The Countdown has Begun!!!

According to the countdown posted on my facebook page, there are 7 days and 16 hours (as I write this) standing between me and the end of the first year of medical school. Along with getting through this upcoming week of lectures, neurology apprenticeship, anesthesia simulator session, MSP, neuorpsychological small group and all the exam reviews sessions, I also need to pencil in time to study for the upcoming BMB cumulative final.

This last week was somewhat momentous. We had our first doctoring final, with mystery patients who presented with actual conditions. We had to perform different parts of the physical exam and reveal our findings; I performed the abdominal exam and the neurological exam. According to the director, the purpose of the exam was not to test us, but to make us realize how much we have learned since starting not so long ago.

We have certainly come along way. We are still completing checklists, but we have better insight into the purpose of why we do the things we do. The motions of palpating or percussing the abdominal are so much natural and less robotic. "I could tell that you were using your hands to feel for anything abnormal," my patient told me, after I completed abdominal exam.



We also had our last small essential core group session for the year. We ended with a neurogenetics session and a group picture. And we made our final trip to the Marena to visit our preceptor's office. We bid farewell to Honcho (the office dog), inflammed noses (purple on the inside) and allergy medicine.

It is odd. Whenever we plan bonfires, the days leading up to the weekend are sunny and warm and then all of a sudden the fogs rolls in on the day of the bonfire. That is San Francisco weather for you- unpredictable and bipolar at times. My friends were talking about this on Saturday as a group of us huddled close to keep ourselves warm during a bonfire at Ocean Beach.

Time with my friends and the bonfire, with all its warmth and glow, was exactly what I needed before I descend into the vortex of studying with limited social interaction. My favorite part of bonfires is definitely the smores, the perfect combination of crunchy (graham cracker), melted (chocolate) and gooey (marshmallow).



I have to admit, this weekend has been unproductive when it comes to studying, or perhaps I need to set more realistic expectations. There is just so much information. Going back to Day 1 of BMB, recalling all the intricacies of the neuroanatomy and all neural circuitry is going to take some work. It's hard enought to recall the information I learned last week. It's going to be that more challenging to relearn the massive amount of information that has invariably escaped my short term memory stores.

It can be discouraging studying at times (kind of feels like the image below). But I know this will pass...and what awaits us at the end is 2 months of summer vacation. Well a pseudo-vacation (I'll be doing research).



Cheers to the last week of BMB (the last full week of MS 1). It's amazing how in 7 days I will be 25% done with medical school, in what feels like a blink of an eye.

The Countdown has officially begun!!!