Well, it’s the night before Christmas…
not really…
several people requested that I start a journal entry at the conference - so I thought I’d start here.
tomorrow starts orientation at LECOM-B. For those of you that aren’t familiar it’s Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine - Bradenton Campus (which is in Bradenton, Florida - near Sarasota/Tampa).
I haven’t been to campus in several months - so I’m sure I’m in for a fun trip tomorrow. I’m excited, but apprehensive about the whole thing. I’m sure it will end up just fine.
I am staying with a friend who is an MSII. I put my house in NC on the market back in March, and after much ado and at the 11th hour (well, 10:50 actually) we got an offer and contract. The new buyers are hoping to take posession by August 15th. I am staying with my friend here in Bradenton until we can find new housing or come to some type of resolution about housing.
We have been looking in the St. Petersburg area, and my husband seems to be set on a fixer-upper (I have my reservations!). But we will see.
My laptop for school has not yet arrived. it will be the 3rd one I’ve ordered (the other 2 have been defective).
The most unusual experience so far is being away from my family. My husband and boys are still in NC and will stay there until the house sells at the very least - most likely until we’re ready to move into something permanent… This is very strange - actually… to be away from two little boys that normally run around screaming and my husband who usually ignores them. 
The days go by MUCH faster than they did before. It seems like I wake up, run around, and then pass out some time after midnight…
I’ve purchased most of my required books. They were only about $900. I think I’m missing 2 of them… there are other additional suggested texts, but I have not purchased them and don’t know that I will. Financial Aid doesn’t provide for all of the texts that they suggest that you have - which is insane. I never thought I would need all of that money, but I think there’s a reason why med students are still considered starving college students.
Sorry this entry is long and boring… I’m sure I’ll have something fun to report tomorrow…
Andrea
I hope Orientation goes well for you, Andrea! My orientation starts 3 weeks from tomorrow. Good luck with selling and buying houses - I know what a pain it can be.
Be sure to let us know what kind of excitement (or boredom) we can expect from orientation!!
Amy
Yes–good luck with orientation! I hope it is fun. Tell us what kind of things they do. I am curious because I have hardly heard anything about orientation from my own school, other than that I have to be there and it starts in less than a month.
What classes will you start out with?
Andrea,
First of all, best of luck as you begin this new adventure! Second, check into subscribing to MDConsult (http://home.mdconsult.com) before buying too many extra books. They have a lot of them online, including some of the best ones you can find (Robbins, Cecil, Nelson, etc.). And look into www.statref.com . They have a lot of reference books available online, too, including some great pharm references and Harrison’s. Just sign up for a free trial and when it runs out, use your husband’s name for another, then your boys names, and so on. I got through a year and a half, and I still have a free trial using my husband’s name. It is really expensive to get a statref subscription, but the free trials can go on and on.
Enjoy your orientation week! And have a great time learning your OMT!
Andrea! You definitely don’t need to buy all your textbooks! In addition to what Linda has pointed out about MDConsult, you also will almost certainly have the chance to buy books second-hand from upper classmen at your school. And in fact textbooks are used very differently in med school from undergrad work. They’re kind of a suggestion, definitely not a requirement with few exceptions. One of the things you’ll likely encounter at orientation is a “pearl panel,” a session where students ahead of you at LECOM tell you all the good stuff that isn’t in the official printed matter you get from the school. And one of the things those students are likely to tell you about is how to save money and avoid blowing too much of it on suggested stuff that turns out not to be necessary.
Have lots of fun!
Mary
3 days of orientation…
Well…the first day wasn’t too bad…
They gave us a general overview of the program… went over the dress code, etc…
The shock was when they said that if we didn’t study 6+ hours a day that we wouldn’t do very well… (not that I expected to not study - but given that we’re in class until 5, studying more than 7 hours and getting any sleep is really a difficult prospect).
At the end of the day, they made us take a test! They said it wouldn’t be graded or used for a basis to decide what we knew… but you always suspect that they might be lying…
I think that immediately raised everyone’s (or at least mine) anxiety levels… ie this is not going to be “fun” (easy), not that I ever expected it would be…
The second day we went over more rules and regulations. This was a shorter day than the previous and we actually had some time to do stuff later in the day… I started studying… 
The third day was even shorter. We went over OSHA, and HIPPA, and some other stuff… school insurance and all of that kind of stuff… we ended just after noon and were left to run the rest of the day…
I spent more time reading… the reading assignments are very long. I am HOPING to do all of them before they are assigned in class… ie have the reading done ahead of time. I will see how that works out.
