Surviving October

Have you ever been so busy you really didn’t have time for anything? This is how these past few weeks have been: two tests a week on consecutive days. I honestly laughed when a second year told us during orientation that it would come down to times when you don’t even have time to shower. I can now honestly say that I experienced that. I didn’t work out (well, I broke down a couple of times because my body was craving exercise), I avoided showering unless necessary (every other day instead of every day), I didn’t check my email or the blogosphere (this was some serious business if I couldn’t even squeeze in my email).



My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. It didn’t feel like a birthday: it started with a neuro exam that was much harder than I anticipated, a long full day of classes, and a pathology test the next morning to study for. You know it’s bad when others who find out it’s my birthday respond by saying “I’m sorry.” Jeff did well: despite my awful schedule, he bought me flowers and made me go out to eat (made me because I didn’t have time to be in the car or wait for food). The LeBarons were kind enough to come over and also brought me flowers (so the picture above is all of the flowers I was given).



The following week we had the infamous Head and Neck anatomy exam. Our faculty says no amount of money could be worth taking that test again because it is that difficult and labor-intensive. Just to give you an idea of how ridiculously difficult they make it, I’ve uploaded a picture of all of the information that I read (yep, I read ALL of it) and was required to know for the exam. If you can’t read the numbers, it is just shy of THREE AND A HALF inches. To put it into perspective, that’s thicker than my Organic Chemistry Textbook (2 inches) that covered two semesters of information (and OChem is no easy class). This doesn’t include the 267 pages of textbook and 141 pictures by Netter that is for this exam. So, no wonder this is infamous. It lives up to its title.

The second years also warned us that every student will fail at least one exam in the first semester. Encouraging, right? After working my butt off to learn as much as I could, I walked out of the anatomy practical feeling like I had failed. I guessed on at least half because whoever set up the exam did NOT allow us to see where it came from nor where it was going (which in the neck is incredibly important because just about every nerve, artery, and vein runs in the same direction). That was the worst exam of my life. By some miracle I refrained from crying, but there were several people crying after (and even some during) the exam. This is not an exaggeration: Jeff can be my witness because as soon as I completed the practical, we studied together and heard many others crying (bawling would probably be a more accurate description, but it’s depressing to think about).

So I’ve survived October—just barely. I’m completely burnt out (who wouldn’t be?), but school keeps going and I’ve got to keep up with it. I broke down last weekend wishing that I was a med student (I’ll write more about this and the med vs. pa program later).

Jeff finished his pediatric rotation and will be gone for the next FOUR months. I’m glad I’ll be able to see him for Thanksgiving and he can come home for Christmas. Unfortunately school is too demanding for me to go home to visit and he works weekends. I’m trying to look on the bright side: it doesn’t compare to the full year military families are required to serve a tour of duty. He’s been gone for almost a week, but it feels like forever. I miss him.

I hope that everyone has a Happy Halloween and I’m just glad I survived October.