So since we last left off, our class had its white coat ceremony. For those of you who don’t know, this is the ceremony where we get short white coats that make our parents think we’re doctors. These same white coats allow other (real) doctors to laugh at us because they have long white coats and ours are so short that if I ever wore a belly shirt (I know what you’re thinking..and no), I’m pretty sure the white coat would end first. Fun fact: the reason doctors have white coats is so that you can bleach them you see, these coats will eventually get blood, vomit, and other wonderful bodily fluids on them (not mine, hopefully). This is the same reason I still have white sheets on my bed.
Something kind of cool happened that day. One of our classmates kept complaining of abdominal pain, and because we had our Emergency Medicine class, his roommates were able to diagnose him with appendicitis. As we were getting out white coats, he was getting an operation in the same hospital. He’s doing fine. They even gave him his own little white coat ceremony before one of our classes.
I also passed my second exam. I think I’m starting to get used to this place and have decided to study a bit more often. I figure, if I can learn more about this thing called medicine, I might as well, right? Now that I’ve settled in, I’m back to “med school is not unbelievably hard but is challenging and requires some work” which I guess anyone could have told you.
Getting Impaired:
The other cool thing that we did recently is called the “impairment exercise,” where for three hours you are either in a wheelchair or in a set of braces that don’t let you move one side of your body. The wheelchair is supposed to simulate a patient who had a car accident and is paraplegic, while the braces simulate a stroke that left you without feeling on one side of your body. I opted for the wheelchair.
I never imagined how hard it was to get around on one of those things. Even when curbs have ramps on them, sometimes it is extremely difficult to get on one. I wanted to go home to get a pair of gloves so that my hands wouldn’t die from all the pushing, but when I got near my block the street was so steep that I decided I’d rather not hit oncoming traffic on my way home. It was very intimidating, especially when an old woman asked me whether I needed help (I answered yes, by the way, and she just continued to stand there). Many people were very helpful and wheeled me around for 10 seconds, and most everyone was nicer to me than they normally would be (I know, not saying much here). I was struggling at one point because I think sidewalks are tilted slightly towards the street so that water can drain, and every time I pushed I veered towards traffic. One older gentleman saw this and told me the following gem “You should get a motorized scooter. You really look like you are having trouble there.” Thanks, grandpa.
I decided I’d had enough of the pity and went for the gold. For about an hour, I went around Central Park’s reservoir on my wheelchair. Apparently, the wheelchairs we got were huge and heavy (and I had one of the heaviest available because it looked comfortable) and when you are actually disabled, they make a custom-fit chair out of titanium that is much lighter. In any case, I got many, many strange looks, a blister, and black hands from all of the dirt. Still, I made it around and felt accomplished. It was also interesting to see reactions. Some people just smiled at me, but the smiles were more like “oh wow look at him struggle.” Some people just kept running by me. Many kids who ran by stared at me and looked back at me. I also though some tourists were going to take photos of me because they seemed so interested. I don’t know whether they though I was training for the Special Olympics or something, but believe me I looked like I did not know how to use the chair because I had a few old women who were power-walking zoom past me.
Some Photos:
No comments:
Post a Comment