O.M.O.C.

Not that I need them but there are daily reminders of how much older I am than my fellow med students. There's the lengthy lunch-time discussions about Mario Cart that I can't participate in or the blank stare when I mention TJ Hooker. Not to mention being above the fray when couplings are discussed; I simply sit there enjoying the drama in a pleasantly detached position. It's not that I don't remember having been there but I just don't miss it. In fact, I am amazed that anyone can put up with the demands of medical school and still have any social life at all!

It is nice to give some advice from my aged perspective and I'm sure I give way too much of it but I don't think I could stop. Why? Because I genuinely care for these people. I want them to succeed and I want to be part of it, so I give advice. Or, maybe I'm just a pompous ass..... anyway I know people will take what they need from my missives and leave the rest - they didn't get into medical school by being automatons.

My lab group decided to name ourselves "Kelly's Kids". I thought we should have been "Gluteal Cephalic" but I lost. So, we now sound like a charity telethon. I'm touched by this show of affection even if it's a jab at my age. The funniest moment came in geriatrics lab when I was presenting our group discussion and a student from across the room made a comment about being close to geriatric myself. The room erupted in laughter, myself included.

The discussion was interesting. Being "close to geriatric" I listened to these men in their mid to late 20's talking about the elderly and remembering feeling the same way when I was younger. Once you're over 70, your elderly and becoming frail, you need people to talk a little slower or you become wise somehow. I don't think 70 sounds so old anymore and I've know enough people in their 60's, 70's and 80's to know a few things about the 'elderly'. First, grumpy old men were grumpy young men second, stupid people don't ever get wise with age and a retired NASA engineer will understand more of what you say than a 20-something college grad.

I'm enjoying my unique position among this amazing group of young people, or as I call myself: The O.M.O.C. Old Man On Campus.

On Procrastination

I will do anything to stave off studying pharmacology, even update this blog. Not because it's especially boring because I find it pretty darn interesting and it's of course a major tool in the physician's tool kit. It's that I'm so damn bad at memorizing and that's what Pharm is, rote memorization at its finest. There isn't a lot of understanding to be had in the subject and it is filled with tables of drugs, their class, uses, side effects etc etc etc. Physiology is where I shine but that's only a tiny part of medical school. I think it was about a month of class last semester then it was back to "what is this drug or that drug.....". Even when Pharm has critical thinking, if you don't remember the name of the damn drug, then you can't solve the puzzle presented to you in the question.

Oh well - it just has to be done, like removing a bandage or breaking up with your girlfriend. Unpleasant but happy to have it over.

one year?!

Yes, it has been a year since I last posted anything but that could be due to the feeling that I am speaking in an empty auditorium with the lights off. This is a viscous circle - no updates = no readers = no updates and so on..... So, I will try to update more often this year.

I survived my first year of medical school relatively unscathed, meaning that I never had to remediate a topic or even a test despite the fact that I could have been more efficient at studying. That's probably the most important thing I learned in the first year was how to study the massive volume of material being thrown at us. I had never really had to study before and definitely never had to memorize so much information. In physics and math you don't memorize so much data. The trick there is to do the practice problems and be able to do similar ones on the exam. In medical school you can't really practice any problems, you memorize memorize memorize. One exam I added up the total number of lecture slides we had to cover and it was over 1,000! These aren't the usual prompt the lecture minimalist type of slides either, they are text heavy things that are packed with details about diseases, drugs, procedures and microbes.

On top of the work required for school, I decided to form a Grappling club on campus. This hasn't really required too much effort, just setting up practices and helping to instruct the members. Oh, and we had to petition the student government to pay for some new mats. That was a hassle and I'll blog on that at another time. Luckily, another student helps out with instruction but I've been the one to do everything else.

The real time suck has been my volunteering to be the student government VP of Finance. Not only am I keeping the books, writing the checks and keeping an eye on expenditures, I have to write the regulations, setup the files and clean up the bookkeeping from past neglect.

I guess I don't need more to do but I will try to keep this blog updated. Mostly for myself I guess as it may be fun to look through the posts in the years to come and see the condensed version of this journey and what I had to say about it.

Update after 4 weeks

Four weeks in and I'm wishing that I had more hours in the day because I feel that I'm not studying enough, not spending enough time with my wife, not doing enough around the house, not doing enough around the yard, not spending enough time with friends. You get the picture. The studying will have to increase as I get better at time management. It seems that studying is like running for me; if I get started, I'll work hard and feel better afterwards but the hardest part is getting started! That being said, I am getting better at it.

