Day 3296: Chicago

My parents, ever the class acts, found Milwaukee a bit too small-town for them so we returned to Chicago on Saturday. We finally made it to the Art Institute this time. Last time (in 2011), we waited in line too long at Hot Doug's (which is now closed for business) and we missed the chance to go to the Art Institute. We also continued to follow my father's stomach which only has eyes for Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods" and Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations," so we checked out The Purple Pig (fancy/weird tapas).

Mongee and I waiting in line at The Purple Pig

My pals and I after lunch!

Taken on Michigan Avenue

Alex and I in front of the Art Institute. She's cute, I'm roaring.

Day 3292: Happy Birthday Aleja!

Alex came a day earlier than my family, which meant we were able to spend her entire birthday together!

Aleja (as I like to call her) has been one of my biggest supporters throughout medical school. She has visited me once a year since I moved to Wisconsin in 2011. She has sent me numerous gift packages. She has hosted me at her place when I was on interviews last year. I am so blessed to have so many people in my life who care about me. Anyway, enough of a lovefest about Aleja. Here is the only picture we took (sad!). But luckily it was at Kopps, her favorite place in Milwaukee.

We love custard!

Day 3291: The beginning of the end.

I feel like I have named several posts with this title but this is very much the end of the road for my blog "On to an MD." The MD is 4 days away! !!!!!!!!

Anyway, my exam for my "Preparing for Internship" course was today. I made the woman grading them, grade my exam right there on the spot. I didn't want to be concerned about failing and having to retake the exam tomorrow. I mean I studied, of course, but still. It's been a long time since I've taken a test. Since you are all dying to know, I passed! Hello graduation!

My pal Alex comes in tonight, to begin the influx of friends and family who will be coming in for this momentous occasion. My sister and parents come in Wednesday. My best friend and her husband come in either Wednesday or Thursday. Hooding is Thursday. Graduation is Friday!

This week is going to FLY BY!

Day 2976: Consented pictures

Our first picture together!

Found a new little park by the river and across the street from MKE Public Market

Tiff loves Moscato

Behind this guy in the red shirt was the stage for Jazz in the Park

Danny was here too ;)

Kandinsky & Tiff, two of my favorite things

Hanging out at the Milwaukee Art Museum

With the Milwaukee Art Museum

Lakefront gals

The big ol' beer I never saw on previous tours

"Ladies, why settle for a six-pack when you can have a keg?" - John, our tour guide

Day 2974: BFFs & one week left!

Can you believe in less than one week, I will officially be a fourth year medical student? I am an "Em-Duh" -- get it? Three-fourths of my way to an "Em-Dee"!

One of my closest friends Tiff came to visit this weekend and it was sheer and utter perfection. I really needed to see her after some drama that occurred the weekend before. She is such a calming presence and this weekend confirmed a) our similarities, b) her absolutely amazing self, and c) how much I miss her in my everyday life. It is both a blessing and curse when friends from different aspects of my life come to visit. Blessing-wise, I am reminded how loved I am and how I have found some truly awe-inspiring people who honor me with their friendship. Curse-wise, it reminds me how difficult it has been for me to find these people (see here, excluding D of course) in one of the more critical periods of my life. Medical school has been a mental and personal struggle (with the occasional triumph) and connecting with others who have experienced it has been a surprisingly arduous undertaking. I was beyond elated to spend this time with Tiff and I hope (desperately) that I can see her soon and more regularly.

Anyway, pictures to come of her visit/our lovefest. (I need her to sign the release form ;P)

Day 2910: Where does all the time go?

As an excuse, pediatric surgery had long hours and then my lovely friend Alex came to visit for a week, and then I just haven't been using my computer that much. So, there, excuses out of the way.

I keep toying with the idea of being a surgeon, but I think I truly believe that I like that my life more than I like being a doctor. So, I am sticking with med-peds (or just internal medicine).

I am on my second month of surgery and then I am off to inpatient pediatrics in May. Then, outpatient pediatrics where my other darling friend Tiff is coming to visit. And so are my parents. Then my sister comes to visit for 4th of July weekend. I have a lot to look forward to.

