tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75335933959345157592024-02-19T05:17:45.278-08:00My Journey through Medicine: life of a med studentChronicling my journey towards the two golden letters MD. The joys, sorrows, frustration, and experiences of a medical student.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-49980056381968106352011-04-08T00:26:00.000-07:002011-04-08T00:32:10.966-07:00Stylish Web Designer MacBook Air GiveawayWe all love free stuff don't we? Anyways Stylish Web Designer is celebrating it's one year anniversary and is giving away a free MacBook air! If you are interested check out the link: http://stylishwebdesigner.com/anniversary-giveaway-win-a-brand-new-13inch-macbook-air/Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-12840586602772156772010-07-25T14:56:00.000-07:002010-07-25T15:19:23.713-07:00Goodbye's Are Always HardSo, to give a bit of background information on this post, I was born and grew up in a fairly large city, so I had a really great university to go to that was right inside my own community. As such, I'm one of the select few who have never had to move away from home for undergrad or for medical school. I suppose many people who had to move away for their first degrees may have experienced friends leaving or having to leave themselves, but I haven't really had to experience that thus far.<br /><br />I suppose I am coming to the age where instead of moving away for university, friends are beginning to move away for work (after having graduated). I just recently had to say goodbye to a long term friend of mine and it was hard for me to do. We had met each other back in high school and have been friends ever since. It's crazy to think of all that we have went through together, and how much we've both changed since then.<br /><br />What makes me sad is that I realized although we would try and keep in touch and that we would always be friends, time would make us grow apart.<br /><br />My friend would go off to a brand new city and become a different person. He will go through hardships and joys that I will no longer be a part of, or perhaps only remotely, and make new friendships and experience new things. Maybe he'll even meet the woman of his dreams there and get married and start a family. Likewise, I'll be stuck here and going through clerkship and residency will also make me a different person. Even if he decides to come back and visit home a couple years into the future, will it be as easy to talk as before? Or will it seem like we've spent a lifetime apart, and that really there is little for us to connect to each other with again.<br /><br />So I sit here wondering if that's whats meant to be? Do people just move on and leave their old lives behind? As the next few years pass, more and more of my friends from long ago are going to be moving on, to get jobs perhaps even in different countries much less different parts of the country. Where will the future take my friendships? Will I grow closer to only my medical friends and lose touch with all the friendships that have been dear to me since my childhood?Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-62491989607745742482010-07-21T13:49:00.000-07:002010-07-21T13:55:42.150-07:00What in the World do Med Students Do During Summers?So, as I'm sitting bored in my lab and browsing around random websites with not a thing to do (but hours to kill), I decided to write an article on what in the world medical students do during the summer!<br /><br />1) Research - We're all still keeners and the most hardcore of us can't get away from the idea that we have to make our summers productive and useful to our careers. Best way to do so? Do research. The most hardcore medical students will get themselves into clinical research and then some will do benchtop research.<br /><br />2) Volunteering - So all those who decided research wasn't for them but were still hardcore will volunteer overseas on medical trips. They get medical experience and get to see the world, what could be better?<br /><br />3) Shadowing - Some people just decided to ditch any formal jobs or arrangements and just spend all summer shadowing doctors instead. Great ways to build connections and gain clinical experience. Unfortunately not the best way to make money.<br /><br />4) Working at high paying jobs - We all know research pays crap. Tons of us decide to just make a huge sum of money to tackle the debt. Often these jobs have nothing to do with medicine and are construction, serving jobs.<br /><br />5) Travel for Kicks and Giggles - While there are still a lot of us that are hardcore, tons of people just decided to 'screw it' and see the world, not to volunteer or to be keen, but just for fun. It's one of the last summers you will ever get so why spend it working?<br /><br />6) Nothing - Couch, beer, chips, tv.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-27304899298871353172010-07-08T21:34:00.000-07:002010-07-08T21:55:39.850-07:00Long Time No See!Hey everybody... so for all those who do follow my blog, I know I haven't been posting very regularly. I got caught up in finishing up the year and was traveling for lots of the initial part of summer!