Hey Andrea, this sort of “being settled with being unsettled” attitude is going to serve you really well for the rest of your medical career. The pace of medical school pretty much guarantees that you are going to feel off-balance a lot of the time. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, things will change in some way. The pace will pick up even more, the expectations on you will be set even higher. It is HARD to deal with this.
I don’t know if some people just deal with this sort of uncertainty more readily. I know that I was miserable much of the time with having to constantly deal with it. Not knowing when I could be home for dinner, not knowing if I’d be able to attend my daughter’s skating competitions or my son’s Parents Day college events. And there’d be a different schedule every few weeks or months at the most. Ugh, I hated it.
Intern year continued the pattern for me, as I’d spend a month on one service and about the time I figured it out, I’d switch to another service. Again, much sheer misery.
But eventually, you know what? I got so I switched gears a whole lot better and I was very proud of myself for my adaptability. It sounds like you are feeling the glimmers of that sense of pride. Good for you, Andrea! Keep hanging in there, even if sometimes you feel like it’s by your last fingernail.
Mary
Yay! Although I’m not a med student, I’ve been reading your posts and silently suffering with you. I’m glad to see your spirits are up and things are moving forward!
Baby steps…
Andrea,
What “firing squad”? For those physicians and MS I-IV…are these “firing squads” status quo?
I think the whole idea of a committee like this is to help you… maybe talk some stuff out… ask them if they can help you… that kind of thing… ours didn’t quite end up that way…
don’t know if that helped at all… but anyway.
I don’t really like the idea of being unsettled… I don’t mind having to “go with the flow”… I’d prefer to have a “real” place to live though… and know at least what city my kids were in and when I might be able to see them again… I think that’s what’s bothered me most.
I still have no clue when I’ll see them again… maybe the 2nd week in October… not sure yet.
I’m trying to just “roll with it” and throw myself into my studying and not worry about the housing situation or what else is going on… it’s hard… but so far (for the last 3 days) it seems to be working ok.
Hey Andrea,
Don’t let Antomy get you down.
After getting an 88%, a 92%, and an 86% on my first three Biochemistry exams, and a 96% on my Intro to Medicine test I took my first Anatomy test today.
Despite my studying, the thing beat me like a red-headed stepchild. I’ll be very surprised if I did better than the low 60%s in my practical and perhaps the high 60%s on my written. And you need a 70% to pass, and there is no curve.
I think Anatomy is just that way – there must be a catch to studying the material; I just don’t know what that catch is. Some of the questions were so far afield from what I recall hearing that it made me wonder if I’d been a victim of alien abduction for the past couple of weeks when I thought I was sitting in lecture.
In all honesty, I would rather have taken the MCAT again - multiple times - than this Anatomy test.
Anyway, hang in there. If it gets to be too much, switch into the five year program.
It’s been a long time since I posted anything…
not long after my last post life got really interesting…
Early October I had an episode of vertigo and ended up in the ER, then 2 days later (the day of the final anatomy exam) I looked like a stroke patient…and a parkinson’s patient… I had stroke-like symptoms on my right side and Parkinson’s-like symptoms on the left…ended up back in the ER.
I subsequently had an MRI and was diagnosed with a Chiari I malformation.
Fast forward through neurologist appts and neurosurgeon appts…
It was decided that I needed to have a cranial decompression and C1-C2 laminectomy to try to correct on November 9 (which I did).
The school was really understanding… mostly because I’d involved them from the beginning…unfortunatly though, given the long recovery time from the surgery, I had to basically defer admission until next year for school… even though I’d already started and almost completed the first 11 weeks. So I’m now a member of the class of 2010.
Incidentally, my neurosurgeon has been fantastic!!!
They has estimated my cerebellar tonsils at ~10 mm herniation… when they opened me up they were at C2. He said all he could see were brains…
I am recovering… been off all prescription meds for several days which is great (I hate drugs!) and have been off OTC meds for a few days… hoping to keep that up…
The whole thing threw everyone for a loop… surprise diagnosis… surprise “rare” condition… and insistance that the procedure be performed immediately due to the symptoms.
So…here I come class of 2010. Hopefully I’ll see others from OPM join me at Lecom-Bradenton.
I am so sorry to hear of your medical problems, but glad to know that you are recovering and doing well. It really sucks that you will have to repeat the first 11 weeks, but hopefully the time off will end up being for the best.
Amy
Andrea,
I am sorry to hear about your problems, but am pleased to know the surgery went well and your recovery is progressing. Remember through all of this that your experiences will make you an even better doctor, giving you an insight into your future patients’ problems that you may not have otherwise had.
Best of luck with your continued recovery. And, come next fall, you go get’em, girl!
Linda
Oh, let’s resurrect this thread… shall we?
In just under 2 weeks… I’ll be officially an MSI again… After all the fun last fall… well, let’s hope that this year is uneventful (now what’s the likelihood of that?!).
Tonight I’m going to a get together of fellow 2010ers…
It should be interesting… I’m hoping there will be other non-trads there… those of us that are already in the area are trying to get together for the next 3 Saturdays before school starts. I thought it would be good to try to find some allies this year - maybe form some study groups before school even starts.
I have mixed emotions about doing this all again… there’s always the excitement… there’s the stress… (can I really do this?) and well, there’s other stuff too…
I’m looking forward to it… frankly… ready to go in like gangbusters and take the world by storm (and all those other cliches)…
So sorry to not have made the OPM conference this year… it really is the highlight of the summer.
2 weeks and counting…
Andrea
Andrea,
We had all wondered where you had gotten off to…unfortunately, it is all too common for folks to get into med school, become overwhelmed & forget about OPM. Unfortunate, but understandable too. I more or less chaulked up your MIA-status to that…so I am shocked to learn of your medical emergency & subsequent struggles. However, I am most impressed by your perseverence & recovery.
