Who Else Feels Crappy?

Started by QofQuimica
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QofQuimica said:
Haha, thanks. Though at this level, C = BC (board certified). 😀

Is it bad if I admit that my strongest motivation for studying is how freaking expensive the exam fees are? The university is going to reimburse me (some day, if I live long enough), but still. No way I want to pay to take this sucker twice!
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Um no. I cringe at having to pay for PALS or ACLS.
 
jl lin said:
IDK, I'd be cool with testing in my own room. Less external stimuli to disturb you. Who cares if there are cameras? Does it seem extreme to me? Yea. I mean really. My other thought though is other students may be distracted and then c/o about someone there with some device. . .and "Oh, how potentially unfair." Of course the examiner establishment has to be careful and protect your HIPAA stuff, so they can't share back to those students that may potentially c/o or call or write, and say to them "Shut the *&% up. That student had an insulin pump you idiots." LOL. Point is, it protects you, them, and other people that may have an issue with it for one reason or another.

Here's rooting for you that you kick butt on your boards exam!!!!
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Thanks for the encouragement! Yeah, it occured to me that it would be an overall benefit: I don't have to worry about other people coughing too loudly or mumbling under their breath. But, I dunno... kind of makes me feel like I really have a disability, when I never really thought about it that way before. There is a part of me that would rather take the test in the common room but then have me bringing my insulin pump into a testing site not thought of like this big "problem" that has to be fixed.
 
QofQuimica said:
Haha, thanks. Though at this level, C = BC (board certified). 😀

Is it bad if I admit that my strongest motivation for studying is how freaking expensive the exam fees are? The university is going to reimburse me (some day, if I live long enough), but still. No way I want to pay to take this sucker twice!
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The $ is the absolute only reason I care about Step 2CS! Well, that and having to take an entire day to act with actors.
 
So frustrated with how 3rd year is graded right now. On surgery and worked harder than ever. Was told what a great job I was doing. Our intern was new and I picked up a lot of the slack so he could be in the OR more which he really appreciated. Got along great with everyone. Still get hit with a bunch of 3's/meets expectations on evals. I wonder at what point residents and attendings forget what it's like to be a medical student. Seems like your grade 3rd year is more dependent on what kind of mood your residents are in when they fill out your evals than how hard you work.
 
Slev said:
So frustrated with how 3rd year is graded right now. On surgery and worked harder than ever. Was told what a great job I was doing. Our intern was new and I picked up a lot of the slack so he could be in the OR more which he really appreciated. Got along great with everyone. Still get hit with a bunch of 3's/meets expectations on evals. I wonder at what point residents and attendings forget what it's like to be a medical student. Seems like your grade 3rd year is more dependent on what kind of mood your residents are in when they fill out your evals than how hard you work.
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I'm sorry to have to tell you that this doesn't change once you're a resident; all their evals are completely subjective based on the whims of attendings, too. Does your school include shelfs in your rotation grade? Make sure you study for those, especially if they get weighted heavily. The other thing that's helpful is to ask classmates or upper levels who have already taken the rotation for tips on how to honor it. Your interns may be able to make some suggestions as well.
 
Slev said:
So frustrated with how 3rd year is graded right now. On surgery and worked harder than ever. Was told what a great job I was doing. Our intern was new and I picked up a lot of the slack so he could be in the OR more which he really appreciated. Got along great with everyone. Still get hit with a bunch of 3's/meets expectations on evals. I wonder at what point residents and attendings forget what it's like to be a medical student. Seems like your grade 3rd year is more dependent on what kind of mood your residents are in when they fill out your evals than how hard you work.
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Yeah I've found little correlation between the input of work done and the output of grade received third year. Or any other year for that matter. Then one day I quit caring about it and my mood and general outlook on life improved dramatically. That kind of attitude doesn't work for everybody, of course, but it sure lowered the number of times I feel crappy.
 
Slev said:
So frustrated with how 3rd year is graded right now. On surgery and worked harder than ever. Was told what a great job I was doing. Our intern was new and I picked up a lot of the slack so he could be in the OR more which he really appreciated. Got along great with everyone. Still get hit with a bunch of 3's/meets expectations on evals. I wonder at what point residents and attendings forget what it's like to be a medical student. Seems like your grade 3rd year is more dependent on what kind of mood your residents are in when they fill out your evals than how hard you work.
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That sucks.

It might also be a function of not knowing what those 3s mean for a student. Sounds like grading schemes for rotations are all over the place and residents likely came from different institutions, so they might not get how exactly that translates.

