Future MDs are Pretty Cool

I started medical school on August 25th, 2014.

Well, that was a weird sentence I honestly thought I would never to get to write. It all still seems like a a dream and that eventually I will wake up, and go back to just be regular old me. But I keep waking up in a room that feels foreign in a city I hardly know.

So far, the only medical school related things I have done were a part of Orientation Week. So these are the following things I have learned so far in medical school:
1. Med students seem to have an endless ability to party
2. As a whole, med students have an above average liquor tolerance
3. Med students are still above average humans when hungover, and surprisingly good at playing quiddich.
4. I feel like every single member of my class (there are only 64 of us...) have amazing talents, incredible life stories and are overall just amazing people that I am excited to spend the next four years of my life getting to know and learning from.
5. Upper Year Med students are kinda crazy.
6. Amazon Prime for students is officially the best way to buy text books in the history of man.
7. Medical schools feed you a lot...and I have decided that they do this to make you too full to ever try to run away.
8. Med School swag is awesome.
9. Getting dressed in the morning and trying to decide if what you are wearing is "Casual," "Business Casual," or "Smart Casual," and which kind of cloths belongs to which category, and whether or not adding a scarf to your outfit makes you "Smart Casual" or "Business Casual," essentially leads to a morning crisis everyday.

This is Smart Casual...

Can somebody please point out  the difference???

   

And this is Business Casual...

10. I'm like the only single person in my class...

Check back in the future to see if I have actually learned anything about medicine!!

The Doctor Shortage

Finding a Family Doctor in Canada is tough. I have never really had to try that hard to find one, until now that is. Growing up, my Dad always had some sort of business relationship with every doctor in the vicinity, so we never had problems finding one. But then I left the nest at 15, and it was challenging, but my school had a doctor (although, not the best) who I could see before school or in the evenings. Then I went to University, and I had the University Clinic, and then when I changed schools, and a clinic 300m from my house had just hired a new doctor. So far, things have worked out for me, which is really great because you know, the whole chronic pain thing tends to require doctoring.

But, now that I am going to school in a "northern" community, and in Canada north = nobody wants to live in places that are freezing cold. So naturally, well educated people who can practice anywhere in the country, don't generally choose northern or rural communities. (Hence the formation of my school...). But, in any event, I am having a lot of trouble finding a doctor, especially because I am an out of province student. Being out of province shouldn't matter, given the whole Canada Health Act thingy, but it seems to pose barriers to accessing health care for me in Ontario (another problem to add to problems with the health system/health practices notebook I have been keeping since the 11th grade).

So in conclusion, the doctor shortage is really affecting me. And to add to another problem, because the community I am studying in only has a population of 110,000, pretty much all of the doctors in the City will be my professors and instructors in the very immediate future.

It is very strange all of a sudden switching from just being the patient, to being the provider (a very green and IdontKnowAnythingAtAll provider), but still being the patient at the same time. I feel like I am stuck in the middle!!!!

I never thought about my situation as being both a patient and a physician at the same time, and it is stressing me out. 

A Tuition Slap in the Face

Why is that medical schools expect students to say "how high" when they ask you to "jump?"

We got sent our tuition cost August 1st (we only had estimates before then), and were told it was due on August 15th...There were no mention of due dates before this.

I thought that after you got into medical school, they would stop throwing unreasonable curve balls at you and expecting you to catch them with your eyes closed. I was clearly wrong on that one.

I don't know about you, but I don't have $21,300 just chillin' in my bank account at all times. I have enough for the year, but not currently in bank account. And I can't access the majority of it until August 12th plus 2-3days for fund transferring...sweet!

And to finish off the email, they said "We hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend!"....yeah, thanks, I will have a great time trying to figure out how to rob a bank.

A New Beginning

Those of you who frequent my blog will have noticed a little change. I am no longer a premed!

As of this September, I will officially be a first year medical student, studying in Northern Canada. (If you are Canadian, I'm sure you know where this is, if you aren't, I'm sure you know where google is.) It is very exciting, and relieving to know that 4 years of hard work has finally paid off. That all those days stressing about my future and my grades were worth it.

Something else has also changed. I have finally decided to let go of cycling. Too many concussions, too much risk for crashing and sustaining another concussion. I'm not hanging my bike up forever, but I am boxing away the race gear. I will become a weekend warrior. I love riding a bike, it is probably one of the best feelings in the world, but I want to be a doctor, so now I have to start considering the consequences of injury more than ever before.