We had our first exam and I performed pretty well. To graduate, we just have to pass but I want to actually know the information now. When I was in undergrad I have to admit that I was pretty lazy - cramming for exams and staying up all night to finish the problem set that I had a week to complete. Now, I want to know this stuff cold! What a difference it is when you're doing something that you enjoy, that you feel is important.

Oh, and I am loving the OMT (osteopathic manipulative treatment) subject. We are learning how to feel differences in our patients, how to use our hands to heal them. Touch is a powerful thing and I think more doctors need to be taught how to touch their patients, how to use their hands to diagnose and even heal them.

Ok - enough rambling into space - back to the books!

1st week in the books

My first week consisted of three days of orientation and two of actual classes. It was pretty light but nerve-racking nonetheless. As a returning student, I'm finding that it's difficult to click with my fellow students. Their conversations about dating, video games and music are difficult to participate in because I'm not up on the latest trends in these areas. A couple of my classmates were talking about Rock Band, which I have never played and I started laughing because the last video game I played was probably Galaga, on an actual console where you put quarters in it. It is amazing to be around these students, they are a talented bunch. There are musicians, artists, writers, even a mathematician. I feel so privileged to be among them!

We dove right into dissection on the first day of class. There are five students to a cadaver so I collected four others by holding up my hand saying "we need three more here..." and counting down as one joined the group. I wanted to make the first cut but didn't want to be pushy or greedy so I suggested we do rock-paper-scissors for it. The first round every one of us chose scissors! We all broke into laughter and everyone in lab looked over at us - oops! After two more rounds, I got the honor of making the first incision. I was so jazzed to be the first! I am in awe of how resilient the human body is, how tough the skin is. Finally, I am beyond grateful for the man who chose to give his body so that I could learn hands-on about the structure and organization of the body.

Books!

The first crop of medical texts showed up yesterday and I'm so excited! I purchased all of the required texts and none of the recommended ones because I wished to stay under $2,000 for this purchase. I started reading the Histology text last night.... can't wait to be immersed in the subject but hoping I don't get under water!

Can time simultaneously fly and crawl? I have so much to do before school starts that I'm sure it won't all get done but I'm anxious to begin this next phase in my life. Recent high-level thinkers on the topic of time are saying that it's really an emergent property of nature, not a fundamental one. So, I may indeed be creating my own combination of time-dilation-contraction experience! It doesn't really matter as I've stopped counting the time between now and school in conventional units and am using 'paychecks'. There are two paychecks before school starts. Then, it's back to student loans - no more sushi Saturdays or Friday night cocktails with the gang.

Oh well - that's still two paychecks away. What about the here-and-now, the only time we know to exist? What is on my calendar?

Things I need to get done: get MMR vaccination (my titer was low), buy scrubs/books/gloves, get my study space put together.

The study space is an interesting story. My wife and I bought a small, 2-bedroom house and our niece is living with us while she goes to Community College. Therefor, I don't have a quite space where I can stretch out the books and study. I looked into buying a shed that I would insulate, electrify, drywall and paint but these things ain't cheap! Small ones start at $1500 just for the shed, then I would spend another $500 to get it in office shape. The idea popped in my head to find a vintage travel trailer that I could park in the back yard (it's an 8,000+ sf lot) and use as an office. Of course, these ain't cheap either! However, if you aren't planning on using it for it's original purpose, i.e. camping, one can be had for under $1000. I found a 19' Yellowstone circa 1964 for $700, delivered. It is missing the stove and refrigerator. The table needs to be fixed and some paneling needs to be replaced. The rear window is also missing. But, it is cheap and cute! I'm in the process of installing insulation and plywood paneling ($10 per 8'x4' panel) instead of original birch ($38 per panel). I removed the toilet and sealed some holes - the bookcase will go into the bathroom, now library. My desk will sit at the back of the trailer, facing the rear window. With a coffee maker and cat-5 cable, I think it will work. If anyone is interested, I could post pictures.

Things I want to do before school starts: Fence in the remainder of our lot. There is about 400sf of our property outside of our current fence. This space would be perfect for the office - it would get it out of view of the house. Despite being 'cute' it does take up a good chunk of the current back yard. Complete repairs on the house - the refrigerator ice maker doesn't work, the air conditioner drain is leaking, the tiny deck is falling down, and I would like to put in a vegetable garden.

All this to do, and more but I can't take any conventional time off because that would shorten my paycheck time.