jenniferhawke.com

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dearest Nevis,

well – the one year mark has come and gone. so did hurricane Ike. not much fanfare for either.

the semester is starting out a little rough, but i am happy. i’m sure it helps that i’m ridiculously head-over-heels in love because this really is a wonderful little island to fall in love on. no wonder so many couples head to the Four Seasons for their honeymoon. paradise.

i could use a little more paradise and a little less studying.

yah. me too.

but only 4 sleeps till Brandon’s birthday!

i often have people goggle at me and ask if i’m crazy to get up at 4am. yes, probably. i go to bed at a decent hour (10 or 1030pm) and the getting out of bed thing isn’t the problem. it’s the keeping eyelids open thing that is tough. this morning i snapped awake as my anti-anginal pham lecture fell out of my hand and clattered to the floor. i was sitting up on the couch at the time.

and i was glad it wasn’t a cup of coffee i was holding.

here are a few other ways to get going in those early AM hours:

save the coffee for a little later. i find if i go for the caffeine straight away, i end up drinking WAY too much. sometimes a warm cup in your hand can be lulling and soothing. definitely not the theme we’re going for here.

cold shower. yup, after all my whining and finally getting a hot water heater, i don’t always use it. i don’t hop in straight out of bed though. how crazy do you think i am? i usually wait an hour or two until the bed looks tempting. and then – BAM! awake again!

speaking of bed, Brandon likes to make his bed first thing in the morning so he’s not tempted to crawl back in. however, a freshly made bed still looks appealing to me. especially if the sheets are turned down just right and the pillow has been fluffed just so…

sit in the most uncomfortable chair in your house. do NOT lie on the couch. do not recline on the couch. do not even look at the couch.

write something. don’t fool yourself into thinking you can read or watch a Kaplan video without the eyelids drooping. there is no way anyone at 4 o’clock in the morning is mentally alert enough to focus for more than one sentence at a time. do something manual first thing and get the hand-to-brain flow going.

or talk out loud. i like flashcards, so when i flip through them first thing in the morning, i usually do it verbally.

it’s not impossible to fall back asleep while sitting in a hard chair that makes your back hurt and talking out loud to yourself, but it should get you at least an hour or two. then bring on the coffee. starting out at 4am might seem crazy and all of these convoluted techniques might seem over the top (i don’t usually employ EVERY technique EVERY morning), but starting that early really gives you a solid start on the day.

it feels good when 8am rolls around and you know you’ve already put in 4 hours when most folks haven’t stumbled sleepily out of bed yet.

she used to love frozen baby carrots when she was a teething puppy.

thanks for the video, mom! the internet at school is slower than molasses right now, but it was worth the wait. miss all of you girls so much!

[lunch break during another mountain climb near Pemberton, BC - September 2005]

“Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose that you resolved to effect.”
~ William Shakespeare

speaking of mountain climbing, i feel like i need that quote as a reminder almost every semester now. it’s easy to get bogged down in the little details and forget the big (scenic mountainside — with no top — extra wide angle landscape) picture.

pathology
- cell injury
- cell death (apoptosis & necrosis)
- inflammation (serous vs. fibrous, etc)
- repair (first intention, second intention, etc)
- immunopathology

>> most interesting thing learned: i am really enjoying how our previous exposure to histology (i love pictures) now ties in with diseases we learned in micro and immuno and genetics. this is probably the ultimate “consolidation” class. which is probably why it has so much material, it has to spill over into the first 9 weeks of MED 5.

pharmacology
- Fick, Henderson and solubility
- routes of administration
- distribution
- metabolism and elimination
- pharmacodynamics
- receptors, effectors and dose-response relationships
- volume of distribution
- clearance
- half-life
- bioavailability
- extraction
- therapeutic window
- altered elimination
- autonomics (anatomy, NT, receptors)
- cholinergic agonists & antagonists
- cholinesterase inhibitors & regenerators
- sympathomimetics (a & B agonists)
- sympathoplegics (a & B blockers)

>> most interesting thing learned: pharm presents a whole lotta new terminology and is presented in a whole new way. Dr. A is doing a wonderful job of preparing us to think on our feet by asking random questions during class. sure, it puts you on the spot and makes you nervous (and possibly frustrated if you don’t know the answer), but life on the ward isn’t going to be neatly laid out in tables and charts. cold recall is important. and i learned this block that i have spent a year practicing Memorize and Recognize for our USMLE Step 1-style multiple choice exams. so, cold recall? yah, i really really suck at it.

physical diagnosis
- medical terminology
- interviewing: taking the history
- chief complaint
- history of present illness
- past medical history
- family/social history
- review of systems
- complete history
- general survey
- vital signs

>> most interesting thing learned: this is our first class that exposes us to actual patient interaction. we mostly practice on each other, but it’s insightful to play both “doctor” and “sick person”. between this class and our hospital rotations, us MED 4s are looking pretty dang professional (in our ties and skirts and white coats) this semester. hawt!

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looking for MED 1? or MED 2? or MED 3?

i was absolutely shocked and embarrassed to hear the announcers on TSN relaying the fact that Rider fans were pelting the BC bench with beer cans last weekend. shocked. embarrassed. wondering what in the heck was actually going on. they didn’t show footage of the beer can rainstorm during the game, but did show the BC Lions trek out into the middle of the field while the latest call was being debated.

since then i’ve been reading a bit of media coverage of the event and most people are naturally horrified and just as shocked as i was. i mean, we’re Canadians for crying out loud. most other countries make fun of us for having a paltry 8 team football league with slightly-altered rules in the first place. what on earth could we be so upset about?

i came across Ron Pedersen’s article today on CFL.ca and he said a lot of the things i was thinking. in a much better way than i could say them. so here ya go.

