A Reality Show Based in Newcastle about 1st year doctors!

Amazing to see these shows crop up in the same crazy city I studied my first year of basic medicine.
"Junior Doctors - Your Life in Their Hands" - 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yb30f

The Bare Necessities of Life

I can not wait to go home. Recently, while conversing with non-medical people, I became instilled with a feeling of life in me. I guess when you get far along enough in this road to doctordom, you start to create a doctor-like identity, a divide between healthcare individuals and not. People expect you to be knowledgeable about medicine and health. And it feels nice, to represent such an identity, but right now, I've had enough. I just want to finish up this semester and dive into society like a normal guy. I'll probably relax a couple days in Grenada before I do though. :) enjoy a paw-paw or two. Just like baloo.

(if you travel up the island, Grenada actually starts looking like this, and yes... we have paw paws), I never knew they were a real thing until I came here. And now... Jungle book.

I'll never be the smartest

I'll never be the smartest kid. Not all of us can be. It's too bad. Competitive as all of us are here. Everyone always compares each other, but at the end of the day, no one affects your performance except you. You aren't in competition, there are no curves, no shortcuts. But like they always say, "What do you call the person with the lowest GPA after medical school?"

A doctor.

It's true. And they've hit us so hard this quarter, its hard to strive the same way we used to. Early in the game, there was so much opportunity to excel. Now, a perfect GPA is absolutely impossible, even a respectable GPA gets farther and farther out of reach each class they serve us. They make it quite hard to earn the A here.

Bottom line now, we don't want to fail, and we just want to make it out of here. We just want to be doctors.
It's comforting that most medical schools hold a Pass/Fail grading scale. By those standards, if we make it through here, we are just as qualified as any US medical student. Now, back to the books.

Grenada + Newcastle Pictures!!!!!!!!!!

Please check out some of my picutres from Grenada, England, Newcastle, and Amsterdam... you can find the link above or Click here:
LINK: SGU Grenada-Newcastle-England-Amsterdam Slideshow
Enjoy!

Tired of being a small fry in a big basket

I went to a big undergraduate university with 30,000 students including new students, graduate students, and faculty, so I understand this place a little better than some.

Medical School is supposed to be a personal experience. An environment filled with nurturing, caring, and understanding faculty, helping you grow and succeed as you work harder than ever before to earn a the right to be called a professional. At SGU, sadly this is somewhat of a distortion of reality. Probably one of the biggest entering classes I've ever heard of, accepting two entering classes per year definitely adds to this depressing fact: SGU students are not given personal attention. We are not treated like professionals, and our professors do not know know us as individuals. Often times, our professors are flown in, give us a few lectures, and fly out just as hastily. What happens when someone acts out or causes a problem? People usually keep their mouths shut, and for the faculty, pin-pointing a single student amongst 600 is nearly impossible. Although we enjoy our Caribbean "dresscode" of flip flops and t-shirts, we are often times reprimanded like children in response to only a few students mal-appropriate actions. There are grown individuals here, often times older than those in the faculty, which shouldn't be grouped with everyone, but with 1200 students/year, how can you expect the school to address each student individually? It's easier just to reprimand the whole class together, fair or not. Well, with all the money we pour into this establishment, a lot of students feel we expect more. We are entitled to that opinion. 

I have to take a neutral stance here though, don't get me wrong, I don't hate my school. I like that I had the option to matriculate in January, despite the consequence of coming to a school with large class sizes. It gives me plenty of breathing room to prepare for my Step Exam, travel, and setup rotations for my third year. Where else was I going to get the opportunity to see Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and New York? Nowhere. SGU gives us a unique opportunity. Some people, and I know some, come straight here without applying to US Medical Schools, just for the experience. Anyway, I digress. How does one deal with such a big school? Like I learned in undergraduate school, here you have to make an extra effort here to stand out. One of the pluses of Caribbean schools is that they will accept you even though US schools wouldn't. But it's not easier, you still have to come here and prove yourself. In fact, we work even harder. The school, although boasting the highest pass rate of the Caribbean schools, does not push every student they accept to graduate. Classes are not made for everyone to pass, and many people do not. The school, I assume, tries to make everyone aspire to the reputation of the school, or default to leave. It doesn't seem fair, and many times the examinations are blatantly over the top, but atleast they gave us the opportunity to have a professional career. It's a little bit twisted, but we are not really in the best position to complain. The worst fact is, we don't know the drop out rate. The public is entitled to these types of Statistics. From an inside perspective, I see people repeating classes every term. From the original 120 students in the Newcastle, England-Abroad class I was part of, I think we are now under 90 students who have not had to repeat a class. This sheds some truth to the repeat-rate, but does not say much about a raw drop out rate. I think we are all curious. It seems like an incredible business model, bringing in lots of money, dropping out the little guys, and keeping the stellar students on the team to boast a high pass rate. The least they could do is lower the tuition. 