This post is uber-erratic. I apologize. I can't seem to formulate anything worth reading about (on your end) so I will end it here. I hope to blog again soon, and with more substance.

Until then!

PS This time issue is clearly a theme given the fact that I have three posts in 2014 with variations on the same title.

Day 2433: Weekends of fun

These past two weekends in October have been filled with guests and sightseeing and catching up and general merriment.

Nicki and her man came (back) to Milwaukee!

Corn maze shenanigans.

My first (gigantic!) Halloween pumpkin (EVER)

#TeamJess'Pumpkin -- can you tell what it is?

Enjoying some jazz with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Day 2270: Sick, dying, and thank you

Hey all,

The quickest post to tell you I am sick. For the third time this year! Apparently it's true, when you are stressed out, you get sick much faster. I am never ever sick. And now I am on icky-feeling-number-three for the year 2013.

I am dying of stress. Not my sickness. My whatever-this-is involves a lot of clogged noses and nose-blowing and somewhat phlegm-y feeling throat. My cumulative final for pathology is on May 9th (!!!) and then my final exam of microbiology is on May 13th. Luckily micro is not cumulative, but still. I'm not terribly stressed about either exam, so much as busy going over the material (the previous seven blocks of path) and learning the new stuff (dermatology, breast, thyroid, etc). The true stress comes from the fact that my board exams are a little more than 5 or 6 weeks away! I'm still on the fence about moving my test date up, but everyone and their mother's brother's niece's dog says that I will either burn out by my current test date (June 17th) or stress myself out so much in that time (aka Jessica will become bald like Homer Simpson -- with three lone strands of hair left), so we'll see.

How sad is my life? I am straight-up excited for finals to be over, not because I have finished another somewhat-hellish year and am heading in to the hospital (!!), but rather my excitement is due to the fact that I can finally dedicate my desired 10-12 hours a day of solely boards studying. Very sad Jessica. Pitiful actually.

Thank you all for your texts and care packages (BEL-C)! I feel so lucky to have people who love and care about me so much. Especially when I have essentially turned my back on everyone to get through the last 5 weeks of pure hell. Thank you. From the bottom of my cold, dead heart. My heart will beat again soon and I will be the friend each of you so deserve.

There might be radio silence until then so I wanted to end it on a positive note. Honestly and truly. Thank you all.

Day 2247: Politics

After a rousing back-and-forth email with my darling friend M, where I explicitly told her I'm not very political, I may or may not have forgotten to mention that I am going to the capital of Wisconsin to participate (vaguely) in some politics. I need a more ethnically apt saying for "pot calling the kettle black" ... how about "the soy sauce calling the soy paste, chunky"? Haha, no probably not.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Anyway, I am heading to Madison tomorrow (Friday) for the weekend to participate in the Wisconsin Medical Society (WMS) Annual meeting. The WMS is great and they allow medical students to participate in resolution voting and to be a part of the whole political process. I have to tell you, preparing for this trip has not been pleasant. A lot of back-and-forth at the student meetings has shown me how catty politics can be/can make people. However, I wanted to get more involved and I thought this would be an interesting venue. I'll let you know how it goes next week!

In other news, my second micro exam grade dropped compared to my first exam, but that's to be expected since I only studied the micro pertinent to my upcoming boards. Not looking at class notes is kind of detrimental haha. Don't worry, I passed and my average is still good and dandy.

Found via Google from here.

Want to hear something hilarious? I had a passing thought that perhaps Representative Paul Ryan might be at this meeting, but it's mainly for physicians so I won't hold my breath. I wonder how much ire I would engender in all my Democratic pals if I took a picture with him. Haha. My friends would die of betrayal and Danny (and his family) would die of joy. Life is so funny.

Day 2236: Stress and rising

Stress: CONSTANT.

Rising: Jesus, apparently. Happy Easter! No, nothing fun for me. I was invited to Danny's family's Easter celebration but I am perpetually stressed so I couldn't quell the never-ending possibilities of failure and stress and all its relatives muster up the wherewithal to go. 

I wish I had more to report. Nicki and I got to hang out again which was absolutely wonderful. It's so good to catch up with her, however few and far between it is for us. How crazy is it to think we've known each other almost eight years? And how ironic and funny is it that I have somehow taken on every aspect of her old life in Milwaukee? She's okay with it, so I am too.

