Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Open to the public
Well, I decided to try and see if this would work better as an open blog and allow everybody to read it. I feel so naked!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Organic Chemistry
Ok, so I got a B on my chem test. I am pretty happy about it, but I am a little disappointed at the same time. One of the questions was printed wrong and he told us to change it in the middle of taking the test. So I stopped working on the question I was on and changed the question and thus my answer. Well, I had it correct to begin with, but adding the missing information threw me off and I didn't go back to look. So I really could have received an A- or an A. Oh well. I am still looking good for the semester.
I'm sure you are wondering why I'm being so anal about my grade... well, let’s just say that my organic chem I class did not go so well. I got a D. Yep. A big fat D. The final for the class was absolutely ridiculous. Most of the class didn't even finish it. Needless to say I bombed it and it brought down my grade. Significantly. So I retook the class and finished with a B. So getting an A or A- will look pretty good to the admissions committee when they review my file to see if they want to offer me an interview or not. Plus it will really make me feel good knowing that the previous teacher was just an ass and that I am not completely lost when it comes to organic chemistry - a subject that prevents many premeds from entering med school. I have many motives for doing well in this class and I hope my hard work pays off at the end of the semester when we have to take the standardized test that covers last semester and this semester.
Organic chemistry is pretty interesting actually. It is the base for biochemistry which is basically all the chemical stuff that goes on in your body and will learn more about in med school. I am finding that I enjoy the class, but wish I could devote more time to studying and memorizing things to further understand. I hope this isn't just some sort of "sponge" learning - soak it all up, squeeze it all out for the test and forget it all afterwards. I really need to remember this stuff!
I'm sure you are wondering why I'm being so anal about my grade... well, let’s just say that my organic chem I class did not go so well. I got a D. Yep. A big fat D. The final for the class was absolutely ridiculous. Most of the class didn't even finish it. Needless to say I bombed it and it brought down my grade. Significantly. So I retook the class and finished with a B. So getting an A or A- will look pretty good to the admissions committee when they review my file to see if they want to offer me an interview or not. Plus it will really make me feel good knowing that the previous teacher was just an ass and that I am not completely lost when it comes to organic chemistry - a subject that prevents many premeds from entering med school. I have many motives for doing well in this class and I hope my hard work pays off at the end of the semester when we have to take the standardized test that covers last semester and this semester.
Organic chemistry is pretty interesting actually. It is the base for biochemistry which is basically all the chemical stuff that goes on in your body and will learn more about in med school. I am finding that I enjoy the class, but wish I could devote more time to studying and memorizing things to further understand. I hope this isn't just some sort of "sponge" learning - soak it all up, squeeze it all out for the test and forget it all afterwards. I really need to remember this stuff!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tests/Shadowing/More Tests
So yesterday I took my second Organic Chemistry II test, and of course I thought I did well on it when I turned it in, but now I am doubting some of my answers to some of the questions and I have been comparing them with my good friend Tammie. I feel a little better knowing that we put some of the same answers down, but then there are the answer's we disagreed on. ARGH! The waiting is the hardest part as he probably won't have the tests graded and ready to turn back till Monday. That means I get to worry all weekend. Yay! As Brad would say, “whatever, you did fine.” And I'm sure I did, but the anticipation of KNOWING! is killer. :o)
Yesterday I got to shadow the pathologist that I was assigned to for the semester. He seems to be a really nice guy, pretty chatty compared to the surgeon I'm shadowing. We looked at a few slides yesterday - that's what most pathologists do- and it was pretty interesting. I'm still undecided if that is what I would want to do every day, but the good thing is I know there is a lot about medicine that I haven’t seen yet and will get to experience.
I also realized that November 2 is the first day of registering for the MCAT. Wow! It made me realize that this time is flying by and how real everything is. The test isn't until March, but the seats fill up fast. The bad part is that it costs $225 and if you want to change the date of your test, they charge you $50 on top of that. I'm sure they are raking in the dough with this test. They offer 10 retired MCAT tests to use as practice, but they charge $25 per test, which is kinda bs considering they could still make a big profit charging $10 per test. This isn't even anything compared to the cost of the tests you have to take once you are in medical school or to take to get your certifications. I believe some of them start out at $1000, which again is total crap considering you are a poor med student/resident. Boy, I’m sure looking forward to those bills.
Yesterday I got to shadow the pathologist that I was assigned to for the semester. He seems to be a really nice guy, pretty chatty compared to the surgeon I'm shadowing. We looked at a few slides yesterday - that's what most pathologists do- and it was pretty interesting. I'm still undecided if that is what I would want to do every day, but the good thing is I know there is a lot about medicine that I haven’t seen yet and will get to experience.