They weren't med student rotations, but when I did my clinical rotations I had the guy tell me I was doing awesome, I should stay and work there, that I caught on so fast, etc then hit me with all 4s for everything, giving me what would have been a low B for the rotation. I didn't say anything, but the supervisor was the one to submit the evals to the school and he'd worked with me for a few days and was confused by the eval. He talked to the other people who supervised me and the verbal consensus, including the guy who filled out the eval, was that I did an excellent job. So he changed the ratings. I got lucky there. The other guy just didn't know how it worked.

Where I currently work, we serve as a rotation site for clinical lab science students. I overheard one of my colleagues talking to student she was filling out an eval on and she was saying, " I can't give you excellents because I've only worked with you for two days and that just isn't enough time to get to know you. You might be excellent in these categories, but I just can't say for sure."

Meanwhile, I'm thinking that most of our students only spend 2-3 days with each person, so if everybody had that mindset, nobody would ever get As. Even if they were awesome...🙄


Unfortunately no easy answers for that stuff.
 
FYI: If you are driving like an idiot, I will call the police on your sorry tail.

(And by idiot I mean veering over the rumble strips and almost going in the ditch multiple times, almost sideswiping my car in the lane next to you, etc)
 
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wholeheartedly said:
FYI: If you are driving like an idiot, I will call the police on your sorry tail.

(And by idiot I mean veering over the rumble strips and almost going in the ditch multiple times, almost sideswiping my care in the lane next to you, etc)
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Hey, he pays taxes on the whole road. Why shouldn't he use it all?
 
My father-in-law's lung cancer returned as stage IV with bony mets... 🙁 my mother-in-law died this past February and I really don't know what my husband is going to do as an only child if his dad dies this soon... Going to the hospital tomorrow to find out prognosis & the info the docs have... Really feeling crappy tonight...
 
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Prncssbuttercup said:
My father-in-law's lung cancer returned as stage IV with bony mets... 🙁 my mother-in-law died this past February and I really don't know what my husband is going to do as an only child of his dad dies this soon... Going to the hospital tomorrow to find out prognosis & the info the docs have... Really feeling crappy tonight...
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I'm sorry. 🙁
 
Prncssbuttercup said:
My father-in-law's lung cancer returned as stage IV with bony mets... 🙁 my mother-in-law died this past February and I really don't know what my husband is going to do as an only child of his dad dies this soon... Going to the hospital tomorrow to find out prognosis & the info the docs have... Really feeling crappy tonight...
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Wow. I am saddened to hear this. This is the real life stuff hitting hard. Princess, you and your family are in my thoughts/prayers tonight.
 
Prncssbuttercup said:
My father-in-law's lung cancer returned as stage IV with bony mets... 🙁 my mother-in-law died this past February and I really don't know what my husband is going to do as an only child of his dad dies this soon... Going to the hospital tomorrow to find out prognosis & the info the docs have... Really feeling crappy tonight...
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🙁
 
Thanks everyone... I am going to ask my doc today if she'll let me go to his oncology appointment, as of right now they are doing just radiation, but they haven't done a PET scan yet... CANCER SUCKS AND BLOWS and %^&* CANCER!!!!
 
My doc is letting me have the time off to go to his appointment, so that is good. Normally we live in different states, but I set up a rotation near my parents house, so I happen to be around... Ugh... wishing one of those 'cures' for cancer were real, and available!
 
So we did a PET scan today, and the news was pretty good all things considered... PET scan showed the only spot of recurrence seems to be the spot that they found on T7. They already did 10 rounds of radiation, and they're going to reevaluate in 6 weeks. It would seem that we caught this early, and we're hoping that there won't be more spots... fingers crossed!
 
Quik said:
I feel like I contracted ebola.
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lHs0eC8.gif
 
Surgery

5 am get to hospital to pre round
Which translates into up at 3:45 am
Aka major brain fog

Enough said
*yawn*


Posted using SDN Mobile
 
mommy2three said:
Surgery

5 am get to hospital to pre round
Which translates into up at 3:45 am
Aka major brain fog

Enough said
*yawn*


Posted using SDN Mobile
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I feel for you. Just got off surgery. We rounded at 5am so had to get there closer to 4. Hang in there
 
Feeling so bad. Got a 16/50 on my last exam in Trig (don't judge me lol). Went into it thinking I was ready, I knew how to solve everything but my calculations were off by one tiny error. Messed more than half the exam, no partial credit cause the professor doesn't do that. Brought my grade down to a 74% :/
Luckily we have 3 more exams... (Out of 8).
 