I have been listening to "Clair de Lune" on repeat for the past few days. Easy listening and hopefully some brain cells are getting fired up and keeping some of this absurd amount of information in my head.

The weather has been picking up lately, hello high 40s/low 50s, so Danny and I have enjoyed some outdoor runs these past few days. It's amazing a) how fast that ex-fat-boy runs, and b) how much I hate running and I still do it, haha.

I have discovered the beauties of wine (aka merlot and pinor noir aka the chump/intro wines) and am somewhat obsessed. I drink 1 serving (5 ounces) a night and kind of not-so-secretly love it. I wonder if I am trying to dull my stress. (It isn't working.)

I have decided I actually want to participate in things so I ran for some student assembly positions (I assume I will not win) and I'm attending this delegates/Wisconsin Medical Society thing in a few weekends. It's been meetings galore lately which is good (I'm actually involved in something) and bad (I lose even more time that I could be studying).

I WANT THESE NEXT THREE MONTHS TO BE OVER. The stress is unbearable. I am interminably behind in every aspect of my life -- school, friends, family. I want to die. Writing out this stress has not alleviated it in any way and is actually reminding me how much I should be learning. Don't go to medical school. This is the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life. Second to almost-being-a-vegetarian-that-one-day, and even that was done in a day.

Sigh. It gets better right?

Day 2228: Back to reality

It has taken me a bit longer than I would have liked to get back in to school-mode, but here it is, in full force. One of the (delightful) reasons for the delay was that my dearest Nicki was in town! Danny and I took her out to lunch and it was a delicious (literally and figuratively) time.

Reunited!

As hinted to in the Spring Break post, the ever-impending boards draw nearer and nearer. At this point, all of us M2s are either talking about them or stressing about them or both. My game plan is doing questions. All day, every day. I do a block (46 questions in an hour) of questions every day. I learn from my mistakes. I learn for school. I am stressed. I lose focus. I get stressed about losing focus. Rinse. Repeat.

Speaking of boards, the more and more I speak to upperclassmen/M3s about it, I think my 5-week study period might be too long. My original thought process when selecting my exam date was, how the hell am I supposed to re-learn all of med school in five weeks??? After M3s broke it down for me -- when the true panic and fear of boards sets in after finals, I will (actually) study at least 8 hours per day, 7 days a week...over five weeks that amounts to at least 250 hours of studying -- that's a lot of time. My mother, I am sure, thinks that I need more time (thank you for the added stress Mother. I know you don't intend on adding stress to my life, but you somehow manage to provide it plentifully), but I am 10,000% sure that I will burn out. Way before then. So, the moral of this paragraph is, I am considering moving my date up one week to June 10th (versus my current date of June 17th). I'll know better in the next few weeks if that date is plausible. In three weeks or so, our school is giving us a NBME (aka practice boards) exam. That will be the deciding factor for me.

Thank goodness Nicki was in town to provide a fun picture for this post, right? Or else it would be about boring old stressful-as-hell boards. Thanks for the study/blogging break team. Now....break!

Day 2224: Let's hear it for New York

Here they are. The New York pictures. If you follow my Instagram, which most of you do, you will have seen a majority of these. Nevertheless...the pictures.

Work-for-hire picture by Jamey (Danny's brother)

Times Square, or as Danny calls it "people soup"

World Trade Center / Freedom Tower

The love of my life.

Manhattan Bridge

Central Park - Turtle Pond

Belvedere Castle, Central Park (with Danny and Jamey)

Me and my lovely ladies at Brooklyn Bowl

Talib Kweli at Brooklyn Bowl (a stupendous show!)

Talib sang "You Say He's Just A Friend," "Eleanor Rigby,"
and basically rocked the socks off everyone in the venue.

30 Rock

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Danny wrote a little
farewell to Pope Benedict on behalf of his family.

Atlas, near Rockefeller Plaza

It's official -- Danny likes New York when it's warm.

Shutter-priority takes forever and makes for blurry photos.
This darling was the most amazing and accommodating host!

Day 2214: Spring Break

It's finally here!

