Verbal Judo
As we get more skilled at interviewing patients, we discover that some patients are very easy to interview and some are very hard. The really quiet and really talkative patients are always the most challenging because they don’t provide us with the easiest flow of information. Very talkative patients are especially interesting to me. Without any encouragement the interviewer will quickly learn about what that person had for breakfast, how many pets they have, and why they are mad at one of their friends. While learning about another person’s life is a wonderful and fulfilling experience, we unfortunately only have about 20-30 minutes to cover all relevant medical information. Our teachers encourage us, in these situations, to gently guide the patients back on to relevant topics in order to learn as much medically relevant information as possible. It occurred to me that this is a lot like verbal judo. Judo uses the momentum and strength of an opponent to achieve one’s desired end. While the physician-patient relationship is not an adversarial one, it is one where this theory of guided momentum can be used. The physician wants to take the chatty patient’s momentum and guide it towards a productive direction without impeding the volume of information that the patient is willing to provide. Wikipedia says, ”The word Judo is composed of two kanji: “jū”, which means gentleness, and “dō”, way or road (the same character as the Chinese “tao“). Thus Judo literally means “the gentle way”, or “the way of giving way”, and may also be defined as “the way of suppleness”, “the way of flexibility, or “the way of adaptability”.” Given the name’s meaning, it seems even more fitting. I can only hope that someday I will possess those traits and the ability to be a verbal judo master.
Done Being Bored
It was nice having a couple of weeks off. I managed to start and finish two video games (Amped 3 and Gears of War). I had a great Christmas and got to see family and friends. It was really nice. Vacation went by fast, especially with the chaos of holiday shopping. Now I am back to the details of school. I started back on Tuesday. While the work is already hitting me pretty hard, it is nice to be back in classes. It’s also nice to have a semester under my belt. Passing my fall classes gives me a bit of confidence (albeit a very small bit) that will help me through the dark times of spring semester (known as the hardest semester of medical school). We are taking neuro, micro, physiology, physician and society, and physician and patient. We were even in the clinic yesterday learning how to interview patients and take medical histories. It was fun but I was given the angry patient. It was an interesting test of my diplomacy skills. I definitely have a lot to learn. Everyday something new surprises me. It’s definitely an adventure.
Fun With GPS
Every year my family goes out the day after Thanksgiving to cut a Christmas tree. This year I took along my shiny new GPS unit (courtesy of Jamie and pals). I set it to follow our tracks and then just let it run in my pocket. Now that I am done with class I took some time to play around with the data. I pulled the data down and pushed it into Google Earth. Here is the result:
The results are really fun. The long line on the bottom is us driving in. We went on foot starting at the south west corner and then walked about a mile total. It shows that we pretty much ended up where we started. It will be interesting to see after a couple of years if there is any trend to the time and distance it takes us to find a tree. It is really amazing to me how well the different technologies come together. I can’t wait to take the unit out skiing with me. It will be really fun to see how far I ski and how much I stay on particular runs.
Blissfully Bored
I am now done with my first semester of Med School. It’s been quite a ride. We had our last (out of 5) and most difficult final on Wednesday. It was Histology and was really hard (4 hours total, 2 hours written, 2 hours lab practical). I am really happy it is done. I officially have nothing to do except Christmas shop and bum around. It’s great. I start class again on the 2nd of Jan. We have Neuro, Micro, Physiology, Physician and Patient, and Physician and Society. Should be interesting but challenging. It’s hard to believe that I am done with 1/8 of medical school and 1/4 of my classroom work!
Some Great Cell Bio Videos
This is an amazing video put out by harvard showing the incredible activities going on inside of cells. My favorite part is the microtubule dynamic instability. Here is an entertaining video of an intrepretive dance about protein synthesis that was shown in my biochem class a few weeks ago. Make sure to watch (or fast-forward) past Paul Berg’s initial explanation to see the hippies dancing around on a soccer field. It’s pretty entertaining.
On an unrelated note and for a bit of nostalgia check out Monkey vs. Robot.
White Coat Ceremony
White Coat Ceremony was this weekend. It has been called “the biggest love-fest just short of graduation” by a few of our professors. It is an event where we are presented with white coats (short ones) that signify the beginning of our medical educations and act as a sign to the community of our new roles. While it was in fact a giant love-fest, it was also very enjoyable and quite gratifying. Not only are the coats fairly dashing but we were also given very nice stethoscopes (Cardio IIIs) and reflex hammers; gotta love presents. :-) It was a very fun event and will serve as a small carrot to encourage me to muddle through the piles of BioChem and Histo studying that I have facing me.
