SXM Montage 2014-2016

Well, I finally sat down with all of my GoPro videos and created a montage of our time on the island! Happy times, great people, and beautiful memories.

 

Smiles 🙂

CG

The Home Stretch

About 1 month has passed since I left the frigid tundra of Vermont and skidded down the famous runway of St. Maarten airport. I’m always curious how many tourists are flung backwards into the choppy waters of Maho beach on a daily basis. You’re not going to see my booty out there clinging for dear life to those fences!

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first. I didn’t make the honor society. You want to know what really sucks? I missed it by ONE POINT. I’m bummed for sure, but I’m really happy for all of my amazing colleagues who were inducted. I believe over 50 students achieved this impressive accomplishment – quite the triumph for the class of September 2014! Wooohoooo!

The major focus of 5^th semester has been studying for the comprehensive exam, which in our case takes place on March 23^rd. It is notoriously difficult, but the school wants to make sure you’re able to pass this comprehensive examination before you take the actual USMLE. Fortunately, you get a few chances. The first “comp”, like I mentioned earlier, takes place for us on March 23^rd. If you pass it, you’re golden. If you don’t, your second chance comes in the form of the physiology and pathology comps, which fall on March 30^th and April 6^th this semester. Your 3^rd chance comes along a few days later as the 2^nd NBME exam (April 15^th).

If you strike out, you get shipped off to the Becker training program. I haven’t really looked into these because I plan on self-studying for the USMLE, but from what I’ve heard they take place in a couple large cities (in Texas and NYC?) and last about 6 weeks. Students speak very highly of the Becker training programs, especially if you’re a student that needs a little more discipline and structure.

During 5^th semester, AUC also offers a “Becker Diagnostic Exam” which is meant to assess your areas of weakness. I took the Becker exam over the weekend and was not impressed. Personally, I do not think the questions are indicative of what will appear on the comprehensive exam (or STEP1 for that matter). The question stems were very short and tested your recall of extremely specific details rather than diagnosing a patient. I’ve been using USMLERx practice questions since I arrived back to the island and they are completely different, so I’m not sure what to make of my results.

 

Here is my current schedule for the semester:

9:00 am – ICM (small group or lecture)

11:00 am – lunch

11:45 am – Behavioral Science

1:30 pm – Gym

2:30 pm – HOME

 

For comp preparation, I’ve been doing approximately 45 USMLERx questions per day and using my First Aid book to follow along with the Doctors in Training videos (DIT). Once I use up my question bank, I’d like to start UWORLD questions. I’ve heard they are slightly more difficult, but very close to the actual test questions and accurate in predicting your STEP score. From what I’ve researched, the more questions, the better!

Brutie practicing his beach yoga

Now that I’m nearing the end of my time on St. Maarten, I’m trying to use the last couple months to see more of the island.

Our first weekend back Tylor, our friend Shawn, and I ventured over to Pinel Island in orient bay. We hopped on a little ferry for a small fee and scuttled on over. I have to admit, this little island is pretty amazing. In addition to the beautiful sandy beaches, there are hiking trails leading from one side to the other. Despite such a small piece of land, the landscape was so versatile and we saw all sorts of cool creatures including a grumpy turtle!

After block exams we took a short trip to the island’s capitol to see The Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit. This shop is the brainchild of Nick Maley, an international artist best known for his work in creating many creatures on StarWars. I’m a HUGE fan and I can’t believe I haven’t been here before. It was really neat!

But for now I’m about to start the cardiology section of the DIT videos and apparently this is one of my weakest subjects. So time to stop procrastinating and FOCUS!

 

Smiles 🙂

CG

We’re Halfway There!

And so I return again to haunt you with more tales of the caribbean. I feel like I should be sitting around a campfire with my friends and family, staring into their eyes with intensity as I regale them with the stories of my medical school career. They sit there shuddering as I launch into the horrors of what my life has become: cadavers coming back to life, murderous ax wielding professors, and worse of all –  (This is where I throw a couple bang snaps in the fire for dramatic effect) – BLOCK 3 EXAMS! BUM BUM BUM.