I feel pretty crappy. I think my first half of interview season didn't go so hot. My coworker is a gigantic flake. And my workload is pretty nutso right now.

I need more social time. I know it'll help my interview performance.
 
So, I saw some job postings through the UN to work in my field in West Africa. With being in school, having two dogs, and owning a house by myself means I'm not really in a position to go even though I'd really like to help out if I could. Help is still sorely needed.

So I started looking for shorter term gigs as it seems like a lot of people are doing 1 month to 6 wk rotations because things are so intense over there. Everything was too long. Except 1 position for six weeks. They had a note that you had to be within x height and weight to go due to PPE sizing.

I'm too frickin overweight for the biohazard suits. 🙁
 
QofQuimica said:
While I would actually like to visit Africa some day, I have zero desire to do any job that requires me to wear PPE. Even just trying it on (as required by the hospital) made me feel like I was going to pass out.
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Can't really speak for all of Africa, but I enjoyed the time I spent in Uganda.

I was supposed to work in ethiopia and zambia but got injured :/
 
QofQuimica said:
While I would actually like to visit Africa some day, I have zero desire to do any job that requires me to wear PPE. Even just trying it on (as required by the hospital) made me feel like I was going to pass out.
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One of the two profs I'm considering trying to do my masters project with studies HIV in Ethiopia (and here in the U.S.). I decided to hold off on the project til summer due to anticipating difficulty planning things with him typically being in Ethiopia in Oct/Nov.

Noticed his name in a story on our schools home page. He was in Africa alright, he was in Monrovia Liberia serving as medical advisor to the ARC in their response to the Ebola outbreak. Not surprised since he's trained as an ID doc and former Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellow from the CDC. He's just a very compassionate, all around good guy.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it since this past summer. I guess I feel like there's a really big need there and I have one of the skill sets they really need. I'm single, don't have kids (other than the mutts) and I'm willing, have some training in global public health, etc. If I could find a way to pay my mortgage and get that kind of time away from work, I'd go (PPE issues aside).
 
Feeling super crappy around the holidays. Just ended my seven and a half year relationship with the love of my life. Feel like I wanna die.
 
kthxbai said:
Feeling super crappy around the holidays. Just ended my seven and a half year relationship with the love of my life. Feel like I wanna die.
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Sorry, k. That sucks. 🙁

I have a cold and laryngitis. No fever though, so I'm still sucking it up and going to work. Probably got it from a patient anyway. :meanie:
 
wholeheartedly said:
Ugh, yeah, so much crap going around work lately and people are getting double whammied.
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Might actually be the flu; last night I started running a fever, and I still have no voice. I sucked it up anyway, because this is Florida in season, and evidently every human being in the county decided to show up to our hospital's ER last night. To be fair, several of them were legitimately sick. But I have to confess there is a little part of me that feels a bit miffed when I'm admitting patients to the hospital who are less sick than I am. :-d
 
QofQuimica said:
Might actually be the flu; last night I started running a fever, and I still have no voice. I sucked it up anyway, because this is Florida in season, and evidently every human being in the county decided to show up to our hospital's ER last night. To be fair, several of them were legitimately sick. But I have to confess there is a little part of me that feels a bit miffed when I'm admitting patients to the hospital who are less sick than I am. :-d
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Be careful.

Quite a few of my coworkers of the young healthy variety are getting flu turning into pneumonia.
 
wholeheartedly said:
Be careful.

Quite a few of my coworkers of the young healthy variety are getting flu turning into pneumonia.
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I was thinking to myself that, when I am at the point where I can afford to retire, the first thing I will do is stop going to work when I'm sick. Then I thought, who am I kidding? My fellow nocturnist generously offered to shoulder all the burden alone and send me home last night, but of course I wasn't going to let him do that. The two of us together couldn't even keep up with all the patients they were throwing at us. No way could he have done it alone. Fortunately I'm off tonight. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow, cause I'm on again for the holidays....
 
QofQuimica said:
I was thinking to myself that, when I am at the point where I can afford to retire, the first thing I will do is stop going to work when I'm sick. Then I thought, who am I kidding? My fellow nocturnist generously offered to shoulder all the burden alone and send me home last night, but of course I wasn't going to let him do that. The two of us together couldn't even keep up with all the patients they were throwing at us. No way could he have done it alone. Fortunately I'm off tonight. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow, cause I'm on again for the holidays....
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New Years eve should be fun, we always tried to recruit extra blood donors before that one cuz we tended transfuse a lot more people....

