Well, I'm glad that I finally got my shadowing prospect in gear... but just when I thought things were going smoothly, they came to a screeching halt - then began going smoothly again... sort of.
It turns out that the (4th) lady who I was in contact with, was completely unaware of the initial email correspondence that I had with the woman from the Neuro Department, which I'd posted below. Anyways, "4th lady" thought that I was already a medical student and that I was interested in the Observership Progrem. At first I thought that was just another way of saying "physician shadowing"....maybe it was an archaic term. I turned pale when I noticed that the paperwork she sent me required all of my medical school information as well as my USMLE test scores (ummm....).
Immediately I emailed her back explaining that I was not a medical student, just an undergrad looking to shadow (and I also forwarded my initial email correspondence.) I thought that she would come back with something like, "Oh I'm sorry for the misunderstanding but unfortunately, we do not offer such opportunities here. Good luck." *insert door slam sound here*
To my relief she emailed me back with the correct paperwork!! Oh and I was so sure that I was going straight back to square one. So on Monday, I'll fax it back to her immediately. Once she has it in hand, she said that she would check about availability. All I'm asking for is once a week, lady. You cant tell me that there is no availability for that.
If this works out, then I will have all bases covered: Research - check. Shadowing - check. Volunteer - check. Related work experience - check.
Keeping my fingers crossed!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
That was fast!
I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. When the lady who replied to my email said that someone will contact me, my first thought was "yea right." Thats what they always say...
Surprisingly my phone rang just 10 minutes ago! Impressive. So I was told that I have to call the Medical Education office to fill out a slew of paperwork. Okay, thats fair. I called them and spoke to someone who fowarded me the application that I'll need to fill out. I cant do that right now because I have no access to a printer. Grr. I'll have it sent back by the end of the week though (hopefully). It will take about 1-2 weeks to process.
As far as hours, they have opportunities to shadow doctors M-F 1pm-5pm. I dont have my class schedule in front of me but I'm pretty sure that can work. I know that on thursday I have a pretty light day. My only class is genetics and I get out at 1:30. So maybe after that I can head over to the hospital. 3-4:30 sounds ideal.
I'm bubbling with excitement!
Also, tomorrow I'm meeting with the prof again at the neuro lab to discuss the reading material that he sent home with me:
Characterization of Periinfarct Flow Transients With Laser Speckle and Doppler After Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in the Rat.
AND
Impaired chloride homeostasis triggers hyperexcitability owing to decreased GABA synaptic function following focal ischemia in the neocortex.
Not exactly beach reading. I've become a pro at looking up words though. :)
On a completely different note. Everytime I have conversations with my dad about dieting I secretly wished that I had gone into nutrition just so i can justifibly be the one who is right. I stress: justifibly. He has the most skewed perception of dieting and nutrition out of anyone that I know. Check out his new "diet:"
- No more Breakfast
- Salads for lunch
- And for dinner, maybe a piece of fish.
Okay, fish is great, no doubt about that. But, the ongoing debate has been about the breakfast thing. I completely disagree with the notion of not having breakfast. That type of deprivation is very very bad. How can anyone think that depriving your body of food for over 12 hours is healthy? Especially with him being a diabetic, the first thing to go are glucose levels. Those dry up like prunes on south beach.
Fat. He is obsessed with fat being in "everything." Everything that has sugar means that it turns into fat. Lets not discuss the fact that there are a ton of "sugars." Lactose, galactose, maltose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, and im sure there are more. Eating a piece of fruit and consuming the fructose in it doesnt mean an instant 15 pounds. Fat is essential for proper brain function, the distribution of vitamins, the list goes on.
He says that proper nutrition (i.e. the workings of the human body) is "common sense." If it were that simple, then everyone would be a doctor.
He says that unless you exercise and burn off everything you put in your body, you'll gain weight. EVERYTHING? ANYTHING? I brought up the scenario of fruit again (since he's banned fruit from the house recently). I said suppose you have a bowl of strawberries in the morning for breakfast (Id rather have pancakes and eggs), do you think that you'll gain weight from it? The answer was yes. I was floored. His rationale was that it'd turn to fat if it wasnt worked off. A bowl of strawberries? C'mon. Well, whatever, I think I've vented enough. I'm making myself hungry too. I think I'll go cook a filet mignon smothered with pepperjack cheese, some truffle mash potatoes, a vanilla milkshake and for dessert, a big bowl of uncooked brownie mix, which I will eat with a ladle.
Surprisingly my phone rang just 10 minutes ago! Impressive. So I was told that I have to call the Medical Education office to fill out a slew of paperwork. Okay, thats fair. I called them and spoke to someone who fowarded me the application that I'll need to fill out. I cant do that right now because I have no access to a printer. Grr. I'll have it sent back by the end of the week though (hopefully). It will take about 1-2 weeks to process.
As far as hours, they have opportunities to shadow doctors M-F 1pm-5pm. I dont have my class schedule in front of me but I'm pretty sure that can work. I know that on thursday I have a pretty light day. My only class is genetics and I get out at 1:30. So maybe after that I can head over to the hospital. 3-4:30 sounds ideal.
I'm bubbling with excitement!
Also, tomorrow I'm meeting with the prof again at the neuro lab to discuss the reading material that he sent home with me:
Characterization of Periinfarct Flow Transients With Laser Speckle and Doppler After Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in the Rat.
AND
Impaired chloride homeostasis triggers hyperexcitability owing to decreased GABA synaptic function following focal ischemia in the neocortex.
Not exactly beach reading. I've become a pro at looking up words though. :)
On a completely different note. Everytime I have conversations with my dad about dieting I secretly wished that I had gone into nutrition just so i can justifibly be the one who is right. I stress: justifibly. He has the most skewed perception of dieting and nutrition out of anyone that I know. Check out his new "diet:"
- No more Breakfast
- Salads for lunch
- And for dinner, maybe a piece of fish.
Okay, fish is great, no doubt about that. But, the ongoing debate has been about the breakfast thing. I completely disagree with the notion of not having breakfast. That type of deprivation is very very bad. How can anyone think that depriving your body of food for over 12 hours is healthy? Especially with him being a diabetic, the first thing to go are glucose levels. Those dry up like prunes on south beach.
Fat. He is obsessed with fat being in "everything." Everything that has sugar means that it turns into fat. Lets not discuss the fact that there are a ton of "sugars." Lactose, galactose, maltose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, and im sure there are more. Eating a piece of fruit and consuming the fructose in it doesnt mean an instant 15 pounds. Fat is essential for proper brain function, the distribution of vitamins, the list goes on.
He says that proper nutrition (i.e. the workings of the human body) is "common sense." If it were that simple, then everyone would be a doctor.
He says that unless you exercise and burn off everything you put in your body, you'll gain weight. EVERYTHING? ANYTHING? I brought up the scenario of fruit again (since he's banned fruit from the house recently). I said suppose you have a bowl of strawberries in the morning for breakfast (Id rather have pancakes and eggs), do you think that you'll gain weight from it? The answer was yes. I was floored. His rationale was that it'd turn to fat if it wasnt worked off. A bowl of strawberries? C'mon. Well, whatever, I think I've vented enough. I'm making myself hungry too. I think I'll go cook a filet mignon smothered with pepperjack cheese, some truffle mash potatoes, a vanilla milkshake and for dessert, a big bowl of uncooked brownie mix, which I will eat with a ladle.
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