<br /><br />Anyways, I hope that for the rest of summer, I'll be on and posting a lot more!<br /><br />This post will be about a video I found on another blog I follow. Here's the link to the video<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKd9YXOOo5Y&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKd9YXOOo5Y&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Seeing the composition of a lot of medical schools across Canada, I think that this video really hits home on a lot of us. While I am in a slightly different situation since I was born here, I can still appreciate the difficulties and the tribulations that my parents had gone through in order to make a new life in Canada, the one where their children could have limitless opportunities and a secure place to grow up in. <br /><br />I remember stories of what my mother used to tell me, how she came to Canada for the first time and couldn't stop crying everyday for the first few months. How she had left everything behind, her friends, her family, her hard-earned position in her previous career all to come to a brand new country, where she had no friends, no relatives, no secure job and reforge a new life. <br /><br />It really strikes me that I have never even though of how difficult life could have been for our parents. How what we achieved now, couldn't even be possible without the work that our parents had done for us. While I like to believe sometimes that it was my hard work that got me into medicine, where would I have been had my parents not found the courage to abandon their old life and come to a new land where opportunities were available to their children? I suppose I'll end this post with a message of thanks to my parents and to their courage in abandoning everything to come to Canada.<br /><br />I will try and post more often now that I am back in school. I've also been playing a lot of Starcraft 2 (I got picked into Beta!) lately and I might be trying some projects with that. Perhaps starting a fanpage for strategic discussion or maybe integrating that here!Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-90471827848822026042010-03-03T20:30:00.000-08:002010-03-03T20:46:45.231-08:00Hallmarks of a College Student<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRc8vz5lKy3DBCqK6GQv0Qvy2Yo16mrXHVW-jPsMNnu409L5eQBKbRERXqQaMhFimQh7uUMzSL2F5CdgC9iSl-RtxLzMx1pMR026NNzCw-7F8hnm4roTLg_mmNrKw7I3WkTb_5kreFQs/s1600-h/To_study_by_alma_lunar_1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 152px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRc8vz5lKy3DBCqK6GQv0Qvy2Yo16mrXHVW-jPsMNnu409L5eQBKbRERXqQaMhFimQh7uUMzSL2F5CdgC9iSl-RtxLzMx1pMR026NNzCw-7F8hnm4roTLg_mmNrKw7I3WkTb_5kreFQs/s200/To_study_by_alma_lunar_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444635523505908690" /></a><br />It's 'that' time again. Things are starting to get tough and exam/school-related stress is beginning to heap up. Without further ado, I introduce to you the hallmarks of a successful college procrastinator:<br /><br />1) The value of a nap is contrary to popular belief, not measured by the amount of time you spent in REM sleep, rather the amount of textbook pages that your drool managed to seep through.<br /><br />2) Friends or study buddies are for chumps. Everyone knows the social area of the library isn't where it's at. It's that deep dark quiet corner in the top-most floors that's the place to study. You hope that once you have annexed your seat, not a soul will walk onto your floor, and since it's about 6-7 flights of stairs up, nobody ever does.<br /><br />3) F**k facebook. Why-o-why must you tempt me to spend meaningless hours scouring through random people's pages?<br /><br />4) Nobody uses pens anymore for notes. We all use the pretty little Staedtler fine liners so we can color code our notes (neurotic anyone?)<br /><br />5) Tim Horton's is for posers, we all know the best way to stay awake is a direct IV drip of caffeine (this one is a joke, please don't try this at home, you will probably kill yourself :P ).<br /><br />6) The extra weight you gain from eating unhealthily during exams and forgetting to go to the gym isn't something to be ashamed of. It is a trophy and testament to your ability to sit in a library study for hours on end and eat McDonalds, microwave burritos, and drink coffee.<br /><br />... Written exams are driving me nuts. I hate studying, I can't wait till clerkship!Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-49982844319050294362010-02-28T17:06:00.000-08:002010-02-28T17:13:44.091-08:00CANADA TAKES GOLD IN MEN'S ICE HOCKEY!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9j-MRTxz8Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-85146690045342920542010-02-28T09:05:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:29:49.005-08:00We Work Hard, Party Hard. Friends, Booze, and Good TimesSo, it's no mystery that med students are generally ranked as some of the most caffeine-fueled, sleep-deprived, and crazy stressed students on campus. But what may not be known is the social life of med students!