My husband flew in from NC yesterday afternoon to look at houses. We spent the afternoon and early evening driving around and writing numbers/addresses down to try to see today… I’ve already figured out that the housing situation (our housing situation) is going to be a distraction for me… and that’s not good… as he and I discussed yesterday that the goal for me here is to get into school and do well, not to worry about houses.
Our mindset right now is to spend the weekend looking… If we see something we like - we might make an offer… with plans for me to move in by myself. When Anatomy is over (it’s a 10 week intense course) in mid October - the rest of the family will move down…
I “may” continue looking during anatomy… like maybe 1-2 houses on the weekend, if we don’t find anything this weekend… but it shouldn’t be a huge priority at that point…
My husband says that he doesn’t really expect to find anything this weekend - but we’ll see.
I still have lots of reading to do to be prepared for the week. The reading isn’t necessarily “hard” but there’s SOOOO much information contained in one chapter of the book that I know that I will easily be missing something… I’m looking for ways of drilling the information (like does anybody know of flash cards for anatomy terms with pictures?) and different ways to reinforce. I tend to learn the best by repeated exposure and pictures/scenarios to gain understanding.
Thanks for all the suggestions of getting access to textbook materials. I will DEFINITELY look into all of those…
Enjoy Florida. Orientation starts at DMU at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Andrea,
I wanted to wish you good luck too, and also a word of encouragement. Your post made me remember exactly how I felt during the first few days/weeks of med school. Remember, no matter how overwhelmed you’re feeling, it’s exactly the same for virtually every other first year med student. My class joked that on the third day of school we were already a week behind, and a classmate made a comment I’ll never forget-- he said he liked weekends because he didn’t get behind at as fast a pace. But we also reasoned that since we saw 2nd year med students, we knew people must get through- somehow! LECOM-Bradenton is new, isn’t it? If you don’t have 2nd year students there, let OPM serve that purpose for you! I remember starting to get into the swing of things and comfortable around November. Your ability to read will probably get faster too, as you learn the “language”, and don’t have to spend as much time mentally translating.
Good luck on finding a house quickly, so you can get that off your mind. Hang in there and let us know how it is going.
Deb
MSUCHM IV (finally!)
Hi Andrea,
First of all, many medical schools administer tests to incoming MS-1s. It is nothing to worry about. The worst case scenario is that you will show more improvement than any of your classmates. The best case is that you all are in the same position. Put the testing out of your mind in terms of something to worry about.
As for Gross Anatomy, the key is being able to visualize everything in your minds eye. When you are presented with a group of muscles, look at a skeleton or bone and see the action of the muscle on the bone. Picture where it originates and where it inserts and imagine it working the bone.
Look at bones and an atlas as you do your reading. My approach to anatomy was to sit down the night before; make a list of everything that I was supposed to find from superficial to deep and then check them off as I found them. (I do the same thing now when I am first learning a surgical case). I picture in my minds eye, where they should be and what should be around them.
As others have said, if your text is Moore’s Clinical Anatomy, purchase Baby Moore and learn everything out of it. The smaller book is less intimidating and contains exactly what you need. Read the blue boxes in big Moore.
I photocopied pictures from Netter’s Atlas and colored structures with colored pencils (my favorite trick). I would also look at what the structure would look like in the Rohen atlas (photos of actual dissections) so that I would have an idea of dimensions.
Review your notes and books daily as soon as you have gotten home after class. Fill in any gaps on your breaks during class. Study a weeks worth of stuff on the weekend and don’t forget to preview after you have finished studying.
Take one day to spend without out doing much except hanging out with your family. Find ways to put things on index cards to take with you to review while you are standing in line or doing laundry etc. Plan your days in terms of studying but do not book yourself too tight. Leave some time for yourself to destress and above all, do not panic. The good study habits that got you to medical school in the first place will get you through.
