Pouring it on

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted, but school has been absolutely nuts! I got through midterms okay, albeit a very crazy time! The day after MLK brought a 6:30 am Gross Anatomy test on the Lower Extremity, then Wednesday was a Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine quiz, Thursday was my midterm in Intro to Clinical Medicine, Friday brought a midterm in Human Behavior, then we got to rebound with a Physiology test on Monday morning on Cardiac Physiology. Now I am facing perhaps an even bigger challenge with a Biochemistry test Monday morning, then an OMM quiz Wednesday, Head/Neck exams in both Anatomy and Histology on Thursday, then Physiology the following Monday! It's really hard to balance studying time when there are so many tests back to back! I guess that med school for you!

Meanwhile, Braylei has gotten pretty sick, currently battling both an ear infection and pneumonia. We have had some long nights, and for Meghan, some very long days. Braylei's vocabulary is soaring! She is learning new words every day, her cognitive skills are really developing, as she is getting so good at basic problem solving, and she is all over the place.

Meghan's been very busy as the Young Women's President in our ward. They just had their New Beginnings, for which she invested a lot of time. She also just had her second OB checkup and we are happy to say that we are having a boy!!!! I'm so excited! Plus, the ultrasound revealed a high placenta, so as of now there is no placenta previa as was with Braylei, and there are no other current signs of a high risk pregnancy! So we are praying that her conditions will stay this positive!

Hopefully I will get through this set of tests, especially Biochem tomorrow!

The Wonderful World of Coagulation!

Every time I have a break from school, it is so hard to get back into the swing of things. This time, though, I do not have a choice, as our first Biochemistry exam is tomorrow! It is really unbelievable how much information they cram into such a small amount of time! A test over lectures 1-10 and workshops 1-3 doesn't sound like a ton, but the breadth of the material is really incredible. Especially deep are the first 3 lectures on the inflammatory response to injury and the coagulation/healing process. At first I thought, "oh, no big deal." I remembered covering that in my undergraduate athletic training classes. I can still vividly recall my professor Ben Davidson spitting out terms like prostaglandins and neutrophils, but it came across like a magical process! We have learned every step of the way, a the systematic process by which blood clots are formed and resolved. The same thing with my athletic training pharmacology class. In undergrad, it was just knowing names and what they did. I knew COX-2 inhibitors like aspirin, ibuprofen, vioxx and celebrex, but now I know what they do and how they do it! The more I learn, the more I see the interrelation of all things, and although very complicated, the up and down regulations of these processes really testify to me that we are divine creations. It really is amazing!

I have put in a tons of time in my studies, but there is still more that I would like to cover before the 8am test! Then I can look forward to a patient simulated male invasive (rectal) exam! Doesn't that sound spectacular? I hope Midwestern is paying these people well! That means yet another late night here, but at least that gives me plenty of time to study for my 3 exams next week!

Sundays are really nice for me. Establishing that I will keep the Sabbath day holy and not study was at first a trial, but now it is a huge blessing. Sure, I get up super early on Mondays to prepare for my tests, but I love spending time with my family and being able to take care of church responsibilities. I stayed home from church today since Braylei was not feeling too well and Meghan was teaching a lesson in Young Women's. I will take every opportunity to spend time with Braylei since I hardly get to see her during the week. She is really getting so clever and smart. Her beautiful personality is coming out and she reminds me more of Meghan every day! My family truly lights up my life and I wouldn't trade anything for that.