Clothing Drive, Motivation

I'm going solo now in running the Women's Health Advocacy Committee of my student chapter of Physicians for Human Rights. So I've cut back on what I want to accomplish through the org this semester. One goal was to have a clothing drive for the Women's Club down in Portsmouth (20 mins away from Picard). 

Initially I thought it would be pretty lame, but after receiving unsolicited, but much appreciated, help from the head of Student Activities, the drive turned out to be a success.


Mark Sheakley (husband of cardio-phys prof Dr. Maria Sheakley) at my university contacted me about giving me an official donation bin. This may not sound like a big deal, but considering our org is tiny compared to other "more popular" ones like AMSA and Salybia, I was surprised that he even knew who I/we were. He graciously offered to allow to have a donation bin (industrial size, yellow, recycling bin) outside the library. This is prime real estate as far as donations go, and we've encountered issues with Student Government bureacracy in the past, so I was kinda elated that we were offered this.


After sending an email to Flavia who runs the weekly email announcements to the entire university, she placed an ad I designed to run for the entire semester to announce the clothing drive. By 1 1/2 weeks the bin was full to the brim. In fact I had to put a note on it the other day that we were no longer accepting donations. How awesome is that?


The Women's Club mainly needs work-wear and uniforms that they can refurbish and resell, but I think they will pretty much take anything. Today, when me and my loyal recruited volunteers, visited the Club, Ms. Kate was asking for book donations too. Give a mouse a cookie...


She also told me that she (cryptically) "had something for me". I'm trying not to be excited because for all I know it's a receipt for the gate installations that I raised donation money for last semester. I really need to go back there and take a picture next to the murals on the outside and with Ms. Kate. Damn, should have done that today. But I was too distracted by the bags of clothing and making sure we had a ride back. The local driver--nice Rasta man--was patient though and waited for us to unload the bags of clothing, then took us back to school. I have him a 20 EC note and told him to give me whatever change he thought fit, and he also gave me a business card--as usual. Except this time it was laminated! Haha. He must be doing pretty well, eh?











We only had 4 hours of class today, which I sat through starting at 8 a.m. I'm so proud of myself for making it to class before 9 a.m. I've been sleeping at 2:30 a.m. every day, after a full day of studying til midnight. Turns out 4th semester is just as challenging i.e. insane, as 3rd. When will it get easier??? *whines* I'm thinking Never. 


Motivation, or Lack Thereof


My friend, Amy, and I had a short conversation on the ride back to campus about what made us motivated to go to medical school. She said she's always wanted to be a doctor, since she was young...I tried to explain my philosophy. It starts with my desire to work in a non-profit public health/medical organization in the developing world. Idealistic and slightly romantic, it's true, but it's about the only thing I have left to "fantasize" about for my future. It's my dream, and aren't dreams supposed to be sort of "out there"? I told her that while there are many ways of going about achieving this goal, medical school is one of the better options that gives me more skills and preparation. 


I always feel like my answer to that question is weak, and over the last 2 years my desire and motivation to get through this has dwindled. Hell, I still don't know if I'll be able to make it through. But I hope I can. So I keep working hard and pushing myself a little more each semester. My main motivation stems from all the clinical interactions I have had on this island, and the awesome jobs I have had in the past. Hopefully this profession will end up matching my expectations. I dare not think of the alternative; I've read too many blogs and discussion board posts of people regretting their decision to enter med school and medical practice because they realized too late, "I guess I really don't want to this after all". 


For now I would like to afford myself the opportunity to be able to be in the position to reflect on my decision. I think it's too early in the game to decide now. Especially since the first 2 years is Not reflective of the following 5-6 years. (Hopefully)


Only 55 days left on the island! Just gotta keep pushing until the end!


I will be blogging again after my next hospital rotation in July.

My First Autopsy, also...Princess Margaret Hospital, Dominica

Today was my first visit/clinical round at Princess Margaret Hospital, in Roseau. The theme of my first clinical round? Can you tell by the color of this font?


Where do I begin?

Super Nerd M.D.--how I look after rolling out of bed at 7 a.m. and donning my  "doctor wear".

Given the fact that my entire "study day" was dissolved by this full-day, hospital visit I have to make this post short. However, I will highlight some of the more memorable details of my first clinical round as a 2nd year medical student.


We arrived at the hospital at 9 a.m. this morning with a bag full of all the examination equipment we own, literally, wearing pristine White Coats, ID badges, and in my case plenty of nerves and excitement. This would be our first, real clinical round as 2nd year medical students!


I realized before getting on the bus that I had neglected to bring scrubs with me, which was a big problem because these are required if you are chosen for a pathology, surgery, or anesthesiology rotation. I made sure my friend would allow me to borrow hers if I was chosen and she wasn't. 


