By popular demand...

By popular demand, I am taking a break from studying for my Medical Physiology test to give an update! :) I had a busy week at school, including two lecture tests, one anatomy lab test, and THREE extra hours of medical physiology lecture back-to-back in addition to the regularly scheduled hour we had previously in the day. By the end of the 4 hours of Physiology, my brain was fried from what seemed more like a foreign language than the subject of cardiac action potentials we were actually studying!

Let me preface this by saying, I CRAVE quiet when I study. I NEED it. So, when Mike traveled out of town for his job on Wednesday and Thursday nights, I seized the opportunity to study to my heart's delight. It was... well... amazing.

One more preface: I entered undergrad as the valedictorian of my class. I had above a 4.0 GPA. Needless to say, I had high expectations. However, when I got my first test score back in undergrad, I was devastated. My very first test score--58% on a Chemistry I test. I immediately started doubting my potential in college. That's it--I was destined to fail out of school at the end of the first semester. Luckily, my mom and dad are the rational ones and wouldn't let me do that. I guess considering the fact that I made it grad school, things turned out okay. :)

My Clinical Assessment test was on Thursday morning. This class basically involves learning the "art" of examination and history-taking of patients. There is a clinical procedure that is followed by care-providers. There are an enormous amount of questions that a care-provider asks (just listen next time you go into a doctor's visit!). We were tested over this and the skin and also how it is examined. We also viewed slides for certain skin anomalies. Some of these slides were less than appetizing. Don't know quite yet if dermatology is the place for me. :)

On Friday morning, I had my Anatomy test. That afternoon we had the lab portion of the test. There is something interesting about going into a room with 7 cadavers who are helping you learn--post-mortem. I have never had cadaver lab before, and I didn't know how I would handle it. It's actually quite amazing to get into a cadaver's body and find differences among the other bodies in the room. I have the utmost respect for anyone who donates their body to science. This is one of the best ways to learn.

So, without further waiting, my score on my FIRST test in grad school--Clinical Assessment--was 95.2%!!! I was so pleased. I think there was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I think a little relief goes a long way. I haven't recieved my scores for my Anatomy lecture or lab tests yet--those are to come on Monday.

My next hurdle is Wednesday--Medical Physiology. If I get past that test, maybe, just maybe, I will survive. Now, back to studying...