Alright, I suppose I exaggerated a couple details. Block 3 wasn’t THAT bad. Once again, my class was tested in Pathology, Physiology, and Microbiology, and I’m proud to say that this was my highest micro score! Yay! Having another week to review the material really helped me get those bugs down!

Unlike 1st and 2nd semesters, us big bad 3rd semester students take our exams from 1 pm – 5 pm (instead of 9 to 12). I personally love this set up because I have a hard time falling asleep the night before an exam if I know I need to wake up early the next morning. The downside is, this exam period falls right in the middle of the day when I’m the sleepiest! So when I get home afterwards after putting all of my mental capacities towards doing well (and missing my afternoon nap I might add) all I want to do is lay down and not use any energy whatsoever. Unfortunately, this is the one opportunity I have to go to the beach guilt free and it takes every ounce of my being to get my butt down to Mullet Bay. We ended up taking our Brutus to the beach and he fell in love! I swear this dog has overtaken my life. He has so many little quirks that I have come to adore.

If you’re a student with a spouse from home to support you in your quest, you are also aware of the hellish tension that occurs between you and your lucky partner during block weekend.  I try to tone my stressful emotions and keep it civil for Tylor, but the poor guy gets wrapped up in a tornado of negativity regardless. One of my classic acts is the belief that I’ve failed an exam. Do you know that feeling in undergrad where you walk out of a testing center KNOWING that you aced that test? Yeah.. you’ll never experience that again. Medical school is not necessarily about choosing the correct answer, its about choosing the most correct answer. So you can imagine the turmoil that our minds go through until those grades are finally emailed. I can’t relax until I receive my scores and know that everything is going to be ok.

The one thing harder than taking exams is the motivation to pick up where you left off and get back to class. After such a brutal day, it was not surprising that the majority of my fellow comrades decided to stay home today. Those who came to class this morning were in a daze. Weary students with heavy eyelids and slow reflexes were everywhere. I myself need at least 2 days for the mental recovery process. I actually worry about my well being during this time, like I’m on autopilot and so unaware that I’ll walk into traffic or something. The professors seem to understand and tend to go light on the introductory material for the new section. Thank god because I absorbed zilch today.

As my title indicates, we’re halfway through our time here in St. Maarten! Of course, this only means we’re almost done with the book part of medical school, the clinical training is yet to come! I’d like to spend my 2 clinical years split between the UK and New York. I’ve been told that the UK offers great hands-on experience, but I would also like to be close to my family back in Vermont; its been way to long and Tylor and I are getting a little homesick. He’ll never admit it, but I know its true. Speaking of Tylor, our 7 year anniversary will be here in 5 days! Its truly unbelievable that we’ve been together so long. Its so natural at this point that I think I would go into shock without him by my side.

Well, we’re off with some friends to watch the new Terminator movie! But don’t worry.. I’LL BE BACK.

Smiles 🙂

CG

Third Semester Already?

Archway @ Mullet Bay

Hallelujah!! I’ve just completed 2/5ths of my time here in St. Maarten and I’m so tired my fingers can barely move across this keyboard. This tends to be the general consensus among my peers nearing the end of the semester – especially once final exams are completed. It looks like a scene right out of The Walking Dead around here.

I guess I never truly understood the phrase “medical school is a marathon, not a race”. I have to constantly remind myself of the enthusiasm I felt at the beginning and what I am working toward in the end. I’m tired, and I’m tired of being tired, but this is what I want more than anything in the world and I know it’s worth it.

Another thought that comes to mind often is “how could I have been so stupid?” This became apparent after the final exams yesterday afternoon. Usually, AUC has “bundled” exams, where tests are taken one after another with a 10 minute (total) break time that you can use as you wish. The final cumulative exams were set up a little differently: 1.5 hours/exam with 30 minutes in between each test. This gave us an opportunity to discuss questions and increase the tension through the roof as we became aware of what the general unanimity was.

