The Final Sprint: Finishing Up My First Term of Medical School!

The GA-PCOM D.O. Class of 2018!

In exactly one week I will have completed my first term of medical school! I’m even more excited that afterwards I will have a little over a week to relax and do absolutely nothing! This term has been quite the experience, and although I wouldn’t change any of it for the world, I’m definitely looking forward next term.

Yesterday, we not only had our last lecture of the term, but we also had our last anatomy lab session until we hit neuroscience in the spring. One of my classmates came up with the awesome idea of getting together for an informal class picture, and our class chair pulled it off flawlessly. Anatomy lab is probably the only time that our entire class is in the same room together, so it worked out perfectly. Our professors even got in on the action which made it even better. I’m definitely going to miss my time in anatomy lab. I absolutely loved dissecting (even if it was for 4 or more hours at a time), and it really helped with lecture to be able to visualize the structures. Plus, it really was a nice break from lectures. Starting second term, we won’t have any labs to help bring up our written exam scores, and the entire day will be filled with lectures. I have no idea how I’m going to handle straight lectures from 8am-5pm :-/

The good news about next term is we will be going from SPOM (which covered anatomy, radiology, histology, physiology, and embryology) to the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Medicine (CMBM). CMBM will cover biochemistry, cell biology, clinical medicine, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. This will be way more subject matter that what we covered in SPOM, but I’m excited because I’m already familiar with most of the subjects. Here’s to hoping my master’s degree in biochemistry comes through for me!  

The end of the term also means final exams, and starting Monday I will have exams every day until Thursday, so I probably won’t post again until I am completely finished. My daughter’s birthday is also next week, so I will have to figure out how to celebrate and keep her happy with exams in the way. Oddly enough I feel really good about the upcoming written exam, but that can always go both ways, so please keep me in your prayers.  We also have an OMM practical along with a PCS final exam, so it’s going to be a very busy time. I hope you all have a fantastic week, and hopefully the next time you hear from me, I’ll be super happy :-)

A Little Mid-Week Inspiration :-)

I know most of you have probably already viewed this video, but it is too good not to share. I've been getting myself down about classes over the last few days, and this was just the pick-me-up I needed to get back in focus. With that being said, there are only 2 weeks left until the term ends, so I am going to finish hard and finish strong!

Being a Single Parent in Medical School: An Update

Not too long ago, someone left a comment under one of my posts asking me about any difficulties or adjustments that I have had to make now that I am balancing school and being a parent completely on my own. To be perfectly honest, there hasn’t been much of a difference between having someone here to help versus doing it solo. I previously had not lived with my significant other, so for me, it was more of an adjustment having to deal with having another person around. I have also raised my daughter on my own since she was around 1, and I find that as she gets older and becomes more self-sufficient, things tend to get a lot easier.

In terms of adjustments, my daughter now takes a bus to after-care every day when she gets out of school, and they are open on school holidays and half-days, so it has not affected my ability to attend classes. I had not taken child care costs into account when I first started school, so that has been a bit of a struggle, but so far we are making out pretty well. My daughter seems to be pretty happy with after-care, and we still have a normal nightly schedule that we follow at home, so that is the only adjustment I have had to make so far.

As for difficulties, I can no longer go to campus or the lab whenever I want, but I tend to study better at home anyway. Due to liability issues, children aren’t allowed on campus, so it does interfere with my ability to attend study groups, but technology is a huge help with this. Online chat groups, Skype, and Facebook have made it easier to study with my classmates and make sure that I am not missing important points. When I have to study at home on the weekends, my daughter has been pretty good about leaving me alone, and I still make sure to completely devote one day a week towards spending time with her. Today we went shopping and carved pumpkins :-) I’m also limited in the amount of social or volunteering events that I can attend, but that just means that I have more time to study. So to make a long story short, being a parent in medical school is definitely a different experience than most other students will face, but it is definitely doable. It’s a balancing act that takes time to perfect (I’m still working on it myself), and there will be times when the dreaded “mommy-guilt” pops ups, but I know what I am doing will benefit both of us in the long run so I keep on pushing. 

White Coat Official!!!!

First selfie in my new white coat!

