from betty...

Take the Quiz here!

I got this off of Betty's blog. Tori and I LOVED anything Jane Austen when we were younger, and musicals...we were weird kids! Funny too how I've always loved the name Emma. Here's what the results said about me...

"You are Emma Woodhouse of Emma! You like being the queen of your social circle (small and provincial as it may be), and feel it's your duty to help those less influential than you. You often meddle in the affairs of others, though you do it with a pure heart. You are often deluded in your flights of fancy, but your good intentions and creative spirit make you someone anyone could like."

Anyway, back to studying...

This is how I spend my Friday nights...

I'll post more later when I get a chance to come up for air, but for your entertainment purposes, here's what I'm studying...even as we speak! Please excuse the quality of the artwork!




Those would be my lovely drawings of the Axillary Artery and Brachial Plexus. (You can click on them if you want to see them larger) Once I memorize all that then I get to memorize where they go and what they do, etc. Aren't you jealous?!

my head hurts

Things currently on my mind...
-I just made 134 notecards for anatomy, and it's only for 2 lectures (hand cramp)
-We just found out ALL our quizzes and tests are cumulative, not just the finals (b/c cramming every week is just so much more fun)
-Almost half the class ahead of us were put on academic probation after the first term (meaning they get kicked out the next term if they didn't substantially raise their grades up)
-My eyes are burning still from the cadaver lab, and I smell like formalin (yay for cadaver juice)
-I am so mentally exhausted and on complete information overload, and it's only partway through the 3rd week (I need a back-up drive for my brain)
-I have to get 5 titers done to prove my immunity and various shots before I can even think about going into the clinics (and we all know my love of needles...)
-I have bruises all over my arms/back from clinical skills when I somehow became the class dummy for bone/muscle/tendon palpations (I look good in black and blue)
-No matter how hard/long I study, I'm still behind (not a pleasant feeling)
-I have three more years of this to look forward to....(who signed me up for this?!)

On a side note, I actually touched Harley today in lab and stood the whole time...maybe I'm over this whole passing out thing...one could only hope!

week 2...check!

2 weeks down, 7 more to go...until the end of the first term. I must say that this second week went a lot more smoothly than the first, and I felt a lot less drained by the end of it too. Our cadavers ended up being delivered earlier than expected, so we started working on them on Tuesday night. I am proud to say that despite my track record of passing out easily, I did not even feel nauseous! Mind you, I sat at the feet and didn't look at the face, and didn't really ever touch the cadaver, but I did not pass out! HUGE milestone! Instead, I was the official recorder/tool-hander-outer/dissection instructor of the group. I'm not sure how much I can even say legally about the cadaver, but I will say that we have named her Harley, due to her being a biker chick with skull and scorpion tattoos and multiple piercings. She unfortunately has a fair amount of fat on her, which means a lot of time devoted to removing the fat. But at least she isn't as large as Mr. Ginormous, who can't even have the lid closed he's so large! I know this is an experience that limited people get, so I am keeping in the back of my mind that this is an honor and I should get as much out of it as possible. I wore one of my grandpa's old lab coats, so in lab I'm Dr. Thomas Roland MD. I had to explain that one to my professor!

I had my first quiz in Anatomy on Thursday, and I only missed one question! YAY! And I had that one limited down to 2 answers, so at least I wasn't too far off. I am very relieved to know that the amount of studying I am doing is sufficient (I don't know when I would get more in) and that I am grasping the concepts well. We will have a quiz or test every week in Anatomy, so this is just the first of many. I have a test in Clinical Skills this coming Monday which I'll hopefully do just as well on. Other than that, it's more information, STACKS of notecards (sorry trees!), and lots of reading.

We didn't do much for Valentine's Day. I made cupcakes for the entire class to spread some love and cheer, and they were much appreciated. They are all now calling me Mom or Class Mom. :) I even had some extras which I handed out to the professors...gotta earn brownie points when I can! The 2nd years told us that the professors all get together on Wednesdays and talk about all the students, so I need to stay on their good sides! Marilee and I went out for a fancy dinner of El Pollo Loco (oooh la la!) and ate some celebratory chocolate. We had today off for President's Day, so I have been cleaning and studying all day. Jeff is on his way down for the weekend and I am VERY excited to spend some time with him. I hope every one had an enjoyable V-Day. I enjoyed all the packages and Valentine's I received...Thank you Jeff, Mom, Cindy, and Oma! Much love to all!

surviving week 1

Well, I survived the first week. You think I look tired in this picture? You should have seen me on Thursday and Friday. I have never been so exhausted, both mentally and physically, as I was at the end of this past week. Although the classes themselves aren't that long, there is just a LOT of time spent on campus every day, and then after you get home, you have a ton of reading and reviewing to do before you wake up and start all over again. Maybe I'm working too hard, but in this program there is no room for error. The grade scales are much narrower, with an A- at 93%!

I am liking my classes so far, with my favorite being clinical skills. In this class we are learning how to do all the things we'll perform on the patients, such as joint manipulation, palpation, range of motion (ROM), and other such measurements that we'll take during the evaluations. It's exciting to be learning all the things that I've seen practiced at work for so long. Anatomy is a lot of information crammed into a small period of time, and I really am just trying to take it one day at a time and am hoping that my brain can process everything fast enough. We haven't gotten our cadavers yet...they will be delivered either the end of this week or early next week, and then we will start dissecting them. Any name ideas? My seminar class is basically teaching us all the ins and outs of the profession, and mostly what we legally can and cannot do. Then we have a light and fluffy class called Professional Relationships, which honestly is busy work...and a lot of it. It's boring, but I know as the term goes on I'll appreciate having some non-thinking time.

That about sums up week one. It's 78º inside our apartment right now and at almost 9 pm...just a glimpse of this summer when we'll really melt! Anyway, there's still more reading and notecard-making to get done before tomorrow. Hope everyone had a good week!

first day of school

Keeping with my mom's tradition, here's a picture from my first day of school. I had no idea just how much stuff I was going to have to bring every day. Anyway, this one's for you mom!

Cute children alert!

Yesterday I went to Jeff's family's January birthday celebration. It was at Jeff's aunt and uncle's house in Brea, which much to my surprise, was only 20 minutes away. It was a lot of fun seeing all of his family, especially the kids! I was greeted at the door by giant hugs from Andrew and Sofia, and Andrew proceeded to inform me that he needed to babysit me. Anytime Andrew! It was my first time going to one of his family's events without Jeff actually being there, which I was a little apprehensive at first, but I was very pleased that I felt right at home with everyone, not that I was really all THAT worried. Besides, when all else fails, you obey Sofia's "Follow me!" command. So I thought I would share with you the cuteness of Sofia and Andrew, who thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures with my camera. Jordan, you're cute too, but all the pictures of you have your sister's fingers over the lens!
Today Marilee and I watched the Super Bowl as we read our book on the lepers. The game got exciting at the end, and I was happy to see the Patriots' perfect record be ruined. While it would have been a lot better if San Diego had done the job last week, I guess I can't get too picky!

Tomorrow's my first day of school, so it's time to get some beauty sleep! Everyone stay warm in the six more weeks of winter we'll be having! (according to Punxsutawney Phil)