MSF Refugee Camp

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know of a really interesting opportunity coming up. Doctors Without Borders is touring throughout the U.S. during September and October and setting up mock refugee camps in selected cities. This week they are in Chicago (Wednesday 9/19--Sunday 9/23) and are setting up camp in Grant Park. It's a free exhibit and I've posted some of the information from the website below.

Even if you're not in medicine or not interested in international medicine, this is a great opportunity to get out of your bubble and see what conditions millions of people are forced to live in each day. If you are anywhere near the Chicago area in the next week and can make it to this exhibit I think it will be a great experience.

Information from the website:

In September and October 2007, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will be taking its outdoor educational exhibit A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City to Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, and Dallas.
Guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in, for example, Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan.

The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center.
It addresses questions such as:

Will I be safe?

What will I eat?

How do I find water?

Can I get medical care?

Where will I live?

Learn more about the issues refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) face with this interactive guide.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. If you are planning to come with a group of 15 or more please schedule a group visit for your city: Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, or Dallas.
Individuals are welcome without reservations.

For more specific information on the Chicago site, go to their website at:http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/chicago/

So It's been a while...

I have been MIA from this site for about 2 months now and I figured it was time for an update. I just haven't found much time in the past few months to update this thing! I'll give a quick summary of what my life has been the last few months....

July: Finished up with summer classes and then headed to my favorite lake in the world for a week of skiing, tubing, jet skiing, and just generally bumming it in the sun with my family. It was great to unwind finally after boards/summer classes and everything else that had been going on. Also, as we all get older and busier, the times that I get to spend with my family are shorter and farther between.

August: Got back to KC, packed up the last two years of my life (which were some of the most emotional days I've had in a long time), loaded up my car, said goodbye to my brother and Bentley and headed to St. Louis for some time with my parents. I was in St. Louis for about 4 days and then headed from there to good old Toledo. I was by myself in Toledo for about a week with no furniture until my parents brought up the rest of my things that next weekend. I lived here for about a week and then spent a week and a half traveling to Detroit, Chicago, and South Bend to visit friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was a great time but exhausting!

September: Got back into Toledo on Labor day, had orientation at the hospital for 3 days, headed BACK to South Bend on the 3rd day for Jen and Andy's wedding, spent a long weekend in South Bend, went to the Baptism, headed back to Toledo, and started rotations on Monday.
So far rotations have been going OK; I feel completely incompetent and have no idea how to treat anyone's conditions (but I can do a mean H&P!--history and physical).

I don't really have a lot of interest in family medicine but it's an interesting representation of the population I think. I'm slowly realizing that most people are dealing with a lot more than they ever let on. Whether it's a physical or mental disease, so many people are struggling daily--some have accepted what they're going through and are trying their best to fix the situation as best as they can. Others deny that there even is a problem and continue living their lives the only way they know how as their minds and bodies deteriorate further. I think the hardest ones to understand though are those who realize that there is something going on in their bodies that is destroying them, but still refuse to be compliant to the instructions of their doctor, the person in their life who has their best interest at heart and only wants them to live a long and healthy life. They know there's a problem, but they just don't seem to care.

As I was thinking about this this week, God did a little nudging on me. Which category do I fall into when it comes to the things in my life that are hurting me spiritually? Sadly, I don't think I'm too often the first one--the one who realizes there is a problem and complies quickly with what needs to be done to fix it. Usually I find myself in one of the last two categories. Either I have gotten so used to my sub-standard state of "health" that I don't even realize there's a problem or worse, I'm in the last category--I realize there's a problem in my life, but I'm too lazy to care. The problem is, just like any disease, the problem doesn't go away if you just pretend it's not there. While I'm pretending I'm OK and ignoring all the warning signs, it is silently destroying parts of me that God wants to heal if I'll just let Him.

OK, so I wasn't planning on having all that come out. Hopefully it made sense. There's been a lot of things running through my head lately and this is just one of them. I'm really starting to enjoy and learn so much from this new chapter in my life. I'll try to keep you all as updated as time allows on anything interesting I stumble across! :)

Adding to my excitement...

I found out today that I passed the USMLE (and I actually did better than I had hoped too!!!). This was great news to top off a great day. Today was the last day of summer classes and I am now, FINALLY officially a third year medical student. It's weird that in less than two years I'll be done with med school!

Today was a little bittersweet, because with all of us moving, I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends that at this point I won't see until graduation. It's sad moving away, but I know we're all headed for great things in the next few years.

Well, that's really all I had to share so I'll go now...I'm moving in 3ish weeks and I haven't even started packing so maybe I should get on with that! :)

Loving life

This is how carefree and happy I've been feeling lately.... :) I love life after boards!

