Today was nice and it was a shorter day. We only have one hour of lecture on tues and wed from 9-10 and then off until after lunch for microscopic anatomy. I love this place because for example…tomorrow after lunch we have nothing going on. So I called some consultants (physicians here at Mayo on staff are consultants) to see about shadowing…this was really short notice too. I had no problem finding someone and tomorrow will be my first day shadowing a physician as a medical student. I am so excited. I went to buy a suit at Talbots which is really nice and their clothes actually fit me…it is difficult finding good suits for someone short yet with ample hips… he he. Anyways, I found some good stuff albeit expensive but dang who has time to troll every consignment store known to man? I am looking forward to tomorrow. Here at Mayo everyone is just so excited about having medical students along with them. We also have clinicians come to every gross anatomy and while we are dissecting they will help, or just give us clinical correlations. So far we have had neursurgeons and orthopedic surgeons and it is really helpful.
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Draw out the BP like 10 times and you will never forget it.
actually… you probably will. I have decided that the storage space in MY brain, anyway, is limited. And so it keeps purging older stuff in order to store newer stuff. The first two years of medical school are the prime example. I must’ve drawn out the brachial plexus FIFTY times and I assure you that at this point I definitely cannot reconstruct it.
Hi efex- Did you get my email? Anyway, sounds like things are going great in Minnesota. Continue to have fun. (my email was just about your microtubule specialist presentation - this was my old research area so I thought I might know the person).
Geoff,
Efex needs to be in the Soap notes! I vote to give this girl her own diary entry!!! 
Kathy
Laramisa I did not get your e-mail? can you resend it? thanks. Kathy thanks! I do not know what is going on with the SOAP notes…I will keep posting here until told otherwise.
Yesterday was just awesome! We wrapped up part of our mol bio class and have a major exam on Monday mostly protein structure and function, enzymes (kinetics, etc.), mitosis, meiosis, diseases due to mutations (HD, fragile X, achondroplasis, etc.), replication, transcription, and translation not too bad but lots of info. I then shadowed for the first time in the clinic! family practice and it was great. I had a great time interacting with patients for the first time. Now more studying…
I survived my first mol bio exam woohooo! the rest of the day we spent in gross anatomy learning all the muscles of the hand, we will finish upper limb next wednesday and our first gross exam is next monday. It will cover the back and upper limb muscles. I am so happy that my classmates are so awesome! yesterday while I was feeling quite overwhelmed with all the info for the exam this morning…one of my classmates sent all of us an e-mail with all the pertinent details we had to know. It sure helped a lot. Now it is dinner with my family and then studying for micro.
These notes are so inspiring to me, thank you for taking the time to post them.
Did you take cell bio and genetics as an undergrad? It seems that that would be a good idea.
Vita
Vita, I did take cell and molec bio and thank God! you know how folks say oh…major in whatever and just take pre-reqs well…although this is true to get into medical school…once you are in this advice may seem somewhat foolish IMHO. The speed of the information is HUGE and although we are all kind of overwhelmed I could not imagine how I felt if this was the first time that I ever saw or heard of this. They will NOT slow down for you so beware. I always hear oh everyone will be lost at some point yeah that is true, but the first semester is extremely challenging and any help is good. If I had to do it again I would have also taken embryo and biochem is a must! if you have time or you will like huh? what the heck is all this.
I agree that your posts have been so encouraging and fun to read!!! Keep it up. I have a question for you: Did you take a 1-semester principles of biochemistry class or a 2-semester sequence of general biochem I and II? Also, for cell biology, is it necessary (helpful) to register for the lab as well as the lecture, if it is not required? Thanks for your input.
Lu
I took the biochem class that has two semesters but only ended up going to the first semester…now I wish I had done both but oh well. About the cell bio lab, yes I did take it as well. I think that looking at experimental data, knowing how to do experiments, and understanding the lecture material will be solidified via the lab. Although yes it is time consuming, it does help. I am soooo very glad I took this class that I called my prof this morning and left a voice message. We are literally flying through biochem/cell bio and that is just the nature of medical school. We literally cover so much that anything that you have heard helps period. I hope that nobody thinks OMG I must take this and that, for that is not my intention but if you have time and you can manage it…it does help. We will start immunology soon…and guess what? I have no class under my belt that is even close. Thank goodness Mayo sent all the MS1’s a mini immuno book that we had to read prior to starting this year. This will help.
