The Deceptive Calm Before the Storm

Hello Everyone, 

I hope everyone has made it throughout this week relatively unscathed. As for my  progress report will take the same format as my previous post. If you guys could leave some feedback in ways for me to improve the way this blog is structured I am open to suggestions.  My next post will come sometime after monday afternoon because of my upcoming block exams. With that in mind please enjoy the contents of this weeks post. 

Random:

- I started to wear a shirt and tie on Mondays. Instead of my usual comfortable undergrad attire. I decided that since I am in medical school I might as well wear professional looking clothing once a week. The reason why monday made sense was because T-Th I have to deal with the cadaver, and since Fridays are BBQ Fridays and to those of you who knows me, I am a pretty messy eater thus increasing the my workload when it comes to laundry day

This was the first "shirt n' tie mondays" 

-I have neglected to keep up with the cleanliness of my apt within the past two weeks  and here are the results of it

The couch on the left has been my defacto bed because....... 

My actual bed has become my clean clothes hamper haahaha.

-A habit that I picked up in my last year @ SWAU was to always clean up my apartment before exams started.  I just had to clean this sunday to signal the beginning of test week.  I was able to fold clean laundry, do 2 loads of laundry, clean my apartment and stock up on supplies for blocks with all this being done from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p..m. and here are the results of my labor this morning and afternoon. 

This was the rain cloud that prevented me from using my clothesline on the other side of my apartment

Part of my 2.5 loads of Laundry

I took pictures of my clean apartment because it will last longer ahahaha

 

I used FIJI water box to organize my slippers

I actually have a bed now =)

My bathroom has been cleaned =) 

My Block 2 Survival Kit. Don't worry I have an automated defibrilator handy hahahaha.

Stress relief @ 6:20 a.m.

Academic Progress:

Well in my last post I said that I stopped relying on self study and I went and looked for help in the subjects that I am struggling in which are Histology and Embryology. The MD2 histology tutor is pretty good. With her help I was able to do much better in this passed Friday's quiz than the last one. Although it's not as high as I wanted it was a considerable improvement over my last quiz score. I have set up a study group when it comes to preparation for Histology block exams this coming Friday. The results were pretty productive today. I hope that it could continue this entire week and that the results show after Monday.

As far as my progress when it comes to Embryology is concerned it hasn't changed and it has been stagnant. I have requested some private tutoring with the embryology tutor this coming week, because I do not get the full benefit when it comes to large group tutoring. I hope that it will be better and that my grades justify the hours that I have spent in preparing for these two classes would show the grades that I have. 

Anatomy and Ethics are the classes that I am comfortable with but I have set up a small study group in preparation for both of these classes. I look forward to the quiz on Tuesday and I hope that I am able to do well in those classes. 

Personal Progress:

As far as personal progress I think that my messy bed and apartment personified on how I was feeling due to not doing well in my quizzes. As   I was reading this week's lesson I took a little bit of extra time on Friday's lesson. This paragraph was really helpful and insightful and encouraging. Although I still am a little bit worn out from those quizzes I have hope that everything will turn around after I have read this paragraph. 

The power of darkness gather about the soul and shut Jesus from our sight, and at times we can only wait in sorrow and amazement until the cloud passes over. These seasons are sometimes terrible. Hope seems to fail, and despair seizes upon us.In these dreadful hours we must learn to trust, to depend solely upon the merits of the atonement, and in all our helpless unworthiness cast ourselves upon the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. We shall never perish while we do this---never! When light shines on our pathway, it is no great thing to be strong in the strength of grace. But to wait patiently in hope when clouds envelop us and all is dark requries faith and submisssion which causes our willto be swallowed up in the will of God. We are too quickly discouraged, and earnestly cry for the trial to be removed from us, when we should plead for patience to endure and grace to overcome. ---- Ellen G. White God's Amazing Grace, p.114

Please pray for my family back at home and my classmates so that we may have the patience to endure and the grace to overcome the challenges that are present before us. 

