Break time!

Because we at UCD believe wellness is the key to success, we were blessed with 1 week off after the end of our second rotation. Yaya! I got to go home after a 4 month absence from the city of Angels (the longest I've ever been away). Mostly I did nothing. And by nothing I mean eat too much and hang out with people I hadn't seen in a while. Perfect way to recharge for the rotation ahead.

Got to see my ragamuffins!

First stop: Sprinkles ice cream sundae aka ice cream in between a cupcake. I have to admit, this may have been too much for me.  

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. Perfection! I had never tried this before and it was simply amazing.

Had to treat myself while in the motherland.

On to Psychiatry!

Honduras trip

aka How I spent my Spring Break aka "Remember that time we almost died in Honduras?"

Spring break was a few weeks ago and I spent it doing a medical mission trip in Honduras. How I got involved was totally accidental, too. I recall receiving a mass email from the organization heading the trip, but didn't give it much thought. There would be some lunchtime presentation discussing it sometime during the middle of Block 1 so we'd probably get some reminder. But, it had completely slipped my mind until anatomy partner K brought it up. We went to the talk together and I was hooked.

I had never done something like this before and that was a huge factor in me wanting to go. Some friends had gone during undergrad, but it hadn't interested me much before. Now, I felt like I would actually be part of a team since I have an entire (!) few months of medical school under my belt. It would be an amazing opportunity to travel to Central America (haven't been!) and also get to know my fellow classmates better. If there is one thing I learned while on my senior class trip to Armenia, it's that trips like that tend to bring people closer together (or the opposite, but let's think positively!).

So I signed up. And then I learned Honduras has the #1 highest murder rate in the world. Oh joy. Well, there was no backing out now. I convinced myself that being in a group setting is not the same as being some random tourist and I also made sure to neglect to tell my mother that statistic. Ha! (As to the second "aka" above, that was a running joke between one of my roommates and me during our bus rides to the various clinic sites. Speed + steep mountains = palpitations for yours truly.)

Our team was composed of physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, us MS1s, a couple of MS4s, and two undergrads. We had had biweekly gatherings prior to the trip to prepare and get to know each other better. And in Honduras, we met up with Honduran physicians and dentists, along with some translators too, to round out the group. Here we go!

DAY 1
We literally left the first day of Spring Break, in the wee hours of the morning, and returned in the wee hours of the morning on the last day. This year we would be traveling to Santa Barbara, a new location from previous years that is about a 4 hour bus ride from the capital of Tegucigalpa. And we couldn't even fly out of Sacramento. So we took a 2 hour bus ride to San Francisco, 5 hour flight to El Salvador, 30 minute flight to Tegucigalpa, and...spent the night there to avoid having an even longer travel day. To our delight, there was WiFi in the hotel.

We finally made it to Honduras! Photo credit: A

View from our hotel room in Tegucigalpa.

View from hotel balcony.

DAY 2
Bus ride to Santa Barbara. With a pit stop at Wendy's for lunch. Seriously.

Leaving Tegucigalpa for Santa Barbara.

Homes damaged by a mudslide. 

The streets of Siguatepeque. Photo credit: Z

DAY 3
Today was our first day in clinic and we set up in a school in the Santa Rita area. I was assigned to Lentes for the day - doing eye exams and providing prescription glasses. I was a little glad I wasn't in Medicine on the first day so I could brush up on my Spanish before tackling patient histories. I can't believe how much I've forgotten in just a few years. I need to try and practice more often. We ended up seeing a little under 300 patients today, which is fewer than the average day, but also pretty decent for a first day.

The Lentes team! Photo credit: Z

What I learned while in Central America.

DAY 4
Pharmacy day in Guacamaya! Drugs, drugs, and more drugs. Most of my day was spent counting pills, writing instructions in Spanish, and deciphering the hieroglyphics that is some prescriptions. I vow to write as legibly as possible when I'm grown up and an MD.

DAY 5
Free day! The original plan was to go see the Mayan ruins at Copan, but when people heard it was a 4 hour bus ride (meaning 8 hours in the bus roundtrip), they weren't so enthused anymore. I really really really wanted to see them and I'm so glad our team leaders were able to work things out so that whoever wanted to see the ruins could go while the rest could take a free day to shop or relax or whatever. I mean, c'mon, these are architectural goldmines. Could even be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. No competition.

