Med Chronicles: To the people

Before I got here, I remember when med school students would always say "the best part of med school is the people". Now that I'm on the other side, I can authoritatively say that that's truly a thing, fo sho. I remember those first few weeks of medical school, when I was so nervous I wouldn't make any friends. I would set up time goals for myself, "If you go to this one social event for 9 PM, then you can leave at 11 PM... 2 hrs is doable." It was so HARD - trying to spark that interest over the same predictable questions with "um what's your name again?". And though #FOMO is maybe not always the best reason to put yourself out there, in this way, I'm super grateful for my #FOMO. Time no longer has any bounds and more often than not, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN McDICKS is closed it's only 2 AM" is the line I find myself thinking out loud.

There are those who will say "you would have met the people you clicked with by now.", but I'm not sure that's the case. The truth is everyone is great and I probably would have fared okay either way, but I'm so much happier than just OK, and I'm eternally grateful to the cosmos for helping me fall into the most wonderful and hilarious of hearts and souls.

Thank you for being my friends. You feel like home - that's why I call you my homegirls and homeboyz. BAM. #deepermeaningwuttt

1. For the "how are you?"'s that come with the ooey gooey "but how are you, really" eyes.
2. For making sure I get home safe.
3. For the unspoken "no TO" rule during phone tag.
4.  For the awkward-silence-after-i-told-a-bad-joke rescues.
5.  For never giving up on motivating me to encourage myself to think about possibly working out.
6.  For letting me sleepover on the fly and eat all your food/candy/water.
7.  For the coffee jaunts.
8.  For listening to the F-stories (otherwise known as stories where most would just not give a F***)
9.  For always saying goodbye before you leave.
10. For helping me differentiate the creepers from the RNG's. 
11. For nodding when I say "f*** it all" but knowing that's never the case.
12. For making all the unimportant things a big deal. And all the actually important things a bigger deal.
13. For not even blinking-an-eye when I spill the code words/names. Like a champ.
14. For always being prepared with equipment during "those times" because I never am.
15. For calling me out on rumination.
16. For making DPAS officially stand for Drunk People At School.
17. For letting me hold your hand against your will.
18. For #lettingme #speaklike #this
19. For never calling me Ti-ti.
20. For all the gtimes.

So much love,
<3 

I need to get these manicures off my chest

Also featuring a bracelet I got for 50 cents from the Glebe Garage Sale :D

A quick makeover

Instead of pinning a bunch of reminders on my bulletin board (it's not like I read those reminders anyway), I've decided to turn it into something pretty. I got out some issues of Chatelaine because I LUUUUUV Chatelaine and went to town.

Med Chronicles - Examssss bleh

I think I expected this year to change me.

I`ve always enjoyed Science, but I was hoping that having physiology and medical factuology bombarded at me 24/7 would leave me wanting more. I would walk in those doors, become elbow-deep in textbook and be completely inspired by my lecturers and classes that I`d become enamoured with medicine. Unlike undergrad where I was forced to memorize all 24 (26? Damnit.) amino acid structures, medical school would be different – it would be current, relevant, and serve no other purpose but to fuel my curiosity and purpose as a physician-to-be.

I’m not sure that is the case. I’ve realized that medical school, and perhaps medicine, in general, is very much grounded in the tried-and-true. Tradition conquers all because it has a history of “something”; and even mediocre data is better than no data.  It’s not hard to imagine why those few amazing minds become frustrated with the system. Somehow, innovation is always fighting to find its voice, only to be applauded after decades of scepticism. Semmelweiss was frickin’ put in a straightjacket for being a proponent of hand-washing! Why is that? Why is it so hard for “them” to let “us” do something good? Do something meaningful? And let us make-like-a-Gandhi and “be the change” that we want to be? Why even try?

For that reason, I think it’s easy to give up on medicine. That said, this year I’ve been reminded that it’s so much harder to give up on people when you just don’t want to. And I’m constantly re-realizing that medical school is not the “why” or the “what”, it’s merely the “how”. Medicine is the conduit for achieving what I want, which is to make people better. And that’s the thing, right? Nobody is just a person. Everyone is “somebody’s someone” and when we’re out there meeting someone’s mum, dad, child, friend- we sure as hell better deserve their trust. Medicine is an interesting field where trust is given to you in both hands, palms wide opened even before you ask. Unlike everything else in the profession- heck! in this world- it’s the part that comes easy. How counter-intuitive is that?

So maybe when someone trusts you, without hesitation, to make a difference in their LIFE, maybe it’s not totally unreasonable that medical school, and medicine, makes us play it safe. So at the very least, you can practice with the evidenced-based version of good. And maybe in the grand architecture of our lives as physicians, medicine takes up the parking lot that needs to be sketched in. It’s the thing you know won’t change and won’t disappear; you can park your car there, leave it, and feel safe knowing it’ll be there when you come back. We need parking lots so that we can go find the things that truly inspire us. In that way, I think I’ve grown an appreciation for that narrow path that medicine can sometimes be. In another light, the narrow path eventually pushes you off, as it should.

The only reason I came to BC is because I was born and raised in literally “the most boring city in North America”. And I thank my lucky stars every day that I grew up knowing that there must be more.  And now that I’m here, I was right. BC has been nothing short of all sorts of amazing.

This year has changed me and I continue to be hopeful for the ways in which medicine drives out the crazy, aka. the brilliance, in people.  Teeeeheee

an irrelevant picture of soap fruit. so cute though!

Making things portable

I work in a lab so my hands get incredibly dry. The cure? Vaseline. 

Since the Vaseline container I have at home is huge, I’ve been making do by carrying around regular lotion, but the moisture from those just don’t last. So, I finally found some little cases at The Face Shop with which to carry my petroleum jelly. They’re about 1.25 inches in diameter - really portable.

I recently got a second set of ear piercings so I also carry around a cotton ball saturated with cleaning solution to keep up with the disinfecting schedule when I’m out. SEWWWW USEFUL.

They are a really cute colour to boot ~

Lei