February and March - because I lost track of time.....

Time flies again!!! So the ball was interesting and Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change a girl's life.... lol!After the ball was actually a whirlwind. My parents came to visit to celebrate my birthday... ya, ya, I know my birthday was in January.... but It was only 2 short weeks after I just visited from chrismas. So I asked them to come after I hadn't seen them for awhile. So they came and although I was cramming like crazy for my biochemistry final, we at least go to have the most wonderful dinner ever at Clinkerdaggers. Everything from the drinks (raspberry mojitos), to the appetizers (deep fried asparagus), to the main course (i had filet mignon with broccolini), to dessert (their famed burnt creme), everything was perfect! It was so nice to see my parents!

27 at Clinkerdaggers with my burnt creme!

Shortly after passing biochemistry by the hair of some piggy's chinny chin chin (thank you Hannah, my awesome study buddy!), I had another set of concurrent exams (3 exams in a day but about the material of a midterm for each)- this time was Neurology, Microbiology, and Immunology in the first weekend off... so although some horrendous studying was going on, I got to take part in my very first murder party. It was one of my classmate's birthdays and her boyfriend planned a surprise birthday party of sorts... a Murder Mystery Dinner. I was invited as "Mary, Queen of Schnapps" (yes the role of alcoholic and floozy was given to me). There was a greedy, power hungry monk, a flashy metro tradesmen, a feminine prince, a controlling bitchy queen, etc. etc. etc. Over 5 ish hours we had several courses of dinner and drinks and solved the role playing mystery murder! It was a blast!

My best drunk floozy face with my flask!

The group

Again

After every set of concurrents there is a day off. I usually use this day to rest/catch up on sleep (as I usually do not sleep the night before a concurrent). However, this Tuesday off I participated in a service learning day. The day began at 7am with sheep brain dissections at Shadle HS. I talked with junior/senior AP bio students about the brain, neurological deficits and how to test them, and the road to higher education in general and pertaining to medical school. There were 2 sessions of AP classes.

After a quick lunch, I continued my service learning experience by shadowing in primary care at the Native Health Clinic. ( I can't find any pictures of the clinic to post, so you'll just have to come see it in person!!) They actually see more than just the Natives too. Located right behind my summer home of the Maxwell house, the native clinic is a beautiful building with many health related amenities from counseling, nutrition, to minor outpatient surgical procedures. I finished the day about 630pm. I went home to eat dinner and watch some TV, which actually turned into me sleeping 11 hours straight!


As life continued, (and basketball season inevitably ended) drop-in volleyball resurfaced!!! Volleyball makes me so happy. I started playing monday night drop in and got picked up for a friday night league team (aptly named Credit Card Verticals). 2 days of volleyball a week is not nearly enough, but is enough to keep me sane, for the time being, until it's sunny and warm.

Flashback to 2003

The third Friday in March arrived (Friday March 16). In the nation this is a huge day for medical students, mainly 4th years though. It is Match Day. For my non MD scholar friends, let me explain this so in 3 years you will be ready for my Match Day.

Match Day abbreviated by me from a wiki explanation:
Access to graduate medical training programs (AKA Residency) is a competitive process known as "the Match." Medical students usually begin the application process at the beginning of their 4th/final year in medical school. After they apply to programs, programs review applications and invite selected candidates for interviews held between October and February. After the interview period is over, students submit a "rank-order list" to a centralized matching service (National Resident Matching Program, aka NRMP) by February. Similarly, residency programs submit a list of their preferred applicants in rank order to this same service. The process is blinded, so neither applicant nor program see each other's list. These lists are combined by an NRMP computer, which creates optimal matches of residents to programs using an algorithm. THEN On the third Friday of March each year ("Match Day") these results are announced in Match Day ceremonies SIMULTANEOUSLY at all 155 U.S. medical schools (HI at 6 am, The same applies to the programs; they are obligated to take the applicants who matched into them.The Monday prior to Match Day, students find out from NRMP if (but not where) they matched. If they have matched, they must wait until the Match Day (later in the week) to find out where. If they have not secured a position through the Match, the locations of remaining unfilled residency positions are released to unmatched applicants the following day. These applicants are given the opportunity to contact the programs about the open positions. This is what is known as "The scramble." This frantic, loosely structured system forces soon-to-be medical school graduates to choose programs not on their original Match list. (aka living hell).....

Match lists are longer for those specialities that are more competitive (of course EVERY program I'm an interested in: plastics, ortho, ent...) and the process grueling.... so in 2015 be ready for lots of match related talk and interview babble... :D


This leads me to March 17.... St. Patty's Day! In Spokane this happens to be a pretty big deal. There is a huge parade downtown with skirted men and bag pipes, green beer, and lots of reubens and corned beef and cabbage! I worked the morning in the homeless health clinic at House of Charity. I improved on patient presenting, and utilized my knowledge of wounds to asses cases I had not yet seen before. I was mentored that day by urologist Dr. Robert Goldman - and he was awesome.... made me even consider urology (guess what?! that's a competitive specialty too!!! I have an unfortunate trend lol!) The afternoon was filled with some green beer and much studying.

Studying on a saturday?! Yes, because as happy as I was thinking I would be in CA in a little more than a week, it also meant I had to pass a concurrent set of exams the Friday before Spring break, with only 1 day of for studying (compared to 2+ when a weekend is before a concurrent). That last week flew by with little sleep. However, it all paid off and I not only passed all my exams, I got an A on ALL of them!!! :D - As a reward, I ordered myself new vball/workout shoes and a rain coat (Seattle here I come).

With a day to sleep a bit, I rested an hopped on a plane with my little boys to go visit the fam bam in (almost) sunny so cal!

I will recap that sooner than later - but back to studying for me... because, did I mention that although I had 3 exams the day before spring break, I have a FINAL in Immunology Monday when I get back????... BOO. Oh well, Keep Calm and Carry On!