Me: “Did you pick B for this question?”

Another student: “No I picked C”

Really smart student: “I picked C as well”

Me after thinking about it: “Why the hell did I pick B? C makes so much sense”

In undergrad I felt like a Rockstar. I had decent grades and was confident in my ability to perform well in medical school. This attitude dropped like a rock after first semester, when I made the transition from excelling to average. I’m proud of my current GPA, but now I’m surrounded by competitive geniuses that don’t seem to work as hard as I do for the same grades. Maybe it’s just my perspective, I don’t know.

Block IV exams went pretty smoothly, considering the massive amount of information we all had to learn. Molecular Cell Biology focused on Cancer, which was actually pretty neat and (obviously) very clinically relevant. I tend to forget that everything we learn needs to be applied to the human body at some point. For the MCB cumulative final exam, I cannot stress the Kaplan videos enough. They’re great at connecting the details you tend to forget about into one big picture.

The awesome thing about cardiovascular physiology is that it is entirely conceptual. If you understand the concept, you can answer the question. The unfortunate thing about cardiovascular physiology is the time constraint on exams. With MCB and Immunology, there are certain “buzzwords” you can find within the question stem that would lead you to the right answer, reducing the amount of time spent on each response. Physiology questions require a lot more thought and a thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved.

Example:

A 24-year old woman presents to the emergency department with severe diarrhea. When she is supine, her blood pressure is 90/60 mm Hg and her heart rate is 100 beats/min. When she is moved to a standing position, her heart rate further increases to 120 beats/min. Which of the following accounts for the further increase in heart rate upon standing?

1. Decreased total peripheral resistance
2. Increased vasoconstriction
3. Increased contractility
4. Increased afterload
5. Decreased venous return

Anyway, that’s all over now and I can emerge as a fresh faced 3^rd semester student! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by. Right now, I’m just so happy to have the next couple weeks off. I desperately need to reset my mind and spend time with the people I care about. I get to meet my Godson, Bear for the first time in just a few days! During my time in school, I feel like I’ve missed so many important details in the lives of my loved ones and I’m looking forward to catching up!

Smiles 🙂

CG

GoPro Video Montage Spring 2015

In recognition of Good Friday and Easter Monday, AUC will not hold classes for the next four days. I thought I would take this rare opportunity and learn how to use the GoPro camera Tylor got for Christmas! So for your entertainment (or non entertainment), I threw together a GoPro Mini Movie Montage of our activities over the past couple weeks. Fun Fact: “Island in the Sun” by Weezer was playing in the background of our very first kiss! Awww so romantic!

Hope you like it!

Smiles 🙂

CG

A “Firstie” no longer!

Mullet Bay

After 14 chilly days packed with quality family bonding, Tylor and I have returned to our lovely (and warm!) home in St. Maarten ready for the new semester. I am pleased with my current GPA and plan to dominate second semester with a new focus on my mental and physical health. Without anatomy labs in the afternoon, it should be easier to get my butt in the gym and work off the excess storage. I have been told countless times that a healthy body is a healthy mind, so in addition to spending more time in the gym, Tylor and I plan to adopt new eating habits as well. I’m sure after almost 7 years of being there for each other, we can make these new aspirations a reality!

EDIT: I’m going to be an anatomy TA! Yay!

Smiles,

CG

Soaking Up Some Rays at Mullet Bay

Our adventure today included a trip to Mullet Bay, which is a short 15 minute walk from Arbor Estates. I brought Dr. Foreman along to keep us some company. Today is one of the last days I have to relax and enjoy paradise before I put my nose to the books! I believe I have one more day to just chill out before I need to show up for registration on the 24th. I have to take a 90 minute assessment that day as well, but I have no idea what that entitles. I guess I’ll find out soon enough!