<br /><br />With the amount of parties and conferences that we have (practically one a week minimum) it's not hard to meet a group of really good friends. I think I've grown closer to my group of friends in the last several months than to most of my friends I met in my entire undergrad degree. <br /><br />Aside from that med parties are perhaps some of the best ones on campus, rivaling that of fraternity/residence parties. You usually have a party every week and there's probably at least 50 people at attendance at any one of these parties. Perhaps it's because we all get so close through the year, but med students get crazy wild and there's at least one good story to tell from every single one of the parties. By the way, the picture just looks hilarious. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8weglH3G-BkmpFNI8CvBoh3ohtl81KhTOcq0ei4p1s5Bmv-gUu8p2knX6cNEtlBTi_M9X0ESxD7jV_QDsbRtl1idaUSzmpaJBHK1vQsOFqeKo1FQKkEo4a3r-WFmTwKtXyzNl5TJ11C8/s1600-h/party_party_221445.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 191px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8weglH3G-BkmpFNI8CvBoh3ohtl81KhTOcq0ei4p1s5Bmv-gUu8p2knX6cNEtlBTi_M9X0ESxD7jV_QDsbRtl1idaUSzmpaJBHK1vQsOFqeKo1FQKkEo4a3r-WFmTwKtXyzNl5TJ11C8/s200/party_party_221445.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443347282399473058" /></a><br /><br />Of course boozing parties aren't the only ones that happen. There's tons of people who also organize other types of gathering such as potlucks, movies, and board game nights for those that are less inclined to go out boozing.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-12607995672247604882010-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:30:05.913-08:00Google and it's Approach to SearchI'm an avid reader of wired.com; recently, they posted an article on google and went into a never-before reported depth on the inner workings of the algorithm and how Google actually interprets your query and comes up with the most relevant sources. The full article can be found here: <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm">http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm</a>.<br /><br />What I found interesting was how intelligent the algorithm actually was. Google started off with the first breakthrough with having the search engine look at the popularity of sites by looking at how many links pointed to them. Later it moved on to do such things as even learn context and underlying meanings of words. For example it has been built to learn human-made synonyms. For instance, they talk in Wired about the meaning of dog/puppies. A puppy and a dog are two distinct words, but google uses the fact that when users search up a term such as pictures of dogs, they go back, delete the term dog and replace it with pictures of puppies. Google uses this to learn that to human beings dog and puppy are in some ways similar. This doesn't seem as difficult but Wired goes on to talk about the association between boiling water and hot. Google has learned enough that it can also seperate a hot dog from a boiling dog. In addition, it understands that a hot dog isn't a dog that is very hot, but rather a type of food. Similarly when you search up "strcraft", google has learned that this is a common misspelling for starcraft and tells you to change your search term. Google has been built in such a way that everytime a user enters a search term, it's learning from the user associations between words and the meanings of words. The last example I'll use shows it's learning of word associations. For example, the search engine understand the word horse to be an animal and white to be a color. However, when you pair up the two White Horse (even if you leave a space between them), the search engine recognizes that it no longer has it's old two meanings but is instead the name of a city (and incidentally a song by Taylor Swift lol). Additionally it's also realized the difference between the order of the words. Typing in horse white will give you similar results to before, but one of the top choices now talks about horses whose color is white. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jQxvLHHdyhWi8SR0HY9tENPQJA5gcqlWRpnE9X5iixF1_FF7zEqcvoQrcZPwrO5mLExdli7Yqqx-yL72WUGUf6hvTegGRBBOgyF929QhnlN_d-4bfmqU1SLlrdjZaC7VFEeoAdoks-c/s1600-h/terminator.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jQxvLHHdyhWi8SR0HY9tENPQJA5gcqlWRpnE9X5iixF1_FF7zEqcvoQrcZPwrO5mLExdli7Yqqx-yL72WUGUf6hvTegGRBBOgyF929QhnlN_d-4bfmqU1SLlrdjZaC7VFEeoAdoks-c/s200/terminator.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442049623521706050" /></a>What is interesting is the evolution of computers. The first computers were really basic calculators. Anything even slightly creative or different than what they have seen before would bring up errors. However, in the past few decades, algorithms have gone on to achieve much more complexity, I would daresay, some extent of intelligence. Google essentially has developed a capacity to think and even to LEARN! It seems that movies like Terminator and AI aren't so far-fetched after all...Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-11176993955288278502010-02-15T10:32:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:30:23.173-08:00It's that time of year again!So, lots of my friends who were previously un-admitted (as well as the slew of posters on pre-med101!) are all going through the interview phase of med school admissions now.<br /><br />For all those non-medical people out there, this time of year is perhaps one of the most stressful times of a pre-meds life, but it's also a pretty unique time of the year. I'm going to dedicate this post to describing the process and the "fun" that you actually experience (although of course it's a very stressful process as well). <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOqxTc5UAjE-NGUEiXz2hRxbgL_eLaNICcXTx8Dl5tFT5dQLruf9PNZMCLWWm4TBqh-NTdmyg4lvlhCvWFZ5840klNsZt9GAu-z3JWqrzS_ACwU7QEVQ-QHBkQiy6Vc5mT5SKukmQblc/s1600-h/008_HCD0702_fig1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 168px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOqxTc5UAjE-NGUEiXz2hRxbgL_eLaNICcXTx8Dl5tFT5dQLruf9PNZMCLWWm4TBqh-NTdmyg4lvlhCvWFZ5840klNsZt9GAu-z3JWqrzS_ACwU7QEVQ-QHBkQiy6Vc5mT5SKukmQblc/s200/008_HCD0702_fig1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438572935240623154" /></a>One of the biggest perks of interviewing was getting to travel around and seeing some of the cities and schools. Many of them were quite a bit different than my school and it was really enjoyable to walk about the campus or the city. I had already decided on my first choice prior to interviews but I took a look around these other campuses to know what my ranking of the other schools were, in the event I was not admitted to number 1 and had a choice between the others.<br /><br />The other really enjoyable experience was to meet the other applicants. There were always a lot of social events around interviews and I went out to some of these (although I never did any of the drinking, thought it would be a bad idea to show up to an interview hung over). Talking to other pre-meds you'd realize that everyone was actually pretty cool and I made friends that I ended up going to school with this year and also friends who made it elsewhere. It's pretty cool because you often introduce yourself to someone at an interview earlier in the year and you end up bumping into them again in some random other school later in the interview cycle.<br /><br />Of course the entire experience was also a very stressful experience and the interviews are among some of the most important you will ever have, but also try and enjoy yourselves!Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-40645234882843906062010-02-15T10:25:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:30:33.537-08:00New Layout!Had some free time and I decided to tinker around on my blog. How do you guys like the new layout for the blog? A semi-med post follows immediately!Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-81489428390672581992010-02-08T22:33:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:31:08.723-08:00Celebrity Role ModelsAnyways, sorry for the delay in posting, but the last month or so has been absolutely crazy!<br /><br />My next post is about celebrity role models. Who is yours? One of mine would be Bill Gates. Someone who's truly changed the world we live in, who came up with an invention that perhaps defines our civilization today. On top of that he is an amazing business administrator. He has retired from Microsoft since, but he's taking up more roles in global health and charity work, and I can't wait to see what he brings to this second career of his!<br /><br />I shall try and post soon on updates from med school!Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-28749647139709824822010-01-15T21:03:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:31:21.080-08:00First Cadaver DayAs medical students, we are given many privileges over normal students. While I remember learning anatomy from a textbook in undergrad (often times with drawn rather than real pictures), we are given the unique opportunity to learn anatomy from actual bodies.<br /><br />We started off by discussing dissections in general and talking about conduct around the laboratory. We were told the sacrifice and altruism the donors had when they donated their bodies. They were in full knowledge of what would happen to them and agreed to donate themselves after death to train a new generation of doctors. <br /><br />We headed downstairs towards the basement, where our labs were situated and were given a chance to group up and find our cadavers we would be working with. Each station was equipped with a hand washing station and a monitor with which we could observe our instructors and the dissections they were doing. <br /><br />Anticipating seeing a dead body for the first time, I was feeling a bit queasy and uneasy; however, what I found was that the cadaver was fairly far removed from what a human looks like when alive. The skin is hardened and frozen in place from the formaldehyde and the skin is just a shade of grey. The face is covered up and the only exposed areas were the torso.