Things I wish I knew...

I found this in the blog iReason, M.D.

Things I wish I knew before starting medical school:

(I've pulled out the ones that are particularly interesting to me, but feel free to visit the full list by clicking on the link above)

1. Rankings don’t really matter unless you’re very serious about research
7. More about health-care politics
9. Getting into med school is not the end-goal; it’s just the beginning.
10. How much material was really coming my way
12. How much drama there’ll be in the class!
13. Discipline to exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet
14. How to spend money and time more efficiently
15. How people’s perception of you change once they know you’re a medical student
16. How disturbed and sad I’d feel, looking at pictures in lecture, of individuals suffering from various diseases
18. How professors treat you as though you’re their colleagues, rather than upholding the barrier between teacher and student (a pleasant surprise)
19. How useful my iPhone would be!
20. How creative I would need to become to mentally store and organize information
23. How much money I’d spend on Jamba Juice
24. How people’s personalities change under heavy stress
25. How sleeping at least 6 hours per night is important to maintain focus the following day (unlike college, where I could get away with 4-5 hours a night).

So I started thinking:

• Am I serious about research? Nah
• I need to stay informed when it comes to health care politics - I should ask Matt to forward me articles, he's the king of forwarding articles
• What drama!? Ugh, really?
• I should ask Matt to encourage me to exercise. And to make me well balanced dinners :)
• I'm pretty sure I don't have a choice but to spend money efficiently - everyone should marry a financial analyst that rocks at Excel and requires each dollar spent to be categorized and graphed
• I like to think I'm already pretty good at spending time efficiently, but I'm afraid I'll be in for a rude awakening
• I hope people's perception of me don't change in a negative way...
• I need to get an iPhone... I don't know why, but it will apparently be VERY useful
• I've never had Jamba Juice! I guess I can replace that with "coffee bar"?
• If my personality starts to change negatively, I would be grateful if my family and friends would let me know, in the nicest way possible
• I'm actually really worried about the only sleeping 6 hours per night thing... I need AT LEAST 7 or 8! I should ask Matt to send me to bed by 11pm each night
• I'm very lucky to have such a supportive husband to keep my life together for me :)

The above list seems somewhat helpful and at least fun to read. The other option was the 101 Things You Wish You Knew Before Starting Medical School from the blog medschoolhell, which I clearly am avoiding!

Moving (back) to the Dark Side

It's official, we are moving to Fells Point! After spending my first three years in Baltimore only a few blocks from the Patterson Park Pagoda, near the Daily Grind (which is now Fells Grind for some reason!) and a stones throw from Safeway, I spent the last year living with my hubby in his house in Federal Hill. It was a wonderful year full of walks to Fort McHenry, sand volleyball at Rash Field, and most importantly pretty much next door to many of our friends and the social scene that comes with "my 30 closest friends in Baltimore." For example, we were able to walk to and from the going away party for a spectacular friend this past Saturday. Needless to say, it is going to be a big adjustment living 12 minutes away.

However, I can't wait to get moved in and settled into our new apartment! I'm looking forward to being 0.7 miles from school, shopping at Safeway again, and starting our married life in a new place. Although we've lived together for over a year, there's something about looking for a place together, visualizing how our furniture and kitchen gadgets will fit in the new space, and physically moving to our own apartment that really makes me feel more "married."

This year we might be able to hit up:

Patterson Park Running/Walking trails

Fell's Point Films on the Pier - Wednesdays in July and August

Shakespeare in the Park, Much Ado About Nothing - August 28, 2010

Butcher’s Hill Flea Market - September 11, 2010

Fells Point Fun Festival - October 2-3, 2010

Baltimore Parade of Lighted Boats - December 4, 2010

Unfortunately, many festivals and activities have passed for 2010, but will come around again: Polish Festival, FestAfrica, Ukrainian Festival, Russian Festival

From what I've heard, med school demands much of your time and energy. I'm super excited to be living so close to the campus that I won't waste time commuting (those extra 12 minutes will be precious I'm sure!) and I'm absolutely excited to set up our second bedroom as an "office" for dedicated study space. The apartment is brand new and our office is a bright room with 3 windows and a "clean" feeling that I tend to need when studying. I really think this move will help set me up for success in the weeks, months and years to come as a med student.

