Results are in.......

I passed Immuno with an A!

Which leads me to a more serious discussion that haunts medical students across the globe: what to do/say when you do really well a test, and your friends either don't, or do not get the grade they were hoping for? Its nice to be excited and pumped up, but hard to share that excitement with friends who are not feeling the same. It happens every semester, every class, and trust me, it happens to me too (case in point, physiology this term where I thought I rocked the test to find out I got a 79). One friend in particular studied her ass off and I'm serious when I say she knew more details then I did; we spent all Sunday studying and I saw her knowledge first hand. She also had an A going into the final, but missed keeping it by 2 questions.

So here is the ultimate bitch about SGU: they give letter grades. Most US medical schools are pass/fail, but SGU needs to show residency programs a grade for not only competitive purposes, but to prove the value of their graduates. And because of this, we get bit by the "one miss monster"; missing a grade by one point. Happened to me in both genetics and parasitology. Answering one more question right would have given me an A, instead......89 for both classes which is a B. And not a B+ mind you....their are no pluses here....so the person who barely studyied and may not know as much as me who got an 80 will receive the same grade (sucks i know).

This is partly why I have adapted the following policy: A's and B's are fine in medical school. I really could care less about my grade as long as it stays at least a B. I find this is much more useful because it throws alot of pressure out the window. I'm not spending time doing crazy math to deduce my chances of keeping or obtaining an A....i'm just learning.

And that brings me to a close as I have to study for physio.....a class that I need at least a B in!!!

Immuno is done!!

It has been such a hectic and crazy few days of studying for Immuno that I forgot to post about thanksgiving....so lets start there:

Thanksgiving went really, really well (considering I had a whole "I don't want to partcipate moment"). Yes, I had a temper tantrum about Thanksgiving for the following reasons:
1. We had class
2. I had studying to do
3. Could not watch football
4. Wanted to really watch football

Anyway, Layne convinced me that we needed to do it. Actually, she said " I want to do it!!! And YOU ARE DOING IT!!!" So, I relented and called my mom up for her recipe for yams, apples, and marshmallows. The dinner started at 8pm. Everyone brought a dish and the food was phenomenal. I ate so much!! It was also nice to share a nice dinner with so many wonderful people. So, thanks to Layne I had a great night with Alison, Kaushik, Danielle, Isaac, Toby, Candice, Liz, Aubrey, Steph, Matt, Kate, Chelsea, and of course Miss wonderful herself, LAYNE!!! Of course, leftovers the next day after class was great too!!

Okay, so flash forward to the weekend and I spent all saturday and sunday cramming....er...studying for immuno. The concepts and the class would be fantastic if it was taught better. I am positive the prof knows her stuff, she just can't teach well at all. Self study has been my new motto and so far it was worked wonderfully for me. By last night (sunday), I really felt there is no way I could fail this class. Keeping my A from midterm I was not so sure of, but failing would not happen.

The test today was okay. Lots of clinical questions, which I love. However, some of the questions were so long winded I had to keep re-reading to find out what the question was asking. After 70 questions, and almost 2 hours I wanted to shoot myself. I'm hoping that with the bonus questions (5 of them, and I nailed them all), that I at least got a 90. We will see sometime later when the grades are posted. I'm just happy that Immuno is over, and I can concentrate on important medical concepts like neuro and physio!!! :)

FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!!

So, as I was taking a break from studying the wonderful world of the female reproductive system, which by the way, makes me hate my menstrual cycle even more; I stumbled upon a foxnews.com editorial on FSM. And I was like, what is FSM??? So I clicked on this website:

http://www.venganza.org/

And laughed my fluffy ass off!!! I was mesmerized, and then I wondered to myself: how do I join. I mean, being an atheist and all its so damn easy for me to switch my church affiliations anytime I want.

Actually, what really made me laugh was the reason this was on foxnews.com in the first place. I guess some church leaders and people studying theology, who will be gathering for a conference in San Diego soon, are taking this too seriously. They are having talks and discussions on the flying spaghetti monster. What?? Maybe they didn't get the message that this whole thing was a joke of sorts; well, not really a joke, but a cleverly made argument against teaching some dumb creationist theory in the Kansas school system. I shouldn't say the theory itself is dumb...no, what's dumb is having it in the public school system. That is dumb. If you want to teach it, build your own church/school and or teach it in Sunday school.

Anyway, so these three theology majors are presenting papers and arguments on the Flying Spaghetti Monster. From what I read, the one paper tries to decipher if the FSM is really a religion because in some theologist's eyes, to be called a "religion" means only to have a group of people or community of people believing in a higher being of sorts. Too funny!

And why would I be joining this "religion"?? For the mechandise of course!!! Everything is so awesome. Who else's religion can sport cool t-shirts with the saying "I was touched by his noodly appendage". The fact that they offer covers for you Ipod is so with the times. I mean, if the Catholics offered Ipod covers picturing Jesus at the last supper maybe I would convert. :)

Alright, enough fun. Back to estrogen and progesterone. Have a good night!!

It's Friday!!!!!

Here it is, another Friday in Grenada where the rest of my day looks like this:
GHrH, Somatostatin, GH, IGFs, Ghrelin, TRH, TSH, T3, T4, Dopamine, Prolactin, Oxytocin, Vasopressin (also know as ADH), CRH, ACTH, Aldosterone, Angiotensin II, Cortisol, Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, Insulin, Glucagon, PTH, Calcitrol, and Calcitonin!!!

For those of you who are not in medical school, all of the above equates to the wonderful Endocrine system!!! Each of the above has stimulator, a mechanism of action, a target organ, an effect, and lots of disorders when they go wrong!! I love medical school!!!

So besides physio, I also have been hard at work at Neuro. This weeks lectures included the Hypothalamus, Sexual differences of the brain, emotions, consciousness. And lets not forget Immuno where we are learning about hypersensitivity and the joys of asthma, anaphylactic reaction, and urticaria (fancy medical term for hives).

So my week has been pretty darn busy. Which is why I think I have been so exhausted lately. Case in point, wednesday....I woke up around 7am, did some work all morning, went to physio small group, came home around 2:30pm, slept until 6:30pm, ate dinner, studied until 9:30pm, and passed out at 10:30pm where I preceded to sleep until 8am the next morning (and still felt tired when i woke up!!). I'm definitely feeling more of a physical exhaustion and not mental. I did hurt my back about 2 weeks ago and I'm starting to think that this is wearing on me. Hopefully, my tiredness will diminsh as I get closer to exams.

Which reminds me....only 5 more weeks left!!!! I am so excited. Second term is almost finished (seems so surreal) and soon I will be home enjoying the comforts of the USA!! Plus all the christmas cookies I want!!

Have a great weekend. Of course, I will be spending most of it studying, but maybe I'll try to sneak out to enjoy the nice weather (90 degrees today). :)