I feel like I need to find a new hobby. Right now I am training for this: www.waves4women.blogspot.ca which has effectively been my hobby from the moment I got home from Tanzania. But I need something while in school to help ground me, and that for me was always cycling. But what now?

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

I'm only 1 day late for Medical Mondays...oops. But, I have been really busy with pre-trip preparations (aka packing and seminars) for my trip to Tanzania and we leave this Thursday! But I thought I should drop by seeing as I have been a bit MIA lately.

Headed to Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the University of Calgary Field School

Finishing up my 4th year of undergrad (senior year for the American's in the crowd) was seriously difficult. In the past 4 months, I have have interviewed in 4 different cities in 3 different countries. In the month of March alone, I spent a total of 24 hours on planes and I watched every single movie Air Canada had to offer. I am also now a co-author on a Nature paper that was published a few weeks ago (first publication!), and I successfully defended my honours thesis.

As you may remember, one of my goals this year was to get a 4.0 in my 4th year, and mission accomplished!! Some how I actually managed to get 100% on the last undergrad paper that I submitted, and in my opinion it was one of he worst because I was only aiming for 77% in order to get an A in the class. Aim low and you will land among the stars?

I have not yet been accepted into medical school sadly, and the stress is kind of getting to me. I was wait listed at VCU (which was an absolutely amazing school) and people have been started to be accepted off of the wait list...but not me. The two Canadian schools I interviewed at release decisions next week when I am in the middle of no where in Tanzania looking at stool samples. Graduating feels great, but it also kinda feels like crap because I just want to get in.

Today and tomorrow I am shadowing my lab supervisor, who is on neurology service this week, on morning rounds. It is sort of a goodbye and thank you gift for being "the best undergraduate student he has ever had." All of the residents have been amazing, and are going out of their way to teach me and help me understand what is going on, and it is absolutely a fantastic experience. (I also got to see the inside of the docs lounge...they have their own flippin cafeteria!!) But, it also makes me even more anxious about getting in, I just want to start training for a job I have always dreamed about doing. I look forward to late nights in the library and being on call. These are things most people dread, but I honestly can't wait. Shadowing only confirms this, and will make the disappointment even harder.
I might be crushed next week if I am not accepted into a Canadian school. I have already started my AMCAS application again. But because I will be in Tanzania with likely no internet access, I am not going to be able to submit it one the June 1st opening day, and I am going to have to phone home to parents so see what the results of my other applications are.

So great to graduate, yet soooo stressful.

Also, I am still training for the 35km swim, which has also meant swimming 9x a week for the past 3.5 weeks...so ready for a break!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope I have good news in September for y'all (and for my emotional wellbeing). 

Interview Hopping

I missed the last Medical Monday because I was desperately trying to get to Richmond, Virginia before my interview at VCU. But lets back up a bit to get you up to speed about what has been going on for the last few months.

In January, I received interview invitations for 3 different schools in a span of three days. One for VCU on Feb 4th (my top US choice), one for Michigan State on Mar 28 (second choice), and one for Northern Ontario School of Medicine on Mar 29th (that one was a shocker). In that same week, I received an invitation to write the subject test for the Neuroscience MSc/PhD program in Göttingen, Germany. 7 days later I received an invitation for THE interview that I really wanted, which was at my home school, the University of Calgary.

February 3rd I left the frozen Canadian waste land to fly to Richmond, Virginia for my interview at VCU. Except, my flight out of Calgary was delayed an hour and half due to a mysterious light being on. When we landed in Minneapolis I abandoned my Canadian manners and full out sprinted about 2km from gate A to gate F where my flight to Richmond was departing from. I got to the gate, and the women in Delta colours told me the plane had just closed its doors, and wouldn't re-open them, and that I had been rebooked on a flight that would get me to Richmond at 12:30pm the next day. I had to be at VCU by 11am for the interview.

Me: "But I have to be there at 11!."
Delta woman: "Well, you won't be."
Me: "This is literally my future we are talking about, the results of tomorrow may very well dictate the rest of my life."
Delta woman: Fake smile
Me: "What about a flight to DC tonight?"
Delta woman: "Oh, yes. We could do that. The last flight closes its doors in 7 minutes. Its back at gate A."

