Mexico Medical Student |

I’ve been on vacation for a bit, but I just wanted to drop a quick note to say all is well. I’m visiting family in Texas, and it’s been quite pleasant. However, it’s hotter and muggier than the 5th circle of Hell, and I need outta here like yesterday. As much as I bitch and complain about not having central A/C in Mexico, it’s another thing altogether when one’s A/C unit simply can’t keep up with the heat. Unless there are conduits of liquid nitrogen running through the walls, 2-story houses (such as my parents’) should be banned here. To add insult to injury, there have been uncharacteristic (but welcome) rains as of late, so there are also mosquitoes-of-prey swooping about. These insect-birds do not confer disease; they give anemia.

Now that Michael Moore has shown that it is OK to go to Cuba, I thought I’d share this picture I found. I might still write my Sicko review, but for now, enjoy this Cuban anti-tobacco public health poster, before they put the lettering on it, anyway:

I’ll write when family stuff settles down or I rehydrate, whichever comes first.

Is up at Vitum Medicinus, a Canadian MS2 in Canada. It’s a really nice, graphically well-put-together edition. (no pre-rounds link–why is Medscape so behind these days!?) Oh well, go read!

I’m late on this, but only because I wasn’t paying attention to my feeds and my WP trackbacks. Earlier in the week, Fat Doctor tagged me as being one of her “Schmoozer” awardees. I was shocked, actually, because to me, I am anything but a schmoozer (at least not when I think of the word)–I certainly don’t have that “salesman” type social personality, nor can I initiate small talk with ease. However, this is the description given in the previous link:

As it goes, schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.

Well, putting it that way, OK, I accept. The truth is, I am very shy socially in person until I become comfortable, and that can take some time. After that, well, as my friends can attest, I don’t exactly keep my mouth shut.

As bloggers (and I mean real bloggers, not the MySpace crowd), I think we all share some innate things in common: love (or some range from more-than-ambivalence to absolute passion) of the written word, interest in others’ stories/experiences, and some degree of disinhibition to outright megalomania in sharing one’s OWN experiences for the world (or at least some subset of a virtual audience) to read. (Have you noticed I keep using parentheticals to qualify (or quantify (there I go again)) things? I have to break this habit (someday soon)). LOL!

So in the spirit in which it was given, here are my “tags” for this award to those who have been more than an entry in my blog feed, those whom I feel I’ve gotten to know a bit more personally such that reading their blogs isn’t about cool posts, but about just checking in with the person:

• Fat Doctor, FD: Backatcha. FD has this unique ability to make her blog a home and make visitors feel like they’re welcome company. She’s even more gregarious to talk to than read. (In spite of her not telling my phone number, I’m a poor (notice I didn’t say “starving”) student and can be coerced if the price is right…J/K! hehe) She is inspiring in so many ways, as I’ve written here before.
• Surgeonsblog, Dr. Schwab: I knew the book before I knew the blog, then I knew the person. He reminds me of my physician/surgeon mentor in many ways (who actually did work in Seattle for a while), and I am grateful for all the advice, listening, and encouragement Dr. Schwab has given since I got to know him. His breed of surgeon is not easily found; compound that with his extraordinary writing gifts and you have a man among men indeed. I’d worry about over-inflating his ego, but as a surgeon, I know that is impossible.
• The Berry Patch, Punchberry: She’s totally cool. Even when she does go out on a limb and post about some of the less-than-positive things going on, you still can’t help but pick up on her unmistakably innate optimism. She got me on to Facebook, not even knowing that I had long given up on the horror that is Myspace. (I probably would have done neither, but all the youngins at my school communicate through these social networks, so I had to cave lest I appear a luddite) She has a busy social life, obviously has a good handle on school, and yet still finds time to always stop by or drop me a note. It’s the little things that make a difference. (Wish her well on her boards, BTW)

In “Honorable Mention,” I’ll mention the following two sites. I set these apart because unlike the above, I don’t know them on a personal level quite as well (hopefully, that will improve with time), but their whole site experience deserves one of these even more than I do.

• Musings of a Distractable Mind, Dr. Rob: I’ve only been reading his site for a little over a month, and I’m totally blown away at how uncanny a lot of our parallels are (some of which I haven’t really made public, but trust me on this one). Except he’s older, of course, but not by too much. And he has a thing with llamas, which I have yet to understand, but I am discreet enough not to ask questions. heh.
• Psychological Perspectives, Dr. Deb: I’m actually adding this after this post went live, and I’m embarassed to say I had a moment of cerebral flatulence. One of the first things that strikes you is that her world-view “Visitor Maps” graphic is so glutted full of red circles, there’s no discerning continents anymore. I even think a famous area in a certain mountainous region on the Afghani-Pakistan border is even represented, if the Armed Services wishes to mine that for info. A little digging into her bio shows she was a Hollywood consultant for the mega-hit series, Law and Order. Plus, she’s Scott Baio’s cousin. But what really makes me want to list her here is the fact that in spite of getting 30-60 comments a post, she takes the time to answer each and every single one of them!! Of course, they may be one-word, “Thanks!” or the like for the sake of time, but her motto is clearly, “If you took the time to say something personally, then you deserve a personal reply.” If that isn’t schmoozing in the best sense of the word, I don’t know what is! Deb, just remember us when you do get that call from Spielberg.

