tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69281726847899259632024-03-13T22:04:59.534-05:00Toxic MegacolonJohn Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-66025365510748117272010-01-21T17:37:00.002-05:002010-01-21T17:51:46.638-05:00CoastingIt's been a long time since I could ever consider coasting at anything. This journey has been long and arduous, much longer than most people know. However, with a little bit of planning and some diligent work, I have carved out a small amount of time over the next few months where the pace of things will slow down, and I won't have something hanging over me every night when I get home. I have jumped over all the the big medical school hurdles, and really all that remains is time.<br /><br />Certainly there are more things left for me to experience before I am completely done, but most of these are good things, something to look forward to. The obvious landmark is Match Day, when most medical students in the US find out where they are doing their Residency. That date is exactly 8 weeks from today (March 18). That day has been almost 5 years in the making for me, so needless to say I am ready. Graduation will be the other defining moment, a day to celebrate my classmates and my accomplishments, where we will officially be conferred our MD degrees. <br /><br />I am thankful for my experiences to this point, and on some level will miss my medical school time. It is not quite time for me to be completely reflective, but I am sure that time come soon.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-10711177987164328282009-08-31T19:52:00.002-05:002009-08-31T19:59:45.437-05:00ResurrectionI'm sitting here trying to avoid working on my thesis anymore and I thought I would give it a run with another post. It has been a very long time since I have even checked this, so I certainly don't expect anyone to really be following it. There is something cathartic, however, about just writing something down sometimes. <br /><br />Things have really progressed since my last post and I am at the verge of submitting my application for Residency. Needless to say, it's been quite a long journey to this point, but mostly it's been enjoyable. Certainly I have much of the journey left to make, but it with be as an MD, something that I imagine will be better than being a medical student. I expect the work to be harder, which is okay. <br /><br />With my bit of ADD, I am looking forward to a change in pace and scenery, but have no idea what that new setting will be. Perhaps the scene will not change so much, just the circumstances, which is also okay.<br /><br />So here's a post to renewal!John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-62568509909493433292008-04-20T21:38:00.004-05:002008-04-20T21:57:16.898-05:00The internet is a crazy thingSo, just out of curiosity, I googled "CCLCM" to try to figure out what things would pop up. Well, I found that even though I have done nothing to publicize this blog, links to it appear in random places. I am not a computer expert by any stretch, and have no idea what technorati is, so some of this stuff is funny to me.<br /><br />There is really nothing new on the med school front. I am settling in to research and think I am finally getting comfortable with the pace (a little slower than I am used to from my clinical rotations). Things will actually pick up quite a bit now that I have received confirmation of my grant funding (yah!) and can start ordering animals and supplies. I am also recovering from a cold, so tomorrow will take a few minutes to get back into the swing of things after missing most of last week.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-44586428891877082662008-04-06T20:19:00.002-05:002008-04-06T20:23:50.689-05:00Making up for lost timeSo it's been forever since I last posted. I am now on research and trying to plan for Residency. Although I still have 2 years left, I need to have things lined up for away rotations, applications, and Step II CK and CS while I am on research. Now that I have finished my Basic Core rotations, I am looking forward to elective time where I get to design my curriculum.<br /><br />This also provides me the opportunity to use my new computer, a Lenovo ThinkPad T61. So far I have really enjoyed it, and am trying to get used to Vista and the few hiccups along the way. Hopefully, I will take more of an opportunity to stay up on this now.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-22232336962357672282007-11-07T19:29:00.001-05:002007-11-07T19:55:35.030-05:00How to prevent disaster?!?!?!I've learned that no matter how big the hospital seems, it has the potential to shrink at just the wrong moment. Today I was reminded about how important it is to carefully monitor everything you say, regardless of what your intentions are. I seem to find myself asking questions in the wrong manner or venting about a less than optimal experience at just the wrong time. I somehow managed to disparage an entire medical specialty today with one simple question. <br /><br />The question was innocent enough, but it's all about context. It is impossible to predict what reaction someone may have. I think the difficulty is that you are constantly being evaluated as a medical student, in a way that you are not really sure what to do sometimes. I don't have any desire to be disingenous about my goals or career plans, but at the same time I want Attendings to know that I take their rotation seriously. You want to be eager without being over the top. You want to be interested without being patronizing. You want to learn without fear of a negative evaluation.