Someone's gotta be the first...

So, we have Immunology Working Conferences throughout the semester & our first one just happened to be yesterday, Monday. We have reading to do & medical cases that we work through on our own which are accompanied by questions to answer...

Then, we get together in assigned small groups, compare answers/discuss the questions, and take a group quiz.

Lastly, we go up to the MS1 (Medical Student Year 1) Lecture Hall for a large group discussion where our professor calls on us *randomly* to answer the cases... (he has an alphabetized list with photographs to use to pick us out!)

Well... guess who was the VERY, very, VeRy first person to be called upon to answer the first case of our medical school career..?? Yeap, if you guessed me--you would be correct....

We all sat down & I am texting (very professional, I know...) while Dr. Krolick is introducing how the large group situation will work with people being called out "randomly"... He finishes explaining & all of a sudden I hear the teacher say, "Is Dr. Lee here?" I just kind of looked around at first because there are four students with a last name pronounced like mine (Michelle Le, Andrew Lee, Deborah Lee, and Carl Li). That is, until he clarified... "Dr. Deborah Lee?" Everyone turned to look at me & started clapping (I guess congratulating me on my *great* fortune for getting to be the first to go..) I wish I could have seen what my face looked like... probably approximately the shade of parchment ...and I was grinning like a fool just wondering how this stroke of fortune was bestowed upon me..?? (parchment is really white I hope... lol)

Haha, it was all okay in the end... He asked about 4 questions over the 1st case---an ELISA direct antibody binding test to discern for the presence of a bacterial pathogen in a pregnant woman in her first trimester---and I was convinced I sounded ridiculous... but many of my classmates said I did well so I guess not. :) The guy student he called on afterwards ("Dr. Mankowski"--our teacher was working his way L-->Z) only got 1 question, and we laughed about that later because I would say he DEFINITELY lucked out. My heart was absolutely racing, but the coolest thing was that August 30th, 2010 was the first time I was ever called "Dr. Deborah Lee" by another person with the title of "Dr."... That makes me smile! I still have a long, long, long road, but it's the little things people!!

In other news, our first round of tests begin this Friday with Medical Microbiology.... then, we have 4 more tests next week.... WISH ME LUCK!! Here we go.... :)

And we'll all float on, ok.

Alright don't worry even if things end up a bit too heavy.
We'll all float on...alright. Already we'll all float on.
Alright already we'll all float on, ok.
Don't worry we'll all float on.
Even if things get heavy, we'll all float on.

-Modest Mouse

Well, it's finally here...

Summer passed in the blink of an eye, the White Coat Ceremony has come and gone, and classes are already 1 month in at this point! I'm a MEDICAL STUDENT aka an MS1. Finally. I am right where I belong with 229 other people just like me---type A, workaholics! :) Even though it has only been a short while, I can already feel the stress creeping up as our first round of testing quickly approaches... I personally just can't wait for the first round of tests to be O-V-E-R! The build up is just painful! But, I have learned a lot, and I figured I would share a few snippets....

1. Med school is not conducive to sleeping... and sleeping is not a priority--it's just something that happens eventually after staring at notes or books for hours on end.

2. Labs are killer--who knew four hours could go by so fast in gross lab--trying to do anything productive after that is like trying to get up and run a mile the day after a marathon (not that I've ever tried a marathon!!).

3. There is NO way---and I mean NO WAY they actually expect us to learn all this stuff!!! There is just too much going on everyday... I hope I leave with even 50% of this information stored away in my brain somewhere....

4. Caffeine = crucial! I have yet to jump on the '5-hour energy' boat, but it may be soon...

5. UTHSCSA's medical center needs more parking!! The PA's started back to school this past week & now my walk from the parking lot is now 15 minutes b/c I always find a way to get a crappy parking spot... Thank god for my iPhone & the Pandora app...

6. Medical students can be fun too!! I have met so many incredible people with awesome plans & dreams for their careers in medicine. I am so proud to be among such *great* peers. Hopefully, we can keep finding ways to have our fun & get closer as a med school class as things get more crazy...

7. most importantly.... we'll all float on.... it seems like we'll never make it--medical school is 4 long, crazy years--but I have a feeling it is going to fly by... 4 weeks have already passed in the blink of an eye... I am just going to hold on tight & enjoy the ride...

xo

debs