All in all, when I make it through this process of "weeding", I know that in the face of adversity, I overcame the odds. I could go on all day about how this and that needs to be improved at this school, and believe me there are a lot of things, but I won't. It's not so bad that I won't be able to persevere. We are resourceful people here, we find a way to overcome. No doubt, this school makes the process very frustrating. But, by the time I leave this school, I doubt anything will change. I have accepted this type of philosophy, instead:


If anything, SGU builds headstrong individuals, who can adapt to a stressful, rapidly changing environment, people who can overcome unfair situations with a positive attitude, and rise to the challenge. All those who can't cease to complain, who constantly fight the system and resist the program, the ones who look for shortcuts, this is not the school for you. We are here to grow from tough love, and we will be much better people because of it. 

After all, we might as well learn earlier than later how we are supposed to prove ourselves to our US Medical Graduate counterparts. 


-A do-or-die SGU student

Soon to come... Term 4 Feedback

The second pathology midterm was bad. real bad. I am pretty positive I heard two people vomiting in the bathroom during the exam from anxiety, and there were some that left right in the middle. For those with enough balls to finish the exam, although it was certainly a time crunch, there there.... there, there. I just hope we pass.
Now I have to study for micro... and cpd, and then watch everyone leave the island as we slave away for another month learning about skin diseases, genitalia, and renal systems, etc. help us.

Lets just hope Angel doesn't go down. I didn't make this, but being at this school can be quite frustrating. If it weren't for the freedom, the giant sea turtles that come once a year to lay their eggs, the carnival celebrations in August... the beach, the pina coladas, okay its really not bad. Back to work! (sorry if this video is too explicit, but sometimes you just feel like life is crushing you and SGU is to blame. I guess that's why we learn to be resourceful and indifferent to change). I guess when you don't get the things you want, experience is what you get instead. And now... Hitler's response to Angel Being Down.

Looking forward to a Great year in Grenada - 2011

I've now spent a year in Newcastle, England, a year in the Caribbean, Grenada, and have left the Island. They were the two best years of my life so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I did In Grenada:
-Live music at Prickley Bay Marina
-Fish Fridays - delicious local food up in Guyave
-Stopped by locally BBQ'd Streetmeat vendors for a midnight snack
-Plenty of Scuba Diving
-Lobster, swordfish, Streetmeat, Callaloo soup, and other local delcacies
-Yacht cruises around the island
-Snorkeling
-Motorcycle rides around the island
-Rented a car and drove 30miles up to the top of the island to see the GIANT leatherback turtles perform their annual egg laying.
-Soca dancing
-Rugby, Soccer, Basketball, Ping Pong, Football, Ultimate Frizbee on campus
-Visit Venezuela
-Do a lot more scuba diving, there are a lot of underwater shipwrecks here
-see the baby Leatherback Turtles hatch
-Finish my basic science courses
-Go tubing behind a speedboat, waterskiing and/or wakeboarding
-Live in a house on the hill overlooking the water for atleast a few months of my life

And people say there's nothing to do there. NOT TRUE!!!

Summer in England, off to Nottingham! / 25 top England words

For those of you who didn't know, SGU has an England Abroad Program called the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholar's Program. In lamen's terms, it means you do year 1 in Newcastle, England. It has been a blast, all the international experience with traveling, accents, cultural diversity, really ads to the experience. 

It's great to be able to say, yes I have lived in England, and I watched the World Cup during daylight hours, at a bar... In a CHURCH! (no, we weren't rooting for England)


Newcastle was especially great because I participated in an opportunity to teach pre-med UK students about the school and introduce them to biochemistry and the ways we approach learning medicine during our first years. 


Here I am simulating a laproscopic surgery at the medical simulation camp in Nottingham, UK. 