<br /><br />It is interesting that sometimes learning and the process of evaluation don't coincide, and may even conflict. Studying for the test, and being prepared for life aren't necessarily the same thing. In medicine, you hope these two line up. You also hope that ultimately truth prevails regardless of context.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-63840655049336910612007-08-19T10:43:00.000-05:002007-08-19T10:55:47.710-05:00Will I really miss surgery?As I transition from surgery to outpatient internal medicine, I am dealing with mixed emotions. Surgery is physically and mentally demanding because the days are long and you never really feel completely on top of what you are doing. You come in early and stay late, and you're lucky to get a break to grab a bite to eat at any reasonable time. But, I enjoyed it. I am interested in doing surgery as a career and it's almost like a rite of passage to go through this type of life. However, as a student, it's nice to have a little bit of a break to catch up on reading and doing the things that you've had to neglect because time and exhaustion do not work in your favor. It's also weird to just leave patients that you've worked with over the past month to another group of students who are not up to date with all that has been going on in the lives of these patients. As I had a chance to catch up on some rest this weekend, I actually started to mourn the death of my surgical experience. I know I will have the opportunity to do more as I approach my Residency choices, but I was surprised that I had such a visceral response to this rotation ending.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-89782123831806129942007-07-21T03:27:00.000-05:002007-07-21T03:32:29.741-05:00Time for the good stuffSo, now that I have taken (and passed) Step 1, it is time to move on to the fun stuff. I started surgery rotations on Tuesday and thus far it has been fun. Tonight (as I sit here at 4:28 am) is my first night of call. It has been an interesting experience, though not as crazy as it might have been. I have tried to make it through the night without sleeping because that is what hard core people do. I will probably regret this at a later date, but it has been fun learning new ways to get around the hospital and surviving on Mountain Dew. I really don't have any major cool things to mention other than the fact that I am closing in on finishing my first night of call, which will certainly not be the last.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-26500968428195239862007-06-14T11:27:00.000-05:002007-06-14T11:31:59.235-05:00Why Can't I Focus?I take my USMLE Step 1 exactly 2 weeks from today. I have been pretty good about being productive and staying on task. I have two more organ blocks to review before I do my final "memorize everything under the sun" thing the last few days before the exam. For some reason, I am having a lot of difficulty getting back into things today. I think part of the reason is that after about 2.5 weeks of being quite productive, I am just sorta bored with the whole studying thing. I guess I feel like my score is going to be in a certain range no matter how much I do between now and the exam. I also think a lot of it depends on what form I get and how well I know that particular set of questions. If it is heavy on Micro, then I may be screwed, but I have Path, Pharm, and Phys pretty much down cold. I guess I figure that taking a few minutes to post here will kill my boredome long enough for me to regain focus on my studying.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-51853872858396564832007-05-17T07:22:00.000-05:002007-05-17T08:11:15.512-05:00BittersweetBeing 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.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-20226986815295633272007-05-15T20:43:00.000-05:002007-05-15T21:00:59.026-05:00What I should be doing<div><br /><br /><div>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. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>I need more of this: <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BO7yB9scdSE/RkplY1vAKWI/AAAAAAAAAAk/nJ5T5wuyHb0/s1600-h/Sunset.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064972208347031906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BO7yB9scdSE/RkplY1vAKWI/AAAAAAAAAAk/nJ5T5wuyHb0/s320/Sunset.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Less of this: <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BO7yB9scdSE/RkplwVvAKXI/AAAAAAAAAAs/dGVm4RqRw70/s1600-h/Winter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064972612073957746" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BO7yB9scdSE/RkplwVvAKXI/AAAAAAAAAAs/dGVm4RqRw70/s320/Winter.jpg" border="0" /></a></div></div>John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-62502225297433403992007-05-15T20:31:00.000-05:002007-05-15T20:35:24.174-05:00Second Post EverI 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.John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928172684789925963.post-70875831244613066512007-05-15T19:40:00.000-05:002007-05-15T19:50:03.158-05:00First blog post everSo, 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.<br /><br />You may find various pictures of toxic megacolon at: <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=toxic+megacolon&gbv=2">http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=toxic+megacolon&gbv=2</a>John Dorianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04484847643085157310noreply@blogger.com39