doris gee + phil moore = looooooove

bring back, the times we had
and another song, that makes you feel sad
let the cool fall breeze clear out your mind
and realize the past is gone
and keep on, keepin' on
-Matt Mays, The Past

School starts tomorrow. It can be difficult (and boring) to describe the different parts of medical school to people, but I won't be in a lecture theatre too often anymore, and despite the fact that I will be paying tuition, writing exams and not making any money, this year doesn't quite feel like school. 3rd year is often called "clerkship" and consists of various rotations where we will be working in hospital mostly-seeing patients under the supervision of residents and staff doctors. We will rotate around to different specialties (ie-surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, etc).

Anticipating this year has been quite anxiety inducing for me and I think it's mostly because I don't really know what's going to happen. All we ever hear about is how difficult it is and how we will be overtired and emotional basketcases the whole time. I don't really believe it, but it's hard not to be a little nervous when you don't really know what your responsibilities or hours will be. Anyhow, I start with outpatient Peds, which should be a fairly gentle induction into the year.

Last week was orientation, which mostly consisted of various drs telling us really helpful life lessons, like- "if you are nice to the nurses, they will help you later when you need them". Which is good, cause I was planning on being a huge asshole to everyone I met in hospital, which apparently would have been stupid cause no one would like me. Bullet dodged!

is chilli whack?

At a certain season of our life, we are accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Another week/end comes to a close. Some events are as follows.

1. After many glitches and delays we are now able to rank our choices for our rural practice rotation. I haven't gone through it all yet, but it looks like Prince Rupert and Port McNeill will be at the top.

2. We will soon be able to rank our choices of schedules for 3rd year. I am hoping to get the one where my 2 week elective is during the time my dad usually goes down to Guatemala. Also, I am (kind of) considering doing the chilliwack program, where you spend all of 3rd year doing rotations in....you guessed it...chilliwack. There a few reasons it seems like it might be a sweet deal going out there. Number one for me is that apparently you are treated as valuable and useful rather than just a nuisance. Despite my desire to evenutally live somewhere small, I'm feeling reluctant to leave the city just yet, which is probably good for me to realize.

3. Met up with Kristi and got the pants that Kurt gave me for Christmas that I had left in her truck. Although perhaps a little tight on my prodigious thighs, they fit and will work great.

4. Helped Jordan move out of here and into his new place. Trev showed up on Thursday at lunch and has been nesting (that's what he calls it) ever since....which as been sweet for us, as nesting apparently involves lots of cleaning and baking. Threw out my back a little helping Jordan move in his new monstrous 60 inch television.

5. Met with a hypnotherapist today as part of a DPAS project. It was intrigued by the process and enjoyed the interview. I find the issue of alternative/complementary/integrative medicine pretty difficult. I agree that medicating many people for depression, anxiety, addictions etc is not ideal. It seems that using a technique where people focus on their behaviour patterns and triggers would be useful. Despite this, I find it hard to recommend something that isn't based on evidence. Although I like the idea that we use evidence in medicine to make decisions, I find it problematic that a good portion of that evidence is supplied by large pharmaceutical companies. It seems unrealistic to think that we can generate good evidence on all possible interventions. So how do you decide to recommend something that seems to make sense but has nothing to back it up?

At the end of the interview, she tried to hypnotize me for a few minutes. Although there were periods where I felt myself start to fall into a trance, I would recoil and not really let myself relax. Hypnosis apparently works best on people who are "suggestable". I knew I would be difficult.