These Are Your Heels On A Psychiatry Rotation. Or, Jessica Simpson Causes Large Fluid-Filled Lesions.

I haven't said nearly enough about my foray into the sleepy, "I can't believe they're letting me do this!" world of clinical medical education. Now, this has been entirely different from the first two basic science years of medical school. First and most imporant, we have to dress up every day (blah blah blah professionalcakes) instead of looking like we just woke up four minutes before. And unfortunately, I'm too fat for most of my "professional" clothes, so I had to buy a bunch of new stuff (that's not the unfortunate part - the unfortunate part is that I'm quickly approaching the size of a small house.) I had to be careful in top selection - cap sleeves must be avoided at all costs, because a shirt with cap sleeves might as well say, "Look at me! I have sausage arms!" They're worse than sleeveless, even. And then we move on to shoes. Since safety requirements dictate that we wear shoes that are completely closed-toe, and comfort requirements dictate that I can't wear much of a heel or anything like that - I pretty much look like I'm sharing shoes with my great-grandmother. The very first day, I wore this cute pair of Jessica Simpson wedges (ballet flats with a wee heel - the marriage of cute and comfortable. Or so I thought.)

At the end of the day, I had blisters as big as my head (and that's BIG.) I later managed to rip the skin off of the blisters by dutifully walking a couple of laps around the park in my orthopedic-looking-but-very-comfy-and-functional Masai Barefoot Technology shoes from Bliss. Check out my scary blisters, and my cracked heels which I cannot fix despite the 1,023,872 heel creams I've tried. And when those suckers crack, they HURT - a lot more than something that small should hurt. I have a crack on the bottom of each heel right now, and I have developed this odd walk-on-my-toes mechanism, which makes me look like I might be cognitively impaired. Anyway, the blisters:

And the next day, I still had to wear shoes, because barefoot student doctors are generally frowned upon. So I ended up buying TWO sets of not-at-all-fashionable shoes with toes - a regular pair in a couple of different colors and a backless pair in those same colors. (I love shoes, though, so I can't really complain. I just wish my shoes in current rotation could be could be cuter.) I actually like being dressed up, though - I feel like a real grownup going off to work or something. (Ha ha, I'm so not a real grownup, though.)

As you know, I'm on the psychiatry rotation, which is known for being the easier one. This was a good one for me to start with, since I don't adapt to change well and it takes me a little while to get used to new routines and such. So it's better that I don't have 4:45AM-8:00PM days (see "Surgery") right off the bat. Eeeeugh, 4:45AM. I really don't know how I'm going to manage that, y'all. I have a hard time rolling out of bed at 6:30. And I've learned that my psychiatry preceptors (i.e., the psychiatrists) are not unlike me. One of them told me that he hates morning. A couple of them don't roll into the hospital until around 9:30 or 10. That's AWESOME. I might consider going into psychiatry solely for that reason. Just kidding. Although I do think this rotation has been really interesting, particularly the inpatient stuff. I'm learning a lot from my patients.

And now I'm tired. To be continued. I also need to tell y'all about my Pain Clinic experience.

SarahK wants you to see if you should be gluten-free. And other things.

SarahK, my favorite person with blunted intestinal villi, wants you to know if you should be gluten-free. So go take this quiz, and talk to your doctor if you score high.

/PSA

The other day, while we were in our Step One review course? Someone slapped a cheeseburger (cheese-side down) on Christy's car window. I really don't know what would motivate someone to do that type of thing. I mean, if I have a cheeseburger, it's going in my mouth - not on someone else's plexi-glass. What a waste of some good saturated fat. She could have told you this herself (and it would have been funnier, because she is funnier than I am) but I can't get her to blog with me. She seems focused on this test - this USMLE board exam - most important test of our lives or some such mumbo-jumbo.

So, I finally broke down and bought a pair of MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) shoes from Bliss. They're supposed to help tone your butt and legs - I'll let you know in about a month if it was a crazy purchase. But I can tell you that they are VERY comfortable - and that they look like orthopedic shoes. If they work, though, it will be worth it.

Scott is finally on Facebook. Yay!

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - and meh. Waaaaay too long with a convoluted plot. I fell asleep for awhile, and then actually left the theater and walked to Coldstone Creamery nearby to see what time they closed. (I really needed a Cheesecake Fantasy, and I managed to get one after all of the swashbuckling finally ended, with about three minutes to spare.) Johnny Depp, of course, was entertaining and all kinds of pretty - and I still think Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the best movie characters of all time. But in my opinion, the rest of the film fell apart around him. Scott and I are seeing Shrek the Third tonight - I'll let you know how that goes.

Okay, I need to hit the Kaplan QBank. Hard.

A Threadless sale! Wheee!

So, I spend way too much money buying T-shirts at Threadless: Nude No More (not nearly as much as I spend at Sephora, but that's another post for another day.) I opened my email this morning and gleefully discovered that they're having a sale - everything is $10. Woo! I love their shirt designs, and they fit well and wash well. Here's some of my favorites (i.e., the ones I own):

Robot Dance Contest

Reach for the Stars

Love*Rain

Some Choices Are Just Out of Reach, from the movie Last Kiss

(And look, even Zach Braff has this one!)

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

Go check them out - the sale runs until June 3rd. And if you use my link (http://www.threadless.com/?streetteam=ramblestrip) then I get $1.50 towards another shirt. :-)

Postpourri

Dang, y'all. I have been so busy/tired these past couple of weeks. The good news is, I'm finished with Pharmacology (and the miniboard? It was not so bad. If I had studied as hard as I should have, it wouldn't have been bad at all.) I'm finished with Genetics (the 2-hour class that thought it was a 6-hour class.) I'm almost finished with Patient Care (I just have to write a freaking page-and-a-half HPI that I've been putting off and putting off, and do my OSCE - my "observed physical exam" - and that one's done.) So basically, I'm finished with my 2nd year, guys. I can't believe it. I may come back and be all philosophical and wax poetic or something after it's all over - after I take a nap, that is. Oh, and there's still the big, gigantonormous, scary and evil monster that is the USMLE Step One (dum-dum-dummmmmMMMMMM), but shhhhhh. I'm pretending it's not real.

Anyway, I was just going through a batch of Pathology/Pathophysiology questions from Kaplan's QBank, in preparation for my Pathology miniboard on Friday. I also had Facebook open in another window, because, well, you know. I'm easily distracted - and the thing about Facebook is that it must be checked every 7 seconds or so, lest someone's life EXPLODE and you don't know until a minute later. Or maybe someone will post PICTURES. Or leave you a COMMENT. Or CHANGE THEIR STATUS. It's just all very urgent, see. If you're not on the Facebook bandwagon, you should jump on. It's great fun, if you like the "keeping up with the lives of people you know" kind of thing.

I had a page of search results open - I was looking for people who graduated from my undergrad university with a biology degree around the time that I did, because I MUST amass more friends, see. And I ran across this guy in my search results, and I had to screencap him and bring it over here, because - in my endless studying, caffeine-drinking, Vicodin-influenced stupor (hey, I have chronic pancreatitis, which hurts like a mo-fo and flares up in times of stress. What do you want me to do?) the picture looked to me like a bride and groom standing in front of an altar, with their backs to the camera. Instead, it's this:

I have [Dr. Cox] coooooo-mmmmm-pleeeeeETE-ly [/Dr. Cox] lost my mind. It's just gone - gone like, well, something else that is long gone. I forgot what else it was that I was going to say was long gone. Probably my vocabulary.

One more thing - I love these Nine West Liatris shoes so very much. When I go to Macy's, I actually go *visit* them. Someone buy them for me? Please?