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Posted by Kate | Filed under Med School
11 Wednesday Jun 2014
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Posted by Kate | Filed under Med School
08 Thursday May 2014
Posted Air Force, Med School
inTags
Crunch Month, Exams, Free Weekend, HPSP, Linda Costanzo, M2, M3, MCV, Neurology, Orientation, Physiology, Studying, USMLE, USMLE Step 1
Yesterday The Husband listened to his final classroom lecture of Med School. Tomorrow he will take his last M2 exam (Neuro). Whoo!
We will enjoy a lovely free weekend with friends.
Then on Monday, Crunch Month begins. Boo!
The first day will be Dr. Costanzo doing a Physiology Review. (Yes, that Dr. Costanzo. She literally wrote the books.)* Then the next 29 straight days look like this:
Every day, 7 days a week, 8 in the morning to 10:30 at night, with a break for dinner. Step 1 is June 11. M3 Orientation starts June 30, so there will be a glorious 18 days of freedom!
* True story from one of the other HPSP students who went to officer training last summer:
Med Student/Officer not from MCV: I love Costanzo’s books! I don’t bother going to the lecture, I just read her book.
Med Student/Officer from MCV: I don’t. I just go to her lectures.
Even Harvard digs on her (Shout out at 0:58).
She’s also really approachable. One of The Husband’s classmates found an error/vagueness in her book regarding the morning-after pill and brought it to her attention. She is correcting it in the next edition.
14 Friday Mar 2014
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inTags
Behavioral Science, Conversion Disorders, Cyclothymia, Former Tenants, M2, Marital Harmony, Personality Disorders, Psychiatry, Tenants, The Toddler
Well, The Husband finished his Psychiatry unit right before break, so we now have a totally unofficial diagnosis for The Toddler: Cyclothymic with a conversion disorder.
This diagnosis could apply to all toddlers, in fact.
We’re also pretty convinced our former tenants had some sort of personality disorder, perhaps paranoid.
For the sake of marital harmony, The Husband declined to diagnose me. I always knew he was a smart one.
27 Thursday Feb 2014
Posted Med School
inTags
This appeared in our bathroom last week in preparation for Crunch Month.
Allegedly the shower is the best place to study anatomy, since “you’re already naked!”
14 Friday Feb 2014
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inTags
Costumes, Exams, Free Weekend, Gastrointestinal, Hollywood, House of Cards, M2, Netflix, VCU, VCU School of Medicine, VMFA
Thankfully VCU only had a delay today and the test was not postponed, meaning this is a Free Weekend!
Plans include the VMFA’s Hollywood costume exhibit and House of Cards. It’s going to be awesome.
12 Wednesday Feb 2014
Posted Med School
inI’ll be so glad when Gastrointestinal is over. The Husband keeps threatening to show me pictures. Or I accidentally see them on the computer monitor.
So gross.
03 Monday Feb 2014
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inTags
Anatomy, Gastrointestinal, GI, Household Chores, M2, Rectums
Previously I’ve teased The Husband that whatever specialty he wants to go into is “Pediatric [Current Class].” That streak came to an end with the current unit, GI. Simply put, it’s gross. Not surprising. Rectum day was by far the worst day of Anatomy.
Recently, our sink has been draining slowly. Yesterday I was about to head out to run some errands and The Husband asked if I would take care of the sink when I got home. I pointed out that cleaning the sink drain was probably way less gross than anything he encountered in class this week.
The drain was cleared when I got home.
15 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted Med School
inTags
Advice, Cardiology, Cardiovascular, Dale Dubin, Internet Memes, M2, Rapid Interpretation of EKGs, WhatShouldWeCallMedSchool, Winter Break
Last spring, someone (Dr. Costanzo? His “big brother” maybe?) recommended to The Husband that he read Rapid Interpretation of EKGs by Dale Dubin over Winter Break so that he would be ahead of the game for Cardio, which is the first unit after break.
He actually read it over the summer because after ordering it, he flipped through a few pages and saw that it was clear, concise, and easy to read. Even I read the first chapter and found it easy to comprehend because Dr. Dubin has a really good knack for explaining things well.
Well, that advice has paid off and The Husband is kicking A in Cardiovascular, to the point that he’s tutoring some classmates, including one whose father is a cardiologist!
Also, so you’re not shocked by falling in virtual love and then having a later discovery,* the wonderful Dr. Dubin has been disbarred** because he is a coke-head child porn aficionado. But he gave away a free car!
* You’re not alone. There’s a whole meme about med students discovering this info.
** Yes, I know that’s for lawyers. There’s no good succinct medical equivalent.
24 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inWhy does it feel like we’ve done so much, yet still accomplished nothing?
Done:
Still to Do:
Okay, not so much to still do, but the painting’s a big one, and one that really has to be done when The Husband’s around.
We’re already halfway through break! Yikes!
The MS1s transitioned to MS2As* finished a week ago and there was a flurry of “First year of med school done!” posts on Facebook.
First, 4 months <> 1 year. Second, you haven’t even taken anatomy yet!
*MS vs. M is to distinguish the new curriculum from the old.
25 Monday Nov 2013
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inTags
Agecroft Hall, Belle Isle, Breaks, Camping, Carytown Watermelon Festival, Endocrinology, Epidemiology, Hemetology-Oncology, Hollywood Rapids, Hospitalists, James River, Library, M2, Maymont, Microbiology, Nephrology, Pediatric Oncology, Pediatric Specialties, Pediatrics, Playdates, Preceptorship, Pulmonology, Renal, Respiratory, Richmond Marathon, Richmond Parks, Shadowing, Shenandoah, Storytime, Virginia Aviation Museum, Winter Break
Apparently, I have an alliterative annual autumn abandonment of the blog. Not much of personal interest to report.
We (The Toddler and I) are trying to be good about getting out and enjoying Richmond. The past few months we’ve done the Watermelon Festival, Aviation Museum, an animal program at Maymont, Agecroft Hall, gone camping near Shenandoah, and cheered on runners at the marathon. We still do Storytime at the Library and have added weekly playdates with some friends we met there.
The Husband is chugging away and has continued his pattern of his favorite subject being whatever class just ended. So this year he has wanted to be, in order, an epidemiologist (Microbiology), a nephrologist (Renal), and an endocrinologist (Endocrinology, duh). We have yet to see if he wants to become a pulmonologist, since the Repiratory test isn’t until right before Winter Break. Surprisingly, the exception to the rule has been Hemetology/Oncology. He went in to Med School pretty convinced he wanted to do Pediatric Oncology, but didn’t find that unit all that interesting. He’s at a pediatrician’s office for preceptorship now and also finds that a bit boring. He thinks that’s because it’s all well-child visits though, so he’s planning on shadowing some pediatric hospitalists over break.