TGIF

A long week, over. Whooooo.

Highlights of this week:

1. Getting my personal statement critiqued

2. Radiology Clinic

3. Finishing before 4pm 3 of the 5 days

4. Getting letters and postcards =)

So I wanted to elaborate more on the radiology clinic. It's part of the series, "Where Doctors Work," and is the clinical exposure part of the program. Three times a week, we get about a two-hour chunk of time where we visit and learn about different clinical specialties. I thought radiology would be boring. I thought we'd look at x-ray films and try to figure out anomalies and pretend to diagnose people. While we did that for a good half hour, my group of about 20 students also got to go into the radiology ward of the hospital. You know, through the "ACCESS RESTRICTED/AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" double doors.

Our doctor guide, Dr. Sabri , was really cool. He was a little late because he was busy operating on a patient with an aneurysm, but we forgave him for his sheer awesomeness. Did you know that most radiologists perform operations? I didn't.

But anyways, we toured some facilities with CT scanning machinery, poked in some lab rooms with cutting-edge technology, and the doctor did an ultrasound on one of the girl's arm (not pelvic region, haha--there could be some potentially unwanted information). Pretty nifty.

We also got to go into two rooms where radiologists were assisting with operations! We weren't in the sterile room, but we were only separated by a door--in both cases the door was open and Dr. Sabri had to close them so the patients under the knife wouldn't hear us discussing their cases. Does that mean the operating room wasn't sterile? I don't know. Most of the surgeries radiologists perform are noninvasive anyway. Maybe it is okay for a pack of 20 students to roam into such a room without dire consequences. But anyways, we observed their x-rays and blood vessel blockages and stuff--so cool. Almost makes me wanted to specialize in radiology (a profession that makes $400,000+ a year, by the way), but the only problem is that I am tech-illiterate. Oh yeah, and because I'm not really interested in radiology or making more money than primary care physicians, which bear the brunt of patient interactions.

mMm so yeah. Today there was a medical school recruitment fair. There weren't many attending schools, but we got lots of pens and brochures and flashlights and calculators. Kinda like Calapalooza, only not as fun.

So anyways, I only have 3 weeks left here. I want to make the most of my time by getting off the computer and going somewhere. I thought about Amtrak-ing to Washington DC to visit Josiah, Jen, and Lily. But, I don't have any free weekends after this one, and a one-way ticket was like $100 or something. I also thought about flying to New Jersey to visit my uncle, aunt, and grandparents. But, the same thing (plane tickets were $157 for one-way, which is surprisingly better than Amtrak)--and also I just found out that my grandparents and aunt are in Taiwan. haha. Oops. Guess I'll just be here lounging around with the floormates tonight.

Toodles!