What I [Hopefully] Learned at School This Week

Lecture Objectives

Sorry I’ve not had much time to write this week. I’ve been a little, um, preoccupied. You should know that I’m having fun – mostly because everything we’re learning is relevant. I expect this trend to continue. I thought I’d give you a little taste of what we’ve been learning this week. These lecture objectives will give you some idea. In addition to these, we’ve typically had about two hours of ethics lectures per day – it’s a good chance to use the other side of my brain from time to time. One of these days I’ll try to do a little post on how I study and what methods I use to cram all of this stuff in.

Gotta go. Thanks for all the words of encouragement.

What’s Coming My Way

27 lbs of knowledge

One of the things I’m most impressed with about VCOM is the way that students have embraced technology as a means of sharing information with one another. The SGA has created a website where students can post news, notes, study guides, and podcasts of the lectures – and it is used frequently.

Earlier today, I was looking around the site and came across a post by an MS2 who apparently stacked all of his/her course notes together, placed a ruler beside them and snapped a photo (left). The caption reads, “Here is the stack of documents for all of first year. It’s 27 pounds of knowledge.”

Yee-haw! This should be fun.

Just a Week Away

In less than a week, I will officially be what’s known as an MS1 – that’s Medical Student (year 1). I was talking to a friend at LACA just the other day and trying to relay to him that time has passed quickly, but I can still feel the pain of “the waiting.”

If you know me well, you know that the decision to go to medical school is one that I’ve struggled with for a long time. Truth be told, I still struggle with it. I know I will be a good doctor, one who cares about his patients and does what’s in their best interest. The thing that concerns me the most has remained the same through the years, “Can I be a good friend and family man at the same time?”

I’ve decided, for better or worse, that I will never know until try. I have real hope that this is possible, mostly because I’ve seen a few other physicians do it, specifically a small town surgeon and dear friend of my family, Pat Greer. In his unending modesty, he would say I am exaggerating – but he would be the only one. I don’t imagine he’s perfect, but, in his ability to balance his love and care for his patients with the love and care he shows his family and friends, he comes as close as anyone I have ever known.

For the past few months I’ve been bombarded with the question, “are you nervous or excited.” The answer, of course, is both. I’m ready to get started. I’m ready to step into the unknown and dig into the course material. But my concern remains in many forms: debt, time, discipline – all of these are things that can, in the name of patient care, distract me from being a good friend and family member. So, I suppose I excited about school, and nervous about its potential fallout.

In related news, I plan to frequent this space a bit more in an effort to stay connected. It worked wonderfully when Jeanna and I traveled to Central America a few years ago, and while I cherish the things we wrote while we were there, I cherish the things that our friends and family wrote much, much more – so please, comment away on this and all future posts. I’m no doctor, but I know it is good for my soul.

Image courtesy of flickr user laffy4k