Spring Teaching and Summer

This past Spring semester I spent teaching community college Anatomy and Physiology to rising nursing students as part of thier pre-reqs to nursing school. I found teaching to be much harder than I ever gave it credit for and definitely found out I am not a natural born teacher.....i.e. I kept saying "you get it right?" or "you know....right?". Teaching gave me an appreciation for all my past professors, grade school teachers, piano teachers, sunday school teachers, ect.

I also did some tutoring this past Spring for some of my Master's classes I had already completed which I liked alot better. I find it far more rewarding working with 2 or 3 indiviuals at a time and tutoring them rather than teaching an entire class. Maybe it was because I had recently took the classes I was tutoring for and had come across all the same doubts, fears, frustrations, concerns and exhaustion that Gross Anatomy has to offer and therefore could relate better to the Masters students.

This Summer I have been well....a lazy bum for the most part. After finishing the Spring semester, my mom, dad and I went on a little vaca to Roanoke,VA (my childhood hometown). I had been wanting to run a half marathon for quite some time and knew this siesta before med school would be a great time to do it. So, my dad trained me and on May 15 I ran my the Marine Corps Half (it was tougher than I thought it would be---I took a 3 hour nap after I finished it). I did pretty good for the first 10 miles and only walked through the aid stations. Once we hit mile 10 there was this HUGE hill with a quite significant elevation change. I had felt my left calf tightening up after about mile 6 or 7 but thought I would be fine. Unfortunately the hill got the best of me and I ended up walking up most of the Mile 10 hill. Nonetheless, I finished the race with a time of 2 hr. 17. min. I spent the rest of the trip visiting with old friends in Roanoke, VA which was wonderful.

While in VA, my mom and I went to a Trigiminal Neuralgia conference in Richmond to help find some addition information about a condition she has-Trigiminal Neuralgia (T.N.). If any of y'all are aware of how nerve pain is then your understand the desparation of someone with a nerve condition trying to find relief. T.N. is a painful nerve condition of the Trigiminal nerve (this nerve has three branches, hence "tri", branch one goes above the eye, branch two goes above the lip and around the nose, and the third travels down in the jaw) My mom has nerve pain associated with the third branch. The conference was to educate those suffering with the disease with options, treatments, and medications. My mom enjoyed the conference alot because it helped her develop a deeper knowledge of the disease and allowed her to speak with others who suffer from the same condition (T.N. only occurs in 1 in 30,000). It's amazing how just knowing that someone else feels the exact way you do will do for someone's morale. Hearing about all the different surgical procedures and listening to the neurosurgeons talk about thier specialties was particularly interesting to me.

Thanks to all who are keeping up-I start medical school August 9th and will post the doubts, fears, frustrations,concerns, joys, laughs, and reliefs to come.

Tornado hits Clinton,MS

April 15 Clinton, MS was hit hard by thunderstorms, straight line winds, and most unfortunate: a terrible tornado. Many of you might have seen us on national news or the weather channel. This was the same system that killed several in Oklahoma and others in North Carolina. Clinton is just a mess-the tornado tore up several houses on Highway 80 north and several businesses off SpringRidge Road about .25 miles from my current apartment.

On a better note, I will be moving this weekend with the help of some sweet volunteers. I will be leaving Clinton and moving into Jackson to be closer to the medical school. I spent most of tonight cleaning my new place. The complex had someone clean the apartment but there's nothing like cleaning all the nooks yourself making sure there are no "cooties" haha. I "lysoled" everything! It makes me feel better to disinfect everything.

I realized that is no overhead lighting in my new bedroom-looks like I will be buying a few lamps. I have been moving a few things on my own before the big move this weekend and living on the second floor means I have been getting my leg workouts in!

Also, I bought a new couch a couple months ago (after I finally got my first real paycheck ever!) Needless to say I bought a rather large couch (it looked a lot smaller in that big warehouse) so let all hope it fits in my new apartment which is significantly smaller than the apartment I currently live in....Yikes! I'll let you now how it turns out.

place to live...check! crazy physical....euh, no check

I've found a place to live for my first year of medical school! Hooray! I'm excited to have have that checked off my list. I found a cute little apartment within walking distance to the school that way I won't need to fight traffic or parking. It was a true blessing to get this apartment. I had been on the waiting list since January!

One thing that is not checked off my list yet is the physical, euh I'm not looking forward to it at all. It seems as though the physical check list includes everything...skin, nails, eyes, ears, have you ever worked with radioactive substances, have you ever had boils, heart issues, neurological problems, have you ever been hospitalized in a mental institution, do you have frequent terrifying nightmares? Just to name a few of the questions off the physical, ha I think they're making sure I'm indeed human. In addition, I have 9 pdf files I have to fill out and although it is a lot to do, I'm excited to fill out each one because each paper I fill out and each fee I pay means this is actually real.

I write this blog post as I proctor an anatomy exam at Mississippi College. I see the anguish on their faces and believe me its mental pain taking these exams. I wish them the best of luck and pray when August 2011 comes I'll have the strength and endurance to tackle gross anatomy for the second time (in case that's confusing, I took human gross anatomy in my masters program I completed this past December.)

The Beginning...

The realization I've been accepted to medical school has still not completely set in.  The past few summers have been filled with anxiety and the doubtfulness that I would ever truly be accepted to medical school. This summer will be different: I can celebrate and sense the relief that I have accomplished one goal: acceptance.  Last summer was awful to say the least, all I did for the entire summer was study the MCAT which has been my mountain to climb. Prior to the Summer of 2010,  I had struggled and struggled with the infamous MCAT having taken the exam already 3 times and been unsuccessful 3 times.  In my mind, I had made this test into a monster. 

So for the Summer of 2010 it was a lonely one filled with Exam Kracker Books, audio osmosis, Kaplan flash cards, Princeton Review online exams, and some "chad videos".  I studied every single day for 8 hours a day for 3 months leading up to my July 31st exam date.  I had submitted my medical school application in the early part of July trusting I could finally conquer the MCAT on July 31st.  My MCAT score would be sent to all the schools I had applied to whether I did well on the exam or not...it was a leap of faith to submit my application not knowing what score would be sent to them after my test date.   Deep in my heart I knew this was my turn to do well, but at the same time I couldn't get my hopes up only to be let down....again.

It took 30 days to receive my score and when I got the score I knew it was better than my previous attempts but not the score I wanted.  I prayed it would be good enough for an interview....and it was!  Two weeks into September of 2010 I got an invitation to interview at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  I was nervous to say the least...I went out and bought a $300 suit just to try to impress them the best I could.....(my mom would have preferred I got my suit at hudson's dirt cheap...yuck)

I interviewed on September 30th and upon reading my interview schedule I saw I was interviewing with the toughest interviewer at the school.  I was sweating....literally.  After an hour and a half of interviews, lunch, and a tour of the school I went home and waited. 

On October 15th I received an e-mail that said 'congratualtions' in the subject line.....which has brought me to this point.

Whether you are one of my sweet family members, a precious friend, or a former student of mine I hope you enjoy hearing about the joys, struggles, doubts, frustrations, and successes to come.  There is a great appreciation for each of you that encouraged and prayed for me over the past several years.  Each prayer and encouraging word allowed me to finally believe in myself.