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dear Nevis,

in just 18 days, i will finally be preparing to go home for the first time. i’ll only be gone two weeks, but i have a sneaking suspicion i’ll miss you just a little bit. in honor of our imminent separation, i’ve been reminiscing a bit about all of the things you’ve taught me since i arrived. i’ve grown a lot in the past few months. and learned many wonderful things about myself. and you.

i now know how to:
- take a freezing cold shower and be fully washed/rinsed in only a few minutes flat
- BOP cockroaches
- recognize and flag down an H-bus
- change a flat tube on a hot sandy beach while being swarmed by tiny flies
- religiously check expiry dates on everything in the grocery store
- cycle past roadkill and poisoned dogs without breathing (or looking)
- recognize that “good morning! how are you?” is a necessity not a courtesy
- eat a (broken) freezer full of processed food
- stop whatever i’m doing to enjoy the rain
- look forward to sunrises
- memorize detailed lists of facts by candlelight and LED headlamp
- cope with naturally curly hair frizzed out by Caribbean humidity*
- get by on much less (of everything)

perhaps one of the most important things you have taught me, dearest Nevis, is the ability to slow down. there is nothing so important that can’t wait another few minutes. there is no place so important to be, no one so important to see. time goes by too fast as it is. there is nothing i can do to make it slow down. and certainly nothing i would want to do to make it speed up.

how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

i’m not worried about tomorrow or yesterday. i’m in love with today.

i feel so blessed to be on this wonderful journey in such a perfect place.

you are perfect because of — not in spite of — your imperfections.

all my love,
`Jennifer

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*okay, i haven’t fully learned this one yet. i have a feeling it’ll be a lifelong lesson.

[block 1 re-cap] [block 2 re-cap] [block 3 re-cap]

physiology
physio is driving me a bit crazy because i feel like i *should* be enjoying the way anatomy and histology fit together, but i’m sorta not. it probably is a combination of the sheer amount of overwhelming material and professors that i find less-than-engaging. that said, Davenport diagrams are really super cool.

- potassium, phosphate, calcium, magnesium regulation
- water balance
- acid-base buffering, mechanisms & disorders
- gastrointestinal structure, peptides, motility, secretion
- digestion and absorption
- hormonal cell mechanisms
- hypothalamus-pituitary

>> most interesting thing learned: in the event of a complete removal of your stomach, intrinsic factor (required for vitamin B12 absorption in the ileum) is really the only thing your digestive system can’t live without. without injections of vitamin B12, you will develop pernicious anemia, but the small intestine can pretty much take over food digestion completely.

biochemistry
it might be weird to say this is my favourite class this semester. yeah, it is weird.

- disposal of nitrogen
- amino acid synthesis and degradation
- amino acid conversion to specialized products
- metabolic effects of insulin and glucagon
- feed/fast cycle
- diabetes mellitus

>> most interesting thing learned: this block we learned a lot about feeding, fasting, and diabetes. diabetes is essentially characterized by a deficiency in insulin and an elevation of blood sugar when you’re not eating. it’s interesting to note that different types of insulin deficiency can cause almost completely opposite symptoms. type I usually affects kids and is precipitated by some sort of infection that debilitates the pancreas. type II develops much later in life and has a very strong genetic component. kids with type I are frequently undernourished. adults with type II are most often obese. type I must be treated with supplementary insulin. type II can often be controlled just with diet and exercise.

psychology
okay okay. THIS is very probably my favourite class this semester. but everyone knows i have a soft spot for psychology. and the fact that we had a guest lecture (prep for the Behavioral Science shelf exam) with a few things to come next semester in neuroscience really reminded me how much i love the brain.

- domestic violence
- addiction
- alcohol and other drugs
- somatoform disorders
- dissociative disorders
- eating disorders
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- sleep: beta, alpha, theta, delta, REM
- sleep disorders
- aphasias & brain damage

>> most interesting thing learned: REM sleep increases after (and actually seems necessary for) learning retention. which explains the crazy dreams i have during block weekend.

medical ethics
- palliative care
- patient abandonment & elder abuse
- 3-week block means only 3 classes and i skipped one…

>> most interesting thing learned (about myself): i know how to skip class with a relatively guilt-free conscience.  ; )

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looking for MED 1?

