Fun Comics!

Ah...fun comics about random things: http://xkcd.com/
Courtesy of JD!

And here's the pathway to determine your Specialty!  Thank goodness what I'm interested in is what I end up with: Ob/gyn and pediatrics.  Although I could potentially be family practice too. hm...

So Sad! :(

The NICU baby I was paired with passed away!  I only got to see him twice and his mother only once.  I definitely could have gone and seen them more, but I forgot or was lazy to change and walk there (even though it was so close and I didn't even have to outside).  I feel kind of guilty, even though I know there was nothing could have done.  It just came as such a shock because it seemed like he was doing really well!  He was eating 3 ml's of food, which surpassed what he was eating before.  His bowl movement was normal too.  It totally took me by surprise.
I found out when one day I called his mother to ask if she was going to be in the NICU later in the day.  However, one of her family members picked up and told me that the baby had passed away earlier in the day.  I was speechless.  I had no idea what to say.  I blurted out a stupid "I'm really sorry."  I didn't know the family member either, so it felt strange lingering on to ask more questions and it seemed like a bad time to explain who I was.  So I apologized again, wished the mother would feel better, and hung up.  I wish I had been better prepared to receive news like that.  I couldn't believe the little guy was gone just like that.

Emotions: What Goes Up Must Come Down

Warning: splurge post - totally petty, really.
Sometimes I feel like it's impossible to be joyful all the time.  I'd say I'm generally happy/cheerful/smiley most of the time, but every once in a while, i feel like I have to balance all that out with a massive outpour.  I think today is one of those days.  There wasn't even much of a trigger.  I was being selfish and stupid, but for some reason, I managed to justify to myself to wallow in sadness.
Maybe it's a cumulation of stress, but then it wouldn't really make sense that I'm updating my blog. I should be working.  Ah well, this is therapeutic.
Some background: I was feeling okay in general.  But there was a free ice skating event, and I had talked to some people about it earlier, so I was really eager to go since I hadn't gone skating for so long.  Ultimately, after class, I asked people if they were going to it, but it turned out that people were busy, stress, or lame (aka, said it was too cold).  There were two events today: 1) internal medicine dinner 2) two people's b-day party.  Of course, how could a measly little free ice skating event compare to those two?  I guess it wasn't really such a bad thing to not find anybody to go with me, but I just had my hopes up because it seemed like earlier people were interested in going with me.  Sounds so selfish. I know.  I did eventually find some people who were going, but I didn't really feel comfortable hanging out with them.  Yes, another very selfish, bad, prejudiced thing to decide on.  I guess by that time, I also gave up and thought the whole ordeal of getting people to do things too much.  I even told someone I gave up on ever organizing events.  And there were two things to top it all off.  1) I had purposely not asked to go to the IMIG dinner so that I could go ice skating.  2) I felt a tiny bit snuffed since I wasn't invited to the b-day party; though, of course, I probably don't even like those parties.  Sounds like elementary school huh? - which leads me to another issue.
Med school of 120 students is just small enough so that I know everyone, but just large enough so that I don't know everyone well, which makes some things awkward because I'm around these people all the time.  And then people have their own get together with their tight knit groups, which is okay, but just difficult because some people you know are invited to it, while you aren't.  I guess it's totally like elementary school...but even worse because we know what everyone is up to all the time, but we don't know everyone well enough to be friends with everyone.  But I guess the bad thing about having a really small class would be that you're forced to be friends with everyone...but what if you don't like everyone or if someone doesn't like you? Then I guess you're just screwed.  Of course, the ideal thing would be you can be friends with everyone, but I'm sorry to say this, I'm not ideal.  So all in all, with help of some friends, I conclude that 120 people is still good.  Let's you pick and choose a bit - offers some "flexibility."  Even though I'd like to be included in events/whatever, I guess ultimately, it's best to have some really close friends that you can depend on - even though they might go to that interest group dinner instead of the ice skating event.  *There is where you say "awwwww..."*

My Bro is Reading Freakonomics!

I was reading it, but couldn't finish by end of break, so my brother took it up.  I love this book!

Poor Little Baby

I don't think I've ever held a hand that small:

Recently I saw the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) baby and mother that I was paired up with! I didn't get into the Newborn Medicine selective, but I heard they got paired up with little babies/moms, so I emailed the professor. She was so nice and got it arranged for me right away!

It was a bittersweet visit. The baby was very premature, which meant it had a lot of problems that came with not being fully developed. Apparently he was about the size of my hand when he was born! The mother's womb is really truly amazing! Without all this fancy technology, an embryo becomes a tiny little body with everything packaged and ready to go.

