It’s insane to me that I’ve been in medical school for ten weeks because it feels like time is flying by. Most days, I don’t even realize how long ago I’ve initially learned a topic or completed an assignment. It all feels like a whirlwind. The tenth week was surprisingly not too bad. I can’t actually remember any specific incidents from the actual week. There was no journal club assignment or FOSCE or formative exam. 

On Monday, I discovered that I could do my laundry and watch lectures at the same time because there is wi-fi at my laundromat. As a result, I was able to complete a few lectures without wasting time driving home and back to the laundromat. I also managed to get through most of my lectures by Monday. It felt really good to discover another productivity hack because I am always looking for ways to make the most of my time. 

On Tuesday, I finished all my lectures for the week. I was so happy because it gave me the chance to actually study my Anki cards. I don’t remember doing much else on Tuesday. There were required events throughout the week, and I attended some lectures because they were different from last year. In fact, there was one environment lecture that got me very excited because I am hoping to create a Global Public Health Interest Group event from it. 

I also picked up my badge for my pre-clinical site! My drive is about thirty minutes from my school, so it was nice to go there and figure everything out ahead of time.

On Wednesday, I mostly did Anki. There was a required event that I felt was a waste of my time because I didn’t learn too much new information. Outside of that, I was able to come home and just spend hours doing Anki cards. This change really motivated me to try to get all my lectures done at the beginning of the week so I have all the cards and time to actually study.

This Thursday was a big change from the usual. In the morning, we were given a lecture about what to expect for our pre-clinical sites. It was helpful to know what needed to be done, as well as what we should expect. Afterwards, we were sent off to work with standardized patients. For this session, we learned the “fatigue cluster exam.” Essentially, we learned what to observe in patients who have concerns regarding fatigue. We also learned how to examine the thyroid! Afterwards, we were given the chance to learn how to handle the otoscope and ophthalmoscope. 

Here are some pictures:

Thursday afternoon was a rollercoaster. The research course introduced narrative medicine. For this session, we were given a few pages to read from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanathi. If you haven’t read the book, it’s an amazing read. The book was written by a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with cancer toward the end of his training. 

I had read the book before, and our school wanted us to focus on our emotions and thoughts surrounding our donors for the anatomy lab. 

However, I was not expecting one of Paul’s anatomy professors to present his story and include some of her personal losses. By the end of this lecture, I was very close to crying. She showed us pictures of Paul and his wife when they were young physicians in training. She also showed us pictures of Paul while he was in his residency. She even included a photo of them with their daughter. 

The whole session put into perspective how life can be cut so short. It was difficult for me to handle those emotions. I actually cried in the small discussion groups while trying to explain Hindu funeral practices. I had greatly underestimated how the lecture made me feel, and it made me realize that emotions can really get the better of a person no matter how hard they try to control them.

This session also made me realize that I really need to do more thoughtful reflections of my life. Thus far, I think about all the activities I have done and a little bit about how I feel but never anything profound. 

Except, every week I am just amazed by my mind and my body. Medical school truly pushes a person in ways that are unimaginable, and I am usually just shocked by how much I have adapted. For instance, I can listen to lectures at two times the speed with no issues now. At first, it was very difficult, and it just felt like I was pushing myself too far. I can also think about patient interviews more smoothly. Don’t even get me started about all the information that has been presented to me. There’s just so much going on in my mind. 

Additionally, I notice that I am just so truly happy to be here. I wake up and feel blessed that I actually made it to medical school. I am actually living my dream, and I just love it so much that the negative emotions don’t last very long. 

I have my bad days, and days when my body and mind don’t feel 100%. In fact, for most of the last nine days, I had been feeling homesick because it was Navratri. Navratri is a nine night Hindu festival that celebrates good prevailing over evil. More specifically, my region of India celebrates it as the nine nights it took our goddess Durga to fight and prevail against a horrible demon. 

During this festival, I did a little bit to make it feel a bit more special and auspicious. In the end, I was very sad that I wasn’t at home going to the mandir (temple) with my family. I was especially sad that I wasn’t able to do garba with my siblings and cousins. Garba is a dance form that comes from the state of Gujarat. It is a great deal of fun that I haven’t been unable to enjoy since 2019. However, I was still very happy to be in medical school and I just wanted to keep learning and improve myself. 

Anyway, that’s all I can remember from last week and probably as far as my “profound” reflection will get me. I do want to say that the most exciting part of my day outside of my usual medical school activities was getting a free pumpkin that I am going to carve after my exam!

Let me know what you think of this format!