Do not even panic if you do not do as well on your first exam. Re-adjust your study strategy and keep plugging away. In my class, 75 out of 85 students failed the first anatomy exam but everyone ended up passing the course. Some of those who failed the first exam ended up doing well in the course. The faculty knows that you all have to adjust to the pace. You just have to roll with the punches and plug away at the material. Check off things as you get them reviewed so that you can see some progress.
I used to set a kitchen timer for 50 minutes. I would study for 5O minutes and take a break for 10 minutes. If something was worrying me, I would write it down and think about it on my 10-minute break. On my break I would get some water or walk around or take clothes out of the washer(just do something besides studying). I would then go back for another 50-minute session with a fresh mind that was ready to concentrate.
Finally, do not let anyone tell you how much time to put into your studies. Courses like children have a way of demanding your time in an individual way. You may breeze through some things and you may need to grind through others. Adjust according to your needs and keep what works for you.
Believe me, if I could get through medical school, anyone can do it. I am not anything special and I am certainly NOT brilliant. Medical school is more about day to day study and plugging away. Don’t talk yourself out of anything and realize struggling is not a bad thing. You will find your way and in the end, you will be surprised at how your brain ramps up to the task at hand. The stuff really is just more interesting than the pre-med grind.
Good luck and enjoy yourself!
Natalie
Thanks for all of the kinds words everybody!!!
I read ahead the readings for today only… apparently I’m way ahead of lots of other people, who haven’t even bought the book yet.
I am using Moore and Rohen and I have a Netter’s as well… My roomie (temporarily) is letting me borrow her netter’s flash cards and I will be reviewing those as well… I addition I’m hoping to start drawing some of the more complex structures so I’ll hopefully remember.
All of our lectures are on PPT and they seem to mirror the text quite well… so I am hoping to continue with the reading, then have the lectures as review… and then reemphasize by reviewing the lectures, looking at the atlas(es) and maybe some other things… We have our first test a week from today.
We also had our first anatomy lab today… I’ll be honest with you… I was surprised at my reaction.
Today we were playing with bones and the superficial back. It wasn’t anything too exciting in that we weren’t playing with brains or squeezing hearts or anything like that… We had plastic models of the vertebrae and were all trying to remember the orientations of different processes and all the names of them plus different foramen etc… but we also were introduced to our cadavres…
Now I have to say that the way my school does things is a little bit different. We aren’t all up there hacking on bodies. They have anatomists dissect the bodies for us so that we can really see what it is that we are supposed to see…so, when we walked in, there were 3 cadavres sitting on dissecting tables, draped and waiting.
I thought that I would be in awe of them… I really did… and I thought they would look soooo different than they did…
I was told that ours was female - although I couldn’t see… she was face down and her back was open. The tissues were very pale… FAR different than what I’ve seen in the OR… and, I’d forgotten the smell of formaldehyde… I’d have to say that maybe my stomach was a little bit weaker than it was the last time I did a dissection of an animal.
In a way, my reaction to the cadavres saddens me… I consider myself somewhat “in touch” with the people and environment around me… and I recognize that it’s an incredible gift that this person has given - donating their body to science so that I may learn… but to be honest… my first reaction to seeing the cadavers was… it’s meat… it doesn’t look “real”…there’s no “person” associated with this…and I’m not sure how to resolve that… whether I will resolve it or what…I don’t know right now…
Obviously I wouldn’t treat it “like meat”… I understand that this woman was probably someone’s grandmother…mother…wife…sister…etc…but to have that level of detachment for me, was somewhat disturbing…
I digress…
The first day went fairly well… at this point, and I’m sure this will change - because after all it was ONLY the first day… but I don’t feel overwhelmed… yes there’s a LOT of information there to learn… a lot of reading… and a lot of other stuff… but I don’t think that it’s really too much… I don’t know… I’m sure I’m being presumptuous… but so far it seems doable…
I’ll let you know how I feel at the end of the week, trying to get ready for the first exam…
If I had one word to describe today’s lectures it would be "What?"