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

back with the usual re-cap update either Monday or Tuesday.

as a few people have noticed, there have been errors here-and-there with photos showing up. please let me know if (even after refreshing your browser) you come across an “unavailable” image or dead link. thank you.

so many things happening all at once. i feel like i’m holding on for dear life.

and having SO much fun.

kinda like a rollercoaster…. i might get sick if it doesn’t slow down soon, but i don’t want to get off just yet. i freaking love my life. i have to be the luckiest person alive. and what’s so great about being me? well, i’m off to have a pedicure this morning at the Four Seasons spa and you’re not. so there’s a start. ; )

happy birthday, Joyce. we’ve only known each other a few short months, but it already feels like a lifetime. your strength and independence and commitment and resolve and tiny hair accessories are an inspiration! i can’t wait to see what a wonderfully smart and empathetic doctor you’ll become. it’s sad that we will eventually end up on opposite sides of the continent, but i don’t doubt that we’ll always keep in touch. love ya.

“You know what’s the worst thing about somebody breaking up with you? It’s when you remember how little you thought about the people you broke up with and you realize that is how little they’re thinking of you. You know? You’d like to think you’re both in all this pain, but they’re just like ‘Hey, I’m glad you’re gone’.”

~ Jesse: “Before Sunrise”

just pushing through the huge workload of these last few weeks and then i get to go home and have my mental breakdown.

kidding! just kidding!

obviously i’m suppressing a few things until i have a little breathing room and the luxury of long empty days process them. but everything is fine. all is good. i am loving school more with each passing stress-filled class. 3 Mondays left. Friday is the starting point of 3 weeks with 10 exams, including 3 NBME Subject Exams in Behavioral Sciences, Physiology, and Biochemistry.

and speaking of threes, i have even adjusted my study schedule into chunks of 3 hours. if anyone sees me online between 5-8am or 7-10pm, please give me a swift kick in the beehind. i paced the last few miles of this semester a little slower and seeing the finish line has put a new spring in my step.

may your Sunday be filled with family and ham and hidden eggs and furtive bunny ears and chocolate and church and friends and loved ones and church plays and basketball and naps and spring sunshine and daffodils and tulips and long-distance calls to the loved ones that are too far to share all of the above with.

mine promises to be filled with dust bunnies and loud music and acid-base metabolism and the urea cycle and long-distance calls and long overdue emails.

Maddy’s so lucky i’m not around to embarrass her this year. i think those bunny ears actually ended up in a care package to Kayla… !

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”
~ Oscar Wilde

in continuation of a previous post, the care package from my mom arrived yesterday. just in time for Easter non-long weekend.

i have no idea how she knew that i am rationing my last stick of lip balm. or that i have been trying to make the bottom of a giant bottle of vitamin E lotion last another 4 weeks… and how did she know that i haven’t had a single second to do laundry this week month and was genuinely wondering what i would wear while washing every thread i own tomorrow?

Moms know. they just do.

even though i have never been anywhere near Kansas, i was sort of born into a name that a lot of people think automatically makes me a Jayhawks fan. somehow i’ve been sucked into following American college basketball. how weird is that??

i hope they beat UNLV today.

Rock! Chalk! Jayhawk!

sheesh. you take one night off in 8 months and everything just falls apart!

okay, not really. it was more like a laid-back weekend, followed by 12 hours of socializing. and i do feel like i’m playing a bit of catch-up. it’s all manageable as long as i ignore frivolous non-school things like washing dishes and sleeping. the only thing i’m really sorry to be missing out on is the pile of wonderful emails in my inbox that i haven’t had 3 seconds to sit down and enjoy, let alone reply to.

Karen, Christina, Jonathan, Brian, Kev, DAD, Dr. T, Jen, Steve, Kayla, Craig, Colin, and Geoff: i promise to write soon.

like, sometime before April.

… and somehow they managed to channel the wise words of W. H. Auden:

“You owe it to us all to get on with what you’re good at.”

riding the wave of procrastination is all fine and dandy. but it’s time to suck it up and buckle down. 32 days is only 32 days. and i still have 7 block exams and 3 shelf subject exams to write.