You are an inspiration to us all!
Tomorrow’s the day… I’m a bit anxious and nervous… I’m wondering how things are going to feel tomorrow when I get there…
I guess I’ll just wait and see…
Last year I didn’t think at all about the kind of people I would meet… or the atmosphere at the school… this year I’m intrigued by the prospect of it all… A key member of the faculty left between last year and this year… one that won over many of the students that decided to attend… it will be disappointing to not see him there tomorrow…
Well, it’s been a few weeks… we’re close to 1/2 way through our 10 week Anatomy course.
This year is so much different than last year… I couldn’t possibly say all the ways…
The “feel” of this class is completely different than last year’s class… I’m going to reserve my judgement on whether that’s good or bad… 
it really remains to be seen.
I can’t say I’ll miss this block when it’s over… they keep telling us over and over that they’re compressing a 20 week block of anatomy into 10 weeks… ok guys… WE KNOW… but it’s super intense to say the least.
I’m starting to get involved in the Neurology club… and I also joined the UAAO a few weeks ago… I just put my order in for my OMM table… I sat on the fence about ordering one… or really whether I’d be doing OMM at all… but the head OMM dude at the school has been using a lot of soft tissue manipulations on my neck which is of course riddled with damage from the surgery and recovery and I swear… I think I’d be lost if he wasn’t working on it…
that’s about it from (not so sunny lately) Florida…
Andrea
Dr. Leo. Really, really nice guy and a super student advocate.
Today… was White Coat
now I’m not sure if everybody’s school does this… but in case you’re not familiar with it…
Today here at LECOM-B they had a nice ceremony and gave us all student white coats (the short ones). Everyone’s parents came to town… even mine… old woman that I am…
You could see who was married, who had kids… who was old and who was young… it was pretty neat… some moms were crying…some dads were crying…
I made it through the first semester… I honestly thought Anatomy alone was going to kill me… and to be honest… I really hate taking tests…I’m a horrible test taker… but, that part is over…
I think my reinforcement for the semester came in many ways… whether it was the glowing reviews that I received from standardized patients or from professors… it didn’t matter… and even though I have some days where I can’t think of anything but “why on Earth am I putting myself through this?”, it all comes down to those reinforcements…
I’m still 'round. If anyone wants to talk about DO schools or LECOM-B.
Happy studying to all… this really is a marathon.
Andrea
You’re back!!! When I saw the thread LECOM-Bradenton, I was drawn to it as I currently live in B’ton and LECOM is where I would love to attend. I found myself reading all of your posts and then you were gone!
Is it going better this time? Did your sons and husband make the move down here?
I met a former classmate of yours at my coffee shop (it’s not mine, but I like to study there). She’s really into school, and I love to pump her for information.
Please continue posting when you are able to (I know with studying it won’t be frequent), but every once in a while will be great!
Kris
Andrea -
I’m glad you survived anatomy. I remember a huge sense of relief that anatomy was over.
A lot of schools do white coat ceremonies. Most of the schools around here do the ceremony as part of orientation, so we had ours prior to actually starting classes.
Do you guys do a memorial service for the families of the donated cadavers?
school is going much better than it did last year… it helps that I function like a semi-normal human being as opposed to an alzheimer’s like patient…
My family is here with me… thankfully… it gets interesting a couple weeks out of the month because my husband travels back to NC to work there… so he’s here for 2-3 weeks and then gone for a week…Fortunately, I have one of the teachers from the boys’ school watching them before/after school. I count myself VERY lucky that I found her… she’s been absolutely incredible… and she cracks the whip on them getting their homework done, which makes me happy.
I have heard that they do offer a memorial service for the families of the donated cadavers - but they didn’t invite the students… I’m not sure that I would’ve gone myself.
I have the utmost respect for those that donate their bodies to science, but I’m not generally one to dwell on bodies. I, personally, didn’t find the cadavers to be a good learning module. I didn’t spend much time working on the cadavers (we don’t do active dissection here) and didn’t spend much time reviewing cadaveric materials.
One thing that you will find as you’re working with/looking at cadavers… each one is different… just like each human body is different. Some you’ll find interesting nuances in that will help you learn and others you’ll not be able to make heads or tails of because they are so different.
I am so unbelievably slack… sorry guys.
I wanted desperately to attend this year’s conference and just couldn’t make it to Chicago… unfortunately I just got back from there a few days ago… would’ve loved to have met up with everybody again…
there is… once again, a wrinkle in the fabric of my life… but I shouldn’t be melodramatic…
I’m getting a divorce… we’ve just had “the talk” tonight… and while I have no idea that things are going to go “well”, I do feel relieved that the talk is over.
I wish that things were more settled or that there was more time before classes start to settle things…
I’m a little scared about custody arrangements…
I would prefer to have full custody of my kids but am willing to have joint… my husband wants full custody… so we may have a battle on our hands there.
anyway… I’m still here… starting 2nd year in 3 weeks… looking, but not looking forward to it…
I know that I need to start studying again… so will be picking that up on Monday… a little bit of “lite” hahaha Physiology… cardiac, renal, pulmonary… and maybe some GI path.
hope all are well!
Andrea
OMS-II LECOM-B
Andrea,
I am so sorry to hear this. I’ve been through the “talk” and know how tough it is. I didn’t have children at the time, though, so that part I can’t even imagine.
Please be sure to get the help you need mentally and with school to get through this.
My thoughts are with you.
Thanks for the well wishes.
I don’t think I could’ve made it this far without the help of my therapist. She’s been an angel.
I hope to have more things settled within the next couple of weeks so when school starts there’s less drama flying around.
I will keep you all posted as much as I can…
Andrea