Feel better.
 
wholeheartedly said:
New Years eve should be fun, we always tried to recruit extra blood donors before that one cuz we tended transfuse a lot more people....

Feel better.
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Yeah, I always volunteer to work on New Years.

1) It's quiet until midnight or 1 AM anyway, which is nice because it gives me time to catch up on charts while I'm on the clock (and getting holiday/night pay!).
2) I never go out for New Years anyway, because everything is overpriced, overcrowded, and overhyped.
3) I've always thought New Years was a depressing holiday where people try too hard to have a good time and mainly get drunk as an excuse for acting stupid.
 
wholeheartedly said:
Spring semester started today.

I technically had a month off school, but when you're working fulltime, it just disappears and then sneaks up on you again.

Upped my course load too. Three grad classe. Here's hoping I keep my grades up.
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I hear you. I feel like the holidays weren't even holidays. I'm doing fourteen credits on top of a full-time job and I'm just tired all the damn time. And it's only the second week, ugh! I'm enjoying my classes but I feel like there isn't enough time in my days off to study and address the rest of my life. I'm just talking laundry and groceries and things of that nature. I've forsaken all forms of social interactions, including social media. I'm a task-list monster, just checking things off my ever-growing list.

Don't get me wrong, I love my identity right now. The hectic daily routine seems to have momentarily cured my depression. I just hope I can keep up and my grades/patients don't suffer for it.
 
LifeTake2 said:
I had someone I fired in July for drug use call today and ask for him job back as he can't find work.

I can't find a good answer; he has gotten clean supposedly, but i fired him for cause and I don't normally second-guess myself.

Now I sit in my apartment and debate the merits of mercy vs. cold-hard reality.
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Tough decisions. I personally wouldn't fully trust their sobriety for awhile, but that doesn't mean a probationary rehire can't work.
 
I went from basically being a hermit for the last year or so to being in class 4 days a week with a 1.5 hour commute each way on public transit. I completely underestimated how exhausted I'd feel. I'm sure I'll adjust but I can already tell it is going to be rough couple of weeks.
 
BlastedHeath said:
I went from basically being a hermit for the last year or so to being in class 4 days a week with a 1.5 hour commute each way on public transit. I completely underestimated how exhausted I'd feel. I'm sure I'll adjust but I can already tell it is going to be rough couple of weeks.
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Wow, I've been in that situation,years ago, and I understand how brutal and taxing it can be. Sometimes I'd try and study or catch up on sleep.... but both were less than adequate... Studying with no lights (5am bus) is next to impossible and sleeping for an hour (sitting upright) doesn't do much.

All I can say is, if you don't think it's going to be sustainable don't do it.
 
Spirit of the Student Doc said:
Wow, I've been in that situation,years ago, and I understand how brutal and taxing it can be. Sometimes I'd try and study or catch up on sleep.... but both were less than adequate... Studying with no lights (5am bus) is next to impossible and sleeping for an hour (sitting upright) doesn't do much.

All I can say is, if you don't think it's going to be sustainable don't do it.
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I've finally started feeling adjusted. If I had continued to feel the way I felt for the first two weeks I probably would have reconsidered this whole premed path. I think anxiety about starting my prereqs, going to a new school and everything I've planned starting to become 'real' fed into it a bit too. I've found the only thing I can really accomplish on the commute is reviewing flashcards on my phone, but every little bit helps.
 
BlastedHeath said:
I've finally started feeling adjusted. If I had continued to feel the way I felt for the first two weeks I probably would have reconsidered this whole premed path. I think anxiety about starting my prereqs, going to a new school and everything I've planned starting to become 'real' fed into it a bit too. I've found the only thing I can really accomplish on the commute is reviewing flashcards on my phone, but every little bit helps.
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Hey, I'm glad you found something to do. That's a major plus and will mean a lot more than you realize.
 
BlastedHeath said:
I went from basically being a hermit for the last year or so to being in class 4 days a week with a 1.5 hour commute each way on public transit. I completely underestimated how exhausted I'd feel. I'm sure I'll adjust but I can already tell it is going to be rough couple of weeks.
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That sucks. Been commuting 2 hrs one way to grad school for the last five years.
However, I've only been doing it 2-3 times a week and it still wiped me out, can't imagine what you're going through. Hang in there.
 
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