For one of our lectures today, a patient was brought in to talk to us. I normally don't go to lectures, but since this was a patient encounter, I wanted to go.
I didn't realize until I got to class that the patient was a young woman who had been diagnosed with cancer when she was 22. She was a healthy 22 year old enjoying life when her health severely deteriorated over the course of one month and she was told by her local doctor she had a tumor the size of a 2-liter bottle in her chest and that she would be lucky to live more than a few weeks. 22 - and told that you only have a few weeks. Since I'm 23, that was quite the reality check.
After going to OSU's cancer hospital, her prognosis (projected outcome) looked a little better due to their phenomenal staff and treatments, but the future was still unknown. She is now three years past her diagnoses and has been in remission for just over two years - and has only a small chance of recurrence. At five years of remission for her particular type of cancer, she will be considered cured.
Hearing her speak was so beneficial for bringing back the human side of medicine. Our lectures often are so focused on the facts and science that it's easy to lose sight of how this will tie in to treating patients - but hearing her story and what treatment felt like for her was a perspective that reminds me why I'm doing this. And those reminders are always appreciated and rarely forgotten.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Post "Cell"abration
Wow, It's been a while since I've updated my blog! I didn't intend to go so long without updating - but there wasn't much that has happened in school since anatomy has finished. Yesterday was the last exam for Cell Block - and as a celebration, I'm heading to Florida for a mini vacation!
In the last few months, I've mostly just done my class work and prepared for the exams. The extracurricular things and meetings have decreased drastically as people get into more of a routine. I no longer go to lectures because I've found that studying independently from home is much more efficient for me - and so I rarely even make it to campus.
One project that has started recently is our "Senior Partner" program where we are paired with an elderly person in the community to get a better perspective on what older adults deal with in health care. Some of our assignments are to write a biography on them, take a full medical history, accompany them to a doctor's visit, and generally just try to get a sense for how they live. I recently met my senior partner, "RB" and talking to her was quite interesting. While asking her about her life so that I could write the biography, she shared much more than expected - including details about her love triangle in her senior citizens community (which was entertaining to say the least). I think I'll really enjoy spending time with RB and the different perspective will be interesting.
Another project that will be starting soon is our "Community Preceptorship" program. Essentially, for this part of our curriculum, we are paired with a physician in the community and have to shadow them roughly once a month for the next two years. We don't get any say in what field we get placed in, but I was really hoping for a pediatrician or an internal medicine physician. Unfortunately, I got paired with an OB/GYN, which would have been one of my last choices (second only to surgery). I may try to trade to a different field, but if that doesn't work out, I'm going to keep an open mind and hope to still be able to gain a valuable perspective from the experience.
Our next block is Host Defense and it will be all about the immune system. I've heard it is one of the harder blocks, but I'm just going to keep doing what I need to do.
In the last few months, I've mostly just done my class work and prepared for the exams. The extracurricular things and meetings have decreased drastically as people get into more of a routine. I no longer go to lectures because I've found that studying independently from home is much more efficient for me - and so I rarely even make it to campus.
One project that has started recently is our "Senior Partner" program where we are paired with an elderly person in the community to get a better perspective on what older adults deal with in health care. Some of our assignments are to write a biography on them, take a full medical history, accompany them to a doctor's visit, and generally just try to get a sense for how they live. I recently met my senior partner, "RB" and talking to her was quite interesting. While asking her about her life so that I could write the biography, she shared much more than expected - including details about her love triangle in her senior citizens community (which was entertaining to say the least). I think I'll really enjoy spending time with RB and the different perspective will be interesting.
Another project that will be starting soon is our "Community Preceptorship" program. Essentially, for this part of our curriculum, we are paired with a physician in the community and have to shadow them roughly once a month for the next two years. We don't get any say in what field we get placed in, but I was really hoping for a pediatrician or an internal medicine physician. Unfortunately, I got paired with an OB/GYN, which would have been one of my last choices (second only to surgery). I may try to trade to a different field, but if that doesn't work out, I'm going to keep an open mind and hope to still be able to gain a valuable perspective from the experience.
Our next block is Host Defense and it will be all about the immune system. I've heard it is one of the harder blocks, but I'm just going to keep doing what I need to do.
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