Experiences like this don't come along often. Being in England was a great opportunity. Here we are in Ye Olde Trip to Jeruselem, England' OLDEST pub, built into the side of a cliff in 1189 AD!! This was all down the road from the Nottingham Castle, the same castle associated with the Legend of Robin Hood. We met a fellow visiting doctor from Romania and had some beers with him. We learned that Porphyrias, medical conditions possibly explaining the origins of Zombies, Vampires, and Warewolves came from a place in Romania called Transylvania. I don't want to bore you with the biochemistry and pathology of the symtpoms, but I emplore you to google it. Needlessto say, this was a great time. This is the stuff you don't get from a US medical school. CHEERS!

==========================================================
a fun cultural side note: 


 Here are my top 25 words I've noticed are overused here in England:


25) Donner Kebab
24) Quid or Squid
23) Doors Closing
22) Mind the gap
21) Chips
20) Primark
19) Pound
18) Pint
17) Rubbish
16) Bloody
15) Futbol
14) Hiya 
13) Proper
12) Sorted
11) Straight Away
10) Brilliant

9) Righto (yea, that's not a typo)

8) Wammered, Shwammered, Shwalloped, Pissed, Bladdered, Chundered, etc etc etc

7) Closed

6) Can't Do

5) Sorry

4) Right 

3) Top-up  
2) Cheers
1) #$(*&Q


You know, in a way, this pretty much takes you through a normal conversation in England.... now that I look at it... That pretty much sums up most of the language you might hear on a daily basis.

Annd, just to "top up" the laughs... an hilarious photo from "The Big Book of British Smiles", off the Simpsons.  I really do love England though. Really.

My Home 2010 - Newcastle Upon Tyne

Just wanted to take a study break mention the City I now Live in, Newcastle Upon Tyne, home of the Gerodies. The Tune. The home of the Magpies (the Newcastle United Futbol team). It has been quite an interesting settlement, and it has taken a little while before I have come to accept that it really isn't so bad. The snow, the moldy bathrooms, the hot and cold faucets, the food... at first there was a haunting spraypainted message on the brick wall on the walk to the metro, the ghetto scrapped car, the icy walkways, no internet, no hot water or adequate shower pressure, and a heater that barely broke even with the arctic breeze coming through the walls... oh Kirkley Lodge, I will miss you when I reach the sunny beaches of Grenada. Atleast I can travel Europe for less than $20. Yep. Good old Ryanair lets you goto Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Etc for only $15 one way. How bout that Grenada? I can happily say Newcastle has grown on me, especially since the snow has melted and the internet works.

There have been some beautiful days here, on which I happened to have my camera handy.
maybe pictures later, check above. And FYI, Newcastle is NOT the same as London. Here's a map:

(Click to Zoom)

I find nearly everyone I talk to thinks that England is in Africa and consists of one city, London. This is false. The highlighted cities are some of where I have been as of 3 months in... 

Nearing the End of the Beginning

I really must say Medical School brings out the ADD in me. I don't think I've ever been so Attention Disorderly. I find my mind will stray away from studying and latch on to anything it can get its little axon fingers around, holding on for dear sanity. I do spend an unholy amount of time studying. So much that I realize I am losing touch with reality. I've found two spots in the library, one of them with a window! ...so, half the time, atleast I know when it gets dark... but my sleep schedule is so absurd that I no longer have much concept of time. 

My trusty iphone tells me I get about 5 hours of sleep each night. (yes, I have an application that measures my sleep patterns by sensing my movements while I dream). From the data, it looks like I am sleeping deeply for about 4. It's not necessary to log this kind of data, but I just needed to be sure. Apparently this is enough for me to get through the day without needing a nap, and I've noticed as long as I hit the gym I can make it through the day. Other than that, I turn to energy drinks. 

Imagine, waking up... going to class at 10. Sitting down. Until.... 5pm (with 10 minute breaks on the hour of course). That's approximately 6 hrs of sitting. Now. After that, after eating, gym... socializing for 30 minutes or an hour, depending on the day, you have a review session, or two. (that's about 2 more hours of sitting). Awesome! We're nearing double digits here with 8 hours of sitting down, and oh boy!! we haven't even started studying yet.

I trudge down the street to the library, where I park my gluteus maximi from about 8:15pm, till about 12:20am, approx 4 hours. We did it!... well... I did it. That's about 12 hours of sitting!!


If I make it on time, I head home on the metro (once again, sitting), which takes 15/20 minutes, and finally I'm home. This concludes a typical Weekday. Don't get me started on the weekend. Lets just say, cut through all the crap, and get to the part where I'm studying, while sitting of course. 12hrs? Probably. 


