Yea! I'm a second year medical student!!

Let me update you on the last month. I successfully made it out of the first year of medical school and I'm not looking back! Don't get me wrong, I liked the first year of medical school but it was hard and not as interesting as what we are doing now. The first year was all important but it important because it is the foundation for understanding the exciting stuff: diseases, pathology, diagnosis and treatment! We are just starting this stuff and I LOVE it. The pathology, so far, just seems to make sense. I have been enjoying pharmacology more than I thought I would and I've always liked microbiology and immunology. We are also taking Behavioral Science, which is interesting but there are a lot of grey areas which makes taking multiple choice tests in Behavioral Science very challenging. However, that is how the boards will test Behavioral Sciences so that is how we will be tested now. I do wish we could write an essay or something other than multiple choice. As part of our Behavioral Science grade, we are taking Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM). ICM is where we learn how to do a physical exam, write up a history and physical, etc. ICM is very fun and we even get to go to a local hospital. I went last week and it looked like a t.v. show. There were 23 patients in four rooms (men, women, OB, and pediatrics). There were no screens on the windows, only fans--no air conditioning. My patient was a 39 year old male with an abscess (infection) on his hip, who was in the middle of a sickle cell anemia crisis (extremely painful) and was also paralyzed from the waist down. Needless to say, it was interesting. The attending physician was VERY nice to us, but still pushed us to answer questions and think like a physician. Of everything we saw at the hospital, I was most surprised about the very tightly regulated visiting hours. There were four or five hours a day that visitors could be in the hospital. From 6:00 to 8:00; 12:00-1:00 and 6:00-8:00 in the evening. Anyway, I think the patients were happy to have the medical students around because at least they had someone to talk to, even if it isn't there loved ones.

I REALLY feel like I'm starting to think like a physician. I've wanted to be an oncologist since I was six years old and grandma died, so I can't express how exciting this is for me. I can really see myself as a physician....it's not just a dream anymore, it's becoming reality.