Yesterday, Friday, I took the entire day off and it was glorious. I slept in. Danny and I went to meet Neehar for lunch at Milwaukee Ale House, where I ate a bacon-stuffed-bacon-cheeseburger and had a yummy stout beer to wash it down. Then, my burger was obviously too filling, so I came home and took a nap while Danny played Tomb Raider 4. I woke up, I watched some TV on my computer and Danny continued to play his video game. We went to a classmate's house around 8:30pm where they were having a little get-together. There were about 15 people there and it was a ton of fun. They had food and booze (a perfect combination for a good time) and it was all the classmates I like, so I couldn't have asked for anything better :)

Today, I slept in and finally cleaned my apartment (dirty dishes, the bathroom, my room, my closet, etc). How I love a clean living space. Then I went to the gym (my gym schedule has been extremely erratic lately) which I loved. And then I went to Target to run some errands. Then to the grocery store to buy some vegetables (since my life has consisted of eggs and pasta the past few days). Then home to make this. While chopping the vegetables for the quinoa salad, I watched some Global Health videos for an assignment. Now I have to write a one-page reflection on each video. Then, I will either do some Step 1 (that's what my upcoming boards) studying or learn more kidney stuff for this block of pathology.

I am taking a relaxed approach to spring break. I definitely plan on studying, but I am so happy that there is no new material for an entire week! This will let me solidify what we have learned so far in path and also start getting my Step 1 study schedule together.

For those of you I haven't told, unlike last year, where spring break was this wonderful time of going home and seeing my family, spring break this year is more like the mark of doom. Every M3 (third year medical student) I have spoken to says spring break (or right after) is when you begin actually studying for boards. Well, I have been studying every (few) days for it since late January. Even so, I don't feel terribly ahead of the game. Instead, I have a minor panic attack every day about how spring break is almost/now here and how I still feel like I don't know anything. Don't get me wrong, I know some things, but not everything. And that, my friends, freaks me the hell out.

So, the next five days will be filled with learning but at a less stressful and erratic pace.

Danny, his brother and I are off to New York on Thursday as my last hoorah of fun. (YAY!) I still plan on studying in New York because that's my life from here until June but so be it. As I was discussing with an M3 pal of mine, getting to and through boards is a rite of passage for every medical student. I plan on kicking this rite's butt and sealing my fate as a future urologist.

(Are these wordy posts getting annoying? My next post will have pictures, promise.)

Day 2176: Urology and unnecessary rudeness.

Hi! We had our elective lottery this week and I got urology, like I wanted! :) Hello full schedule of rotations!

This is the order: ob/gyn, psych/neuro, anesthesiology/emergency medicine, family med, urology, 1 week winter break, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics.

Speaking of Ob/Gyn, I contacted the clerkship director (extremely early) to ask for time off in July for my friend's wedding (my third time as bridesmaid, much to the displeasure of my mother who believes I am now cursed/jinxed to never marry). Well, this is the "sweet" reply she sent:

Hi Jessica

We do not give time off from the clerkship for weddings.  However, you only need to report to your assigned hospital location on the weekends if you are on call.  Currently, we require two days of weekend call (separate weekends) and allow the students to create their own call schedules. I cannot promise you this policy will continue for the next academic year as we continue to review the clerkship, but I think you will most likely be able to work the call schedule out with your classmates to ensure you have that weekend off to attend the wedding.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

So, I think it means I will get the wedding weekend off. I think? I'll keep you all posted.

Tomorrow, I will shadow a urologist from 8:30am to lunchtime. Lunch with my friend L. Study time. Female physical exam (checking the cervix and uterus with a speculum, performing the bimanual exam). We had a little female exam demonstration/workshop last week and I showed my group how to do it since I was the resident expert (having done 4-5 this past summer; go me).

My new microbiology course starts on Friday, not fun. I am also giving a tour that day for med school interviewees (my aforementioned friend L is interviewing that day! Yay!) so that'll be fun (because I get free lunch and get to be my awesome self).

And! Jess might be working here in Milwaukee for 6ish weeks! Yayyyyy! Boo to the fact that she'll be here from May to June (the absolute worst month/six weeks of my life aka boards/Step 1 studying for 10 hours (no joke) a day). I'll make it work!