It feels so good to finally have my white coat! On Saturday, October 18^th, GA-PCOM held its White Coat Ceremony for the Class of 2018, and it was probably one of the biggest highlights of my life so far. I was lucky to have my parents and my little sister come to town to share in the special occasion (and watch my daughter, lol), and although it was a short ceremony, it was pretty awesome. Our Class Chair gave a speech that pretty much brought everyone to tears, and we even had one of the past students (who is now a 4^th year General Surgery Resident) speak about her battle with breast cancer while she attended GA-PCOM and what the white coat means to her. Sitting through the ceremony really made me reflect on everything it took to get to this point, and words really can’t describe how blessed I really am. It’s amazing that something as simple as a white coat can add so much confirmation to my purpose in life. I get really emotional just thinking about it, and I’m nowhere close to even graduating yet, LOL!

But anyway, the majority of this post will be pictures because I need to get back to studying. I had both a written and practical exam today, and I have one more exam to take tomorrow before I can finally relax. While having family in town was nice, it definitely took away from my studying and my written exam score definitely reflected that today, so back to the books! 

Can't look at this picture without smiling! So happy to be a GA-PCOM student doctor!

The moment I was "coated"

So blessed to know this awesome group of people!

Sisterly love :-)

My daughter and my parents

Mother-Daughter Love

Father-Daughter Love

P.S. If you want to see more pictures from the event, check out the White Coat Ceremony album on GA-PCOM's Facebook page. You'll find me in a couple on there too :-)

Small Medical School Accomplishments and Celebrating Champions in Healthcare

Me and Dr. Regina Benjamin, 18th Surgeon General of the United States

Last week was definitely a good one! I received the grades back for both my OMM and SPOM practical exams, and I am happy to say that I did well on both of them. I received mostly 100’s on all my stations for OMM, with the exception of cervical muscle energy. I was so nervous that I had my patient look the wrong way for the oculocephalogyric reflex, and it brought my score down 20 points for that one station. Overall I came out with an A for the entire practical, and I do not have to remediate any parts of the exam! Remediation is required if a student makes less than an eighty percent on any station on the exam, so I am pretty happy I managed to do well. As for SPOM, we received our practical grades back early Thursday morning, and I was just so happy that I did well enough to pass the entire exam altogether with my written score included. Later that afternoon we received an e-mail saying that the breakdown of our written scores was available, and when I went to check, I was shocked to find that my score jumped up 11 points! It turns out that a few questions had more than one correct answer or they were simply thrown out, and I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it. I finally feel like I am getting the hang of medical school, and even though the work never stops, I can finally stop stressing at least a little bit.  

Class, anatomy lab, and both lunch and dinner with the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Friday was a very busy, but definitely good day!

Aside from grades, Friday was definitely the highlight of not only my week, but medical school so far. Dr. Regina Benjamin, the 18^th Surgeon General of the United States, came to GA-PCOM to speak to us and hold a Q&A session during lunch, and it was a wonderful experience. The GA-PCOM SNMA chapter (which I am a member of) presented her with a quilt at the end, and she even let me take a picture with her. Not only is Dr. Benjamin extremely intelligent and down-to-earth, but she also holds 23 honorary degrees, and does a lot of work to help rural and underserved communities. It was definitely an honor to be in the same room with her.

Later that evening, GA-PCOM held an inaugural Champions of Healthcare dinner that featured Dr. Benjamin as the keynote speaker. This was an amazing event that honored some of the outstanding staff, faculty, and students of GA-PCOM, and it was great to have one night of fun without studying. I also loved the fact that I got to have a chance to socialize and have drinks with both my professors and classmates alike. I thought I wouldn’t know too many people at the event since I am a first year student, but I probably knew half the people in the room! One thing that Dr. Benjamin said during her speech that evening was that the Lord takes you where you need to be, and as I looked around I couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that I really am where I need and want to be. I’m sure every medical student thinks their school is the best, but I truly believe mine wins hands down. GA-PCOM has everything I could ever want in a medical school, including diversity, a sense of community, and amazing students, faculty, and staff alike. I just feel so blessed to have been accepted into the school, and I hope that I can continue to work hard enough, so that I too can one day become a champion of healthcare.