Today was the first day so far (and it’s only the 3rd day of lectures) that I seriously doubted my abilities and wondered why I am where I am… one of our lecturers went SOOO fast today that I thought my head would fall off… Not to try to scare anyone… but there is so much information flying around that it’s hard to retain even 1/3 of it… but I’m trying… we had an extremely difficult, and I felt poorly led, lab today as well… we weren’t able to even get 1/2 way through it and our group was doing better than most…
It’s not that it’s so “hard”… but there’s so much to remember… and honestly… things like grocery lists and to do lists are still running through my head, even though I’m not actively managing the household anymore…
On another note… we’re trying to figure out when I can go back “home” to see my kids. I haven’t seen them since I left to come here almost 2 weeks ago. and it’s not likely that I’ll get to see them until maybe labor day. We haven’t been able to find plane tickets (affordable ones) for me and the 3 of them flying together is expensive… so I’m not sure what we’re going to do. if I’ll get to see them or not… even though I’m excruciatingly busy and pretty much overwhelmed and in lots of ways really “don’t” miss them… (fighting, crying, etc etc et)… I do kind of miss them…and I can’t imagine going 2 + months without seeing them… they’d probably forget about me.
anyway… that’s enough for now… histology calls…
feeling stupid today… or at least highly ignorant.
Andrea
Wait until you start dreaming about anatomy! Your inner child singing songs about the latissimus dorsi! Im sorry you have to go so long without seeing your children. Med school is hard to adjust to plus not having your support around you. Hang tight, you can do this!!
Danielle
Oh, I’m there already… this morning in the shower… delirious from lack of sleep citing in my head different body parts…
when I woke up I had to go to the bathroom very badly… we just went over connective tissue yesterday that allows for distension so I’m thinking at 6 am this morning as I’m stumbling to the bathroom… thank god I have these distensible connective tissues so I can wait until morning to pee…
it was soooo bad…
the whole family situation is just awful right now… I will try to post more on that today in my “week wrap-up”…
I can’t believe I’ve been here a week already.
I’m so glad to have “stumbled” onto your post … I have just started investigating DO schools and was told (by someone I consider “in-the-know”) that there’s only one in FL – that being Nova. Hah! Now, I know better. I’m a FL girl who thinks living in NC would be wun-derful. Hope you enjoy FL, Bradenton, and most of all enjoy LECOM. I look forward to your future journaling - though I wonder if it will be regular once you get into your groove!!!
Andrea,
I had dinner last night with a fourth year (Jesse Wickam) from LECOM in PA and he was telling me about the progressive PBL program that you all have there. He made me so excited for you and how you will be learning your basic sciences.
As for anatomy, I am sure you will do great I know other people have said this before and I didn’t belive it at the time, but don’t forget to plug in time for activity/exercise (I personally dislike using the word exercise becasue of its negative connotations). I wasn’t great about doing it, but in looking back, I found that when I did, I had more energy, was calmer, was able to think more clearly and more efficient overall- making me wish I had worked harder to fit it in when I was feeling so overwhelmed with the sheer volume of material.
Good luck,
Tara
Thanks for the kind words everybody…
It’s been a week, that’s for sure…
where do I begin…
Well, first let me say that I’m really missing my “carefree” days of not studying… I really wanted to just take off and “run around” today… but I didn’t… I did however spend 7 hours studying and then go to 2 stores from which I needed groceries etc… I then came back and studied for another 2.5 hours and I’m getting ready to watch the Acland anatomy tapes so that will be at least another hour of studying… I must say that’s a lot of studying for one day… but I’ve done it before… and I’m sure I’ll do it again.
We have our first Anatomy exam on Monday… it’s only 30 questions and 10 lab practical questions… I’m sitting here wondering to myself… how in the $*%& are they going to test everything I’ve learned/read/should have learned over the last week in 40 questions??? and yet I think… I have a feeling that they will… I’m not really looking forward to it… but then again… I don’t think anybody is…
We had 2 introductory PBL sessions last week and I am SUUUUUPPPPPER excited about this… it was like a fact-finding mission… mystery diagnosis… and you get to pick what you learn… I think I have to wait until Thursday to meet with my PBL group and get our first case and I just can’t wait!