I also realized that November 2 is the first day of registering for the MCAT. Wow! It made me realize that this time is flying by and how real everything is. The test isn't until March, but the seats fill up fast. The bad part is that it costs $225 and if you want to change the date of your test, they charge you $50 on top of that. I'm sure they are raking in the dough with this test. They offer 10 retired MCAT tests to use as practice, but they charge $25 per test, which is kinda bs considering they could still make a big profit charging $10 per test. This isn't even anything compared to the cost of the tests you have to take once you are in medical school or to take to get your certifications. I believe some of them start out at $1000, which again is total crap considering you are a poor med student/resident. Boy, I’m sure looking forward to those bills.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Surgery
Ok, I know it has been over a week since I did my shadowing and you are just dying to know how it went. :o) The surgery was an open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve with a pig valve – similar details according to wikipedia.org are below.
Aortic valve replacement is most frequently done through a median sternotomy, meaning the incision is made by cutting through the sternum. Once the pericardium has been opened, the patient is placed on cardiopulmonary bypass machine, also referred to as the heart-lung machine. This machine takes over the task of breathing for the patient and pumping their blood around while the surgeon replaces the heart valve.
Once the patient is on bypass, an incision is made in the aorta and a crossclamp applied. The surgeon then removes the patient's diseased aortic valve and a mechanical or tissue valve is put in its place. Once the valve is in place and the aorta has been closed, the patient is taken off the heart-lung machine. Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE, an ultra-sound of the heart done through the esophagus) can be used to verify that the new valve is functioning properly. Pacing wires are usually put in place, so that the heart can be manually paced should any complications arise after surgery. Drainage tubes are also inserted to drain fluids from the chest and pericardium following surgery. These are usually removed within 36 hours while the pacing wires are generally left in place until right before the patient is discharged from the hospital.
I was standing in the room at the patients head looking down at the heart. I have to say that it was pretty amazing to see a human heart beating right there in front of me. The surgeons were also amazing and made everything seem so easy. I’m still in awe.
Aortic valve replacement is most frequently done through a median sternotomy, meaning the incision is made by cutting through the sternum. Once the pericardium has been opened, the patient is placed on cardiopulmonary bypass machine, also referred to as the heart-lung machine. This machine takes over the task of breathing for the patient and pumping their blood around while the surgeon replaces the heart valve.
Once the patient is on bypass, an incision is made in the aorta and a crossclamp applied. The surgeon then removes the patient's diseased aortic valve and a mechanical or tissue valve is put in its place. Once the valve is in place and the aorta has been closed, the patient is taken off the heart-lung machine. Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE, an ultra-sound of the heart done through the esophagus) can be used to verify that the new valve is functioning properly. Pacing wires are usually put in place, so that the heart can be manually paced should any complications arise after surgery. Drainage tubes are also inserted to drain fluids from the chest and pericardium following surgery. These are usually removed within 36 hours while the pacing wires are generally left in place until right before the patient is discharged from the hospital.
I was standing in the room at the patients head looking down at the heart. I have to say that it was pretty amazing to see a human heart beating right there in front of me. The surgeons were also amazing and made everything seem so easy. I’m still in awe.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Shadowing
Tomorrow I get to watch an open heart surgery - standing right next to the surgeon in my scrubs and everything! I will actually get to see a heart beating inside a chest and be close enough to touch it. How cool is that? I’ve been to the school’s cadaver lab and actually had the opportunity to hold a heart, and yes it may sounds kinda gross, it was really neat. I didn’t realize how big the aorta really was until I looked into it. This one was about the size of a fifty-cent piece. Tomorrow will be a long day, but I promise to tell you all about it. (I’m sure some of you are thrilled and can hardly wait…Brad.)
Shadowing – what is this? Shadowing is something you have to do to show to the medical admissions committee that you know what you are getting yourself into – that you know what a dr. does. Most of the ones around here are pretty cool about letting you follow them around for a day to see what life as a dr. is really like. So far I’ve shadowed my family physician that is really wonderful, and every time I shadowed at least one of his patients complimented him. He is also kind enough to offer to write me a letter of recommendation. I have also shadowed a pathologist for a couple hours and will get the opportunity to shadow another one on Wednesday for an hour, and every Wednesday until the end of December.
Well, I’m off to study for my psychology test that is in two hours. Hopefully I won’t do too bad on it. :o)
Shadowing – what is this? Shadowing is something you have to do to show to the medical admissions committee that you know what you are getting yourself into – that you know what a dr. does. Most of the ones around here are pretty cool about letting you follow them around for a day to see what life as a dr. is really like. So far I’ve shadowed my family physician that is really wonderful, and every time I shadowed at least one of his patients complimented him. He is also kind enough to offer to write me a letter of recommendation. I have also shadowed a pathologist for a couple hours and will get the opportunity to shadow another one on Wednesday for an hour, and every Wednesday until the end of December.
