How may I help, Dr.A?

Finished my 5th of 12 days in a row of work. Nothing big to report. I have continued to hang around Dr.A. I got to help him with a few more examinations. Other than that, I wanted to see what my shifts were on floor 1A but they didn't even know that I was coming! I don't know why the people who organize where people work didn't get it to work that I am on 3C for 3 weeks and 1A for three weeks! Seriously, is it that hard?

Well, since the situation on 3C is really good (they often let me leave early) and I have contact to some of the doctors and am allowed to watch operations, I will most likely stay on 3C. The nurses and Dr.A. said that they would get me on 1A for a day or so and more often into the operation room and into the baby department (hopefully to see a live birth!). I work until next Friday, everyday early shift! That means getting up at 5 every morning. Oh well, at least I like it there :)

V

Taking blood, C-sections and more

WOW, sorry I haven't posted.

Okay, so last week I worked the morning shift (6AM-1:50PM). I will condense the interesting stuff.

Monday: First day, after a lot of confusion I ended up on the OBGYN and accident surgery.

Tuesday: I met some more nice nurses.

Wednesday: I met Dr. A. The male doctors have to have a female worker with them when they do their last check up before the patient goes home. I got to go with him and watched the check up and doctor-patient conversation.

Thursday: Dr. A. showed another intern and me how to take blood which ended with him helping us take each others blood!! So cool!

Friday: I got to go into the operation room for the first time and watch three operations. The first was tissue removal of the cervix. The second was a uterus removal. The third was a c-section! The first (after my own) birth that I got to see.

Friday after work I flew down to Stuttgart to visit relatives. It was a very, very nice weekend. I flew back Sunday night.

This week I work in the afternoon (1:10PM-9PM). In this shift there is a lot less to do. I got to watch Dr. A. do an ultrasound and he explained what he was doing and looking at. At the end I met another doctor, Dr. B. (the letters are the first letter of their last name, not randomly A, B, C,...). She delivers babies, so I will be seeing more of her when I switch to the newborn department.

This time around is so much better than last year. The nurses are a lot nicer (to be fair, there were a few really nice nurses in neurology), the patients are a lot less complicated and the doctors are teaching me more. I enjoy going to work. The rest of the week will kind of drag because there is much less to do, but today I had the new German Vogue to keep me occupied :)

1st Day

A little info before I report, to help understand what I am about to write.

1A Newborn department

3A General surgery

3C Ob/Gyn

SOOOOOOOO, there was a lot of confusion this morning when I got to the hospital. In the papers that I signed it said that I was going to be on 3A for three weeks and 1A for three weeks. However, I was then told I was supposed to be on the 3C for the whole 6 weeks! Supposedly some lady said she had talked to me about it...negative ghost-rider. After all the confusion we finally came to the conclusion that I am on 3C first and then 1A. Its all good. What I am super excited about is that ALL the nurses are nice and the patients can take care of themselves to the most part. Its pretty chill. There is another intern that is still in school and wants to go to med school. She asked me a bunch of questions and we ran around the hospital together. So far nothing all to excited. I'll keep ya posted :)

V

Just FYI

Tomorrow I start my 6 week internship in the hospital. Three weeks surgery and three weeks new born department. I will post if I experience anything worth telling ;-)

SUMMER TIME!!!!!

It's true.....I finally am on break! Today was my first study free day in over 14 weeks! But what happened yesterday you ask?

I rode my bike home from my aunt's and uncle's place. It was a nice way to free the mind a bit before the exam. I went to the hospital to take care of my elective class, choose my new one for next semester and return library books. At home I tried not to think about all too much. I honestly must say though that I was not nervous. The day before I was not in the mood to study but none the less sat at my desk for 5 hours and studied. 

Everyone was pretty nervous before the exam. I on the other hand was rather chill-laxed. I just hoped that the time factor wouldn't be a problem. Once we finally got to start and I started to answer one question after another, I knew it was good. Shockingly, I had about 20 minutes of the 45 minutes left over to check all my 30 answers again and again and make sure that my answer sheet was filled in correctly. Three minutes before the end I just sat in my chair and smiled waiting for the professor to announce the begin of our summer break. Once it was over I just turned to my friend next to me and said, "cool, cool exam, I thought that was really nice of the Profs". She did not share my enthusiasm. She thought it was pretty hard and so did most of the others. Except of course for the one smart guy at my table.  I was glad to have found someone who didn't find it that difficult either. We went to the anatomy building to see if they posted the answers yet but they hadn't and wouldn't until 2PM. It was 1:30 and so we decided to go eat something first. When we were back at the anatomy building we all ran and crowded to see the answers. I just started counting the questions that I answered right. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,......opps, one wrong, fourteen, fifteen,....twenty-nine!!!!!!! I only got one wrong! I mean, that isn't the official score but I remembered what I answered and so I am pretty sure that is what I got. The actual results won't be posted until Monday. 

After having seen my score, I went into town and hung out at my aunt's for a while. When I was finally home I chatted with my family. At first I wasn't in the mood to go out and party but I felt I needed to push myself. First thing on the list was grilling in front of the hospital. I ended up staying until 10:30 or so and made my way to Sausolitos with a couple of people. We were only there for about an hour and then went on to the Blue Note Club where we danced until 4 in the morning. After having showered and gotten ready for bed, it was just about 5 in the morning. I woke up just before 8 and then actually had to get up because I had so much to get done in town before the various doctor's offices and stores closed.