Of course I can only say this going into it… I’ve not actually experienced it first hand… just observed… but I really honestly think that THIS is the way to go… It’s like choose your own adventure…
For those of you about to start anatomy in a “crash course” like what we’re doing here… let me just try to relate it… it’s a ton of information… but if you’ve taken an advanced science course over say 5 weeks… (like I took biochem 2 summers ago in a 5 week summer session - so I’m relating it to that)… then the volume of information is roughly about the same… BUT… it’s not just one topic… like in biochem it was, well, just biochem… but this is anatomy, some MINOR physiology, embryology, histology… but they CALL it anatomy… and it is all related… so you can’t gripe too much… the thing that makes it so difficult is the difference in topics… at least to me… there is a HUGE volume of information to take on… memorize… UNDERSTAND and relate… we have a lot of clinical correlates in our information, so that’s really good… and those are the ones that I tend to remember the most… unfortunately pathology always sticks out in my head (oh yeah, there’s pathology too!)…
anyway… that’s my take on it…
On the homefront…
sigh where do I begin…
well, as you all know my husband and kids are still in NC… and as you know my house has “sold” but the closing isn’t for a couple more weeks (we’re actually not sure when it will be)…
my husband is not dealing very well with having all the household responsibilities now… in addition to having to pack… in fact I don’t think he’s done any of either… I’d probably be scared to show up back there…
in addition to trying to find a house here, he (and I) are VERY stressed… although he’s handling it much worse than I am… I have a goal… so I’m somewhat distracted… but for him it’s all-encompassing… which is sad…
I’m trying to help him by coming up with possible ideas to lighten the load and things that we might be able to accomplish… hire packers to pack all the stuff… stuff like that… but he’s resisting… and I’m not sure why except maybe for pride… he’s a lot more laid back and dare I say stubborn than I am (if that’s even possible) and doesn’t want to admit that he can’t do all the things that I did while I was there and won’t ask for help… or won’t accept help…
The lady that I’m staying with here is unbelievable… I swear she’s angelic… she even let me bring my cat… she’s suggested that I bring my boys here and put them in school so that my husband can do what he needs to do… even though it would make it more difficult for me temporarily… I think that it’s the best idea…
My husband had been counting on the boys and he staying with his parents (who live in the same town) until I was done with Anatomy… basically between the time that the house closes and mid-october… he was informed today that his step-dad would allow them to stay one week and that’s all… (I saw this coming a million miles away)… so basically as of 3 weeks from now, they have no place to stay… once again I’m trying to convince him to let the boys come here and stay with me and my roomie… who is a second year… she enjoys kids (has 2 of her own that stay with her husband 3 hours away) and misses hers… she’s funny - she’s already adopted my cat - who I think likes her now better than she likes me…
in addition, my husband’s car is dying… and he really needs a new car… I won’t bore you all with the details of this… but he has another car that needs to be fixed… and he can do it… but it’s a 2 seater… yet another good reason for the boys to come here… that way he can drive his 2 seater car and not have to buy a new car until after we buy our house.
on the house front - we are still looking… unfortunately… the house that I wanted needed a good bit of work done on it… and I was in “negotiations” or something with one of the owners (group of investors)… but they sold it out from under me… (I was/am NOT happy)… so I am very sad about that… my husband is holding out for a very expensive house that I don’t really care for… somehow he thinks that he can offer them substantially lower than their asking price (70k) and they’ll take it… I’m afraid the boy is delusional (my first case - but I wasn’t planning on doing psych!)… I am trying to get him to listen to reason. but there’s that stubborn problem again…
I am hoping that we come to some conclusion on that here pretty soon… I don’t have very much spare time to galavant about town looking for real estate… with all these vertebrae and muscles and ligaments to learn…
I thank you all for reading… I do get long winded… maybe I don’t have enough to do…
Andrea
OH, ps to those interested in schools in florida…
rumor mill has it that they are planning another DO school in florida up near the panhandle… I don’t know exactly what town or whether the school will have an affiliation with an existing school… but it’s something to tuck in the very back recesses of your mind for future reference… throw it back there with the condensation reaction or the structure of benzene…
Keep your chin up! My mom was a non-trad who went to med school at 32, and I was 10 when she started. She was 2.5 hours from us by car, and we saw her maybe once a month on a weekend if we were lucky. But we love her and respect her and understand why she went back. And my dad was the best. They are married 30 years now and happy.