Traffic.

Photo credit: Z

U-C-L-A. Bruins at the ruins ;)

DAY 6
My Medicine day in Sapote! I was pretty excited to work with our team leader, and kind of got a little shock when he said, "Well, you're the doctor, I'm just here to translate if need be or if you have any questions." Oh dear, I wasn't prepared for that. Glad A and I tag-teamed on a few patients so that between the two of us we could gather a more or less decent history. And then we had to come up with diagnoses and treatment plans so it was kind of cool pretending to know what we were doing. Fake it till you make it, right? Highlight of my day: diagnosing a UTI from an interview I did (alone! in Spanish!) and knowing to prescribe TMP-SMX! It helped that we had had Quiz 5 which covered all of this right before the trip. ;)

DAY 7
Don't remember the town but we passed by Lake Yojoa on the way. Was supposed to finish up Medicine today but due to some team members falling sick, I covered Pharmacy. Which wasn't so bad since I had some more responsibilities so I felt less like a human counter and more like I actually know why I'm giving certain meds to people. We saw a record number of nearly 500 patients today, bringing our weeklong total to over 1600 patients! We also broke the record for number of patients seen for this trip ever and had four clinic days only instead of the usual five. Yay team!

DAY 8
Time to go back to Tegucigalpa. We stopped midway in Siguatepeque to shop shop shop. I managed to buy a few souvenirs and would have liked to buy some more, but I ran out of cash and chickened out on using my card. I really wanted to save that for absolute emergencies and not risk falling victim to identity theft. I had let the bank know exactly when I would be out of the country but was still wary about using my card. But oh well, still got some nice canvas painting for my parents, some small woven baskets and wooden jewelry boxes, and a very interesting gift for the brother. ;)

Laka Yojoa. Photo credit: Z

Painting of Lake Yojoa for my parents. Any resemblance?

More goodies.

DAY 9
Back to the USA! I was ready to leave, but also reluctant. It was nice living in a bubble and being with my classmates practically 24/7 - every night we played Banangrams and Mafia. We bonded and our team really meshed well together. I really miss our adventures already. From geckos in our bathroom to tortillas, refried beans, and plantains at every meal, this was such a wonderful experience, especially since it involved global health. What I'm really surprised about is that I didn't get sick at all. Usually when I travel, I'm the one in my family who gets sick while everyone else is just super. Just plain old good luck I guess. And finally to round out our adventures, as soon as we took off from El Salvador, the oxygen masks dropped in the row in front of us. Funny! But really, it was an unforgettable trip and I'm so thankful for our fundraising efforts - almost every single member of our team was able to cover all their costs. Amazing!

Pupusas during our layover in El Salvador.

I like YA fiction and I cannot lie

Every year I look back and list the books I've read throughout the months. I usually average 23 books per year, but of course this year it's going to be half that number. I did not read a single book between mid-July and mid-December, sigh. Here are some thoughts:

1-4) The Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I read these because I was intrigued by the trailer for Beautiful Creatures and like to read books before I see the story on the big screen. The story is much more rich and you are the one creating the imagery in your mind. The movie was okay. Not too bad, but I think it didn't do too well so I don't expect the other books to be made into films. I really really enjoyed reading this series. It had a nice blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery. I initially thought the beautiful creatures are the witches, or "casters," but it actually refers to humans. (BTW, that wasn't a spoiler, don't worry.) Pretty easy and fast read and you get hooked.

5) A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

I admit, I put off reading this one because I am stubborn and was waiting for the paperback to come out so that my entire set would look the same (I have paperbacks of the first four books). But the publishing date kept getting pushed back...and back...and back. So I caved. I'm sure I actually would have held on to my resolve and waited for the paperback had I not been starting med school in a few months. Since these books are usually 1000+ pages, it's a huge commitment, and I really did want to finish (whatever's been published of) this series ASAP. It was one of my least favorites of the five, but perhaps I'm biased because the book is Dany-heavy and she is one of my least favorite characters. Sorry Khaleesi fans. (Side note: I know the show refers to her as Khaleesi a lot, too much for my taste in fact, but really that's a title, not her name. She is Dany. Please.)

Tell me this asymmetry does not give you heart palpitations.

6) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

What a charming book. Don't expect a happy ending since the central premise revolves around two teenage cancer patients, but it's really sweet. Can't wait to see the movie!

