Block 6 Weeks 5-8 (OMG SORRY!): Reproductive block has been interesting...

No you didn't miss any announcements from me, that factory is still closed, padlocked, and condemned. I've surely meant to update the blog more often, and actually it hasn't been an extremely busy block as far as course load. It's just having a little extra time allows for the things that get brushed aside during busy-ness, like laundry and seeing my kids and HB. I can't believe we are already 8 weeks in! Three more weeks until block break and then CHRISTMAS!

This block is about all things endocrine and reproductive. I have become immune to sitting in a room full of fellow medical students while hearing words that would make my mother cover her ears and run screaming from the room. I was a lot more flip about the terminology during the OB/GYN lectures, and then the Urology lectures started. And the PICTURES, people! I used to be rather ambivalent about how people used their parts before the myriad slides of diseased ones paraded before my eyes. Now I'm walking up to complete strangers and urging them to TAKE PRECAUTIONS PLEEEEAASSSE!!!! My poor children have been victim to my many rants on the dangers out there. 

So yeah, Christmas is coming. I feel like we JUST had our school Halloween party, and then suddenly I'm doing the ceiling-high stack of Thanksgiving dishes and all the leftovers are gone. I'll also be celebrating a birthday in a few weeks. It's getting to be quite a few candles stacked on the cake nowadays. But 43 seems like a bit of a dud birthday. It's not exactly a milestone birthday, but it is one more year around the sun, so I'm grateful. What do I want for my birthday? Well anyone that has a birthday this close to Christmas will tell you that it kinda gets swallowed up into the Christmas festivities and so it's not as big of a deal. But I've never felt like I got cheated out of my birthday. My parents always made a pretty big fuss over the day (well we celebrate for DAYS instead of just the day). I used to think that grownups shouldn't make such a big deal about birthdays, but as I get older I realize another birthday is a huge gift that a lot of people don't get. So I like to party it up. Before school started, I would gather all my girlfriends and go to a restaurant and have a nice meal. I also make these ridiculous cupcakes that I sorta invented. So I suppose I'll whip up a batch of my special cupcakes and hang out with some buddies. As far as gifts go, I can't really think of anything. I'm such an amazon addict that I tend to just order up something if I need it. So I guess there's nothing I'm really crossing my fingers for this year. Most of the things I'd love to have are concepts like sleep, a few days where I didn't have to worry about studying, a sudden proficiency at standardized patients, and the kind of recall I had in high school that bordered on photographic. 

So even though this block is winding down, the big push as of now is boards boards boards. We take them at the end of second year, and everyone is worried about passing and doing well. I haven't started worrying about it yet. I have a prescribed study plan from our academic counseling center, and I try really hard to stick to it, but I'm not as good as I'd like to be in that department. I even have reminders in my phone to do the study questions every day, and review of pharm and micro on the weekends. But sometimes when they pop up I'm just like, oh I will do that tomorrow. UGH! So this weekend I plan to catch up on a lot of that and make myself stick to the plan going forward. 

Speaking of procrastination, I'm currently blogging instead of studying for my standardized patient, which is TOMORROW. So I'm off to read all about all the embarrassing questions I will have to ask a perfect stranger. I'm also going to have to stand in front of a mirror and say a bunch of embarrassing words so I won't giggle tomorrow. Also gotta work on my facial expressions. Anyone know how to teach yourself not to blush?

Block 6 Week 2-4: Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.

Once again I have failed at keeping my blog up to date. I apologize, it has been BIZZAY lately. SO today's blog post is going to be Waterboy themed. You'll see why.

 

One of the most difficult parts about being a mom of six in medical school is when someone gets hurt. Zion (17yo) hurt his hand at football practice a few weeks back, and I happened to be out of town at a conference. This is strike #1 of mommyhood. I called and scheduled an appointment with the orthopedic doctor for him the next morning, but I couldn't get back home until later in the afternoon. Come to find out, he had a pretty serious spiral fracture in his hand. Also, since I didn't attend the appointment (strike #2), he managed to beg his doctor to allow him to play in the last game of the season. With a broken hand.

So fast forward to this past Tuesday AFTER the last game of the season (which they lost), and we find out that his hand did not heal right, and he has to have surgery. They scheduled his surgery for Friday morning at 6am. Well, Friday morning at 6am, I was expected to be loading up to head to the Middle of Nowhere High School where a group of us medical students presented a "Mini Med-School" to freshmen. Oh yeah, strike #3. I tried to get out of it, but it wasn't a possibility. So, I left his Dad in charge and drove out to the boonies to give my presentation. We finished pretty early in the morning, so I had a chance to actually get back to the hospital before he woke up from recovery. Well, that is, until I tossed my KEYS in the trunk and shut it without realizing. So not only did my son wake up from surgery without his mom, I had to call his dad away from the hospital to help me get into my car. The poor baby woke up looking for his parents and NEITHER of them were there. What happens when you get to strike #4? I'm pretty sure I've lost my Mom Card. 

So to make up for my glaring failure as a mother, I took the night shift last night. I set an alarm on my phone to wake up every four hours and take his temp and give him meds. The poor baby has been apologizing for needing to be taken care of, and I feel like a complete heel. 

I was really hoping when I went back to school that my kids wouldn't have to take the brunt of my absence and raise themselves. I always wanted for them to have the type of mom that sent them off to school in the morning and greeted them in the afternoon with cookies and that whole Leave it to Beaver kind of scene. The thing is, even if I hadn't gone back to school, I'm just not the June Cleaver type. But I do love my kids, and I don't want to scar them for life with Bad Mom Moments. Nobody means for their kids to turn out delinquents, but sometimes I feel like I'm following the formula for that outcome. Look at poor Vicky Valencourt. I'm sure her Momma went back to school and left her to fend for herself, and see what happened...

But hey, Zion really wants to play football, and he hopes to be able to play in college as well. So maybe like Bobby Boucher, he can use all the mistreatment he has endured at the hands of his mother to encourage him to play really well.

And hopefully he won't run across a little minx like Vicky Valencourt, because, well you know...

He did tell me yesterday (while his anesthesia was still wearing off) that I shouldn't feel bad about not being there for him for surgery. He said I could make it up to him once I'm a doctor. He even sang a cute little song:

Buy Me a Boat