As I have stated before I will not be posting another update until after my block exams. If you contact me and I take a really LONG time to not respond, please understand that I am preparing for my exams and that I am not ignoring you (well it depends on who the person is =P). I pray that everyone have a safe week and that may everyone find that extra reserve of patience to get through this week with grace to overcome it's challenges =). 

Rediscovering Resilience

Hello everyone

     The time has come another school week has passed and another set of quizzes have taken place and its time for an update. This weeks post will be subdivided into three developmental focal points: Random, academic personal.

Random:

     These are the random things that have brought me some joy this past week

- Ken's BBQ ( equivalent of Rudy's BBQ to those who live in San Antonio ) began delivering BBQ lunch plates on thursday's as well as Fridays. Thursday was extra special because I was able to get Fish N Chips BBQ style. and it is the only day that they serve fish. 

- I was able to get better acquainted with the workers at Proctors. I found out that on certain days, they can make full balanced meals instead of the typical fast food (chicken tenders, cheese burgers, hotdogs, chicken, salftfish, and beef patties) that they have in their menu. On wednesday I had their chicken stew, with rice & beans, steamed veges, and potato salad. 

- Started copying my cousin's sleeping pattern of sleeping from  7-2 a.m. then studying from 2-5:30 a.m.

- FINALLY got to a gym thanks to the invitation of a couple of upper classmen. 

Academic Progress: 

     This past week in school has been the most stable one since my post a couple of weeks ago. We basically solidified the teacher rotation on who would provide us with the lectures on anatomy. They have done an excellent job considering the circumstances that was placed upon them. Within the past two  the replacement lecturer has done a remarkable job in teaching us the concepts that we need to know especially when it comes into the neurological anatomy of the Lower Limb, my favorite quotation from this professor would be "oh this diagram in your book is poorly drawn, I will show you how it's supposed to be" hahaha. 

      The other professor that has decided to become our other anatomy lecturer covered the thorax. He was able to cover the landmarks of the thorax, but he spent alot of time going over the clinical correlations. In short we got a sparks-notes version of pathology (a course designated to MD3 & MD4) for some of the pathological circumstances that are commonly found in the thorax  which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would give credit to my enjoyment of this lecture to the UTPA Physician Assistant Pathology Class. It was fun taking that class with them and it showed that I actually learned and retained something.

       Concerning my progress concerning academics, I pretty much bombed my embyo quiz regarding the pharyngeal arch development and the histology quiz based on the lectures about the cartilage, bones, and muscle. I need to cauterize this academic hemorrhage and change my preparation methods for these classes. I am going to do this by scheduling tutoring sessions for histology and embryology. This lone-wolf act has reached it's peak and now i need to incorporate some group study sessions with  tutor this week. This is it for the academic portion of my report this week. 

Personal Progress:

     

     As far as personal progress is concerned, I will say that it is a smorgusboard of emotions, spiritual enlightenment. The factors that have had me disturbed lately could be some of life's stresses and now that I am back into the balancing act of school and personal life and it has been quite a challenge especially within the past week. It would be safe to say that my personal struggles this past week could be compared to the story of Ruth in The Bible (Dr.Sorkei should be proud of me for correctly typing that). Let me give a brief summary For those of you who do not remember or know Ruth's background. 

     The book of Ruth has the general theme that teaches the concepts of resiliency, faith, and redemption. In the beginning it describes the tale of the woeful loss of Naomi. Naomi and her husband Elimelech and her two sons Mahlon and Kilion moved to Moab from Bethlehem in Judah. Elimelech died in Moab (this shows the emptying of Naomi). Life moved on for Naomi's family and her two sons married two moabite women. Mahlon married a Moabite woman named Ruth and his brother Kilion married a Moabite woman named Orpah. Ten years after this event both Mahlon and Kilion also died without leaving any sons to pass on the family name. Naomi decided to go back home to Bethlehem so she can live with her family and she decided that it would be best for Orpah and Ruth to do the same so they could remarry.Orpah did  as she was told, and this picture is a pretty nice interpretation of that scene. 

Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah saying their farewells 

"But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17(NIV)

Ruth did not want to leave her mother-in-law and decided to dedicate the rest of her life to taking care of her. Naomi saw that she could not convince Ruth and thus granted her wish to move back with her to Bethlehem. Ruth's total devotion is depicted in the following text and the picture embodies the following verses. "But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17(NIV). After this they arrived in Bethlehem in time for harvest season. 

       In order for them to survive in Bethlehem, Ruth had to go out and go collect the grains that were left over by the land owner's harvesters. This was a dangerous time for Ruth because she had  alot of things that didnt work in her favor. She was a foreigner, widow, and a woman. The land owner Boaz  took care of her and Naomi by telling the workers to leave some extra grain and the extra food for them. After some legal issues found in chapters 2-3 have been worked out. Boaz eventually married Ruth and they were blessed with a son named Obed. Obed's birth is significant because he is the father of Jesse. Jesse is the father of the future King David, which Jesus' lineage comes from. 

    The reason why I decided to put up that story was to show the parallelism of my personal struggles that I have had too and continuously overcome on a daily basis. I have experienced a period of spiritual, emotional, and physical  emptying prior to getting into medical school. I could say that I am glad that God has brought me through that and now that I have entered a period of fulfillment I previously thought that everything was going to be smooth sailing with the occasional bumps here and there, but I hit a pretty big major bump this past week. Prior to leaving to medical school I made sure that I had taken care of all the matters that I needed to settle such as making sure that my previous college loans were entered in a state of payment deferment  (MAKE SURE YOU GET THIS SETTLED BEFORE YOU COME TO THE ISLAND) I thought this process was completed, but it was not the case this past week. I thought I would be able to deal with this without getting upset, but I reverted back to my old self and I just stewed in anger the entire week. This along with not doing well with in the quizzes got me into a 

     This was going to continue until I went to church today and got the point of this past week's lesson which is summarized pretty throughly by this verse: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18, NIV). This not only prompted me to check myself and remind myself that I need to get back to the basics and because I have not read my Bible nor the online lesson quarterly throughout this past couple of weeks. I would've gone to the beach today as part of my ritual, but I decided to just go ahead and study The Bible and the lesson and lo and behold this week's focus is on the book of Ruth and read about Naomi's resiliency. Naomi did what I did and decided to start a new life in a new country and she lost everything that mattered to her.  I am not stating that Naomi's events are similar in the severity when it comes to the loss of loved ones. I am asking the questions that "If you go through a negative experience that ends up knockin you down, how long should I stay down?" and "what do I do?"   As I continued to read the story I came to the realization that I needed to do a couple of things

-  Pray without ceasing. In the end you will get your just rewards. In the case of Naomi, she lost everything, but she kept on praying, and eventually she was blessed with a family with a loving daughter in law, virtuous son-in-law, and a grandson. 

- I can't stay down on this matter for too long because it's going to affect my studies. Ruth didn't stay down, instead she just kept on pushing through kept on working to provide for herself and her mother-in-law. I must keep on just pushing on my studies regardless of what negative thing has happened. Trust that God is going to come through for you. 

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever–present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging”(Psalm 46:1-3, NIV).

In summary I just re-learned what resilience is. Resilience is the process of facing adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or extreme stress and “bouncing back” successfully without becoming too negatively affected by the experience. This can be accomplished through, the support of friends, family, and God.  Please continue to pray for my family back at home. They need all the prayers that they could get. Thank you once again for taking the time to read my rantings, until next time. 