If it weren't for the Gym and Energy Drinks, my body would probably wither away. Honestly, I don't know how I still have feeling in my behind, or rather developed thrombosis in my legs. Anyday now I could die from a fatal embolus. I'll still probably lose my mind if i don't get to experience the outdoors sometime SOON!!


Well, the end of the beginning. What does that mean? I have about 2 weeks till finals are over for term 1. That's one out of... DOH! 5 terms of basic sciences. Atleast I have 10 weeks, free to do what I please. Let's just work on getting that far, that's what I keep telling myself. Why are we talking like someone with dissociative personality disorder??! Soon I'll be free, even if it's temporary. Then again, is freedom really free? Not here. 

Midterms... Trip To Amsterdam

Just did a 15 hr overnight cruise to the Netherlands!! ... It's after Midterms, and we had to do a trip out to Amsterdam!! You know, to blow off some steam. That first midterm really is a big deal. It's when you finally feel confidant enough to continue with this long journey. Well, enough about school. Time for fun.
Work hard, play hard. 

My first Self-Diagnosis

Symptoms: raising of one eyelid during chewing or opening the jaw. Thanks to all for not saying anything. Although I notice this from time to time now, I also recall my mom describing this happening when I was breast feeding (ok settle down, over 23 years ago).

So my inner nerd/doctor kicks in. Immediately, I think trigeminal nerve (Cranial nerve V3), that innervates the pterygoid muscle, or... one of your chewing muscles. Also, the Occulomotor nerve (Cranial III) innervates levator palpabrae superioris, the muscle that levatates the eye lid. Bet you didn't know you could levatate could you? Okay wow, I know, enough of that. This is what our brains sound like, we just have to learn to shut the nerd center off so we don't sound like whackjobs to normal people. This is my blog, so deal with it. haha. 

I expected that these two nerves are somehow linked together. With some light wikipedia searching, I quickly come upon the Marcus-Gunn Phenomenon. BINGO. I am so Smrt. S-M-R-T.

A rare congenital defect, seen in 5% of children with lazy eye. I am happy to announce that, although this "phenomenon" usually presents along with other defects like lazy eye, cross-eyes, drop-lid, etc, I don't have any of those cool defects that would make me "special". All I have is just the Marcus-Gunn part. Woo!! beat the curve!

Cool. I guess that just makes me a little more rare, and... and susceptible to laughter while I chew. Meh, gotta pay the price to be rare these days.

First arriving in Europe... My First Stop, Paris

First thing I learned was Traveling is HARD. I didn't plan my trip, my trip planned me. I took the only frequent flier flight available last minute to London, which happened to layover in Paris, France for 12 hours. I figured, great! I'll spend a day in Paris. (smart right?) I mean, that's part of why I picked this program... to travel. Anyway, once I arrived in Paris, I realized this wasn't like traveling in the US. I had zero Euro-money, could not remember any of the French I learned in my French-immersion kindergarten... (thanks mom?... sigh, blame Canada?) and I had no phone or internet! Can you imagine!

But, being a medical student, I was resourceful. I got my bearings, some euros, a train ticket, and began the hour-long metro ride to Central Paris. I soon realized that, like the US, France has a lot of excellent graffiti along its metroways! I chatted with a few locals about what to see during my afternoon in Paris, and off i went. So far so good.

I was greeted by a river (pretty much every big European city has one I realize now), and a (less common) outdoor ice skating rink. I didn't have time to go skating, but I did have time for Crepes. Coconut and nutella please. Yum. There's always time for crepes.

ventually found the royal sites, but the line for the Louvre was LONG!

AND the weather was awful. You could barely see the bottom of the Eiffel Tower... 

but still, I was able to appreciate a lot of the impressive architecture...

                  

The churches were HUGE. I also thought these Gargoyles were especially cool.

What really made my day though was the silly French people:

I still have no idea why this was the thing to do, I guess it makes for a silly picture where you appear to be holding a glass pyramid pinched between your fingers.

...coming to my lunch: S'Cargot, cheese soup, french bread, and wine.

Now... snails!!! THAT's why I'm here. It was Perfect.

 

Let me tell you... This was an amazing meal. Click for a close-up.                      

         
I think the craziest thing about Europe so far is that everything is so HUGE. All the buildings are atleast 3 stories tall. It feels like a European "Honey I shrunk the kids". I swear, my legs are not used to all this walking.
After only 4 hours of shops, crepes, churches, snails, and atleast 5 miles of walking, I headed back to the airport to check in. Next stop? LONDON, England.