Day 2158: More on rotations. NFL Playoffs!

Hey all,

I am hitting a wall with my studying, so, of course, I am going to write a blog post about hitting said wall. Post over. Thanks for reading.

Joke! Okay, so, I want to show you this.

Remember the post on rotations (selection)? Well, apparently, I have to pick 10 of the 16 tracks and hope the lottery will give me my first choice. As you can see, it was stressful trying to pick which other 9 I wanted and apparently, I don't know how to read because I wrote F14 and F15 twice. We will find out on Monday January 21st (tentatively; IT issues live in med schools) which track we all got. I am hoping for B4! That's my baby!

Also! The Packers play the 49ers today! Ahhhh! Who to support?!

I really need to paint/make a 49ers shirt if Jim Harbaugh keeps taking the Niners to the playoffs! Geez! A friend organized a little dinner + playoffs thing at a pub downtown so I'll be headed there shortly. Burgers + fries + classmates I actually like + football (especially Packers/49ers football) = a good time. Pictures to come!

Day 2084: Swamped.

Hello everyone!

I was not as focused as I would have liked before my friend's arrival, but now I am officially in "gunning it" mode. I am blogging as a little study break, seeing as how I have been studying since 9am (and at school since 6:15am).

I am so stressed about school (and so tired) that I had to cancel a shadowing opportunity with a doctor I know because school is my number one priority. My number two priority is the show "Homeland." That show is seriously the best one-hour on television.

Anyhoo, as promised, here are pictures from the weekend!

Snow found Waldo!

Snow White & Little Red Riding Hood

Having a little hat fun at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Shrek 2.0

I don't know what to say to this.

Dia de los muertos mustaches at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Day 2077: The weeks ahead + catching-up

As expected, medical school waits for no one. I am elbow-deep in school stuff. Four pathology lectures, three pharmacology lectures and a bunch of required classes/sessions to attend tomorrow and Thursday.

For whatever reason, the teaching staff has decided to make Block 3 two-and-a-half weeks long for pathology and three weeks long for pharmacology. So, what does that mean? There is no time to lollygag!

It's a good thing I have friends coming in to town, that's always a great studying impetus! My pal Alex is visiting from home to hang out with me (and possibly some med students) for Halloween. She is, unfortunately, coming right when the weather drops to the mid-40s (as a high!), but it should still be a fun time. We're going as fairy-tale themed people so look out for those pictures next week!

A good friend of mine informed me that her boyfriend and she would be renting a car while they are in Chicago next week so they plan to come up to Milwaukee! Yay for friends! Yay for more intense studying...? ...!

Also, Jess and I caught up today via our free iMessage (apparently she got an iPhone while we were being poor keepers-in-touch). It was lovely to get the updates on her life. Miss you!

Day 2013: Just my luck

So, I have had all this unnecessary friend drama in the past few weeks. First, with an ex-close girlfriend and now with my closest friend here at school. I promise, it isn't interesting. It's annoying.

On top of all of that, my grandmother (not my dearest Ama, thank goodness) is in critical condition due to a bowel herniation (in English: her intestines are poking out of places they shouldn't) and my Dad is in Taiwan now to be with her.

I had a hair appointment scheduled for today and on my way to the appointment, I get a call telling me the stylist is out sick and my appointment has to be rescheduled. I need a little TLC right now and it doesn't seem like it is anywhere in sight. Sigh.

Day 2010: The work never ends, post-NYC

Ooph. Med school really just goes and goes and goes.

New York was fabulous. Here are some pictures.

This kid loves to mug.

Life moves on, later in the day of the Empire State shooting.

Birthday dinner!

The new World Trade Center (the funky shaped one)

Danny's favorite picture of me. Studying makes me pout.

Danny and I are disappointed we got so few pictures together! Still, a great trip. I love seeing friends. It only makes my entire world.

Today was a crappy day on a lot of counts (socially/friend-wise and family health-wise) but all the right people called me today to make me feel loved and cared for and reminded me that despite all the downs in life, there are lots of ups around you if you look for them. I love you BFFFH (et al :P)!