Trembling Foundation

Hello guys this is my update as promised after blocks. The most exciting thing that was supposed to happen were the Block Exams were scheduled to start on Friday Jan 28 with Histology and Medical Ethics and Monday Jan 31, were supposed to be the Anatomy lecture exam in the morning Embryology after lunch, then anatomy practical in the afternoon to close off  Block 1. Prior to blocks we are given the Thursday before the exam off as our version of "dead week". During this day we had an ethics quiz and spent the day reviewing material for Friday exams. Friday's exams occurred with out a hitch and the weekend was met with devotion and then a trip to Shoal Bay where we met other MD2's and MD4's just enjoyed what the beach can offer. I took my Sabbath nap and began my studies for Monday's examination after 7:00 p.m. and continued until the following events occured.

Sunday Jan 30
-Get an email  @ 9:00p.m. saying that exams are cancelled
-It took a while to change gears to study for embryology but I ended up studying until 3:00 a.m.


Monday Jan 31
-Found out why exam was cancelled. There was a change in personnel in who was going to teach Anatomy lectures
-Took embryo blocks, anatomy practical was cancelled as well.
-Blew off steam @ Cap Juluca
-Tons of fish at the shore, mostly butterfish

Tuesday Febuary 1
-8:40 a.m. Earthquake @ ST.Kitts  felt for 5 seconds. No structural damage although it measured at magnitude 5.2 on the richter scale  follow the link below for details on the seismic event. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb0001829.php
-Everyone on the island was fine
-No anatomy lecture or practical, due to change of teachers
-Interesting discussion @ ethics class made the afternoon interesting
-Tried out Tasty's restaurant with some classmates. It was very good, the butterfish that I had was quite exquisite.
-recieved email that Anatomy lecture and practical were going to be held the next day
-reviewed over anatomy lecture and practical materials (it wasnt fun to have a block exam thrown in your face  just for fun) <--(hint of sarcasm)


Wednesday Febuary 2
-New Teacher proctors anatomy lecture exam in the morning and the lab practical
-School went on as normal

Thursday Febuary 3
-Class went by as normal
-New Anatomy teacher started lecture on lower limb. It was a return to the normal schedule

Friday Febuary 4
-Histology lecture went pretty deep into student participation with more students asking questions
-Anatomy teacher thoroughly covered the lumbosacral plexus
-Ken's BBQ chicken for lunch always a welcome sight
-Played basketball in the afternoon with the MD2's as per tradition every friday afternoon
-I get asked by locals how do I get my hair to stand up, I told em that I play with electrical outlets on my spare time LoL.

Saturday Febuary 5
-Listened to audioverse sermon regarding Prayer in Medicine http://www.audioverse.org/sermons/recordings/2777/why-is-the-new-england-journal-of-medicine-publishing-on-prayer-.html

This creature said "Happy Sabbath" to me right infront of my dining table

-Relaxed @ shoalbay for the entire afternoon. MD2 student celebrated her birthday there towards the end.
Everyone had a grand ole time

The path to the unknown

-Locals already know me and some of my classmates by name
-Missed out on the student potluck, but I heard positive reviews on the event.
-Slept @ 9:00 p.m.

Sunday Febuary 6
-Woke up @ 4:00 a.m.
-Started to construct lower limb anatomy notes
-worked out 5:00a.m. - 5:30a.m.
-5:30a.m. - 10:00a.m. = Breakfast, laundry, apartment cleanup
-10:00a.m.- 11:00a.m. = stocked up on groceries, going to experiment in making poutine
-11:00a.m. - 1:00 p.m. = ate lunch at the chinese restaurant(best chicken wings on the island) finished shopping for supplies this week.
-1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. = folded laundry, and continued on lower leg notes. Drove friends to superbowl party @ sandy ground
-6:00 p.m. - Now = studying embryo, and anatomy and completing this blog

That's how my week has progressed everyone. I am battling the bug that's been goin around the island with OJ, H2O, Multivitamins, and sheer will power (LOL) but some how being near the beach helps this bug disappear. May I request that you guys pray for my family as they do their best to support my education and that both my family and I stay relatively healthy during my stay here. A new week is about to start and I am about to change gears and prep for Histology tommorow. As far as my block exam results, I passed all of exams this first block. I pray that everything gets re-organized at school and that everyone have a safe week. Until next time.