7) Stiff by Mary Roach

A book about what happens to bodies after people donate them. Each chapter is dedicated to a different thing - anatomy lab, crash testing, forensic testing, etc. Not that morbid, believe me. And eyeopening.

8) This Won't Hurt a Bit (and Other White Lies They Tell You) by Michelle Au

Ha! Dr. Au has her own blog (the underwear drawer) and is the brilliance behind the scutmonkey comics. This is sort of an autobiography and I just love her tone and honest musings about third year, internship, residency, and how to balance work life with family life. She explicitly states things you know we are all thinking so it's very validating.

9-10) The City of Ember/The People of Sparks by Jeanne Du Prau

The first book in this series was gifted to me by one of my undergrads that I supervised at my old lab (cue the aww!). She apparently asked an employee at Barnes and Noble about something that would be appropriate for a Harry Potter fan (she knows me too well :) and this is what was recommended. I really liked it! It has the post-apocolyptic/dystopian future vibe that is so prevalent in lit these days, but the main characters are 11 or 12 years old so things are told from a more innocent/less jaded perspective which is refreshing and interesting when you realize what they are referring to through their descriptions. I didn't like the second book as much. It felt less character-driven and more plot-driven, but I still read through it. I started the third book as well, but I'm not sure if the same characters are going to show up since most of the storylines were tied up during the second book and the setting suddenly changed in the third. I stopped after the first chapter to switch over to Divergent (see: below), and now it's the end of break so I probably won't get to this for a while.

11-13) The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

I admit I wasn't too intrigued when I first heard about this series. I think I saw it on a BuzzFeed post or something and thought it looked mildly interesting so I wiki-ed it and didn't think I wanted to read it. Saw the trailer last month and thought, hmm, it does look good. And then one of my friends read the entire series in the middle of finals week because it was just that good. So of course I had to read it. I did spend the bulk of my reading time on this series and didn't get to read as many other books as I thought (I had 8 set aside, and got through 4 which is better than nothing!), but I don't care! It was so so good. I know a lot of people are disappointed with the way things ended, and I can definitely see why. There are a bunch of questions that are still open or the answer wasn't satisfying/didn't fit, but I'm not regretting reading it. I definitely cannot sit down and write a short story let alone a trilogy so you have to give credit where it's due. The books are definitely page-turners and they're easy. I don't think it's fair to compare to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. They are all different. And at this point in my life, I'm reading more for entertainment than analysis (see: # of YA lit on this post) so I'm happy! Guess I will be seeing plenty of Shailene Woodley next (yikes!) this year at the movies.

Things I did over Winter break

Movies seen: 4
Books read: 4
Number of times went out with friends: too many to count

What a relaxing, glorious 16 days this has been. This was the first break that was truly a vacation - nothing to study, no presentations coming up, no clinic since I went back home for two weeks, no waking up with alarms. I cannot believe I go back tomorrow. I wish I had a timeturner. It's going to be back to the grind starting Monday, with more difficult classes (I presume), more responsibilities at clinic, and who knows what else.

Movies seen:
Catching Fire (again!), Frozen, The Desolation of Smaug, and 12 Years a Slave

Other fun stuff:

Annual Cooking Baking Pahtay. This was from last year because we ate all the cookies this year before I remembered to take a picture, ha!

Traditional BJs date with college friend R who is also in med school. Yeah, we go for the pizookies. :)

Three future docs

LA weekend

Wow. It's been a while. I think I'm finally in my groove with regards to school. It's still a lot of work, but that's not going to change anytime soon! I've just learned to adjust and prioritize certain things over others and just go with it. I can't know everything 100%, and that's okay. (Shoutout to my Big Sib for checking on me every couple of weeks.)

Since this was a long weekend, I decided to go home! I had never been away from LA for this long before (perks of attending college in your home city). Got to see friends and fam and of course, my minions J+C.

As a surprise, my mama spent hours making my favorite meal. It's basically a wheat and beef porridge, with heated oil/cumin/red pepper powder as garnish. Needless to say, I stuffed my face.

Herissa is the best.

Since we're on the topic of food, here is the eetch that I had made for our Doctoring class on cultural competency a few weeks back. It certainly doesn't taste as good as when my mom or grandma make it (does anything ever?) but it was satisfactory.

Food pics are obviously Instagramed. Obviously.

Already on Week 5. FIVE.