getting shit together

It is always fun to have visiting professors and clinicians give lectures. It helps to emphasize what other experts feel is most important, provides a measure of reassurance that what we are learning is consistent with our peers at Loma Linda, USC, UCLA, or UC-Irvine, and it forces students to be on their best behavior. Not to be overlooked, visiting professors provides another venue for bad jokes and sage sayings.

How do you hide a $100 bill from an internist?...put it under a dressing
How do you hide a $100 bill from a surgeon?---put it in a book
How do you hide a $100 bill from a plastic surgeon***You Can't!

To supplement our Blood and Lymphatic system we have had a visiting Harvard trained hematologist currently working at UCI med school present us the essentials of leukemias, lymphomas, and anemias. As the topics in our courses get more multifaceted and complex, ultimately there is a tedious amount of details to memorize. Clinicians who have "been in your shoes" and have years ago completed med school inevitably give a motivational introduction or conclusion to their topic. Each message has its own flavor but they all have a common trend-- it will all make sense in residency! As we approach our next exam weekend Doctor Howard conceded that there will be a lot to memorize. To put memorization into context he explained his most memorable med school moment to us before starting the 9th lecture hour of the day. Following a particularly difficult block at school he and his roommate decided it would be a good idea to host a party inviting all 160 students from his class and the 160 students from the second year class. His most enduring memory is of his downstairs neighbor coming up to complain that the plaster was falling off of the ceiling followed shortly thereafter by the police to break up the party. Having narrowly escaped legal disaster he successfully finished Harvard and moved on to bigger and better things- putting us through the memorization gauntlet. This musing is my attempt to keep things in perspective; what we remember is a heterogeneous mixture of facts we cram to memorize, random trivia that we never can forget, complex algorithms we use daily, and snapshots of the people, places, stories, and events that make life joyful and memorable. Despite my headache organizing drugs, symptoms, side effects, disorders, and the hours in a day, I cherish the ability to memorize and have memories.

Dr. Howard's parting words were the heirloom wisdom that he received during his first year of rotations from a chief resident: All you need to do to survive life as a medical student and later on as a physician is to remember the 4 laws of shit:
-know your shit
-do your shit
-give a shit
and don't take no shit

...Now I'm off to memorize this shit.

Picking apples, Bongos, and spotting

It is amazing how short 24 hours seems and how long 18+ hour days feel. Finally I've made it to the medical school people imagine--long nights, early mornings, lectures, libraries, mnemonics, microbes, drugs, and no time. Nonetheless, while the length of a day remains constant, I am still discover new ways to fit/replace/combine more activities into a day simultaneously juggling with what to excise. Fortunately it has not been a bitter pill to swallow as it is possible to find at least something pleasant in arduous work--studying all day at Panera Bread Company, reading flashcards at the gym, experimenting with new teas between study breaks. I have inevitably had to make some sacrifices to remain only moderately insane. I've started to occasionally exercise at the gym rather than going on hike: an inverse from my pre-med days; I'm eating Trader Joes frozen meals or frozen leftovers scavenged from the parents, or food of unknown origin left in the student commons rather than cooking or eating out; I've practically given up TVs, movies, this blog, free reading.... I have still appreciated life as it goes by in part because I have to mentally justify every distractor I indulge ensuring those activities that steal my time from studying are either required for sustenance (eating sleeping), civility (laundry, hygiene), academics (class, professional requirements), and most importantly sanity--because they represent who I am at the core. Some activities I could not give up regardless of other time constraints- I still have my grandpa's keyboard--always turned on, just in case I have time to run through one song between chores and school. I'm constantly connected to Google news or wikipedia. Currently, my chocolate cupboard is better stocked than my refrigerator. It is with this pseudo-rationalization my newest competitions for cram time is picking apples, slamming the bongos, and dizzily practicing spotting.

Adding to the chaotic schedule of February and March, affectionately known by faculty and OMSI students alike as hell month, is Bhangra and Hindi Film dance. My ever growing quest to better understand my culture and heritage has uniquely blended with my path to become a physician. I am now an active member of WesternU's SASA club or South Asian Student Association. I am spending a considerable amount of time dancing--in preparation for the International Medicine club's cultural day March 8th. Each movement has been creatively names as "The King" or "bird man" "puppet" "apple picking" "sexy squats" etcetera. Music and dance have always been a gateway into cultural appreciation. As much as I'm learning about the science of medicine, medicine as an art is interwoven in culture, yours and your patients so I am happy to replace study time with dance. I hope that even through my brain is saturated with pharmacology, microbiology, and pathology, I can organize Apples, Bongos, Birds, puppets, and the other steps associated with dance Bhangra dancing.





illustrations from Weili Zhang.