Hee hee

http://9gag.tv/p/V744l/mom-tries-to-teach-adorable-daughter-life-lesson-cuteness-ensues

T-19 Days

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Cake

Don't know how to rotate the image :-(

Ingredients

• 3-5 mashed ripe bananas 

• I used 6 super over ripe bananas in order to not waste all of them...may have been overkill. I didn't need to mash my bananas. They kind of came pre-mashed due to aging

• 1 egg 

• cage free, organic, pretentious egg

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla 

• I searched everywhere but could not find any...so I actually didn't use this but my dream banana cake would have it

• 1/2 cup of sugar 

• by rough estimation...had to use a teacup because we don't have precise measuring tools

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar 

• even rougher estimation as I kind of inadvertently spilled some in there...

• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries 

• love these things

• 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chip 

• perhaps only 1/2 cup went into the banana bread because I ate so many of them...

• A touch of butter 

• our family does not own butter so I put a pinch of olive oil instead? Lol

• 1 cup of flour 

• another very rough estimation...I don't like flour, I kind of just put it in so the mixture is not a soup

• 1/2 cup of dry Irish steel cut oatmeal

• lots of fiber and soaks up excess soupiness as I didn't put in that much flour

• not sure why it's Irish

Directions: Mix everything together. Pop it in oven for 20-25 min at 350 degrees.  Stick a chopstick in there to see if the inside is still mush. You never know if it's cooked thoroughly unless you take a biopsy! 

Just tried it and it's a success! Must try some with Pu'er tea later! 

Review of yesterday's goals

• MTB Respiratory

• Step up to Medicine GI

• UWorld

• Banana Cake

• Exercise

Today's Goals!

• MTB GI

• Secrets GI

• Uworld GI and everything else --> MAJOR UWORLD!!!!

• Exercise

• Fruit smoothie

I always have so much trouble with hepatology, but today, I will master it!! 

Calm Before the Storm

This is Orange Space 2.0...maybe 3.0, I'm not sure.

This is the eye of the hurricane, the calm before the storm.

I am drinking tea, cooking yummy foods, making fruit smoothies, playing Hearthstone but the cloud of doom grows near.

The USMLE step 2 is less than 3 weeks away and there is so little time for excellence and redemption...and so little time to develop some much needed motivation, discipline, and good work ethics.

Goals for today:

• MTB Respiratory
• Step up to Medicine GI
• Uworld
• Banana cake
• Exercise

Stay tuned...

Inspired

http://blog.petflow.com/a-video-everyone-needs-to-see/

A riveting story that brought tears to my eyes...

The Day I Started Lying to Ruth

Expectations of Internal Medicine Rotation

Xixi once passed on a piece of wisdom from an attending whom I like to lovingly refer to as Mary Lou.  Though my interaction with Dr. Mary Lou is limited to having attended several of her large room lectures and anecdotal accounts from the lucky few who have been her students, I have developed an immense respect and admiration for her. She is pediatric hematology-oncologist. Some may say it's a morbid job title...a doctor who attends to the unfortunate children whose short lives are or have been plagued by cancer...but I can only begin to imagine the joy and optimism of a job that can help to grant some kids a normal childhood, longer time with their families, and perhaps a healthier future.  My preconceived notions of her strength of character, emotional maturity, and unrelenting optimism aside, I have found her advice to Xixi down-to-earth and helpful.  Dr. Mary Lou told Xixi, nearing the end of her second year in medical school, to reflect upon and document her expectations of a certain specialty at the beginning of each rotation, and after each rotation to journal the actual experience.  Though family medicine and psychiatry rotations have come and gone, I will not let yet another rotation slip by.

Inpatient internal medicine at the VA:

I have my first month of medicine at the Jesse Brown VA, the hospital where I completed practicum and psychiatry rotation.  Logistically, I am more or less familiar with the VA computer system, which should be a plus when documenting patient charts.  Other than that, my expectations of my first month is laced with fear.  Now, at the end of the coveted orange space, I cannot say I am not disappointed at my lack of academic productivity.  Though I have accomplished lots of cooking, cleaning, and driving, I have not made much progress (if any) on research or studying.  Sadly, and perhaps inevitably, the knowledge of medicine that I hastily stuffed into my brain for Step 1 is slipping from my hippocampus like a rapid, uncontrollable mudslide.  I am afraid of being asked questions by my residents and attendings and only providing answers that consist of blank stares, mistakes, and vague shadows of the knowledge that used to exist. I am unconfident of my interviewing skills, my physical exam maneuvers, ability to make differential diagnoses and order pertinent tests, let alone devising a treatment plan. And the sheer breadth and depth of information is overwhelming, to say the very least. So, my expectation is that I will need a ton of help from a mightily nice group of teachers. At the VA, it's been my experience that the major types of pathology include various forms of heart and pulmonary diseases, diabetes, chronic pain, drug use and their exacerbations. Though I would love to see a wider range of diseases, I cross my fingers and hope that my first week is a lot of heart failure and COPD.  I am also uncertain about inpatient medicine, which invariably has sicker, more severe patients that require a higher level of monitoring and care.  I am afraid of making mistakes that are irrecoverable, which can bode very unwanted outcomes.  Before I digress into discussing all the possible mistakes I'm afraid of making, I feel a sliver of excitement over the increase severity of pathology and ability of follow patients through a prolonged time course until they are well enough to be discharged.  Seeing patients get better before my eyes was one of my favorite aspects of inpatient psychiatry and I am hoping for something similar in inpatient medicine.  By hearsay, the VA medicine nurses are not the easiest to work with.  I am going to need to put my best foot and manners forward, but I am expected to do that same everywhere. So when I wake up tomorrow to head for the VA at 7:30 am, I will take a large dose of enthusiasm and courage, and hopefully be blessed with a little luck for a enjoyable and educational month. 

