Awkward moments

Being a medical student is FULL of awkward moments...

Every medical student is required to learn how to give a physical exam. Each student had to recently give a breast exam. Five students crammed in a room, performing in front of each other. If you mess up a small part, you have to start all over.

A few days after, my husband runs into his breast exam lady in line at the grocery store. He says he had three options: awkwardly get out of the middle of the line and leave, say hi and then if she doesn't remember you than you have to spend time explaining why you know her, or just pretend you don't recognize her. He chose to just pretend he didn't recognize her.

The funny thing is, his awkward moment wasn't the only one. A couple of students have mentioned that they recently ran into breast exam lady too. Here's to awkward moments and many more to come...

Have you ever ran into your doctor outside of the hospital before??? Some friends shared some awkward moments with me. And now we know why doctors live in small towns outside of their practice!

TEDMED

This year, my department is hosing a simulcast for TEDMED 2012. TEDMED is a large conference held in Washington, DC where all types of doctors, researchers, and others with a medical interest come together for sessions and networking. It's large purpose is innovation - sharing new ideas with eachother and coming up with solutions. It has such a large variety of people... Lance Armstrong, David Blaine, Steve Wozniak, Nobel Prize winner, and numerous doctors. I've watched a few videos and find them very interesting. I'm looking forward to hosting them on our campus! Enjoy!!

Lance Armstrong:

How David Blaine proved doctors wrong on how long he could hold his breath:

Exoskeleton:

What people think I do...

Medical School Terminology: Anki

Anki - virtual flashcards; saves time; saves trees; and great for identifying pictures.
http://ankisrs.net/

Almost all the students use this program and is a big help to them when studying. Instead of spending money on thousands and thousands of notecards for each test, having them scattered around the house, trying to keep track of them all, and spending your precious time making each of them, you can essentially make them on the computer. It is useful for when they can copy and paste a picture or slide on to the flashcard and can identify images. You can keep track of which ones you are still unsure of and it will appear again at the end. You can save all of the flashcards and reuse them to study for the board exam.

Something the students can't live without!

Laptops crashing everywhere...

So, the moment after my last post (while I was using my husbands' school computer), his laptop crashed as well. Oops! The previous day, he had spent 12 hours making online flashcards. All a week before his big test. He didn't get upset as much as I thought he would (or as much as I would) and stayed pretty calm saying things like "I don't know why I this upset. It's not like I don't have my books and can't study." I was pretty proud of him for having that attitude (partly because I know I would have been a basketcase). We found out that the port where you use the charger was broken from the inside and would remain dead. Remember when I did that post about what computer you should have for medical school? And how if you get the recommended laptop, the school's IT department will fix it free of charge. Totally worth it!! He went in Monday morning, they fixed it in about an hour, and that was it. If it was any other laptop, it would have been shipped away and then shipped back and would have cost us a lot of money. He probably wouldn't have gotten it back in time for his exam either.

I am not going to lie, I was kind of hoping something eventually would happen to his laptop and we would rely on IT so that we could confirm we made the right decision in paying more for the recommended laptop. Glad everything turned out ok and the students are busy studying their 45 lectures for this Infectious Disease block tomorrow. Wishing everyone the best of luck!

Overdue Post

Sorry for skipping out on the month of January... our laptop crashed and so I have been without a computer. Hubby won't share his school laptop. He keeps saying "i have to study, i have to study" blah blah blah! Just kidding. This is actually a really hard block for them (infectious diseases) and they have their hardest test (minus the USMLE) a week from tomorrow. Basically, the students are saying we didn't know how easy we had it last semester. Can you imagine?


Let's do a recap - Christmas was great! We went to my in laws and spent a few days there. It was nice to get away out to the hill country/lake. Next we headed up to Oklahoma to visit my grandparents and meet my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. So glad we decided to do that because we really don't get to see them often. My grandma just turned 93 and my grandpa just turned 89 and they're hanging in there just fine. Hubby always says I'm going to live forever because he believes a large part of living a long life is your genes. We'll see!

I was able to get start our married group when we got back from the break. We went out to dinner (both students and spouses) and it was great to meet everyone. Instead of doing dinner once a month, I decided that wasn't fair to take away everyone's one free weekend out of the month. So we will probably meet about two-three times a semester. Everyone really enjoyed it and was thankful it was put together. I think it's something that everyone needed. The class does little get-togethers, but most consist of the younger crowds and resemble a college party - which doesn't really appeal to people who have 5 kids, 3 kids, or a toddler at home. Once we get better acquainted, I am hoping that the spouse-wives can meet more often. Once the new year starts, we'll add on the incoming students and spouses too. Looking forward to it and the friendships that will be made!

Funny Story: this week we had to miss our Wednesday small group. The group leader texted my husband the next day saying something like we missed you guys. He responded "yeah, sorry i was giving a breast exam" Our group leader responded saying "that's the most awkward reason he has ever gotten and hilarious" Another reminder that the things that he does and say just aren't normal to other people. haha. We got a pretty good laugh at it.

For now, things are moving pretty slow around here compared to the holiday season. Hopefully we can get our laptop fixed soon and I'll be able to keep you all better updated...