So, I full out sprinted back to the exact same place I had just come from, but managed to sequester a nice man driving a Delta cart to get me there a little faster. I get to the gate just on time, and I get handed a boarding pass which indicates a 1st class seat (score!). I hurried on to the plane (nobody checked my passport by the way...I guess flights to DC aren't as secure as we thought), I was sweating buckets, clearly didn't belong in first class, and when I arrived at my seat, I noticed it was a window seat....right next to a very nicely dressed US Senator. I have never gotten such a severe death stare in my life. Upon arriving in DC (which is the scariest runway ever, it looks like you are going directly into the river), I was provided with a $300 taxi voucher to get me to Richmond, Virginia. I made it to my hotel by 1 am, after having to spend half of the taxi ride on the phone with the driver's daughter in order to get directions to my hotel because my taxi driver didn't know where he was going. End of story, I made it, I think my interview went well, and VCU blew my mind. I didn't think such amazing schools even existed. As an aside, if Delta had waited 3 minutes, they would have saved them approximately $700, and reduced my cortisol levels about 2 fold...this is why we Canadians love Westjet...they wait for everybody.

This past Saturday I did my interview for Calgary, I think I nailed 9/12 MMI stations, completely blew 1 (had an awkward 2 minutes of silence because you can't leave the room until the 7 minutes are up and I was totally done discussing the question), and 2 stations that I am a little unsure about. I hope it evens out...on to May 15th!

Next up on the interview schedule is Göttingen, Germany next Monday. I didn't study for the subject test, and figured my chances of getting an interview were pretty much 0 as I guessed my way through the 40 physics and chemistry questions. But apparently not...or I just failed less than the other 300 people who wrote the test. The program is paying for my travel and accommodation, which is awesome, worst case scenario is that I have a free trip to Germany :).

But here is my dilemma. The only reason I applied to the program in Germany is because I thought I had no chance of getting into any medical schools that I actually wanted to go to after not hearing from VCU, Michigan and being rejected from UBC. Now I am worried that I will get into a top choice medical school (or any at all), plus the program in Germany. I was hoping to not have to make any decisions. It will be hard to turn down a 3 year PhD program at one of the top scientific institutes in the world (and in Germany), but I also don't know how I could possibly turn down medical school. Best case scenario, I get to defer for 2 years and do an MSc in Germany and come back to a medical school spot. But, its pretty rare to get more than a 1 year deferral.

Also, my thesis is due in 18 days and I am no where near finished. I don't have time for Germany...but I can't not go...

Side note: check our Waves for Women blog, which my friend Caryn and myself will be chronicling our training and fundraising journey for our 35km open water ocean swim in July to raise money for Women's Cancer Research.

The Floor

Today I spent a long time on the floor of an emergency room. You know those pictures you see of sub-par Canadian hospitals in American media propaganda about how bad universal healthcare is? Well, today I flat out was lying on the floor of the emergency room, creating one of those pictures

I have a spinal headache from the procedure that I talked about here. If you have ever had a spinal headache, you will know it to be one of the worst headaches of your life, when you are sitting or standing up that is. When you lie down though, it is gone completely - hence the floor.

You know what? I actually don't even mind that I had to lie on the floor. There was a chair I could have sat on, but it wasn't quite as horizontal as the floor. I am not unhappy with the care I received. I ended up being seen by my own doctor (a specialist) to set up a follow up appointment for Thursday and a team of anesthetists who offered me the choice of doing a blood patch today, or later in the week if my headaches cannot be managed with the pain meds they gave me. I am happy with that. They gave me choices. I chose the conservative route of trying pain medication and then going back directly to anesthesia for a blood patch (skipping the emerg line up) if I feel like I can't take the headache anymore. I think that is awesome. I am not above lying on the floor. I don't have a life threatening emergency, just a painful complication, other patients who are sicker need the bed more than I do.

Even though I am Canadian, and I believe I have the right to healthcare, I also believe in equitable healthcare. I think, despite the lying on the floor thing, that I received equitable and quality care today. I have the right to healthcare, but not the right to take it away from others.

Is this just the inbred Canadian niceness coming through, or do I have point here? I am willing to sacrifice my own comfort and not complain about it because I know that resources are being used to help the people who need it most.

Being in a hallway doesn't mean they aren't receiving the best care possible.