Medicine at Mercy:

Mercy Hospital is where my mom works as a respiratory therapist.  From her frequent gossip regarding her run-ins with the medical residents, I am dreading the experience a bit.  Most of the residents at Mercy are foreign medical school graduates.  Though I should refrain from making any judgments of their medical skill and knowledge, I can't help but have notions of decreased calibers of teaching and less enthusiasm with students.  And, a community hospital like Mercy, in my opinion won't have the rigorous application of evidence based medicine and prudent medical decision making.  Hopefully, I am wrong.  Ok, I will adjust my attitude and check in with myself a month from now. 

Final words:

Internal medicine is an important rotation for me as I will most likely become a resident in this field.  Therefore, it is important to me that I enjoy this rotation.  Yes, I have been barely lukewarm about my placement at Mercy, but that just means I will try hard to make the best out of it. My goals are to learn as much as I can and obtain a solid foundation of medicine. At the same time, I would like to keep an open mind in the event that do not enjoy this rotation. Wish me luck!

Back from my first driving lesson!

This reaffirms my desire to marry super rich and have a chauffeur drive me around.

I, or more accurately my parents, paid good money for today's 2 hour lesson with Nova Driving School.  Marcelo, my instructor was quite prompt in picking me up from my house...so prompt that I was still in my PJs with black pepper in my teeth from wolfing down the pasta I just cooked.  My dad studied Marcelo and then the car from our window while I was trying to brush several stubborn knots from my hair.  "Ok, it's a big car, good!" Dad said.  Oh goodie, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to learn how to drive with a huge SUV or one of those small trucks.

Swift as lightning, I grabbed my permit and purse, put on some Grandma shoes and ran out the door only to find a Kia Soul, probably the ugliest car ever made, inconveniently shaped, and awkwardly sized, parked behind Marcelo.  Marcelo looks like how his name sounds, a short hispanic man cleanly dressed in argyle sweater, concealing a little bit of a plump belly.  After a few pleasantries, and a quick mental status exam, I decided it's a go.

The lesson went more or less how I expected.  We sat in a parking lot above Home Depot and practiced how to hold a steering wheel, how to rotate it using the "hand over hand" technique, adjusting mirrors, making turns, and how to brake without jolting the both of us out of the front window.

And, it was time to take the road.  I am less nervous than I expected. Leaving the parking lot through a steep ramp, which according to Marcelo I handled well, I am immediately presented to the large multi-laned Roosevelt road.  Things were going well until I was stuck at a red light in a middle lane with a large SUV poised to make a left turn on my left and a giant bus, swelling out of its own lane one my right. I looked at the bus driver.  Could he see my face? Does he know I am only 24 and haven't traveled to Europe yet? Can he tell that I'm a medical student who can be a good doctor in the future and maybe save a few lives? Please give me some room and don't squish me! As soon as the light turned green, I perhaps over-zealously stepped on the gas peddle and our Kia Sour roared forward.  A short lived spark of exhilaration rang through my veins only to be smothered by Marcelo's brake peddle on the passenger side.  I am scolded and told to be easier on the gas and to stay in my own lane. Apparently, I tried to cut off the bus so it has no way of driving in parallel with me...

The rest of the lesson was uneventful.  I disliked having to step on the brake peddle at the right light for so long, I felt unsatisfied with the moderation my calf muscles had to exercise when pressing the gas peddle, and I was impatient with pedestrians sauntering slowly across a crosswalk when I am waiting at the stop sign.  Driving probably isn't going to be an enjoyable activity for me but I'll hold that judgment for later.

No more lessons for now.  I will study for the road tests how I study for my other tests: find out what's going to be tested and cram beforehand, then pass the exam and learn it later.