<br /><br />Overall, I think today was a very humbling experience, to see the body of a deceased person, and also a very unique experience, one that only a few members of society will ever experience.<br /><br />To end this post, I would like to post a thank-you to all those who donated their bodies and to the families of these people. Not only to my cadaver, but also to all the people out there, the medical schools cross-Canada and also internationally, that have made the altruistic sacrifice to help us learn.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-66568029874576556112010-01-11T22:41:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:31:35.690-08:00JourneysHave any of you ever worked like hell for something and when you finally get it, you realize the end-product isn't as important as you thought? But in self-reflection you find that the journey itself is what was truly important?<br /><br />Let me take you through my experiences. Of course for the past few years, I've dedicated every waking moment to making it into medicine, to get that letter in the mail affirming my end goal of becoming a doctor. But in reflection, what was really important? Was it the piece of paper with patterns of black ink on it? Or was it rather the journey towards it, the experiences you had, the growth your character has experienced, and who you have become as a result of the journey that matters?<br /><br />My journey towards my letter has hardly been a easy one. I've experienced crushing failures, gotten up from them, and learned from my mistakes. I still remember applying for my first time and receiving the letter of rejection. I had poured my blood, sweat, and tears into making it into medicine and having a letter telling me I wasn't good enough felt like being hit with a sack of bricks. While I moped and cried for a while, I realized that I could not give up, I needed to get up and try again. Looking back to this experience, I'm glad I was rejected, the failure (while it hurt) was one of the most useful experiences I could ever have had. I took a long hard look at myself and improved myself, made myself into a better person, and a better future doctor.<br /><br />I sincerely believe that due to the journey, whether I had made it into medicine or not, I would have become a better person.<br /><br />Now, I'm walking along another path, one where I know the outcome, but the path is hardly going to be easy. I've already hit obstacles already. I know that the next 6-9 years (residency + med school) will be tough, that I will stumble, and I will fall, but I know that after these years, I'm going to be a different person. A better person, and perhaps one that is equipped with the character to help make a difference in the world. And this time I know that it isn't just the MD that is important, but the experiences and the lessons that lead me to that MD.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-6383550209845604482010-01-10T23:05:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:31:49.348-08:00From Science to EmotionThroughout my undergraduate program medical school so far, I learned about human physiology and (to some extent) disease. I found the material interesting, but nevertheless bookish and abstract. It was intriguing to learn about masses growing in the brain, to read about case studies of patients in far away places and what behavioral deficits it resulted in. For instance the famous cases of HM (seizure patient, surgical intervention, leading to permanent loss of long term memory formation) and Phineas Gage (pole through the frontal lobes leading to a complete change in personality) that have probably been written about in every brain-related textbook in the past few decades. <br /><br />But reading about these cases is so completely different than approaching a patient. It's so easy to sit in a room, discussing amongst doctors about an interesting brain tumor they find on a patient. But walking up to a human being, sitting down, and telling someone that they have brain cancer is a completely different story. As doctors have a multiplicity of times told me, you learn to separate yourself from the emotions, from the patient. But how do you do that, is it possible to completely distance yourself? I have thus far been lucky not to have seen someone get bad news and am far too early in the game to have given someone bad news, but how do you completely emotionally distance yourself from a situation like that? Back to the brain cancer example, you probably have sat down and given the person and maybe even the family, the worst news that they have ever heard in their lives. How do you not emotionally respond, how do you not empathize with that person? <br /><br />But by the same token, we can't. Everyday, especially if you work in a hospital, you will be surrounded by people like this. You'll be walking from cancer patients to trauma patients to coma patients etc. If a doctor empathesized and felt the sorrow from every single person they saw, well they probably wouldn't last for too long...Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-44234342117922389952009-12-22T11:59:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:31:59.421-08:00Med School is a Little Like High School<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tiq-3fqsmn3KdG_1joca0K3GiG5_4R7sZ4qJh7SCBU_-SIOnnavU5lg1Y1Oo7SWg4B3b4dZlb6_RZEyOKSOmlUUPM7ZO3Rj3tcSW4g7M5Ev-2YbLPl_bR-Xm88WtVbiPVqeka5fZcdY/s1600-h/high-school-musical.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tiq-3fqsmn3KdG_1joca0K3GiG5_4R7sZ4qJh7SCBU_-SIOnnavU5lg1Y1Oo7SWg4B3b4dZlb6_RZEyOKSOmlUUPM7ZO3Rj3tcSW4g7M5Ev-2YbLPl_bR-Xm88WtVbiPVqeka5fZcdY/s200/high-school-musical.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418156517811111538" /></a><br />So, as promised my next blog is about med school. <br /><br />Med school is actually a lot like high school, you don't notice it at first, but if you are separated from it for a little amount of time (like the holidays where you go back home) looking back at it, it's a lot different than undergrad and a lot like high school. <br /><br />You have the group of popular beautiful people, various other cliques, the few people that nobody really knows and who just go in/out of classes and all the wonderous associated drama that happens.<br /><br />Really, in undergrad, I had kind of gotten used to being away from this whole high school social thing. My classes were always huge, and my program didn't have my entire schedule set out for me, so really, the people in my classes differed all the time. I would rarely even sit next to the same person. I had close friends I met along the way in undergrad and I would hang out with them, but really there was no popularity contests or social stresses inside school itself.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-86683192787689818862009-12-13T20:49:00.001-08:002010-02-28T09:32:08.819-08:00New Moon (A Change-Up for Once: Non-Medical Post!)So, I am ashamed to say, all the hype going around tempted me to go see New Moon. The story is kind of unique (*dodges the stones hurled by my readers), but I must say, I hate spending money and time on a movie and watching something that pisses me off. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)<br /><br />The entire movie, I felt so frustrated and unfulfilled - for lack of a better word. The entire movie, things start happening, but they never quite happen, even though you keep on anticipating it happening. For instance, Edward never ever fully kisses Bella, you just see them sort of dodge around it for a bit. Then it got even worse near the end when you had to wait a few seconds between every single word that Edward was saying. Additionally, the same sort of thing happened with Jacob and Bella. He just keeps going for her, but you just keep watching her dodge around the relationship and acting all angsty. <br /><br />Also, I really don't understand why Edward would commit suicide without confirmation of anything. Really, some random guy in Bella's house told him over the phone that her Dad was making preparations for a funeral. Why would he not verify it was Bella who died before doing what he did? Perhaps it was her grandmother, mother, etc...<br /><br />I shall probably return to medical posts on my next one. Just thought I'd put this short post out there for all the New Moon hype.<br /><br />PS: I think Ashley Greene (the actress that plays Alice) is totally the hottest girl in the movie.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-40357829471943304782009-12-07T21:28:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:32:19.641-08:00Residual Stress and the Mysterious CARMsSo, my next blog post will be about the "stress" that I've been experiencing lately. Really, the pre-clinical years in a Canadian Med School should be pretty chill. Your not on rotations or clinical work yet, and for the most part a lot of the pressure to get a A+ (since it doesn't exist anymore) is gone. You get either a H, P, F or a P, F (H: Honors, P: Pass, F: Fail) depending on which Canadian school you go to. <br /><br />However, I think that I still have some of that residual pre-med keener still roaring inside of me, and I can't help but stress about small things. One of the things that I have been stressing about is the CARMs match I will have to undergo in 4 years time (it's a program in Canada that matches a MD graduate to the residency/specialty that they want) and how I am supposed to prepare for it. The only problem with this is that I have no idea what I even want to do yet, aside from the fact that I want to work with patients (so probably no to radiology, pathology, and the laboratory-based specialties). And if you don't really even know what you want to do, there really is not much of a way to prepare for it (aside from basic stuff like get involved in activities and trying not to fail a course).<br /><br />The one aspect of CARMs that really does stress me out is my lack of knowledge concerning the weighting of the different components of the application. Does research count for a lot of your evaluation? How much research is enough research? Is it really the reference letters/clinical rotations in the latter bit of my MD that matters?Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-18362466498116638832009-12-05T11:02:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:32:32.489-08:00Recent Articles on Med School Admissionshttp://www.cbc.ca/news/citizenbytes/2009/12/doctor_shortage_a_medical_stud.html<br />[In a nutshell: Girl thinks it's too competitive to get into a Canadian med school, goes off overseas to go to med school. Worries about not being able to come back to Canada to practice. B***hes about it.]<br /><br />http://www.globecampus.ca/in-the-news/globecampusreport/perfectly-qualified-but-cant-get-in/<br />[In a nutshell: The Globe and Mail talks about how hard it is to get into medicine nowadays. How you have to be super smart as well as really well-rounded. They cite an example of a World Champion Jump-Rope Skipper in Dalhousie.]<br /><br />My thoughts: Yes, they are both correct that med school is actually insanely difficult to get into nowadays. There is more than certainly a balance of luck, academic intelligence, charisma, and extra-academic qualities that must be fulfilled. People miss admissions by a sliver every year.<br /><br />The upside to all this: Yes it is ridiculous to get in; however, once you make it in, you get to work with and learn from a group of amazing peers. Working with each other for the next 4 years will give you an opportunity to learn all that your colleagues have learned and thus make you a better doctor. When you pack in 100-200 of people like this into a classroom and allow them to work closely with each other for 3-4 years, you'll be surprised as to the amount you will learn from each other and the things that you will achieve. For example, in every med school throughout Canada, not only do the students learn how to be doctor, but if you check it out, med students are really well involved. They run ridiculous amounts of charity work and extra-curricular activities.<br /><br />I really have been noticing that my classmates are very well-rounded people. I mean this in the sense that, had they not gone into medicine but rather into business, or law, or research, they would also have led very successful careers. I think that med school admissions have become more-so like this since the late 90s and it will truly be interesting to see what these people will bring into the world. Many of these doctors are finishing up their residencies now and beginning to become fully fledged doctors, it will be a wonder to see what these emerging doctors will do in our society. (You can see much evidence of it now already, for my fellow med students out there, I'm sure you've noticed a lot of the people involved in your medical education are actually fairly young and were admitted around that time frame. Many of them go onto do research, or fight for policies, etc).Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-65388307423235848292009-12-03T17:22:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:32:42.435-08:00We're at 8% MD, how time flies!<a href = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk57tmbFKsQ&feature=player_embedded"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk57tmbFKsQ&feature=player_embedded</a><br /><br />Random video I found on another medblogger's site (this guy's graduated and that was his commencement speech, if you want to see his original blog, visit <a href = "http://www.grahamazon.com/over/">here</a>)<br /><br />The speech gives one the impression of the enormous amount of memories and of the learning that we are all going to do throughout our years. Although my class has just started med school, we've already had various moments that will live long in the classes' memories and there has already been much bonding amongst classmates. We're all going through an adventure together (we're stuck for 8 grueling hours a day together - by the end of this I will have adopted a severe addiction to all types of caffeinated beverages), as a tight knit group and I think we can't help but make some of the closest friends we ever will have here. There is so much culture, and so many great people in our class that I'm excited to see where life is going to take us!<br /><br />Med school is a completely different environment then undergrad (well at least my undergrad experience). In undergraduate, I was one of the 500 students in an Organic Chemistry course. I wouldn't even get the same seat every time and the people around me would change every single day. I got to meet a few friends, but in science there really was no culture or any real memories at all. You were just one straw in the haystack and nobody knew who you were.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-90530772672747527152009-12-03T17:18:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:32:53.298-08:00Ironman 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RleW0GQXStpd8yDSCnn7ngci233tJV2ByYSuk10z0JynKv1Zw3PSagzRbZNkKsxDRgeK2awMNtC94hU4i83qvFbWGFSw4dp-_UY-uqd4BCuUFJUmEQHbsH6ey_Gfk71H9ccox78jFsA/s1600-h/406px-Iron_Man_2_teaser.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 136px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RleW0GQXStpd8yDSCnn7ngci233tJV2ByYSuk10z0JynKv1Zw3PSagzRbZNkKsxDRgeK2awMNtC94hU4i83qvFbWGFSw4dp-_UY-uqd4BCuUFJUmEQHbsH6ey_Gfk71H9ccox78jFsA/s200/406px-Iron_Man_2_teaser.