Sadly, like many premature babies, he had patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), underdeveloped bowl/lungs, eye problems, etc. He's probably had more surgeries than you or I will ever have in a lifetime. Poor little thing couldn't even breath on his own, much less digest anything. Under distress, his ventilator wouldn't function, his oxygen level would drop a lot, and his heart beat would dip really low. It was saddening to see the mother stress over him, but at the same time, it was beautiful to watch her pour her love out for him.

I think I'll add him to my prayers.

8-yr Old Brother's New Year Resolution

Here's my brother's New Year Resolution assignment. Apparently he got great marks! I'm so proud to be his sister! :D

List of Books to Read

Since I have a list for movies, list for baking, and a list for places, might as well add one for books:

• Mountains Beyond Mountains
• Reason for God - C.S. Lewis
• Disappointed with God - P Yancey
• The Power of Half (has plumpy nut mentioned in it!)
• Cutting for Stone
• Love, Eat, Pray - Pretty easy read, hilarious flows of thought, pretty inspiring.
• Three Cups of Tea
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: by Feynman
• Half the sky: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
• The Namesake
• Freakonomics - when I heard it was about economics, I bulked.  But it was surprisingly enjoyable and intriguing.
• Of Mice and Men
• The Da Vinci Code - after watching the movie, I lost interest in reading it.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• When We Were Romans
• Crime and Punishment
• The Cunning Man
• Gone with the Wind
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - also lost interest in reading it after the movie.
• Hamlet
• Holidays on Ice
• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
• She's Come Undone
• Cat's Cradle: A Novel
• I Know This Much Is True
• The Glass Castle A Memoir
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - also watched movie first. oops.
• The Red Tent
• Running With Scissors A Memoir
• Watchmen
• The Colour of Magic
• Light on Snow
• 
  

...and I'm sure there's more

Brother's New Year Resolution

This is an assignment he had to do for class. It's so cute! :D Apparently he got pretty good marks for it!

Brother's 2010 New Year Resolution

Lovely Email From Parents

Here's the lovely email my parents sent me regarding my brother's 2009 Wish List:

---------------------------------

Hi Y---,

Attachment is Bong bong's 2009 wish list. Mom found this and I think it is
a boy's real world. You may find it is very interesting. I talked to Bong
bong and got his permission to share this with you. But there is one catch.
You may tell him your wish lists to him too. Actually it is up to you, if
you think it is fun, you can tell him anything or nothing.

He was really missing you and sad in Sunday morning after you left. I
remember that when I was in junior high, Uncle Wang Biao left home for
military base, I felt sadness in a train station after the train was
disappearing in horizon. Maybe Bong Bong had the same feeling.

But he is OK very soon. Today is his first day of school and he is happy as
usual.

Love you so much

Mom and Dad

----------------------------

It made me teary :)

The 12 Medical School Stereotypes - funny!

Wow, this has got to be one of the funniest comics I've ever seen:

The 12 Medical School Stereotypes

Apparently, I'm interested in becoming an overworked b---- goddess or an offspring of Patch Adams/Mrs. Rogers.

Thanks to MW & blog site!

Firsts for 2010

Time to keep track of new memorable things for new year!

1. Ate Jamaican food
2. Talked to a transsexual person
3. Buried my pocketknife in an airport plant pot and found it after I got back
4. Get acupunctured
5. Cried in a medical school class - I guess ob/gyn and abortion is a sensitive topic for me?
6. Won a volleyball IM game
7. Got asked to a dance
8. Got my toe nails painted (dark red!)
9. Saw an umbilical hernia
10. Biked in Seattle
11. Played a role in a musical since 5th grade - Once Upon a Mattress
12. Got my hair curled
13. Got an apartment (rented)
14. Been in the same city as a tornado
15. Saw Avenue Q
16. Went to a piano bar
17. Had Big Apple flavored Ted Drews - yum!!
18. uh...can't think right now...
19. Made groundnut stew
20. Floated down a river on my back down to the Atlantic Ocean
21. Ate beanch/rice shakara, donut cake, coconut cake, groundnut cake, meat on a stick, kingdriver, casava with groundnut sauce, butterscotch, sorghum ice cream, barracuda, clay - Sierra Leone style
22. Went to a club in Sierra Leone
23. Rode on a poda poda by myself and navigated in Krio
24. Made a batch of plumpy nut
25. Lived for 2 months in Africa - 2 months of cold showers
26. Watched a (or several) live birth and a C-section
27. Been called "white man"
28. Visited a brewery (in Sierra Leone)
29. Been pulled over by a policeman and argued with the police
30. Learned to drive a stick
31. Ate macaroons from Bouchon Bakery, Napa Valley
32. Taste tested 10 different kinds of wines at V. Sattui
33. Ate 25 different types of chili in one night (Journey Chili Cook-Off)
34. Participated in a friend's proposal! - in fact, I was the decoy! Congrats ED and AL!
35. Be a bridesmaid

Garden D'Lights

Bellevue Botanical Gardens:

November 28th - January 2nd 5pm-10pm

When I first heard of the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, I thought it was going to be a garden with pretty lights strung on it. Well, I guess technically, it was, but it was so much cooler than what I expected! It was a garden MADE from lights!

