no alarm clock, no mad rush to class, no scrambling to find lunch. i’m on SPRING BREAK! today has been all about cardiology– murmurs, subacute bacterial endocarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy and rheumatoid arthritis, and a little tetrology of fallot.

later this week, though, i just might have to hit the beach with my flashcards. i need my vitamin D.

i spent yesterday trying to cram pharmy-cology, microbiology, physiology, biochem, radiology, immunology, embryology, histology, and some random clinical crap all relating to the respiratory system. no go. what do i care about 500 equations for how the air swooshes around in your lungs? how many differential diagnosisisisis do i have for “sore throat” or “hacking up a lung”? did you know you have erectile tissue in your nose?

the test was short, but not fun. school has far lost its happy-shiny-ness. i need a vacation. seriously. i plan to be sedated for most of the 4 days of thanksgiving. and maybe a little bit after that. i stayed at school for a little while to chat and catch up on gossip with cherie and cat. there are some fun-ky things going on in my class. i’m just happy that i’m so far removed from it- my problems are all G-rated. cherie gave me a dave ‘n buster’s card. woo hoo! i’m not quite sure what it’s for… mebbe playing games or something? what happened to quarters? tokens? oh well, we’ll find out tonight. ryan, mom, annie and i will be there for dinner and goofing off. hopefully, we won’t be out too late ’cause….

i have two more tests to study for. i’m meeting the kids at the omm lab at 9am on a saturday morning to poke and prod and diagnose and treat. i just hope i don’t end up limping home. letting people treat problems you don’t really have can be quite painful.
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over a nice brekkie of cinnamon rasin toast and tea this morning, i met a friendly pharmacologist who:
a. while attending UCSF pharmy school, attended lectures by the founder of genentech.
b. lectured at USC med school.
c. had many stories to tell about the “good old days”.
d. a & c
e. all of the above.

it was a nice break from the immuno i had been trying to cram.

and now, back to studying. there’s only 23 hours until the respiratory exam.

doh!

i showed up for lecture this morning just to find out that the professor had decided to give us a handout to read instead. poop. i could have stayed home all morning. lunchy was provided by kaplan– they’re pushing their review courses and internet question database for the upcoming boards… for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. suprisingly, a large number of people signed up on the spot. i, however, have to figure out how i want to study. is it worth $500+ and my time to sit through 8 days of class, or should i just get the $250 question bank to practice with? it’s like MCAT training all over again… just more expensive and more brutal.

annie came over this afternoon again to study and eat…. and maybe do laundry [prolly not]. for dinner, we went back to the carribean restaurant for more plantains and jamaican jerk chicken. mmmm. i have the leftovers stashed away for lunchy tomorrow.

annie’s back studying again, and i’m feeling a little bit dizzy. perhaps its the tea. or fatigue. or food coma.

i have just been quite brutally reminded that i am totally inept when it comes to cervical HVLA. i’ve practiced going through the motions a million times, but today, when i was trying to crack william, i totally spaced and had to be prodded through the entire thing– without success.

and… we’ve started a new system: renal. it’s going to be 3 weeks of learning how we pee, pee-ing disorders, and how to treat the pee problems. tomorrow, i’m visiting a dialysis center — and i’ve been warned that the visit is heart-wrenchingly depressing. grreeeeeeeeeat.

today is not a good day. early morning long, arduous, painful exam, afternoon lunch rush, parking ticket. poop. at least william and i got donations for the AOA convention fundraising raffle. i wish i could keep them for myself. free food=good.

yesterday’s omm test went well– i accidently forgot the squat and the toe touch, and accidently did anterior lumbar counterstrain instead of anterior pelvis, and rambled through my synthesis question, but i ended up with enough time to fix everything and i got a 98/100. woo hoo!

steven and i spent the afternoon studying cardio at ten ren, and then i went out downtown disney with the mom and the ryan. i bought bath bombs from basin! woo hoo! we had dinner at the uva bar and wandered around for the rest of the evening listening to the live music and watching the people dance.

cardio exam on monday. time to study.

wait… when did all of these exams start coming so fast? i mean, wasn’t the stress of a presentation, paper, and videotaped patient evaluation enough? it’s october! i’m supposed to be frolicking in the park and kicking up piles of leaves from the ground. there’s no sign of fall anywhere in pohomona. i wanna see some orangy red yellowy leaves!

[shakes fist, yelps, spins, falls on ground]