Anxiety

Tonight, I might finally see a light at the end of the tunnel... I am not sure yet if it is a train, but I am confident it is not (so please don't break my confidence!)

My exams are 3 weeks from now. I don't remember if I ever told you how it works in my program. Our classes are done in phases, each phase about a system. We do one phase at a time. And then... we do the three exams of the semester in the same week, plus a day for the clinical abilities that are named ECOS. The first medical phase is a little different, being about pediatrics and geriatrics, but the two others phases I have this semester is neurology and psychiatry. I did with the first phase in January, then neurology until the second week of March and we are currently working through psychiatry. So you can imagine that the stuff we saw in January is pretty far in my head. 

Did I ever said that study medicine is difficult? Well, it is not difficult per se. My husband is an engineer and I think his stuff is much more complex. I was never very good with calculus, so when I see what he can do, I am always impressed... That is difficult. Medicine? The concepts are not hard to understand. The issue is more with the amount of concepts to learn in a limited time... There is a phenomenally large amount of information we have to remember, process and be able to use to analyze clinical signs and get to a diagnosis. 

So, to be ready for the exams, I started reviewing my first phase during Spring Break. I didn't do as much as I hoped, so I was starting to get anxious... I don't feel ready at all, and I still have to go through the second phase, which is much more complex... Since last weekend, I was getting more and more anxious (actually, we studied anxiety disorder during that weekend as well, so I better understand the feeling).

But tonight, I see a change in the wind. I finally got to neurology, and it is quicker and easier than I thought... well, maybe (and I say maybe), I can survive this. Maybe, I am smart enough to remember all that stuff. 

I still have a lot to study before being ready for my exams... but I am a strong, determinate woman, I CAN DO THIS!

Sleep tight

After 7 months and many sleepless nights looking at it, my bedroom is finally painted and done! Since we moved in in August, I haven't found the time to paint it. It was really depressing, because there was many holes in the walls that had been filled. My walls were looking like polka dots...

So, last weekend, while babysitting my brother's 4 and 8 years old, I decided it was about time I did something about this and painted it. It is nothing exceptional and it won't make the next issue of any decoration magazine, but for me, it made a huge difference. Maybe you think I am a little "precious", but I feel it is much more relaxing to sleep in a room where there is no spots on the walls. 

And as my husband said, that was the last room that had not been painted yet... upstairs, except for the bathroom, but that is another story. There is still a few rooms that needs painting in the basement, including my study. I am confident we'll get to that, someday.

(My next project: the upstairs bathroom... I am already working on my plans, my husband don't know it yet, so don't tell him :-) It will be so fantastic to finally have a shower there!)

Spring break or reading week?

This week is what they call "spring break"... Why is it called like that? Have you ever been to Quebec in March? It is surely not spring!  I didn't had the heart to send the kids play outside yesterday, cause Siri told me it was -26 degrees Celcius. I figured they would be frozen within 15 minutes, so not worth the time of putting on their snow gear and then remove the whole thing. And I would risk hypothermia for both, and since I am babysitting my niece (her parents are in Vegas), I am not sure my brother would appreciate a call to come back because his daughter is in the hospital with a few toes missing!

So, what are you doing during spring break? Vacations in the sun? Apparently, we are suppose to take time for us, and go outside... Well, it's not how I did it, not for the whole week. Last Friday, as we were planning the week with my husband, I calculate that to do all I wanted to do, I would need approximately 80 hours. So, clearly, this was not going to be a walk in the park for the whole week! Have you ever been told that medical student have time for a life outside of studying? Well, it is true, but you have to take everything into account. My "outside" is my family. 

For this week, trying to cut stuff out, there is some that I have no choice, like doing my tutorial that is due for Monday morning. That alone is about 20 hours. Since I have 3 exams the same week in mid-April, I wanted to start reviewing, so I have a first review done. In this program, we have only 1 exam that counts for 100%. In April, we will have the 3 written exams, and a practical exam, on the same system as the Mini-Multiple Interview. That gives you 12 minutes to prove that you have mastered what you needed to learn during the phase. I am not that confident that I will perform there...

What am I doing during this spring break? Studying. Studying. And, let me think, yes! studying... I still want to try to keep a balance life, so we decided I would study during the week, and keep the weekends textbook free. Last weekend, we had some shopping done on Saturday (I don't remember when I went to the shopping mall before, probably for Christmas gifts) and then we went skiing the whole family on Sunday. That was fun! Princess was very happy to have me with them (she is going with my husband every other weekend). We haven't planned next weekend yet, probably some painting, maybe even our bedroom (that still have a lot of white patches from wall repair we've done but not painted yet!) I feel that having a real relaxing bedroom would help with sleep. What do you think?