THANK YOU!!!

I must have some VERY powerful friends and family!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the well-wishes and special prayers regarding my rotations. (See previous blog.)

I am VERY HAPPY to say: I GOT THE DES MOINES ROTATION!!! I ended up with my FIRST CHOICE hospital for next year!!! There were 52 students who wanted the 12 spots at Broadlawns....and I LUCKED OUT with one of them!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Keep Your Fingers Crossed!!!

Just a quick note to tell all my friends to keep your fingers crossed for me!!! THIS Wednesday, November 22, I find out where my 3rd year rotations will be. My first choice was to stay here in Des Moines and my second choice was to head to Bettendorf.

Beyond those two places, I could end up in Michigan or Minnesota.....

I've never been good at picking up and leaving. I always like to have a plan and schedule. Even though I got to rank my choices, I am not a fan of letting a computer randomly pick the place and time I go.

Hopefully I stay here.
I will update everyone as soon as I find out!!!

HPV Vaccine....What I think about it:

Let me first preface this blog by saying that I am NOT a licensed physician....yet. I can NOT prescribe drugs and I do NOT deal with real patients...yet.

But, I have learned a bit about the HPV vaccine and I have talked to a lot of licensed physicians to get their opinion. So far, everyone is VERY excited about the benefits.

HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is a virus that can potentially cause cervical cancer. There are hundreds of strains of this virus, most of which are pretty benign and cause no substantial problem. However, there are a few strains (specifically 16 and 18) which are the ones that are known to lead to cervical cancer.

The scary thing about this virus is that almost EVERY sexually active female has been exposed to it. Because there are hundreds of strains, these females have probably been exposed to the less problematic ones...but there is a chance they have been exposed to the bad strain.

The way the vaccine works is that it looks like HPV but isn't really the virus. The body's response to this HPV look-alike is to form antibodies...the soldiers which fight against the enemy. Now, when this vaccinated female gets exposed to the real HPV (the good strains AND the bad) the body already has a host of soldiers to protect against the virus.

The good thing is this: You don't have to wait until you are sexually active to get the vaccine. This vaccine is being offered to females at age 12. If you have a daughter, why would you NOT protect her? It doesn't mean you are advocating her having sex....I am DEFINITELY not advocating for that. But, why risk the exposure? Why risk her getting cervical cancer later in life???

And my final thought is this: I think the media is advocating ONLY for females to get this vaccine. But how are they being exposed??? By the boys! Why would we not vaccinate the boys too??? If we are able to stop the virus not only in the females but ALSO the males, I think we can completely knock out cervical cancer!!!

PLEASE...talk to your doctor about HPV...no matter what age you are!!!

A Quiet Sermon

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastors visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some time, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The Pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."

We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything!

A special THANK YOU to my Grandaddy for passing this story on to me!

Thursday Night is Here!!!

Well, it is Thursday night.....and you know what that means.....GREY'S ANATOMY!!!

If you haven't seen it before, I HIGHLY recommend it....Thursday Nights at 8 on ABC.


So, in order for me to get to watch it tonight....I have to study now!

Why Did I Start A Blog?

After about a year of "blog chats" with my friend Mike, I have finally decided to get with the program and start my own!

From here on out, the Medical School Updates that I send my family will be posted here, along with a few other thoughts. My hope is that having this new blog won't keep me from procrastinating on my schoolwork!!!

Speaking of procrastinating, I just had a good reminder today of why NOT to do it. This morning, I had an exam in my Respiratory class...23 lectures and about 2500 powerpoint slides.

All the way through, I had done a great job of keeping up with everything. I had gone through all the mp3's (they record all our lectures) and had gone through all the slides. But last night, I realized that even though I hadn't procrastinated in that regard, I probably hadn't spent ENOUGH time with the material.

But then again, who has ENOUGH time in medical school? There is never enough time to learn the amount of information we are given. But, isn't that the point of medical school? Our REAL learning is going to occur out in the field....when we are in the hospitals and clinics....when we are facing REAL patients. The point of medical school is to expose us to anything and everything we might face in the future....no matter how rare or unlikely it may be. And honestly, that is probably the reason I really LOVE medical school.....for the chance to learn something that may save someone's life!