Med School Recap Week 11: Onchocerca volvulus causes river blindness, but I can’t tell time

1. I’m sorry this week’s update is so very late. The very minute I walked out of the building, my hubby called dibs, and he’s had three months of butt-napping to catch up on. What is butt-napping? Well. The art of butt-napping is when you ask someone to accompany you on a short errand, except 4-5 hours later you still have them in captivity to whatever you decide to do next. Butt-napping isn’t always a drag for the nappee, but it just depends on how eager they are to return to whatever they had previously planned before they were butt-napped. The term is actually a sanitized version from the movie Shrek, when he tackled Donkey. I’ve been known to text my mother with, “I was supposed to catch up on laundry, but I’ve been butt-napped!”
2. I’m sure that the goal of medical school (specifically block one) is to prepare me to be a good physician. However, one of the side effects of learning about every single virus and parasite known to man is that I am now forgetting important things that I might need to function in everyday life. Like telling time. Thursday, my clock got messed up on my computer, and I didn’t realize it until way late in the day. I thought it was 3pm, but it was 5:30. How does that even happen? I really hope I don’t forget how to wing my eyeliner. That will be a dealbreaker.
3. Friday was the last day of block one. We had a microbiology final at 8am, and that was it. As I walked down the steps toward my car, I had a momentary feeling of panic that I needed to get home and get back to studying. This keeps coming back from time to time, and I’ve gotten more adept at telling my brain to come out of hiding, it’s OK. Maybe in a day or two, I’ll remember how to tie my shoes. Until then, it’s zippers or Velcro.
4. I hope my musings don’t scare the pants off of anyone hoping to be a physician in the future. I know it sounds like when class is in session, I never leave the two-mile bubble that encompasses the school and my apartment. It sounds like that because it’s true. There are only so many things one can accomplish in a 24-hour period, and it is MUCH easier to let the team handle everything they can so that we can capitalize on the few hours that I’m not actually in class, studying, or sleeping. If I had to drive all over creation, well, that would subtract from what little time I have left. We do get to spend time together – I have attended almost all home football and volleyball games that my kids play in. I also go to church at least once a week, and we manage to get a few meals together as well. It’s hard managing the time crunch, but we make it work.
5. I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate my fellow classmates for making it through block one with our sanity still mostly intact. It was super hard, and I did have several times that I second-guessed this gigantic undertaking. But we got through it, and next week we will be rocking our white coats at the ceremony! High fives to all my VCOM Class of 2019 dudebros, dudettes, and just regular folks (You know who you are!). Also, HUGE thanks to my family and friends who have gone above and beyond to keep this zoo running. Thank you for the prayers and encouragement when things got ugly. I’m also really grateful to the faculty and staff at VCOM-Auburn. They are doing a great job, and I’m so proud to be part of the inaugural class.
6. They are interviewing candidates for the class of 2020 already, and I’ve seen a few of them around campus. I can’t believe they are already getting ready for another go. It will be weird to double the number of people next year. I’m really excited to welcome the next class and fight them for good parking.
7. I’m not sure if I will have a weekly post for this coming week, because all I plan to do is catch up on laundry, housework, and actually cook some real food. If anything exciting happens, maybe I’ll post about it. But otherwise keep an eye out around the 30^th for the first week of block two. Thanks for reading!