At 9: 30 a.m. I waited expectantly to hear what I'd be assigned to; "Please let it be path or surgery or obgyn!" 


Then they called my name and assigned me to Pathology! Score! I blew a kiss to my friend as they called her name for Internal Med and took her scrubs. I was so thrilled to see if this field, the one I have always been intrigued about and tested well in**, was for me!


Things didn't start out too promising as we soon found out our "preceptor"/attending MD was Cuban and didn't speak much English...at all. Me and the other student on the rotation informed her that we both speak/understand Spanish, which made things a bit easier halfway through.


Today I got to watch and learn from an autopsy of at 72 year old Dominican woman, who died of an intestinal obstruction, with a secondary pulmonary hemorrhage. Well technically, the final cause of death was pulmonary failure, but this was due to the obstruction of the mesenteric artery, supplying the small intestine. Anyways...


The first thought that crossed my mind when the technicians began the Y-incision was, "wow the human body is so fragile...a few deep cuts with a sharp scalpel and your internal organs are exposed in under a minute". The second though was, "oh dear God that smells terrible!"


I'm not sure why the body smelled so terrible (the lady had died fairly recently, either the night before or that morning)..but I suspect the loads of blood from the pulmonary hemorrhaging combined with the necrotic bowel had something to do with it. 


I had a flash back to the scene in "Silence of the Lambs" when the medical examiner offers Jody Foster some Vicks vapor rub to stave off the smell. I really wanted some Vicks vapor rub at that moment. 


This wasn't anatomy lab, with the pre-cleaned, preserved, Formaldehyde-soaked cadavers. This was a woman who less than 48 hrs ago had been living, breathing, in her hospital bed. A mother, whose daughter and son-in-law had some to ID her right before the autopsy. 


After about 10 mins I sorta got used to the smell, and knew just how far away to stand with out looking like a wimp, while still getting to marvel over the entire dissection process. 


The most interesting, fulfilling part came next, when Dr. Milagros began to examine each internal organ, slicing and sectioning so that we could see which ones contained what specific type of pathology. So cool! I finally got see so many of the pathological findings we are taught in class with image slides. 


Purulent fluid! Hemorrhaging! Atherosclerotic plaques! Ventricular wall hypertrophy! Etc! How cool is that?!


After much teaching and much observation we were given a 30 minute lecture in Spanish (by the time the autopsy began Dr. Milagros had already switched into Spanish, for our benefit, so we could actually learn something) about the virtues of the Cuban health care system, versus the U.S. system, versus all the problems with the Dominican system. AND THERE ARE MANY. 


It turns out we were supposed to observe 2 autopsies today: the elderly lady and an infant, but the infant's parents still hadn't shown up to ID the baby so this autopsy was cancelled. It probably sounds very morbid, but I was really looking forward to the infant autopsy because I wanted to see how it would be handled, if the techniques would be different, and what pathology had occurred.


After removing our booties, caps, face masks, we returned to our main quarters.


Everyone ordered pizza from Pizza Hut (a bonus to visiting Roseau) and one hour later we were off again to conduct a patient interview and full physical exam ALONE.


I was partnered with two other students and interviewed a hemophilia patient. The grim part of the exam, apart from the obvious fatigue and blindness, was the fact that he had been admitted to the hospital last weekend for a collapsed lung, and was through out the interview and physical exam coughing up blood and sputum. Like a lot of blood. And yes, some splattered onto my shoe/foot. (I went OCD after the interview and basically cleaned my entire foot and shoe with soap).


The interview and exam went well although the task was very intimidating at first. After all, this was my first interaction with a hospital patient as a medical student who is expected to know what to do and how to do it with max efficiency. But we were lucky and our patient was very compliant and kind to us.


After our interview we presented our patient to the other Cuban doctor we were assigned to, he lectured us on differential diagnoses for lung collapse, etc. and we were done. I popped a Dramamine for the ride home, passed out in the bus, and went home to take a long, hot shower. 


I'm beat but I'm also still processing the days events. I feel fortunate to see how patients are take care of in a developing nation--the wards and nurses' uniforms haven't been updated since the 1920s--and am glad that I have at least some of the skills and knowledge to get the most of these experiences now. 


Will I end up in Pathology? I dunno, but at least I can cross that off my list of experiences and store today's experience in my memory. I think if I can get over the smell I would really take to this specialty. I truly do enjoy the coursework component, and the practical component just reinforces this knowledge. But I still have many, many rotations to do in the years to come, so we shall see then.


It's already late and I have a full, 8 hours of lecture tomorrow. Time to get back to the studious-side of my life as a medical student.


Cheers!