I Guess You'll Do

As I prepare to start this new adventure, I'm reflecting on where I am in life and how I got here. My husband had me watch this youtube video, "I Guess You'll Do," on our second date. I didn't know it then, but he's incredibly good at making people feel awkward. I did not know at all how to react and I distinctly remember thinking, "Is he already thinking this is us? Wow, that's a little much. We just met."

Fastforward....
I just sent him this email:

Subject line: "Where we are in life"

We have:

1. gone to concerts
2. gone to movies
3. had a fight and made up
4. lived together for a year
5. gone to a memorial day bbq with our parents
6. gotten married (and I was the center of attention, and looked skinny in my dress)

So far we haven't:

1. gone camping
2. taken pictures of us camping
3. bought a house with a semi-finished basement
4. had children (and acted as the first pregnant person ever)
5. moved into a larger house and build a deck
6. gotten any dogs
7. gone to myrtle beach or orlando
8. moved into a condo and retired
9. discussed photos of our unremarkable grandchildren
10. died

Do Research.... check!

Part of what med schools want to read in your application is that you have experience doing research. They want to know you understand what it takes to add to the body of scientific knowledge and what happens behind the scenes to create the drugs, procedures and therapies that make up the medical field. So, I took a $15,000 pay cut and took a clinical research position interviewing a population of East Baltimore folks with a history of IV drug injection and/or that are HIV+.

Although the learning curve of this job was the opposite of steep, I will take away many life lessons from my coworkers, the principal investigator of the study, and especially the participants.

• A smile and kind greeting goes a very long way.
• People want to be treated with respect and want me to be honest with them.
• I never know what the last 24 hours was like for someone else - and sometimes listening is more important than gathering data.
• I will never win an argument with a participant - because there should never be an argument to "win." I will always have to adapt my approach to meet the participant where they are.

There are more I'm sure. Additionally, the core values I learned from Teach For America really apply to life in general - and I have found them extremely useful throughout this experience.

Today I saw a participant that did not want to partake in the breathing test. He was rude, loud and on the edge of threatening. After stepping back, I now realize that there was nothing I could have said or done to encourage this person to participate, and furthermore, there was nothing I said or did to make this person angry. This was not the first uncooperative participant I've dealt with, and it certainly won't be the last. In the medical field, just as in the teaching world, there is extreme value in being able to "read" a person, acknowledge where that person is in life and adapt my approach, tone, word selection, and body language to meet that person where they are and help them move forward to where they need to be. (Thanks TFA!)

One amazing year

I can confidently say that this past year has been the most amazing year of my life to date. Many of my past experiences really helped to shape this year for me... specifically moving to Baltimore to teach high school biology to the most outstanding kids I've ever met. After two years in the classroom, I realized that instead of differentiating to meet learning needs, I wanted to create the plan to improve each student’s health and well-being. Unmet healthcare needs are unnecessarily hindering students' successes in the classroom and I wanted to address those needs. I applied to medical school. Well, actually I applied to a post-bac pre-med program to take the undergrad classes I needed before applying to med school.... then I applied to med school :)

In the past year I:



Got accepted at my first choice med school







Took an amazing 3 week vacation to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand with my fiance

Became an aunt :)

And most importantly, married my best friend!

Now I'm preparing to meet the challenge of medical school head on and I couldn't be more excited to start! Classes begin in one month and I'm starting to realize that the name of the game is "balance." My highlighters are ready to go, but I'm also excited to be a newlywed, a new aunt, part of a championship kickball team, a progressing cook... the challenge is going to be remaining involved and happy in all of the other wonderful areas of my life. Med school will be part of the next 4 years... but won't take over! At least that's the goal.