Wow it’s been a long time. Thought I’d take today, a surprise break from clinical duties, to dust off and revive the old blog.
So much has happened since my last post. I defended my PhD so now I’m Dr. OCD Runner. For those who need a refresher, my doctorate work was in cancer biology. My research specifically focused on the role of DNA repair as a therapeutic target in lung cancer. The defense was on August 23rd and it was amazing. My family came up from Jersey and we just had a small celebratory thing (just dinner and spent the weekend together).
After that, I had about a week or so before I was reintroduced into the life of full time medical student as a 3rd year. I started out with surgery and emergency medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. I was SO INCREDIBLY NERVOUS to start clinical rotations. I’d just defended my PhD and then two weeks later I was feeling like a complete idiot that knew absolutely nothing. My plan for the rotation was just to try my hardest to did what I was supposed to do, when I was supposed to do it. The medical knowledge would come. I’d figure out the anatomy. At least that’s what I told myself.
I made it through both surgery and emergency medicine and thankfully, no one in charge of evaluating me was as hard on me as I was on myself. I took my first shelf exam which is a 100 question standardized test on surgery that all medical students around the country take after completing the rotation. Let me just say that I hadn’t had to focus on a standardized test in 5 years and I did not miss them AT ALL. I sat down to take the test and couldn’t really stay focused. Most med students can remember a question or two from a tough exam…you know the post test post-mortem “what did you think about the question where…” people like to do after exams. Well I couldn’t remember a single question but I can tell you how many pieces of chocolate the fool next to me ate and how many times the guy across the desk from me got up to go to the bathroom. Totally could have used something to help me focus for that one. Thankfully I passed the test and the rotation. Completely surprised that I actually enjoyed surgery. Couldn’t be a surgeon because I enjoy having some time that isn’t in the hospital and for at least the first 5 years of my life I wouldn’t be able to do such things.
Anyway that was September and October. Then for November and December I was at the county hospital (Metro Health) for neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry. Psychiatry was by far the most draining rotation that I have done to date. I spent two weeks on the patient psychiatry ward, locked unit. If I wasn’t afraid of the patients (the schizophrenics or the patients tripping on PCP), I was finding myself too much emotionally invested in their stories. I went home every night feeling like I could actually use a little Ativan and Prozac cocktail to calm down and lift my spirits. Neurosurgery was AWESOME. The first case that I scrubbed for was a woman with a 7cm diameter meningioma. I got to drill a little, and suture a little and outside of standing for sometimes 12hours in the same spot for a surgery, I found rain surgery to be as cool as it sounds.
Now I’m doing obgyn and I have to say that I am presently surprised by the specialty. I didn’t realize how surgical obgyn was. Did you know that for gynecology-oncology, the obgyn physician actually does the laparotomy and bowel resection if cancer of the endometrium or adnexa has spread to involve the gi tract? I certainly had no idea. I’m glad that I made the decision at the beginning of the year to be open minded about all of the clinical experiences. Even though I know I’ll probably go into something oncology related there is something relevant to learn in all of the specialties.
So with all that clinical excitement going on, I certainly fell off the competition prep train. I made it to about 5 or 6 weeks and the dress of finishing my thesis and starting surgery (where I worked some days from 6am to 8pm) was more than enough to bear on its own without having to worry about counting calories and eating every 3 hours. I still was lifting, because it is, after all, the way that I unload my aggression. But like most medical students, I ate when food was available and when I got home from surgeries or talking to suicidal people, I slept.
Lifting and eating a ton of calories means that currently I fit NONE of my clothes. I guess we shall call this an accidental bulk. I weigh right now about 145lbs…there’s quite a bit of new muscle there, but a lot of new fat covering it up too. I have to say I am not a fan of the way I look right now. Thank god I wear scrubs most of the time, because broad shoulders are nice, but broad shoulders and a stomach pooch look nice in no ones shirt.
Anyway, the obgyn schedule so far has been amenable to working out consistently, so since last week I’m back on an every day workout rountine…LOVING IT. Also, the schedule is so far proving to be conducive to eating every three hours so for this week I have packed my meals and am planning to restart Dave’s nutrition plan. The hope is to get this fluff off and to build a solid foundation for competing in a figure competition in October. That will be after my mandatory clinical rotations are over and just before I hopefully start making my tour of the country for
Not sure when the next time I’ll be able to write is. Medical school is a real time suck (understandably so of course =} ). But until next time, stay fit and happy 🙂
OCD Runner 
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