One Class Down, Many More To Go
We had our last anatomy exam on Friday. This was the third exam and covered the head and neck. The practical was pretty straight forward but the written portion was really tricky. I am very happy to be done with it. It is also really nice to catch up on all of the sleep I missed last week. Now on to histo. Should be fun!
Last Anatomy Exam
Our last anatomy exam is tomorrow. It will be great to have my first class under my belt. Although it has only been 8 weeks, we have covered an amazing amount of material (the gross anatomy of the entire body). One more test and it will be all done. I have been studying all week and have about 14 hours of studying to get done today. It’s lots of work but pretty amazing stuff. It really helps me to go to activities that remind me why I am doing all of the work. One such activity was Tuesday night. I attended a cardiopulmonary workshop where we learned about reading chest x-rays, EKGs, and spirometry results. It was fun stuff and allowed me to put some of my new found anatomy knowledge to work. Well, guess it’s time to get back to the books.
Holy Cow, time for a recap!
Wow, it’s been a crazy month. I quit my job, Kate quit her job, we took a trip to Vegas, Kate started a new job, and I started medical school.
Here is a recap:
Vegas was great! We managed to get great deal on a suite at Mandalay Bay. It was a very nice room and the service was fantastic. We spent a lot of time in the wave pool and lazy river; especially since the air temp was between 110 and 115 each day. It was very hot. The heat definately worked up an appitite so we tried some amazing new restaurants. The first was a Chinese restaurant called called Shanghai Lily. It was very good (second best Chinese food on my list) and was reasonable in price. The second restaurant we tried was called Mix and is located at the top of the second tower of Mandalay called TheHotel. It was totally amazing. The food was fantastic, the service impeccable, incredible ambiance, and a wine list an inch thick. I would highly recommend it. It was quite expensive but worth every penny. We also took in a show. This time we went and saw the Cirque Du Soleil show entitled Ka. It was awesome. The theater, the martial arts, the music, and the costumes were a feast for the senses. This is the best show I have seen in Vegas so far. If you are out in Vegas, this one is a must see. We splurged and bought the best seats and would do so again without a seconds thought. Sadly, lady luck was not looking our direction so we came home with less money than we left with. Regardless, we had a great time and came back relaxed and ready to take on our new adventures.
Once we got back from Vegas, I had the following week off but Kate started her new job at U.S. Bank. She seems to be settling in nicely and is enjoying learning all of the ins and outs of federal banking compliance. She has been taking the light rail each day and is really enjoying it; except for one day a couple of weeks ago. She happened to be riding on the train that hit (and killed) a man on a bike. After the incident and being detained for a while, MTC transfered her to another train and she was able to make her way to her car at the park and ride. Quickly she found that the battery in her car was dead and she was stranded. Luckily I had gotten home from school already and was able to go and get her car started. She was happy when she finally got home after a 2.5 hour commute.
I have started medical school and am entering my 4th week. It’s been totally amazing so far. We are taking three classes right now: Gross Anatomy, Embryology, and Physician and Society (PAS). They are all really good (but move very fast). Anatomy is only 7 weeks long and we have 3 tests and around 2000 terms to learn. Most compare it to trying to take a sip of water from a firehose. It’s wild. So far we have already covered the deep and superficial back, the axillary region, upper extremity, and lower extremity. We start the thorax this week. Embryo is moving very fast too and consists of an entirely new language with words like: syncytiotrophoblast, trophoblastic lacuna, and cytotrophoblast. PAS is probably my favorite class. We get to talk about the tough issues of medicine such as: impact of culture on medicine, spirituality and religion in medicine, stem cell research, euthanasia, and much more. It’s a really interesting class.
I am studying a lot but am finally starting to get into a regular schedule. I am planning on blogging more often from here on.
Last Day
Friday was my last day at Dow Jones. It was a surreal day. I couldn’t believe that after 7 years I was all done. I think I am still in shock. While I am very excited to start medical school, I am very sad to be leaving such a special place. It is very hard for me to express in words the impact this group of people has had on my life. This group is the smartest, most energetic, driven group I have ever met. This is proven by the growth and change that has occurred since Jamie, Phil, and others started BigCharts way back when. To go from BigCharts, to CBS MarketWatch, to Dow Jones is really a testament to the intelligence and energy of everyone involved. When I started with BigCharts back in ‘99 I had no idea what type of ride I was signing up for. I am so thankful to Jamie for the opportunity to be involved in an amazing journey. I am sure that I will see (as a humble bystander) incredible things from them in the future.
So with that I want to wish everyone at Dow Jones continued success and happiness. You are an amazing group of people and I will miss you very much. There is an Irish Toast that seems appropriate, “May you have warm words on a cool evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door.” Take care and best of luck.