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411199900956317634" /></a><br /><br />Is anyone else excited about this, or is it just me?Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533593395934515759.post-24722365766997615442009-11-30T23:03:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:33:04.551-08:00The Beginning of my Journey through Medicine and Medical School<span style="font-weight: bold;">The lifechanging moment: Acceptance May 15 2009 ~9:00 am</span><br /><br />Although a bit late in starting this blog, through the past few months, inspired by bloggers such as <a href="http://blog.vitummedicinus.com/">vitum medicinus</a> and my experiences, I realized that I needed a place to anonymously talk about my experiences, to document and chart my way to becoming a MD and beyond. To share my sorrows, joys, frustrations, and accomplishments in the journey of medicine. Let me start off the blog with the happiest day of my life so far: May 15, 2009.<br /><br />The start of a new life: the morning of May 15, 2009:<br /><br />Pre-med in Canada is perhaps one of the most tumultuous experiences imaginable. To re-cap quickly, I realized in high school that I wanted to dedicate my life to changing the lives of others, to die with the knowledge that I spent my life changing the things I saw unfit in the world, and making a difference in the lives of the people around me.<br /><br />I considered a variety of careers, including law, politics, business, computer engineering (my favorite subjects in high school didn't include only biology but I really enjoyed social studies and computer science as well). However, after a few more experiences, I settled on medicine halfway through high school. At that point, everything I did all had some relationship to medicine (not that the volunteering/leadership I had wasn't for other reasons as well such as enjoyment or interest, but at least part of the motivation for doing these things was because of a wish to get into medicine). I gave up moving away to a cool new university and opted for my hometown university because I believed it would keep me from the temptation of residence partying and allowed me to have the familiarity of living at home (thus increasing the chance of my success in undergrad). I labored for 5 hard years, endured many sleepless nights, all with the focus on medicine. I still remember the envy I would have whenever I saw someone with the ever-so coveted med school backpack (every student in Canada gets a free backpack from the CMA - they give each year a certain color and design that helps identify someone from that year. For example, the Medical Students entering in 2009 all have Red High Sierra backpacks, whether they go to University of British Columbia or the University of Western Ontario).<br /><br />The worst part of it was the uncertainty, all the effort I put into the pursuit of medical school could be completely wasted. A realistic assessment of the situation showed the competitiveness of getting in and that statistics were against me, I didn't know whether I was good enough, and often times I doubted it, and thought of dropping out, applying to pharmacy, or just finding a good paying job and living an ordinary life. Continually, I would quash these feelings, and remind myself that anything was possible, that if I worked hard enough, if I believed in myself, I could do it. That every year someone had to be accepted, and nothing was stopping me from being that 'someone' except for my uncertainties and doubts.<br /><br />Throughout my application year, I balanced writing applications, midterms, extra-curriculars, practicing for interviews, doing interviews and honestly, I spent at least 10% of my nights sleepless. Having worked like a dog throughout the process, I remember the crushing feeling I would get whenever I got a pre-interview rejection from schools and also the accomplishment I felt when I got my first interview invite (Interviewed 3/7 Applications). Throughout the process, I kept on asking myself the question "what if... what if I get rejected, what will I do, will I have the strength to try again?"<br /><br />Then came the big day, May 15 2009. All my doubts about my future washed away with the one fateful e-mail. My heart was racing all morning, waiting for the vibrations on my cellphone (e-mails) that would signal the receipt of a life-changing message. Bringing out my phone and debating whether I should look at it, the e-mail that would give me the biggest news of my life, the e-mail that could either crush me or give me the greatest gift imaginable: the chance to fulfill my dreams. I remember staring dumbfounded at the phone when I read the e-mail titled "Congradulations" and realizing that the next step in my journey was about to begin.<br /><br />So here I am, ready to continue working for my dreams, and 4 years away from the two golden letters M.D.Delusion of Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748171007798292538noreply@blogger.com0