Happenings and Such

So, nothing too interesting has been happening the past few weeks. I haven't been in a straight up routine, but nothing worth writing a post about has happened. That said, here I am.

Classes are going well enough. Pathology and clinical pathophysiology have been interesting all around, regardless of lecturer or topic. These are the classes that make me feel like I'm actually in med school and not in some mascochistic science school. Infection and immunity can be kinda cool, but there are a shitton of bugs out there...don't get sick. Parasites are interesting enough, but they're disgusting in how they go about their business. Pharmacology is brute memorization at this point especially since we're only learning about pharmacokinetics, antibiotics, antifungals, antineoplastics, antiprotozoans...you get the point. It's shitty at this point because there's no physiological tie-ins yet, there are so many drugs, and each has a constellation of things to memorize. No me gusta brute memorization. Maybe things will get better once outside of anti-living thing drugs.

Clinically, we had a history taking workshop. While I still felt awkward and like it was a manufactured interview, I got positive feedback from the "patient." I might even have figured out what she had. They also videotaped the interview for us to watch later. I hate watching myself, but I figured I should see how it went. And I have to say, it actually didn't sound nearly as awkward as it did in my mind. It even sounded like I knew what I was doing...which is scary, because there's not a whole lotta knowledge up top yet.

Outside of class, I've been dabbling in emergency medicine stuff. I've hung out for a few shifts at UIC's ER. It's not Cook County, so there aren't stabbings and shootings rolling in all the time. But, I've gotten to see a lot of things with a diversity of cases and have been learning quite a bit. More importantly, I'm starting to think that EM is what I'm wanting to do. I've also hit up a few EM workshops, mainly suturing and intubation. The suturing did not go so hot for me at this point, but I'm hoping that'll come with time. Intubation went a lot better and was actually pretty cool. So yeah, all that jazz is what's drawing me to EM: case variety, drawing on different aspects of medicine, getting to do some procedures, and shift work (i.e.: not being on call).

Outside of UIC, there's this place called Chicago. Gotten to try more fare. I can only think of two places off the top of my head: Heaven on Seven and Uncommon Ground. The former's a Cajun place while the latter's an American place. Heaven on Seven's got quite the selection of Creole fare and an even bigger selection of hot sauces to go with them. One of the walls is actually a huge spice rack of every hot sauce they have...I wasn't adventurous enough to ask for any of them. The pound of shrimp and tots were amazing though. Uncommon Ground's a classy date place without pretension - good ambiance, nice decor, and quiet (unless they've got live music going). They draw ingredients from local family farms and change their menu (food/drink) every few weeks. As for the music, there was an African band playing for a biodiesel cause of some sort. More importantly, the food was pretty good - the tilapia was pistachio encrusted yet still ridiculously moist. It gives La Sardine's salmon a run for it's money, imo.

As for biking, that's died down a bit on account of timing issues and shorter days. I average only about one ride a week :( This week it was in the 50s and that's kinda chilly on a bike, especially while riding upwind. My ears already get cold kinda easily, biking even more so. I'd still like to keep riding up until snow starts falling though. Another thing I've picked up is capture the flag. Been playing once a week for about a month now and it's actually pretty fun. Faceplanting into rose and thorn bushes: not so much fun. And they leave marks. But yeah, CTF's always a winner - get to run around for a few hours and be all ninja like at the same time. About the latter, campus security doesn't say anything to someone in all black sneaking around and hiding in bushes. Hell breaks loose if you dart across side streets though.