Just thought I'd let you share in my ridiculous happiness!

Hilarious

Today in class we had a seven hour (yeah...that was fun) lecture on "Medical Jurisprudence." This exciting, thrill-a-minute lecture had lots of things on torts, contract negotiation, medical malpractice, documentation, sham peer review, and all sorts of other thrilling things. However, at one point, the lawyer/doctor (now that's a lot of school!) who was lecturing to us shared this story which is below. It's an actual letter to a lawyer requiring further explanation of this patient's claim of Worker's compensation. Just read it...I was laughing hysterically...although I did get little sleep the night before!

Dear Sir:
I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put "Worker's Compensation" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.
I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs.
Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3 of the accident reporting form.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight.
As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body.
Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

Random Thoughts from my Random Brain

I've been trying to write a blog for a while now, but every time I sit down to do it I can't seem to find words to make complete sentences and paragraphs. So, inspired by my friend Jeanna's blog, I'm just going to bullet-point this thing and spit out whatever random things come to mind from the last few months!

• I've been away from this for way too long! Boards consumed most of my time and brain power from about March to June. Thank goodness they're finally over (at least this part of them)
• I've been way too out of touch with friends lately; I don't like that.
• Washington D.C. was amazing! I had so much fun, learned so much and met so many great people!
• Last week was so amazing; now that the most "intense" (if you can call anything we're doing during summer session intense) part of summer session is over I've done so many fun things that I've wanted to do for so long!
• I went to World's of Fun last Tuesday...so much fun, although I realized I must be getting old. I never used to get nauseated at theme parks! It wasn't horrible, but I used to be able to do anything there without anything happening...I left with a headache. I'm old...at the ripe-old age of 24.
• I passed boards (at least the COMLEX)!!!! I think I actually did pretty well too. I was excited. USMLE scores should be coming in the next week or so, so we'll see how they went.
• I'm moving to Toledo in a little over a month; I have what seems like a million things to do before that happens. I have to pack everything in my house (and sort it out from all of my brother's stuff), figure out when exactly I'm moving out there, how I'm getting all my stuff out there, change addresses with all the necessary people, put down way too much money to move, sell a bunch of old books and buy a bunch of new ones, and a million other things! I am excited for this new chapter, but moving takes a lot of work! This is my 7th move in the last 6 years! I'm getting a little tired of all of this.... :)
• I got my rotation schedule; I start with two months of family medicine which is great. It should give me some time to ease in before my surgery rotation (yikes) in November.
• I get a grand total of 5 official days off 3rd year...fabulous. :)
• I'm going to miss Bentley when I move; he can be a pain, but he's a cutie!
• I'm not going to miss waking up at 5am to Bentley barking!
• I'm so excited for vacation with my family in 2 weeks! It will be a whole week of nothing but relaxing on the boat on the lake, water-skiing, jet-skiing, good home-cooked meals, and a lot of fun with my family...and best of all, summer classes will be over, so no guilt about not studying!
• I miss all of my wonderful friends in South Bend, and all around the country. Hopefully I get to see a lot of them before rotations start.
• Moving is kind of bittersweet; I'm excited to start this new and exciting thing, but it's sad knowning I have to say goodbye to some great friends I've made here in the past few years before I can start that. In all likelihood, we'll only see each other for 1 or 2 more days after this for graduation and then that's it....weird spending every day for the last two years with a group of people, going through so many of the same things, and then just having it all end so soon. :(
• I can't believe the first 2 years of med school are already done. It's gone so fast! In two more years I'll be (if everything goes as planned) a doctor!
• I went to a free outdoor play of Romeo and Juliet in the park in downtown KC last week; it was a great show, and a fun time!
• The art museum in KC is amazing; how did I not know about this FREE attraction earlier??
• The KC Royals Baseball game on Friday was fun; I went with a few friends from school. The Royals are absolutely pitiful, but the fireworks at the end were amazing!

Well, I know there's more that's gone on, but I have some research to do for my International Medicine class, so I should get back to it. I hope everything is amazing in all of my friends' and family's lives. More to come later!

Best Birthday Present Ever!!

OK, so I've been trying to write a post for weeks now, but I just haven't found much to write on (even though I know there's been a lot going on). For now though, this short posting will have to do.

Two days ago I found out that I PASSED THE COMLEX Step 1!!!!!! (These are the D.O. boards). I was so excited when I found out! I still haven't gotten my official score report, and quite frankly the scores are even more confusing than the test itself was, but I know that I passed and from what I understand I think I did well-ish...we'll see once I figure out the scores! :) Just thought I'd report my happy news!

Happy fourth of July everyone!