This was the most difficult semester of my life but it was almost the most insightful, rewarding and fun semester of my life. I am sad that the cadavers part is over but am happy that I can now relax and be artsy again and hang with my friends outside of studying. (A few of us went to the pool today. I don'T remember the last time I was at a pool! It was SO much fun). Tomorrow we are going to drive to a near by sea. 

  
I love Summer!

4 Points

Yuppers, I got 4 points.

My first questions (What is this hole and what goes through it) where fine and I could answer them without difficulty. The other two girls I was with had a much harder time getting anything said. My second part was describing the mouth and its boundaries. I talked for a while and then got to the roof of the mouth. He started asking me what neurons took care of it and what arteries and veins could be found in that area (one of the most complicated areas to learn, I think) but I answered all of his questions. Then I got to the tonsil and he asked me where a disease could spread to if it where to break through the wall. That part I could answer. Then he asked me what the lower boundary would be....I thought about it, in my head I was thinking there isn't one but before I could say that he said "Well if I am asking like that, there probably isn't one". Well great, then don't ask. Anyways, I was still doing a whole lot better than the other two. My last area was the brain and more specifically the Hippocampus. I had to describe where it was at, what could be found around it and function. Then there was a tiny little bump of brain and he wanted to know what it was.

Quick inter-story: In one of the first weeks of the neurology section of our cadavers class, our manual said to show the "calcar avis". I asked my table Professor and my TA where I could find it. Neither of them knew what it was let alone show me where I would be able to find it. I had looked it up in my anatomy atlas at home but since neither of them seemed to find the calcar avis very important, I left it at that.

Back to my examining Professor asking what "that" is. I told him it had to be the calcar avis. I was right! I was beaming on the inside that I had looked it up that one day. But that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to know what neurons run through it!!!!! I had absoleutly no idea. I hadn't heard the term calcar avis in refrence to anything I had read or heard. First I told him "kommisuren Bahnen" which wasn't totally wrong since he said there were a few and then I told him that I didn't know. He said it was part of the optical track. Well great. 

So I left the room with 4 points. That was my initial goal so I was happy that I got them but couldn't stop playing with the missed possibility of 5 points. But after talking to a few people I noticed once more how much luck is in this examining process. From the examiner to the questions asked. One of my friends said that she thought she might get 2 points and left the room with 5 (she had my table Professor who generally was quite generous). I asked a guy from my table (known as "the Brain", I do have to say that he started learning earlier and is really motivated and talented but he works for it so people shouldn't mean it in a bad way) if he could tell me anything to "calcar avis" and he told me that he wouldn't even know where to start with that because he had no idea what it was. So you see, there is a lot of luck in what you get. 

I haven't had a study free day in over 14 weeks. I will start reviewing in about an hour after a little break and all day tomorrow except for the Germany vs Spain game. I have really worked hard and studied so much that in the end it is a big portion of luck as to what questions will be asked and I have to live with that. At least I can't blame myself for not having studied.

And with that I leave you until my next message. Probably tomorrow or latest Thursday :)

V

T minus 70 minutes

Lab coat is ironed and washed, a lot has been studied and now all I can do is wait until my oral exam. I don't have to wait long though, in less than an hour I have to be in the anatomy building and at 2PM is my exam. At this point it is a bit of luck as to how well I will do. If the Professor asks me some really specific brain connection I'm most likely screwed for that point. However, if he sticks to the anatomy that can be seen on the table I should be fine. My brain is still in off mode a bit and I keep having to turn it back on and it won't have any other choice than to work after the exam because I will have today and tomorrow to review what I have learned in the last 14 weeks. Hokey dokey, I am going to brush my teeth and soon I will be on my way over. Considering that most of you are probably still sleeping, I will most likely have posted my results before you have a chance to read this post :)

V

Juhu Germany

Why hello!

First off, YAY GERMANY for beating Argentina 4-0!

Okay, so its Sunday, my oral exam is Tuesday, I should totally be studying non-stop right? Wrong, ... well partly. I studied all morning yesterday and then watched the game and grilled at my Aunt's and Uncle's house. Today I have been way more productive but I really have to force myself to sit down and study. I'm a bit burned out from the semester although its not over yet. After my oral exam I really have to but the petal to the metal because I will have 1.5 days to review everything from the last 14 weeks. Thursday morning I will do absoleutly nothing in order to be fit for the final exam that starts at 12.

I might complain a lot about how hard and exhausting this semester is, none the less I don't want the fact to go under that I love studying medicine and that anatomy is still my favorite class. The problem is the extreme time pressure. My TA had a good point though the other day. I was talking about how stupid I thought it was to have neuroanatomy in 4 weeks. She said that we could have started in the semester breaks (as one of my fellow students did and is not half as stressed). I basically didn't have a semester break because I was constantly studying for the exam on the first day of classes which concentrated largely on bones. I would totally advise the students that are in the first semester now to defineatly get a heads start in their break so that it is not as stressful with in the semester. Also, they have a LOT more time to do so (kinda unfair, but that's life). They have a 3 month break to get ready for the class....I had about a month. Also, they will have their Christmas break with in their class which gives them even more time and a break (we had two days "off")...ugh! Oh well, I will have made it in 4 days time.

Of course I will inform you all how my oral exam went as soon as it is over with :)

V

Oh the fun I have.

Well I can say that my last oral exam is on Tuesday at 2PM with the non-neurology Professor! Non the less I still have a lot to get done till then. My final exam is Thursday at 12pm. I am so ready for a break!