Medical School Recap Block 2 Week 3: Somebody stop this thing…

Also... Friday the 13th sounded like a good test day? C'mon FOLKS!

1. I feel like I’ve been in medical school long enough to say this with some authority: Once we are dead, we all pretty much look the same. While I can’t expound on this too much, I have observed that it really doesn’t matter what color you are, what gender you are, or what political party you subscribe to — the only thing that makes you stand out on a slab is any extra features that were added during your lifetime. Pacemakers, scars, surgeries, enhancements — things like that do show up on closer examination. But medical students can’t tell whether you were greatly loved, or if you voted for Bush, or if anyone attended your funeral. Some of us like to imagine what your life might have been like. More than any of that, we are inspired by what might have led you to make the tremendous gift that you did to medicine and to people you didn’t even know (HOPEFULLY). I think about their souls sometimes. I’m a Christian, and I remember thinking as a child that you had to be buried in a grave somewhere to go to Heaven. I have no idea where that idea came from, but when I first learned about people gifting their body to science or medicine, I wondered where their souls went. One thing I do know is that their souls aren’t there any more, and that it isn’t just biological function that animates a body. But that’s all way too deep for this post, eh?
2. Someone came up to me this week and said that they had asked someone about how I was doing, and was told that block two was turning out to be a lot easier than block one. I balked at that statement, because I like to think I’m working a lot harder than I actually am sometimes. Also the word easy really can’t be applied to medical school in my opinion. But after I thought about it, I guess I could say that block one conditioned me to be able to function better in block two. I didn’t come to medical school to fail, but I am constantly learning what it takes to do well enough and be able to incorporate some ‘real life’ into this chaos. The concepts are not as difficult to grasp in this block because they are all related to the core concept of the musculoskeletal system. There is a lot of overlap and repetition (thankfully), and there is more rhyme and reason to learning the information. But easy probably isn’t the right word.
3. Everyone seems to have caught the plague and mostly recovered. I think the HB might be trying to come down with it now, which is not acceptable because he runs this joint. I remember when the kids were little and they’d get sick, I’d catch myself being envious of being able to lay in bed and be excused from life for a little bit. John sometimes says he won’t get his flu shot because he wants to be able to take a week off and catch up on his favorite shows on the DVR. I have to remind him the flu is not worth it. Since I’ve brought up flu shots, GET YOURS PEOPLE!
4. So one of the things you might like to know is if you see a new blog post pop up, I’m probably supposed to be studying. Like now, for instance. This week we have a pathology exam on Monday (that’s tomorrow, Val — seriously) and an anatomy exam along with the separate but equally important lab practical on Friday. And it’s not like there’s a lot of time during the week to get a bunch of studying accomplished. Peer tutoring, reviews, labs, and various meetings tend to impinge on what isn’t a lot of free time. So this is me whining about an upcoming busy week as usual. You’ll just have to excuse me if I feel like my chaos>your busy-ness this week. I think this is part of how they make us heartless in medical school. ;)