Endings and Beginnings

I am forever finished with taking anatomy in medical school (I have this really odd feeling that somehow, someday I will regret saying that, but for now it's true!). It really is a wonderful feeling! I adore our professors; they are so much fun and are very knowledgable, but I can't handle smelling like formaldehyde any longer!

Just some anatomy/pop culture humor. I wish our anatomy was as easy at this! 

We are now beginning Cellular Processes (aka biochem). It's the bane of most med school students' existence. We shall see how it goes...

And now some biochem/psychology humor! Complex carbohydrates...baha how punny!

And now for other life updates...

• We've been having several long meetings about do juSTIce (the project I'm president of that works with the incarcerated population on STI education as well as chlamydia and gonorrhea screening) and planning for the future of the program. I'm SUPER JAZZED about the direction we're heading! There are great things happening in the realm of STI education and prevention in Douglas County--which is good because our rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea transmission are unreal! I have the most wonderful board working with me and incredible community partners to make these things happen for us! We've also had some really great feedback and questions from the inmates hearing the presentation, so we can use that information in future planning for the program. 
• Speaking of do juSTIce...some of the gang is presenting at an international conference this Friday about our program. Go us! The program really has made a huge impact since its inception in 2008. We are struggling to get all of our awesomeness into a short 20 minute presentation. 
• My poster was delivered for my other conference (the one I'm presenting at about Mild Cognitive Impairment in DC). It's B-E-A-UTIFUL!! I'm getting pumped/nervous for that presentation as well. I suppose I'll quit stressing quite a much about that one and get through this week...
• This week we also have our OSCE (Objectively Structured Clinical Examination). Basically it checks our understanding of the clinical skills practices. This is week 4 of 7 for tests/conferences. As soon as I finish the OSCE, I will have survived 1/2 of the crazy fall testing/presenting schedule! Thanksgiving break is coming up very quickly and I'm quite grateful! 
• I've been going to my preceptor regularly. I get to see all sorts of things this year and do more physical exams and patient interviews than I was able to last year. It's really great fun! I'm sure everyone that knows me is utterly surprised that I prefer being around people to being around books and studying...not! 
• Challenges: I finished last month's stretching for 15 minutes/day challenge. It was hard towards the end of the month to carve out that time because I was busy and tired, but I know that I always felt refreshed when I did. This month's challenge is a technology and social media fast. It's been sort of hard (sort of like going through withdrawal!) so far, but I am also plenty busy this month, so I imagine that I'll survive just fine. The silence of not having technology around you is actually quite deafening, if that makes any sense. More on that later though... 

Just a quick and dirty update of the things going on in my world. I'll keep y'all updated on how the conferences and the technology fast are going as the weeks progress! 

research!

I have only one more day at work and then I'll be heading back to school in Omaha. Where have the past 5 months gone?! I am so thankful to have the opportunity to do research in Hastings with some seriously wonderful people! Thanks for that Dr. E!!

This morning I submitted an abstract to a research conference in November. I sort of felt like I was submitting my AMCAS all over again based on my stress response. I guess we'll see in a month or so whether or not "Anosognosia in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment" gets accepted (sounds like a super exciting read, eh?).

Back to the grind with the writing of a paper on posturography...

research

Well I've started a lit review and worked a little bit with the data for my first research project over the past few weeks. The purpose of the study was to see if people with mild cognitive impairment (like in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease) had any idea of their deficits and to find a good tool for clinicians to use to screen patients. There's quite a bit of literature out right now on the topic actually. I'm coming into the study after the data collection, so now I'm just trying to figure out what the data is telling us. So far, I don't really have any results, but hopefully I will soon!

Obviously the night wouldn't have been complete
without an awkward prom picture with my
 beautiful date/roommate, Megan!

This week has been quite the busy one! It all started last weekend with medical school prom. Yes, you did read that right. We had prom.

And it was awesome! I had a wonderful time going out to dinner and dancing the night away with my friends.

This week I also headed down to Lincoln (the NE state capital), to lobby with the legislature for a couple of bills that a group at the med center had decided we were passionate about. Medicaid expansion was being debated that day on the floor, so it was very interesting to hear both sides of the argument. The bills we specifically talked about were increased cigarette tax, comprehensive sexuality education in schools (if you know me, you know that I'm very obviously passionate about this issue!), the anti-discrimination bill based on sexual orientation and marital status, and increased funding for the university system.

It was a good time! It was nice to be able to stay in the state and feel like my voice was heard. Actually, I definitely felt like my voice was more clearly heard than it was when I went to DC in undergrad to talk about sex ed. Part of that may have been because I was associated with a graduate school program at UNMC and some of that may have just been because my local senator is WAY cooler/nicer than the guy I talked with in DC.

This weekend should be a busy one too. Tonight we have the memorial service for the families of our cadavers from anatomy. Tomorrow is a residency symposium that UNMC puts on every few years. I will be going to sessions about neurology, infectious diseases and pediatrics, I think. I'm sure there will be an overwhelming amount of information and I'll probably just start freaking out about not being able to get into a residency program, but hopefully it's helpful information! Another blog update to come after the craziness of the weekend...