It's the little things...

Some things are in my control... like showing up an hour and half early to claim the seat I want.

Success. =)

Where, Oh Where..

I disappeared for a while. I'll try to be back now :)

Last semester was very difficult. I found that it was MUCH easier to blog when you are doing well and are proud of yourself.  I am (now) proud of myself for finishing and passing all my classes my first semester. Anatomy, for me, was EXTREMELY difficult, but I passed, and that's all that matters....

Somewhere in there I got my white coat!! They had a nice ceremony for us and my parents came down. It was fun and wonderful to see them right before the finals kicked off.  

Me saying the NSU-SWFL PA "Oath"

Me and my group of friends :)

I finished on a Tuesday morning, and then I got to go home. For like a week and a half. It was marvelous.  I got to see all of my friends and I got to go SHOPPPPPPING with my fantastic mother, and I got to eat out at real restaurants with company, and I got to go sailing with my brother Mark, among so other things.
I really had a fantastic vacation.  And in 104 days, I get to go on another vacation with my parents :)

So, on to the next semester.. I am taking 23 credit hours.
- Pathophysiology
- Clinical Lab Medicine 1
- Clinical Medicine and Surgery 1
- Electrocardiography
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology 1
- Physical Diagnosis 2

And this is what my schedule will look like for most of the semester...

The red are totally tests, btw...

 Starting up again is totally bittersweet.. I am very much looking forward to starting again so that I can get it over with and in December be halfway through the didactic year of PA school.. I am NOT looking forward to missing my mom and dad sooooo much and that awful pit-in-the-stomach feeling that doesn't seem to disappear during school....
On a different note, that is slightly (very) ridiculous of me... I am SERIOUSLY hoping I get the same seat as last semester.. Like, I need my seat. I loved my row, I loved where I sat, and I need that back. But it's not an early day tomorrow, which means I have no clue when people are getting there to try to get my awesome seat.. How early is too early? I guess we'll see tomorrow...

I shouldn't start worrying before I need to, and definitely shouldn't worry about things that don't matter, such as a seat..I have a hard time with worrying, but I'm working through it, as best as I can. Here's to another semester... wish me all the luck :)

Hard

I've said it before, I'll say it again... PA school is hard...

But, today was a good day, so I'll talk about that :) 

This weekend, I prepared for a physiology test. Here's part of my studying... Fun, right?!

 

I got a 90, so studying paid off. I'm not doing as well in Anatomy, and am having a hard time trying to find a good study method.  Whatever I did worked well for Physiology, so I'll try the same with Anatomy and see if it works out for me :) 

Today, we also got our white coats! We don't "officially" have them yet, we just were given them to make sure they are pressed and fitted for the actually White Coat Ceremony on August 5 (when I get to see my parents again and hopefully Mary - YAY)

I was going to show you pictures of me in my white coat, fresh out of the bag... but I think I'll hold out until the ceremony. Here's a little sneak peak (and the best part, if I do say so myself). 

I also got to see HARRY POTTER today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was good, but not even close to how awesome the books were. Still glad I got to see it, however.  Snape was BY FAR my favorite.

Other than my mental breakdowns, life is pretty uneventful. I got to see my mom this weekend, and it made all the difference. She is so good to me and I love her so much. 

After this week..

Only 4 weeks left...

I can do this.

I can do this.

I CAN do this. 

and I will. 

:)

500+

The best and definitely most accurate description of PA school would be trying to take a sip of water out of a fire hydrant.

The amount of information that they throw out at you is so overwhelming. For instance, we have an Anatomy test on Monday. There are 50 questions on the test. Guess how many slides there are.... 536. That's right OVER 500 slides for 50 questions. Absolutely outrageous. And because you really don't know what's going to be on it, you have to study of all.

Here is what is happening on a daily basis::

And here is what I am learning to do..

Practical.

I went in at 10am for physiology this morning and then we finished at noon. I went downstairs to eat outside with a couple of my friend, then about a half an hour later, we went upstairs to practice for the practice.

Today's practical was the Lung and Thorax exam.  For our practicals, we are randomly assigned a partner and an exam room.  We are usually given our partners ahead of time to be able to practice with them. I have been pretty fortunate to know all of my partners so far. Anyways, back to today. Today's was pretty simple, only 33 points that we need to memorize.

So, basically, this is what happens:: We have a lecture over that topic, and the same week we have a lab that we are shown the correct methods and have a teacher in there to help us and make sure we have the right technique.  Within the next week, we have our practicals.  For our practicals, we have a list of points that we need to make sure we SAY and DO.  Saying it is just as important as doing it. We have to perform the correct technique but we are not actually allowed to "diagnose." (As in when doing vitals, we can't actually find the BP or temp.. or when doing skin, we can't actually assess the skin - for legal reasons).  It isn't too hard, just making sure you get every point - saying and doing it correctly. I like it because it's hands on and practical -- it's easy to see the practicality of it. 

Anyways, I got a 97 today.. I said it, but I didn't quite do it correctly. Luckily I had a good proctor so she showed up the correct method and technique.

3 practicals down, 5 to go!
AND at the end of this week, I will be HALF WAY THRU MY FIRST SEMESTER IN PA SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life.

Life is not exciting.

I have accomplished so far...

• 1 Anatomy Test
• 1 Anatomy Quiz
• 1 Physiology Test
• 1 Lab Practical 
• 3 Physical Diagnosis Quizzes
• and HOURS AND HOURS of classes...

That may not seem like much, but I feel like I never leave the school, and when I do, all I do is study.
I have lost all concept of what day it is and what day of the week it is and mental breakdowns are daily for most of the class, and I am no exception.

PA is school is hard and exhausting, but more importantly, it is rewarding.
All the time I spend upset and confused and unmotivated is completely wiped away the minute I use and opthalmascope and can actually see what I'm supposed to see, or the moment I do good on a quiz or understand a difficult concept and definitely in the moment that I can actually picture myself doing this one day.

I CAN do this. I just need to remind myself of that daily.

And for your viewing please, here are some pics of my daily reality..

Sometimes

Sometimes you just don't do as well as you want, and sometimes you do better than you expect....

I guess you just gotta roll with the punches, do better the next time, and be proud of your successes.

...a lesson I am learning daily.