Bittersweet

Being an older medical student certainly has its advantages and disadvantages. Maybe later I'll expand on what I think that means, but I think one issue that I deal with here are those moments that are truly bittersweet. These times are when you get to revisit some semblance of your past, when life was normal and you get to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, at the same time, you realize how much you left behind and currently don't get to do as a medical student because you spend so much of you time studying or in clinic. Obviously, these experiences are both good and bad. We had an event last night to celebrate finishing 2nd year of medical school, marking a huge achievement and transition into what should be a more fun time. It was at an awesome estate with tons of food and drink. It's not like I used to go to parties like this on a regular basis, just that my former life granted the opportunity to do that more often. Despite the nostalgia the experience stirred, it also served as a great source of motivation to keep plugging along and to know that soon enough, I'll be there again and this time won't be haunted by the thoughts of "what might have been" if I had only chosen another career path.

What I should be doing

So as I am sitting here trying to work on this and watching the ACM awards, what I really should be doing is studying for USMLE Step 1. I am taking the test in about 6 weeks so I should probably be a little more stressed than I am right now. I only have 1.5 weeks left in school, so I guess right now I am just looking forward to finishing that up. I am also heading to the OBX for a few days when school is over to decompress before I start the hard core study mode. Maybe when I have a little more motivation for school, I will post some interesting tidbit about medical school or medicine in general.

I need more of this:

Less of this:

Second Post Ever

I promise the titles won't continue to be numbered. I am still trying to format the page the way I want and figure out what elements to include. The page looks a little empty right now with just one entry, so basically I am just adding this to fill up the page and see what it will look like with more than one entry.

First blog post ever

So, I figured I'd give this blogging thing a try. It's not that I think I am that interesting or anything. For anyone curious about the origin of the name, I am a medical student and always thought toxic megacolon was one of the coolest complications of a disease. I also thought it would be a great name for a hard core rock band, but since I am not that musically inclined, I figure the best way to stake my claim to it would be to create a blog. However, I am sure someone else has already used it because the address toxicmegacolon.blogspot.com was not available for me to use. Anyway, I am not sure how much I will use this, but here is a start.

You may find various pictures of toxic megacolon at: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=toxic+megacolon&gbv=2