Watching 21 Years Med School Pass by in 2 Hours

This morning I woke up sore from my shoulder and upper back (I guess from being so good at throwing a foam football around). I thought that showering might make it feel better by a little bit, but it did not really do much. I came out just in time for breakfast and when I walked over, I was one of the first few there. Our group gradually met together at a table near the exit after getting our meal cards scanned. We had an interesting conversation on crazy dreams, and Arnold told me about one of his dreams where he was just flying and it felt like he was actually flying. Hummd shared that one of her childhood dreams were really gory because of the fact that she watched a scary movie before going to bed. After breakfast, Hummd, Arnold, and I among two other people have officially figured out a totally wheelchair accessible path to get to and from class. 

Class started off with a pop quiz (my favorite)! I do not think that I did so bad on it, I answered all of the questions but was only unsure about two of them. While the rest of the class was finishing up on their test, I started reading more of the Hmong book. The professor graded all of the tests while everyone started reading the same book. I do not know what I got on my test yet, but she started playing the Doctor Diaries, a movie that was documented from the first day of medical school at Harvard following several students throughout their lives for 21 years. Before we had to leave for lunch, our professor paused the movie at a really big cliffhanger. (Spoiler alert) There was a surgery in process that was caught on video, and the patient's heart stopped beating so then it had to be manually pumped. The patient's doctor had previously told him that he was going to be fine and that the surgery would be well, but unfortunately, after I came back from lunch, the patient eventually flatlined. 

The movie resumed onto a c-section surgery with the medical students around the operation table to gain experience while shadowing the professionals and doing some of the hands-on tasks too. The graphics personally did not really get to me because I am fascinated with the human body and have been used to seeing body parts and blood. Then, it was already graduation for the Harvard students. Soon after, all of the medical students were filmed opening up their letters of residency. A common theme that I saw among all of them during the residency period were divorces, tons of stress, and both tragic and happy experiences with patients. The ones who got married during medical school all had divorces due to lack of time spent with their significant others. Working at their residencies took up a large amount of time away from the doctors' personal lives at home, leaving them with only 2-3 hours of sleep per night. Some of them worked with older patients that passed away and one of them even attended her patient's funeral to speak at. After several years at a time, the film makers checked in with each of the doctors again to see how they were doing in their lives. One man was ridiculously remarried 4 times, some of them had families, one of them got married, and a few did not get married yet. The movie ended right when class had ended too (at 3 PM). What great timing! Study hall consisted of reading the same book from earlier, so I went to the same spot that I usually go to read, by the windows at the side of the hall, where it is nice and quiet.

I was hoping to make it to page 90 by the end of study hall, but I had barely made it to page 89 (so close)! It was time for our Arete classes, also it was the last day that we would be in the same one until next week. I am bittersweet on having fencing one last time mostly because I might never get to fence again, but I am looking forward to the art of henna next week! I have actually never handled henna before nor have gotten a henna tattoo so I am very excited for my first time. Anyway, the fencing instructor put the class into groups of 3 again for a small fencing tournament and I was able to get a short reunion and picture with the famous Kat cubed. 

The one on the farthest left is actually named Kathy, then Kathryn in the middle, and then me (Katherine)!

The last ever session of fencing for me ended officially with the instructor giving us helpful links to have more access to fencing (he is actually the president of the fencing board of Tennessee) as well as resources that can help nearby cities of where we live to fund for a fencing club if we decide to make one! At first, coming into the class, I was actually thinking of starting a fencing club, but then once I had the actual hands-on experience, I reconsidered. If a majority of people at my school would want one, then I would want to help to advocate for it and with the help of my instructor I will know how to. 

A very intense game between a student (in white uniform) and the instructor (black equipment). 

There was a bit of free time after lunch (when I had the best brownie ever) and I spent some of the time working on my blog. I went to dinner and was craving some dessert so I went for the super chocolate cheesecake! I shared pieces of it with Hummd and Arnold and it was just the most amazing dessert that has ever been created that I have tasted. 

There were plans for a glow themed dance tonight and for those that did not want to dance, could go in the game room and play games! I went into the dance for a while, but it got really hot so I moved into the game room to check out the games that people were playing. Gwennie was teaching Hummd and a few of our other friends how to tie a square knot for a friendship bracelet, and she ended up making me one!