathenamd]

I’m an OBGyn inside a Family Doc’s body. You push me the wrong way about my patients and my squish dissolves into pure screaming warrior-goddess. (Also a bit of neuro. The only specialty I’d ever have gone for)

[md-admissions]

Med all the way and a little peds, especially the wardrobe. 

[talesofanoms1]

i don’t even knowwww

[talesofanoms1]

Week 1 Reflections

This is going to be one of those blogs that I kind of skim over (sorry) because there are too many words in it, but I’m sure there are other people out there who love random people’s musings - so here goes. 

Week 1 did not disappoint in it being a roller coaster of emotions and feelings. Orientation was slightly dreadful, yet exciting because the entire time I felt like I had to say - omg you are in med school and these are your fellow med school students - instead of this is just another grad program. 

Things started off a little slow, which I extremely appreciate now. Mid-week, however, the shit storm that is med school rained down upon my soul and I may have shed some tears thinking, “why the heck did I really want to do this again? I could’ve been a really hot wife picking sunflowers and working in interior design.” But resilience is the name of the game and the next day I got to use a bone saw, which I surprisingly really liked wielding, and I feel like I can do this ... for now anyway. 

I feel like I’ve found a solid group of people for now - I appreciate living with roomies because my d&t (dark & twisty) self can definitely be okay with not meeting anyone new so I’m glad I have two bubbly people with me to wake me up for 8am classes (seriously can people stop coming to class so early?). 

One of my moments of panic was when I had to take someone’s blood pressure and I couldn’t hear anything.... b/c i’m a baby first year who doesn’t know how to do anything

One of my moments of hey this is awesome was when I used the bone saw... like actually guys. It was pretty cool. Oh and when I dissected out a pretty mean sub-occipital triangle with a lab partner and our prof called over other groups to look at our work.

So yeah - highs and lows. Currently hitting my head against the wall because what is anatomy, but listening to the Amélie soundtrack and writing this is helping me get back to some type of zen.  I’m going to try and write weekly reflections because I think it’ll be important for my health later on. Let’s see how this goes - thanks for reading this all the Tumblees out there who like reading word posts

[nevver]

Your tears - under the microscope, Maurice Mikkers

[nourepinephrine]

[talesofanoms1]

summer goals

finishing at least two books

enjoying the present

write snail mail letters

take more pictures

wash my face every night before sleeping (SO IMPORTANT)

get furniture for my apt

make sure I fill out all the pre-first day of school paperwork on time

try to make me a priority

[the-future-now-deactivated20170]

Watch: 12-year-old Arturo also explains to anti-vaxxers why it’s not “my child, my choice.”

Follow @the-future-now

[cranquis]

[grapefruitmimosa]

i can’t believe i used to think people my age were adults

[amanda-fior]

I’ll be reblogging this til I die

[humansofnewyork]

“All doctors have those patients who sit on our shoulder. Their image is always with you. One kid will pop into your head every time you hit a wall– when you encounter a disease that is so unrelenting that you’ve exhausted all therapies and you’re still not even close. One memory will keep you going. It’s a different kid for every doctor. It’s hard to know why they stick with us. I remember one patient that had red hair just like my son. And I remember one five-year-old girl who made me laugh, because when I asked her how she was doing, she told me: ‘I don’t know. You’re the doctor.’ And then there was the boy early in my career who was born without an immune system. He’d already lost two older siblings to the same disease. He lived the first two years of his life in an isolation room with no windows, and his entire exposure to the world was through a black-and-white TV. We gave him a bone marrow transplant, and suddenly his immune system came online. And we took him for a walk in the garden. This boy who had spent his entire life in a windowless room. And a sparrow landed on a bush, and he pointed at it, and said: ‘Bird.’ That moment will always be with me.”

[talesofanoms1]

haven’t posted in a long long while because, to be brutally honest, i was too annoyed to blog about feelings and life had thrown many curve balls my way. So in the name of self-care, this blog kind of took a back seat.

I’m on the other side of it though!

I’m very very excited and proud to say that I am going to start as a first year in an osteopathic medical school next year! it’s pretty surreal, I still can’t believe that I have reached my goal and am finally on my way to becoming a doctor.

I’m a TA right now in my graduate program and have been giving advice to the first years of the program regarding MCAT, applications, and personal statements and it’s really humbling to think that I was in their exact position a year from now - extremely anxious about the future, impatient about the process, and just scared

I know MCAT season and the beginning of another application cycle is upon us and I just wanted to put some unasked for advice out there. I am not an expert by ANY means... here’s some words from one angsty premed to all of the others out there - don’t stop doing things towards the greater goal. Take things a day at a time and stay on top of yourself. It’s a GRUELING process and you’ll probably find yourself in a pit of despair / feelings of very little self-worth, but be easy on yourself. Watch a movie, listen to a podcast, go to the free night at your local museum, something to keep yourself sane. I, personally, enjoyed the occasional happy hours. Try not to talk about the application process too much with your friends - it’ll get tiring and you don’t want to be that person. Find a mentor if you can, but if you don’t have one (fear not, I didn’t), be your own advocate. This is your future career we’re talking about! Be a little selfish, but not a complete ass. Be happy for your friends getting in before you, don’t be jealous for too long. People will tell you to enjoy the process, but seeing as the process can be as slow as molasses, try to at least just acknowledge that this is your transition period or as the anthropologists would describe, the liminal period. You’ll find yourself out of it soon. Best of luck to everyone out there and keep the faith - even when you don’t want to.