Well, I’m off to study for my psychology test that is in two hours. Hopefully I won’t do too bad on it. :o)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
My First Blog
Well, I have been reading some really neat blogs for the past month or so, and thought maybe I should create one for my family. I'm not really the greatest about calling or keeping in touch, so maybe this will be a good way for me to keep you all up to date since we live so far away..... So I apologize for not keeping in touch and hope you all enjoy this!
For those of you who don't really know what I am doing (yeah, cuz I do? Ha ha)
I am an office assistant at Wichita State University Foundation. The Foundation is where we raise money for the different colleges on campus to use for scholarships, maintenance and paying some faculty positions.
I am also a student at WSU, and along with working full time I am attending classes at the full time level. This semester I am taking 4 classes plus a lab, which keeps me pretty busy. This is my last full time load as I will be graduating December of 2010 and I will be studying for the MCAT next semester– explained below.
My goal is to apply to medical school next July. In order to do that I will have to take the Medical School Admissions Test, which is a 5 hour computer based examination that covers physics, biology, organic chemistry, general chemistry and verbal reasoning. It's pretty intense. I will start studying for that in January and I plan on taking the exam in March or April. Yes, three to four months of studying roughly three to four hours a night is typical for the MCAT. Another requirement to apply to medical school is to shadow physicians and volunteer in some way that helps the community. This semester I get to shadow a pathologist - someone who looks at slides through a microscope to see if they are normal or abnormal, and a cardiothoracic surgeon.
I will be applying to the University of Kansas, School of Medicine in Kansas City. If I’m accepted I will be in Kansas City for two years doing classroom work, and then I will be back in Wichita doing my clinical rotations. Medical School is four years, then I graduate and move on to residency where I am basically learning on the job. Residency is anywhere from 3-5 years depending on the field of medicine I choose to go into.
Yes, this is a huge undertaking and a very big commitment and frankly, I couldn’t be happier that I made this decision. My plans were to apply to the FBI after graduating, but I didn’t want to risk having to relocate several states away from my husband and step-son, so I decided to pursue my other dream career. Going to medical school was something I have tossed around off and on ever since I first studied psychology and after deciding law school wasn’t right for me. Now that I have the opportunity, I am going to take it.
Hope you enjoyed my first post - stay tuned for more! If you know of anyone else who would like to read, e-mail me at triciawhite2008@hotmail.com with their e-mail address and I will make sure they can read it.
For those of you who don't really know what I am doing (yeah, cuz I do? Ha ha)
I am an office assistant at Wichita State University Foundation. The Foundation is where we raise money for the different colleges on campus to use for scholarships, maintenance and paying some faculty positions.
I am also a student at WSU, and along with working full time I am attending classes at the full time level. This semester I am taking 4 classes plus a lab, which keeps me pretty busy. This is my last full time load as I will be graduating December of 2010 and I will be studying for the MCAT next semester– explained below.
My goal is to apply to medical school next July. In order to do that I will have to take the Medical School Admissions Test, which is a 5 hour computer based examination that covers physics, biology, organic chemistry, general chemistry and verbal reasoning. It's pretty intense. I will start studying for that in January and I plan on taking the exam in March or April. Yes, three to four months of studying roughly three to four hours a night is typical for the MCAT. Another requirement to apply to medical school is to shadow physicians and volunteer in some way that helps the community. This semester I get to shadow a pathologist - someone who looks at slides through a microscope to see if they are normal or abnormal, and a cardiothoracic surgeon.
I will be applying to the University of Kansas, School of Medicine in Kansas City. If I’m accepted I will be in Kansas City for two years doing classroom work, and then I will be back in Wichita doing my clinical rotations. Medical School is four years, then I graduate and move on to residency where I am basically learning on the job. Residency is anywhere from 3-5 years depending on the field of medicine I choose to go into.
Yes, this is a huge undertaking and a very big commitment and frankly, I couldn’t be happier that I made this decision. My plans were to apply to the FBI after graduating, but I didn’t want to risk having to relocate several states away from my husband and step-son, so I decided to pursue my other dream career. Going to medical school was something I have tossed around off and on ever since I first studied psychology and after deciding law school wasn’t right for me. Now that I have the opportunity, I am going to take it.
Hope you enjoyed my first post - stay tuned for more! If you know of anyone else who would like to read, e-mail me at triciawhite2008@hotmail.com with their e-mail address and I will make sure they can read it.
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