We have an issue within the Rider Nation. It’s not a problem… yet. But it definitely is an issue.

Just about anybody connected with the Saskatchewan Roughriders — be it employees, players or fans — have been astounded by the coverage devoted to the incidents which occurred on Ron Lancaster Night at Mosaic Stadium last Saturday.

I’ve certainly been outspoken with regards to the reasons behind Rider fans pelting the B.C. Lions’ bench with beer cans and debris and there’s been plenty of opposition to my views. But we can all agree on one thing; that display was utterly unacceptable.

I brought to light the catalyst for the melee, the Lions’ antagonism of the crowd by launching a football into the stands after a fumble recovery, for one precise reason. It’s because of comments like the one from Sportsnet’s Jim Lang in his weekly CFL power rankings at www.sportsnet.ca:

“In honour of the sad passing of the legendary “Little General” – Ron Lancaster – the Riders wore their vintage throwback jerseys Saturday night. With the spirit of Ron Lancaster smiling down on Mosaic Stadium in this one, I really thought the Riders were going to find a way to win. I am thinking Lancaster would have been more than a little disgusted to see Rider fans pelting the Lions bench with beer cans and garbage in the third quarter after a disputed call by the officials. I always thought Rider fans had way more class than that.”

That was like a dagger through the heart for anyone who passionately follows the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and admires the love our fans have for the team. I maintain this incident wouldn’t have occurred if not for the Lions’ actions, but the national media has the wrong idea about what went on, as evidenced by Jim’s writings.

Rest assured Roughrider staffers have spent the majority of the week trying to sort out the mess, and deciding which direction to go from here. Should they ban the sale of beer in cans?

The Roughriders will eventually come up with the correct methods of beer sales and security but if I may, I’d like to pose a suggestion…

Team President Jim Hopson came up with this idea first and I’d like to second the motion. If anyone is seen or caught throwing anything onto the field, they should be subject to removal from the stadium and subsequently barred for life. This can be done, as the culprits who terrorized the Paul McCallum family in 2004 have incurred the same punishment.

What better way to punish these people than by denying them the opportunity to watch their beloved football team? It would take a concerted effort by Rider fans to help identify these people, but it would be worth it.

~ Rod Pedersen

agreed. if i was a fan near someone who threw a beer can, i wouldn’t hesitate to identify them and have them banned for life from Taylor Field. i’m proud to be from Saskatchewan and i’m proud to wear green on fall weekends. i wouldn’t be proud to be sitting next to someone that acts like such an immature jerk, bad call or no. poor sportsmanship by the other team should only provoke us to take the high road and respond with the other cheek.

it’s that type of class and sportsmanship that Rider fans are known for and proud of.

even though it only takes a few rotten apples to spoil the whole barrel, let’s hope all Rider fans remember why we’re called the best fans in the CFL by next weekend when we host Calgary.

because we’re going to kick their butt and don’t want to look like we’re gloating *too* much. ; )

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”
~ Abigail Adams

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
~ Sir Winston Churchill

diligently climbing my mountain one step at a time. with the full realization that i’ll never really get to The Top.

i hate the sacrifices i have to make (and force my loved ones to make). but this never-ending steep mountain path is why i chose to study medicine in the first place. as long as i have the energy to put one foot in front of the other, i am following my bliss.

besides, who wants to get to the top? then you just have to turn around and come back down!

almost all stolen electronics have been recovered from the break-in at Brandon’s house.

2 laptops
external hard drive
digital camera
cell phone
PS3

they are sitting at the police station waiting to go to court tomorrow. hopefully Brandon’s roommate can get his laptop back ASAP because he kinda sorta a little bit needs it for school.

what a great ending to a bummer story. hooray for the Nevisian police department! they got the job done and done.

a tip for fellow MUA students: unplug your wireless modem when there is crazy thunder and lightning going on. or a *CRACK* right near your house is bound to travel through the phone line and burn it from the inside out, costing you a measly $475EC* to replace.

home internet back up and running. if you sent me an email in the last week, i probably received it. and will probably reply tomorrow.

probably.

still working on that study thing. the 4am’s have returned with a vengeance. pulling out the trampoline to get in training for bouncing back. but i really can’t say it was a surprise that the first block sucked. i mean, come ON. will be taking the dean’s advice and treating every day until Brandon’s birthday as if it was a block day, and every night a block night.

in other news, i walked around the surgical ward rounding on patients in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around my neck for the first time ever this morning. i took a history, i tried to ramble my way through answers to random science quiz questions from the attending, and i stepped on Brandon’s shoes. it was great!

“rounding on patients this morning” – i know there might come a day where that phrase makes me weary from the inside out. but not today. i love where i am and i am so thrilled to be doing the stuff we are doing. life is goood.

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*$185CDN – no, there is no “electrical storm” coverage in the Cable & Wireless service plan. and yes, i now own the modem and will probably try to sell it to the next person that moves in here. i might even discount it a buck or two! woo!

my home internet is broken and my Block 1 grades were disappointing.

back… soon?