So giving you a virtual hug and telling you that your kids will miss you, but they love you!
I can’t believe another week of anatomy is over… (thank god!).
only 8 more to go… I can’t wait…
I’ve never been so exhausted in my whole life… I think childbirth is easier… well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch.
started out the week by taking the first anatomy exam… I passed, thankfully… about 40 people in our class didn’t. (about 25%). I was severly burned out after the exam and have to admit I’ve been highly slack this week… only studying about 3-4 hours a night… which is not really enough… I have been trying to focus my studying differentl y though… more on certain areas and making notes of things that I feel I need to focus more time on based on the lectures or comments from class. I hope that this works for me in the future.
We started our first PBL case on Thursday and I have to say… why in the world does EVERYBODY not do PBL? this thing is da bomb, da dealio, whatever… I wish that every class was taught this way… every topic covered by discussion and investigation rather than being force-fed to you.
On the homefront…
well, there’s always drama… I won’t bore you all with the details… suffice it to say there are many snags in our house sale and we’re not sure it’s going to go through at this time… I’m not happy about it… but I guess if it has to go back on the market it goes back on the market and things are post-poned until it finally does sell. I spent probably too much time this week looking at other houses. I’m always amazed at how some people live, especially when you walk into their houses.
We thought we were starting to narrow our search down to one or 2 but it looks like those options are being removed, which doesn’t make me happy either. Several of the houses we’ve been looking at have either been sold before we could make a decision or we’ve decided they were too costly for us to afford. We just decided to look in other areas tentatively today. There may be some possibilities here.
I was able to talk to my boys more often this week, which was probably a really good thing. they know I"m still alive and thinking about them.
That’s all from me.
Hang in there. I know how hard each class is, and I just finished my second semester (more than halfway through 1st year now!) and though my kids are here in the UK with me, they will most likely be separated from me within the next year as the offshore schools tend to have clinicals all over and my family can’t reasonably follow me all over for clinical rotations. I don’t like it, but they are understanding, thank goodness. I suspect the learning curve as to what needs to be done will be large for your husband, as it has been mine. I doubt male medical students with family have this problem, its just a “female” expectation still to be in charge of the running of the home. I still do the groceries, cooking, and a good portion of the housework along with all of my homework. Just stay strong and remember there are people pulling for your success.
Kathy
Thanks Kathy and everyone!
Today ends the 3rd week of school. I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks already… 7 weeks left. We have our 2nd anatomy test next Friday. I am NOT looking forward to it… but I feel like I have not only a better grasp of the material so far (than I did for the first test) but that my studying methods are better. Hopefully I will feel like I am fairly well prepared for the test next Friday when it occurs.
We had a “dean’s hour” this morning, where we got “reminded” (about 10 times) that we need to be studying 6-7 hours per day and we need study partners. I don’t know that I always get in 6-7 hours. In fact, sometimes I only get in 3-4… which I don’t like… and I don’t feel “good” about… but I try to make up for it on other days when I can.
The biggest distraction has been our housing situation. There has been increasing drama with the sale of our house - things that make it more and more complicated. The short story is that we are selling our house at a loss and the buyers keep picking at the sales price - which means we have to come up with more and more money. This has proven to be difficult - so now we’re trying to figure out if we can even sell it to them at all or if we need to do some work and put it back on the market.
My husband has had me spending a lot of time looking at houses here. I try to limit this to days that I have more free time… but that still impedes on my study time which is stressfull.
I am hoping that we will have some resolution on our house in NC in the very near future and that we can figure out what we’re doing here in FL regarding housing and move on so it’s not such a “time-suck”.
I saw 2 houses yesterday that I would consider making offers on… there have only been 2 others that I’ve looked at in the last 2 months that I would consider putting offers on and one is out of the question and the other is too expensive… soooo… we will see…
I can only “hope” that someday money won’t be as big of an issue for us. It seems like at some point in the not too distant past it wasn’t a huge player… but for the last couple of years it’s been rough.
I’ll be glad when the stress of lack of resolution on this issue is gone…
this weekend i hope to bypass any house shopping and concentrate on studying and reviewing for next week’s test.
no other news to report
Andrea