My school

So, here's a video from my birthday... my friends, you should know when that is. Anyway, This is pretty much my school in England. Theres one big lecture hall, an anatomy lab upstairs, and about 4 of those small rooms I pass on the way. You don't want to walk in late those lectures either cuz the door is right there in front. My birthday landed a couple days before our "big" unified quiz, the first test of the year. People freak about this test even though its only 5% of your grade. Anyway, I spent my whole birthday in class, review sessions, and in my room studying. I believe I had a glass of wine, or two towards the end of the night. Sad... I know.




Thanks to moms, I got myself an Iphone 3G on Ebay and she had it sent over here. You can do a pre-paid SIM plan for $15 or 10BPG/month (that's British Pounds/Quid/Sterling, whatever you want to call it) with unlimited texts, data plan, in-network calling. Score one for England! No annoying corporate fat cat phone companies. OHH I love this phone...jailbroken of course. Don't get me started. I do my Anatomy flashcards on it while I'm on the Metro on my way home, and it doubles as an MPC mixboard. Priceless.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this video made by, quite possibly, my future wife.
KOREAN GIRL SINGS BEYONCE COVER w/IPHONES
This is what I do in my spare time too. haha. If only I had three Iphones...

This is the life I chose

The fire exit was right there... I could have made a break for it.... 

Clearly, I was looking the other way.  

Okay, first off. Thanks for staying tuned in with me. I definately don't talk to my friends+family as much as I would like to because of how hectic my life is for now, so this blog is for you. I miss you all a lot.

So much has happened already, I wish I started this blog before I actually began medical school, but as many of you know, it all happened very quickly. I am blessed to be able to do this with my life. I worked hard to get here, and I've been priveledged to have had support to goto college and cosign a loan (Thank you parents).

While I was in New Mexico, I was encouraged by the doctors at the ER to apply internationally, you know who you are. (Thanks Dr. P).  I applied essentially a day before the deadline, got in, packed all my stuff, drove X-country from Santa Fe, NM (sorry Dru) back to CA, and flew out to England, all in a matter of 5 weeks. Not to mention, having to apply for the $50,000 loan which now looms over my future like a cloud from hell. And that's only for year one. (gulp) Probably looking at the "kinder" side of $250K in loans after 4 years. I am still appreciative for the opportunity.

As of now I am about 2 1/2 months into school, done with BioEthics, and currently finishing up the last 6 weeks of Biochemistry, Histology, and Anatomy in my 1st term. I've made it through the dreaded Unified Quiz (the initial test), and first round of Midterms (which I passed btw). It's good to know atleast I'm not in over my head here. I've got Finals to worry about in a little while, and then a 10 week break before term 2 starts in August. For now, I pretty much spend all my time at my desk, in the library, in class/review sessions, eating, and if i have time... sleep.

Let me break this down for those who are still confused. It's okay, just reference this if you forget.

I got accepted to St. George's University of Medicine in Grenada in the Caribbean, not Grenada, Spain! I have agreed to a year of selective study in the Global Scholar's Program for my first year, meaning I am studying at Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK, not London (there's a diff) and I'll be here until December 2010.
 Next year, ill be in Grenada in the Caribbean for my entire second year, afterwhich i'll be taking USMLE Step1.
My 3rd and 4th years will be spent in the US at teaching hospitals (most likely NY, but i could go anywhere is what some people are saying). Graduation set for December 2013.

Then, of course, there's residencies, which could technically place me anywhere as well.
Who knows where I'll end up. Very possible I could be back in California in 2012!! But, I'd say not to get your hopes up quite yet.

Okay. So, better late than never, this certainly ought to be a long journey. I have several years ahead of me but its going by fast. I'll try my best to catch up on everything thus far (classes, food, social scene, friends, living situation, etc.) Expect a few pictures from Paris, London, Scotland, and Amsterdam (seem's like I've been so many places already), and then I'll periodically add new things (pictures/video) as they happen.

I wish to gain a decent tour of Europe while I am out here, and get a lot of scuba diving done in Grenada.  Ultimate goal in mind?? ...like the receipt for my free personal trainer (maybe the only thing we get free here in the UK) says, "DoctorRyaanIssmail". Keep in touch, all of you! I'm isolated in a classroom and you're my link to the outside world.