crazy med student

as i sit here in my pink adidas headband that pey got me for christmas (along with an excellent racquetball racquet), debating how late to study for fuel metabolism, i ponder about the odd things that people will do. for example, i will be awake for the next few hours studying for an exam that is pass/not pass and has little to do with my ability as a doctor (unless i fail). i have already spent the last few nights awake until the break of dawn going over the pathways of fatty acids and glucose. instead of working diligently this evening, my classmates and i deliberated all the places we would really like to travel to, but do not have the means or time to do so. and then we griped about how our non-med friends seem to have it much easier and better than we do.

earlier in the evening, i had my nose numbed and cleared before an ENT fellow stuck a fiber optic camera in my nose and down my nasal cavity. i saw my pink spotty epiglottis and white vocal cords, which stretched when the doctor told me to say "eee." there's a lot of fleshy tissue down near my larynx. it was SOOO cool. my classmates crowded around the tv display thought so too. i also have very clean ears and an intact tympanic membrane (ear drum).

look what the first four months of medical school can do. i've spent days in scaife just absorbing anatomy terminology without seeing the light of day. i've taken my experimental streak to a new level, being part of a champion kickball team, learning how to climb, and taking on racquetball (yes, so doctor cliche). i'm finally adjusted to life in western pennsylvania, though i'm still marveling when white stuff falls from the sky. i know terms i could barely pronounce six months ago and i can perform a physical exam (don't ask me what's wrong...yet). i've made friends with super intelligent people of all backgrounds and experiences - with a common passion for medicine. i've realized medical school takes all kinds - some intense, some worldly, some empathetic, some erudite - to produce the most able physicians that provide the best patient care. it's crazy stuff. we're crazy people. otherwise we wouldn't be doing this.