N.E.R.D.

You know what's cool? I had my yearly physical exam today, and I understood all the tests done on me.

Half of these I had to calculate on my last Physiology practical and now today my own were calculated. How rad, huh?! Yes, I am a nerd! Calculating my own mean corpuscle volume is thrilling to me.

I also told my Doctor I was leaving to go to school. She asked me my major and when I told her Microbio she replied, "Why would you major in that?!You like that?!"  :-/  I mean, it's not Astrophysics...

Over...For Now...

Just finished my last round of exams until finals....which are in 3 weeks. I'm already having post-traumatic-test disorder. I know I bombed my PR-Interval calculation on the EKG portion of my Physiology lab practical. I did mm x mm/secs. How big of a retard am I? If I'm solving for secs it should have been mm x secs/mm ...Oh well, what can you do?

And, I THINK all the WBC scopes were on Basophils. They seriously all looked just like this:

Only they were so tiny!I don't know if my professor is that nice or if he really is that evil. I must have looked through every microscope at least 4 times. Yeah, 4 times. I walked down the line and wrote my answers. Then I went back to compare slides. Then I got really confused and kept checking to make sure they really were all the same slide! I wasn't sure if  my mind was playing tricks on me. They were so tiny I could not see anything but magenta/burgundy granules. UUGGGHHH!I just hope I didn't make any other careless mistakes that will result in the loss of a huge chunk of points. Seriously. F me.

Don't wanna do it alone...

Remember the band Sugarcult? There is this latin/cumbia club on Sunset and Figueroa in Los Angeles. It's famous, everyone drives past it, however very few people in my circle of friends have ever been inside. My friend Stephanie did her thesis on Cumbia music and for her birthday we all went to the famous "Los Globos" on Sunset. I then remembered the Sugarcult video that was filmed there. I loved Sugarcult. Still do. I remember when I played with them at the HOB with Rocket; I tried to hit on Aaron, the bass player...Well, I tried to flirt...From afar...I blew him a kiss. I'm really bad at flirting or hitting on guys, period. Then I would try to comment on his MySpace and send him messages. He was nice and would respond, but my flirting got me nowhere! Ultimately, I was REJECTED! I was about 22. I still think it's really funny!

 

This is a picture of me and my family (minus my brother). I consider myself pretty lucky in that I still have both my parents and we are able to remain close as a family. It breaks my heart when I have to discharge a patient and they haven't any family to care for them or take them home. Sometimes I just want to tell them I'll be their family!...However, I know how impossible it would be to offer that to everyone.

I had a patient I wasn't exactly prepared for yesterday. I won't go into details (I could get fired!) but needless to say, as soon as I walked in the room and saw what I was dealing with my expression must have given away that I wasn't prepared for him. I immediately felt awful and guilty (it's the Catholic in me. We feel guilty for everything). I tried everything I could to lighten up the situation, but I still felt guilty for my initial response. He hopped in a car to Louisiana, and I just hope he made it there alright. He didn't seem in any condition for such a long road trip, but he was going "home." I just really hope he made it home.

I know that after a while, patients won't have as large an impact on me as they do at this stage. However, I don't see how that can happen. Maybe once I'm dealing with 30+ patients a day, but even then. We are all human beings and we all deserve a little bit of compassion.

On another note...This week has been rather rough. I feel as though death is constantly surrounding me. Life is so short. Too short in my opinion. It's such a shame people waste their lives on petty things. Holding grudges, taking others for granted, letting opportunities pass you by. Make amends while you still can. Tell everyone you care about that you love them. Take every opportunity that comes your way. Don't live in fear of the "what if," just go for it. Even if you do something and regret it, you would have regretted not doing it even more. I feel it would benefit everyone to spend some time in a hospital or hospice. It really puts things into perspective and makes you appreciate what you have. Take advantage of everything now, because tomorrow and second chances are not guaranteed.

