Friday, October 16, 2009

Well, I Passed . . .

It's been a long and rough week. And I'm finally glad it's (almost) over.

5 exams this week. It's been a long time since I've had to study so hardcore for exams; usually, my exams have been spaced just far enough to have at least half a day to breathe in between exams. But this week, this week was a constant onslaught. Compound that on top of the fact that this is the hardest block in all subjects ("head and neck" for human development (devo) and anatomy, and a TON of info in biochem).

I didn't sleep much before my exams on Wednesday, maybe 5 hours. I also didn't sleep much last night; I spontaneously woke up after maybe about 5 hours of sleep with biochem racing in my head. It was still dark outside. Ugh. At least I passed all my exams . . . barely. If I had gotten one more question wrong here or there, the scary "Low Pass" lady may have had to hunt me down and that wouldn't be pleasant.

I won't bore you with the minutia (because that's what I was tested on), but for the life of me I could not remember the pterygopalantine fossa and what went through it. It's seriously the "black box" of head and neck anatomy for me - I was more or less fine on everything else. And despite being able to recall all the biochemical pathways and having what I felt was a decent understanding of it, I apparently did worse than I'd like. 3 more weeks until the next block exams. At least it's rumored to be the easiest block - so hopefully I'll do A LOT better.

I had a moment while studying this week - a moment where I wished I had just finished my MPH and gone on with a career in public health, a moment where I wished I was still in undergrad or even grad school. Still toying with finishing my MPH though (in addition to my MD), but I'll have to figure that out in due time.

Now I have to go tidy up the apartment a bit before people arrive - it's a mess. My roommate convinced friends to come over to our apartment to play some poker. I keep forgetting how to play that game. :-/

And tomorrow, I have to wake up early-ish to go volunteer at the free clinic as a "patient educator." That should be interesting but I really wanted to sleep in. And I kind of look like an Asian hobo right now. As they say, "C'est la vie."

8 comments:

Gillie said...

Wow! What a killer week! No wonder you look like a hobo, Asian or otherwise. What is it with the brain? It seems like everyone of us has a hole where knowledge seems to go in, but is never seen again. My personal missing info? Multiplication. No really. They just wont stick around.

Poker? Just bluff your way thru! Really! Most of it is just out lasting the other guy! I have won a hand with nothing! But, because I was quick to ante up, they all started to fold.

cya!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on making it through the week. That sounds like an awfully tough onslaught of exams and obstacles. Even with the hiccups, you're making progress towards your goals. Don't lose sight of these because they're the reason you're doing what you're doing. And if your heart isn't feeling it, you always have the freedom of doing something else, as well.

I wish you all the best in the days and weeks to come.

Seth said...

Damn, that does sound rough. As a doctor, don't you get used to no sleep? Just kidding. Make sure you take whatever moments of rest you can - like, instead of too much poker, more sleep.

Hang in there.

ps: what exactly does an Asian hobo look like? LOL

:)

Aaron said...

Well done!! :D I can totally understand and I love it when I hear Med students bitch about their exams! Haha.

Oh oh and I can totally relate to waking up thinking about biochem in the middle of the night! It sucked! All the reactions will fly by my mind whilst in bed and when I reach somewhere not right, I'd jump off bed and go read somemore. And dreams about biochem?! Oh, those were the days..

Mike said...

Congratulations on passing!!! 5 exams sounds intense!!!

It is over!!

Dave83201 said...

I'm happy you survived! Take a little time to have some fun, and appreciate it!

Oh and I went to Google Image and found thousands of images to match "Asian hobo". I'm wondering if one might be you?

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Hope you get enough sleep for the following weeks, take care yourself, Glad to hear that you got through one tough week.
C'est la vie, it is always busy life than wasting life.

Esper.

LonelyBoy said...

Well done on getting through your exams!!
I've got the same situation next week. :( ugh...

Hope you get good results!!!!

Sxx