Med School Meltdown

This week I had my first med school meltdown. It was about a flat tire...Seriously. I was driving home from school and heard a loud noise, followed by those grating sounds. Okay, I thought, I'm basically a mile from home...maybe I can make it? Yes? Please? Nope. I felt the car slowing down so I quickly exited and put on my hazards. I figured I'd call AAA and get this sorted out quickly so that I could squeeze in some study time until the Peds SIG dinner later that evening.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Apparently, AAA won't help you if the cardholder is not present. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I thought I could use my dad's information since my car is registered under my parents' names, but I guess they require a physical presence. At this point, I was on the verge of tears because I didn't know what to do. I was in a No Parking zone in this city that I've lived in for a grand total of 3 months, basically all alone. Good thing it wasn't dark!

The AAA lady gave me the number of a towing shop, suggesting that they could come and switch my tire since I had a spare. I called them and they said that they would only tow the car. Well, tow the car where?!?! What do I do after that?!?! That wasn't useful to me! I decided my next best option (besides begging a friend to drive out and help me) would be to call my apartment manager to ask if he knew about any nearby shops. At this point, I was *really* frustrated, so the tears starting flowing and my voice was cracking. And so my apartment manager actually came over and changed my tire himself! I couldn't believe, that was too kind. I baked him some brownies as a thank you but unfortunately they were a disaster so I put together this instead:

Even though it was shitty afternoon and I was even considering not going to the dinner because I was so frustrated, I'm glad that I just let that go and went anyway. My top choices right now are Pediatrics and Psychiatry so it's nice to get a perspective from practicing physicians as to why they chose their specialties and get an idea about their lifestyles as well. I'll probably try to start shadowing soon, too. I'm meeting with my preceptor this week (she's in Family Practice, though), so I'll take it from there.

Red October?

Wow! I haven't realized how long it's been since my last post. Well...actually, I have. I've been meaning to write, but I always leave it for the next day, and then the day after, and so on. So here we go.

A couple of weeks back, we had the Body Donation Memorial - basically a ceremony for those who have donated their bodies which we learn from. Their families came and set up pictures and newspaper clippings of major life events. It was really great talking to some of the families and expressing our thanks for their generosity. My class will be planning next year's ceremony. I've started a journal entry to organize my thoughts about our person and what that means to me. Hopefully, I'll get to share that once the block is done.

Here is my anatomy lab group, btw. We are a super cool bunch and many other groups have complimented both our dissections and how well we work together. :)

Credit to my very artistic med school bestie

After our second practical, we all went to the Dixon Corn Maze and had some good Fall fun walking around the corn husks and trying to find our way out in the dark, haha. Definitely have never experienced anything like this before.

And today, we actually had the day OFF (what?!?!) so the female portion of our lab group (see above) decided to shop shop shop. I mean, we need nice clothes for Doctoring and clinic right? We had a nice lunch afterwards at this place called Seasons 52. Apparently they have a seasonal menu and some of their items change weekly, hence the name. Ha!

You may be wondering why I've titled this post as such. Historically, this month is dubbed Red October but so far it's been okay. I think the course instructors have restructured a lot of the material from previous years so things have been a bit more organized and integrated. Can't believe that after Monday, we'll have taken 6/8 of our quizzes (already completed 2/3 of practicals), not counting finals of course. Thanksgiving cannot come soon enough though. I really do want to go home and just...eat.