Some Like It Raw

Human beings are creatures of habit, and I am no exception to this rule. I consider myself a pretty health conscious person. I do my best to eat right and exercise. With the emphasis on the "eating right" part. I love food. Nothing makes me happier than a nice sit down meal. Usually around midterms, my eating habits become  slightly thwarted. When I need a break, I get up and snack. Hence, usually around these times I end up gaining about 5 pounds. Once the stress is over, I'll do a cleanse. Usually the Blue Print Cleanse. (www.blueprintcleanse.com)

I love the Blue Print Cleanse. My friend Jacqui introduced me to this cleanse. It consists of 6 pre-made juices, mail delivered to you in 3 day increments. You can do it for one day, or you can do it for a whole month. I prefer to stick with just the 3 days. Last time I did it, I tried to go for 4 days and ended up eating a salad in the middle of it. So I think I've learned my max without chewing anything solid is a good 3 days. After just having finished my Physiology midterm, I'm in dire need of one of these cleanses. However, it is expensive. With my move coming up, $250 on a 3 day cleanse right now is not possible. I need that money for my move. So I've decided to go back to a raw foods diet.

When I lived on my own and had a really good job, I ate a predominantly raw foods diet. My plan was Monday-Friday raw foods, weekends whatever I wanted (keeping it healthy). I never felt better. I looked like I was 16, my skin was perfect, my mood was constantly elevated, and I had enough energy to train for half marathons. It was great. The only downfall to this type of diet is that it does get rather pricey. Raw nuts, organic fruits and vegetables, and all the supplements are expensive. (It makes me really angry that it costs an arm and a leg to eat healthy, but you can buy junk at taco bell for $.99...If it were the opposite, people would be able to spend less $$ on health care..But that's a whole other blog entry) Once I moved back home a year ago when I returned to school, my income became about 25% of what I had become accustom to. So my lifestyle and eating habits had to change accordingly.

I feel slightly hypocritical at times. I'm an advocate for a healthy lifestyle yet, my eating habits are not perfect and I don't exercise as much as I should. I feel if I want people to live healthy lifestyles, I need to live a healthy lifestyle. So, I am returning to the predominantly raw foods lifestyle. It is pricey, however you can not put a price tag on your health. If you take care of yourself, you can live a long and healthy life without the same problems that ailed our grandparents. It's all about prevention and proper nutrition is the BEST preventative medicine. I just need to practice what I preach much more consistently. So back on the raw foods I go. I know people think a raw food diet must consists of pure rabbit food, but just take a look at these cupcakes. They're made from raw chocolate! How yummy do they look?!

You can find the recipe here!

Oh, yeah. I changed my major to MicroBio. Giardi Lamblia anyone?

Baby We Were Born To Run!

Another exam down. It was actually easy. I hate when they do that to you. I hate when you study your butt off and they go easy on you! But hey, I'll take what I can get! I'm trying to get myself up to exercise, but I am EXHAUSTED! I drank four cups of coffee last night and slept maybe two hours. I have to stop doing this. I met with a friend last night to study and we both mentioned how after every exam we say that the next exam is going to be the one we are prepared for. The next exam is the exam we are going to study every night for. The truth of the matter is, I do study almost every night. It's just that nothing sticks unless I'm in high stress mode. Go figure.

I was also talking to my supplemental instruction leader (who is now a music major), about how I feel everyone going into high stress majors should have performance experience. Really, learning how to audition and my musical/theatrical past has really helped me prepare for an exam. It's really no different. You rehearse and practice before an audition or a big performance. When it comes time to your performance, you throw that all out the window and just let everything flow right out of you. The same goes for taking an exam. You study as much as you can and try to understand/grasp the material. Once you walk in to take the exam, you take a deep breath and let the information flow out of you. At least this is how I approach an exam. I am thankful I have learned how to control my nerves under high stress situations. I see a lot of people not doing as well as they should in my courses simply due to not being able to relax and perform under pressure.

As of today there are 3 weeks left of instruction before finals. This semester has gone by at light speed. Is this what it feels like to get older? Time just passes by with the snap of a finger? Maybe this semester went by so fast because I've had to deal with the transfer, moving and all that. I don't know. I just can't believe I only have 3 weeks left!

I'm ready to move onward and upward!