Well life is good so far, we received our grades for mol bio and the class as a whole did extremely well wooohooo! so that is taken cared of. Yesterday was pretty good only had our one hour class for mol bio from 8-9 then from 9-1 we studied as a group our microanatomy slides quizzing each other and looking at different slides. Microanatomy went from 1-4:30 and we went into excruciating detail about bone tissue ahhhhgggg! which will be on the mid-term tomorrow. I went home and relaxed until about 7:30 and then hit the books until midnight. Today I will be doing a LOT of studying for there is tons of material for the mid-term tomorrow. I will be teaching a hip-hop class tonight so that will help me in staying up for quite some time tonight…pray for me…this exam is both lecture and lab based…
I’m new to this site, and this is my first post. I just wanted to say thanks for keeping us informed of you progress. These glimpses into life as a medical student are priceless. Good luck on your journey, and please keep us posted.
I had a great time teaching my class last night! It also helped me to stay up and not be too tired…yesterday was an awesome day in gross anatomy dissecting the hand muscles. We also had a clinical correlation session provided by a hand surgeon from Mayo. It is really great to be able to put dissection with clinical relevance. This is again (I know I state this a lot) one of the huge advantages of being here. I studied a lot last night and this morning I am feeling quite tired. My son is sad and bored…it is times like these that you do question if this was the right choice for the family. I think that not questioning yourself would be strange at times of high stress. I will be taking my microanatomy mid-term in 2.5 hours and hope to pass. It is a lot of material…
Okay, I survived the microanatomy mid-term! I barely passed the practical by the skin of my teeth but I did thank God! I tell ya…if you start here at Mayo know the electron micrographs…all the questions I missed was an electron micrograph. This is of course my fault because I should have reviewed those more in detail oh well lesson learned. Our mid-term was half web ct (the multiple choice web based lecture portion) and then the other half was lab based. Most of our exams here at Mayo are all done online so you do get immediate feedback and it preps you very well for usmle which is all online. Also, our exam questions are mostly clinically based vignettes. We started this way from the first quiz. This makes total sense to me and will be a tremendous asset when taking the boards. After our exam today we broke out into small groups and discussed the various types of cartilage tissue. I have a barbecue to go to at my advisors home…we do deserve some good R&R. I do not know if I mentioned this but at Mayo the class is divided into groups of five and we are assigned a faculty and third year advisor. This helps for we can ask them questions, get help, etc. We are for sure taken care of…
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Anyways, I found some good stuff albeit expensive but dang who has time to troll every consignment store known to man?
Legend has it there is a great outlet mall somewhere in Southern MN. Albertville, I think the town is called. I’ve never been there but I hear they have an amazing selection and good prices.
I hope you get some time to kick back soon. Sounds like school’s going well but keeping you busy! Your kids must be starting school themselves soon too, right?
Albertville is between St. Cloud and Minneapolis.
Yup I have heard about that mall and need to get more info about how to get there. I am good on suits for the rest of the year but for next year I will need more for sure. My kids start school next week and thank God because they are bored out of their mind! I had a great time at my advisor’s and we actually did a little bit of hip-hop. It was a great time to just relax and learn more about each other and just have fun doing non-academically related things. Sometimes it is hard for me to see myself as I used to be…and I have just started but this whole process does kind of consume you. It is like…hmmm I know that I used to do this and that, but it is hard to find the good balance between the amount of time you need to study and being you. It is so much easier said than done…about the whole Oh you must find a balance blah blah blah. When you are kneed deep in tons of new material it is like “what balance?” he he. I do try to keep a good positive attitude but at times I do feel like WTF? he he I had a moment like that this past weekend feeling overwhelmed with molecular biology…thank goodness for the upper class folks…they do give us some insight and perspective.
Hi efex!
I read your posts religiously every morning with my coffee!They are truly inspiring, and ofcourse a reality check for those of us aspiring to be doctors and finding the " right balance". Thanks so much for keeping us posted inspite of your hectic schedule. Congratulations, you are doing so well!!!
Cheers,
Scout
The outlet center in Medford is closer to Rochester than Albertville. My wife seems to find a lot of “good buys,” or at least she tells me they’re good buys. 
Friday was a relaxed day after our micro exam and all went well. I started studying for my gross exam and that continued through the weekend non-stop. Monday morning rolled around and I was still studying…the exam was at 12:30 about 85 questions taken online. It can take a good 2.5 hours to take the exam for there is a lot of reading and the questions most of them are clinically based. I did not do too well on the exam and barely passed (marginal pass) but as I finished I did not know this…so i assumed that I had failed. Needless to say the practical portion did not go well…more later.