From Here to Insanity

Apologies for the infrequent updates... Although once per month really isn't bad for me.

Been back at school for a week. It honestly feels like it could be a month-- except that I haven't had an exam yet. Got sick -- again -- upon returning to Philadelphia. Decided I must be allergic to returning to school. Should carry an epi pen after all major vacations. At least this round wasn't stomach flu, but it was still pretty debilitating for a few days...

And so, I once again start the block a few days behind. *sigh* I'm almost caught up, though - after spending several hours at Starbucks this weekend. (I think the baristas are starting to get annoyed with me; maybe I don't spend enough money to earn the right to stay there so long?)

Topic of the month: neuro. So far, we haven't gotten past psychopathology. I was once told that this time of year is the most depressing: the holidays are over, people have to get back to the daily grind, and yet there's still so much cold and snow lying ahead... Really bad timing for psych. The psychiatrist who organizes most of the lectures is determined that we grasp the mechanics and magnitude of mental illness. We watched a mandatory documentary -- "The Bridge" -- that covered the stories of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. (I know, Mom; you must be cringing. Like in 5th grade when we had a unit on Anne Frank.) It was intense and, at points, rather hard to watch. (Apparently, that bridge is the #1 spot in America where people go to commit suicide. I suppose the railing on the Empire State Building is too high.) Directly after this movie, I was forced to participate in an exercise in which I had to tell an unsuspecting patient that she had less than a year to live. Even knowing it's a fictitious simulation just for the sake of the learning experience, telling a mother that she has aggressive, incurable brain cancer is not an easy thing to do.

That day . . . That day was rough.

The good news is that I already know several of the drugs either from personal experience or from working at the group home. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure they name these drugs by pulling out a handful of Scrabble tiles and slamming them down on a table. Now if I can only remember how they work on a molecular level...

This week holds: much more neuro, an afternoon in the hospital, and a four-hour instructive session on how to perform a reproductive exam. It's going to be another interesting one...