2 more days!!

Christmas is right around the corner! It's so close and we are almost there!

These past 15 weeks have been incredible, challenging, exhausting, a blast, and my favorite thing to be doing. Nonetheless I am SO ready for a break. To friends and family- see you all soon! I hope your Fall season was a great one!

A verse that has encouraged me thus far: "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" Psalm 90:17

The Doctor Bag

Today was the day for our class. We all received our physician equipment! Now, I have a stethoscope, opthalmoscope, blood pressure cuff, penlight, reflex hammer, and few other gadgets. I really enjoyed practicing with the equipment in our primary skills lab today- I have performed my first few ear, nose and throat exams...now I just need to keep practicing.

This week has been a very good week. Long hours and much to do, but I have been enjoying my classes very much. Last Friday we removed the skull cap and brain of our cadaver...tomorrow we will move into the larynx.

For now, I will study the ten layers of the retina in the eye ball proper, then get some sleep.

Good night to all.

Making it through the week

Hello All!

I hope you all have had a fantastic week! Mine has been great- so much going on and many full days ahead. Our next exam day is this coming Monday. We have exams from 7:30 until 3pm. First, we'll have Biostatistics, then Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, Primary Care Skills, lunch and then Anatomy lab practical. As of today we will gain no new material- so I feel good in the review stage. Tomorrow we will have a summary anatomy lecture and then 2 hours to dissect the cadaver faces....this is a big day.

Again, God is good. Hebrews 12:1-3

Good night.

GRACE

God blessed me today with encouragement from a little girl in the morning coffee shop-

8AM she was in her pink leotard all ready for ballet class when she came up to me on my small chair with my books spread across the table. "Hi!" she said. She was so cute...How old are you? I asked.

With a smile she told me she's three and will turn 4 in December.

After we talked for a while, she disclosed an incredible ambition. When she grows up, she wants "to be a superhero!" For her, the sky is obviously not the limit. Why do we limit ourselves and consider certain things impossible?? This little girl would never think it.

Our conversation may have been endless until the little girl's mother came around the corner...."Oh! Honey she's studying- let her do her work, come on. Come with me Honey. Tell her 'Good luck, do well.'" The little girl smiled with sparkling eyes and high blonde pig tails, "Good Luck!" she said. "Do well!" Then mom said, "Come on Grace. Let's go." So, she skipped up and made a perfect ballerina twirl out the door.

GRACE. Why am I in school here? Because of God's grace. How can I succeed here? Only by God's grace. God's Grace whispers to me: Good luck...do well. Then, God's grace enables me to live that out.

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If God brings you to it,

He will bring you through it.

Happy moments, praise God.

Difficult moments, seek God.

Quiet moments, worship God.

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God.

Encouragement in a Box

Today was a great day! God is so good all the time and always faithful in the little things. Today started with packing up a lunch and heading to campus to begin chipping away at my to do list. Print documents for professor's mission project- check. Catch up on emails- check.

Then, I was joined by some of my fellow students to begin our project for Thursday's Primary Care Skills class...we took turns interviewing each other to record mock patient histories. We learned the process of taking a patient through ID and CC, identification and cheif complaint. Then, HPI and ROS, history of present illness and review of systems. One classmate described her true-life sore throat and neck pain, the other semi-faked sleeping problems, and I opted for mocking visual problems. After formally closing our interviews we went on the OPP lab, osteopathic principles and practice. I checked the cervical range of motion on my friends neck, right bending normal, left bending normal, flexion and extension a little obstructed. So, I practiced a few muscle energy techniques...and then we called it a day.

After a 30 min power nap, I met a friend at the Greenway and we ran our Navy 1.5mi in 15min. ...I still have a ways to go to get under 13 min, but that's a work in progess :)

I am now back home, had a good dinner, shared the day's happenings with my room mate, and emptied half of my LAST BOX! Then, I will run through one more sequence of Anatomy notes to be caught up on the brachial plexus and forearm before tomorrow's 8am lecture.

It is off to bed for me soon and hugs and kisses to you all. While I emptied that box and stumbled upon old letters and cards I realized how all of your encouragment has brought me to where I am now- from mom's post-it note remembers to pay my cell phone bill to crayon drawings from brtoher Keith- you all keep me on track :)

-Serennah

ADLs

Acivities of Daily Living (ADLs) include the following:

- washing laundry

- eating meals

- brushing teeth

- taking out the garbage

- going to the bank, etc

I'm finally in medical school, and now what?

Its the Sunday of week 4 and we just completed our first test block. Successful? We'll find out Tuesday. We have 2 more weeks until our next set of exams, so for this med student as well as any other one, its 2 weeks until my next 1 day break :) Life is planned around exams for us student doctors and we thrive on living this way.

It has taken me 3 weeks to realize the effort I will have to put in to prioritize ADLs. One not listed above is keeping in contact with all my loved ones, family and friends. To be honest, medical school can seem to be a very selfish undertaking. Everything I do could esily be motivated by self-interest. On the surfacr, everything I do could be interpreted as me doing all this for just myself. If you ask me, I would say I do this for my God, my future patients, and my family. I have to put in the time now, to be well-prepared when my day comes to serve my patients. I must succeed here in school so I can be successful out there in the real word of medical practice. And, I will weigh my success not on my board scores or my exam grades, but on my relationships with my classmates, my family, my professors, and my patients (all of these are dependent upon how well I do in school).

So, without further ado, this blog is to keep all of you posted on what I'm doing each day. You can repsond here, email me or call. My phone is mostly off during the day---with 8+ hours of lectures and labs a day I cannot always get to calls and messages quickly, but those messages are often the highlight of my day :) ...Besides uncovering a nerve in the gross lab, or finally grasping that concept in the library study room.

Medical school is doable. It takes motivation, encouragment, hard work, and humor. You have to make friends with your fellow students, your teachers, and the night-shift campus security gaurds- All of whom you get to know very well.

I hope these posting keep you in touch with my life so I can be a blessing in yours.

Off to sleep for a long study day tomorrow.

-Serennah