Microbes = Pokemon

The bulk of our first Microbes and Pathogenesis lecture was about Pokemon. I never really played Pokemon before, but now, I think I could be a formidable trainer. Well, maybe not formidable, but I've never learned more about Pokemon than those couple of minutes.

I guess if you think about it, Microbes are kind of like Pokemon, but really...there were at least 15 slides on Pokemon such as how Pokemon "pop out of the pokeballs." Then we went through lesson on how attacks are based on strengths/weaknesses, and that the key point is that the trainer is knowledge, and the journey is "of yourself, and the world." There were even final self-assessment questions (taken directly from lecture):

1. What are Pokemon?
2. What is a Pokeball?
3. Why do you "Gotta Catch-em All?"
4. How many different Pokemon species are there?
5. Pick one species of Pokemon. Describe its evolution. what important attacks did it gain through evolution?
6. why does every child between 3 and 10 drive their parents nuts by asking for more and more Pokemon cards?
7. How much money has Burger King made from its Pokemon kids meal promos?
8. Which Pokemon should you choose to battle an Ivysau? Explain your reasoning in detail.

Yup, that's what my $47k/year in tuition is for: Pokemon lessons. But in reality, if instead of Pokemon, you insert microbes/pathogens above, those questions actually make quite a lot of sense (even the ones about parents and maybe Burger King...).

8 Year-Old Brother's 2009 Wish List

I just found these were things on my brother's 2009 Wish List (my comments in blue):

*Mario Bros D.S.: he actually got this from dad

*Faster Computer

*More Magnetics: I think he meant more parts to his magnet/connection toy

*Action Replay: I have no clue what this is

*White Christmas: Alas, I am no weather god - maybe when I'm a billionaire

*Movies [Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs]: We watched this on Christmas!

*Good Books: Uh...we went to the library together, and I read to him?

*Higher I.Q.: When I was reading to him, we came across "osmosis," so I tried to explain that to him, which led me explaining diffusion, concentration, density...oh boy.

*Wii Games: He schooled me

*Lots of Friends: I'm not enough? I should teach him quality over quantity. j/k. I took him to friend get-togethers; he was much more talkative than I was.

He then asked for my wishlist, and this is what I came up in a few minutes:

*Bike in Seattle (due to lack of car insurance)
*A mountain bike in St. Louis (So I can go mountain biking!)
*A lamp
*Good roommates for next school year
*Tangerine sours (my brother loved them so much I left them in Seattle)
*Go snowboarding
*YOU! :) (referring to my brother)
*Eat good Chinese food from mom :)

Health Literacy: Dropsy?

Health Literacy: about understanding health terms from the PATIENT'S perspective

Truthfully, I thought this lecture was going to be a bunch of fluffy/boring talk. However, I was very surprised by some of the facts that are probably obvious, but I just never really thought about as a medical student. For example (from lecture):

•48% of Americans have inadequate or marginal literacy skills

•21% cannot sign name of find expiration date on license

•48% cannot fill out a social security application or find an intersection on a street map

•75% cannot interpret a bar graph

It was interesting to watch the video and see a poor old man mistaken hypertension (high blood pressure) for being hyperactive or another man explaining that when he was late to an appointment and angrily stormed away after being told to fill out a form, he did so to cover up the fact that he was functionally illiterate. It made me think how many other times I've gotten angry/upset at people, not realizing the true reason they were the way they were.

And then we had a very interesting "game show" where 3 groups had to try and come up with explanation of certain medical terms such as colonoscopy, anti-inflammatory drug, hypertension, and chemotherapy. One kid tried to describe anti-inflammatory drug as "a medicine that prevents your body from its defense mechanisms" - I don't think that little old man would have understood.

Then we focused on the reverse: colloquial terms that patients use. Some of these I had no idea what they were:

•Bad blood: syphillis

•“The spirit catches you and you fall down” : epilepsy

•Falling out: fainting

•Dropsy: edema

•German measles: rubella

•Ashy: dry skin