Unfortunately, I have also been a bit let down a few times by going out on a limb to write a blogger, perhaps one that commented on my site, perhaps one whose site I was visiting, and gotten no response (in some cases, repeatedly). I know people get busy, but it’s my opinion that if someone takes the time to actually look at your site to find your address and email you personally, that it’s higher on the “personal” scale than a comment on a blog. Perhaps some people are threatened by this (then don’t publish your address, ferchrissakes!). In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have included all those pictures of me… LOL!

Anyway, I don’t want to get too off-track here. The final point (were there any before?) is that friendships made online are just as real as ones in real life; they’re just different, and even then, not necessarily so much so. Nay-sayers will say that can’t be so because you only see online what people want, and there’s no way of knowing if it’s true. Rubbish. Of course I don’t know the whole Dr. Schwab, for example, and thank God I don’t have to worry about others’ seeing all of me and my faults. But that’s not the point–self-censoring information (particularly in the early phase of knowing someone) is a normal part of human interaction, not a limitation of being online. So without further ado, I give you:

The Enrico Commission: Go forth into all blogs, be they in the name of Wordpress, Blogger or Typepad, and leave comments; spread cheer and do your part in making wherever you visit better for your having been there. Pax vobiscum.

You thought this series was done, eh? Well, the part about my problems at school is, with this post. The reason it has been so long that I posted an update on my situation is because it took over a week-1/2 to get this point because the dean, Dr. M., was on vacation. All-in-all, though, a lot of what I posted before regarding the school standing in my way, halting my progress, etc. was in fact more miscommunication than malice of intent on the part of the school. To that end, I reposted edited versions of the previous posts (for those that notice a change), that still capture what I was feeling at the time for posterity, but responsibly taking out those things which were later found to be untrue. (of course I kept the originals )

Namely, the big miscommunication was that 1) Dr. M. never said “we didn’t have an agreement,” and 2) I could have taken the segundo exam whenever I wanted, not having to wait until the next exam period (week of July 9th). It was his error in not telling me #2 when we had our meeting, but beyond that (and looking past the ridiculousness of the punishment in the first place), he pretty much only was trying to help. Other staff, including the aforementioned secretary, were grossly negligent in how information was relayed to me. Saying #1 above clearly would leave me with the impression I was duped, but it was compounded by not telling me that I could take the exam at my convenience and that taking it would have allowed my application to have gone through. Important piece of information, but the attitude was more like, “Well, you didn’t ask…” Others simply said they didn’t know what the arrangement was, and that I needed to talk to Dr.M. when he got back from vacation.

To be fair, I bear responsibility as well. If I wasn’t so downtrodden, so at my wits end with so many things not going right in my life, with the universal pre-boards stress on top of it all, I probably done what I normally would have done–hopped in the car, driven to the office, and have been prepared to open a can of whoop-ass on any who dared mess with my future; I’d then find out about all the above that should have been relayed, and prompt resolution would have probably followed. (To survive here, BTW, you have to constantly overlook the fact that such measures shouldn’t even have to be taken, but going down that path every time will just lead to either insanity or assault.) Feeling a shell of my normal self, I simply caved in on the weight of my own problems, and by the time I “came to” about the situation, Dr. M. was already on vacation. I know he left someone in charge, but knowing who that was (and I was right), I’d have rather licked a car battery than deal with said individual. Again, I could have overcome this if I had more reserves. I didn’t.

I took the punishment exam this last Monday, easily passed it, but didn’t do stellar. Not surprising, since I had only the weekend to study the entirety of systemic pathology. USMLE prep helps in a broad and shallow way, but these random-ass questions are notoriously detailed, pulled from various sources so as never to really know how to prepare for their exam. Most people do well because they study old exams, knew in advance (usually by luck) the sources they were getting the questions from, or the like. 2.5 days is not enough time to do that, and quite frankly, I didn’t care. At all. I just needed to pass, and that’s what I comfortably did based on existing knowledge and a half-ass reading of Robbins and Goljan review texts. With this, my 2nd year is NOW officially over in spite of the early celebration I felt so good about before. Better late than never.

So at this point, with no single point of failure, I can’t really go postal on the school, yet everything I was working so hard for is shot (for now). Taking the test during the semester will suck, royally, as soon-to-be-forgotten details compete with new information coming in, not to mention the time competition with all the work required for both tasks. Even though this is precisely what I wanted to avoid, I could be in worse positions. Part of me feels cheated, though, not having some single point of failure to blame, and I have this anti-climactic feeling about the whole mess. All for the ridiculous reason of fucking absences–absences that due to my life circumstances got the spotlight, while others skipped along to their vacations with similar numbers, untouched. Such is life at the UAG.

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P.S. More proof my blog makes the administrative rounds: When I was last in the office, verifying my USMLE authorization was sent, the secretary said, “No es por flojera que no mandamos la carta,” (”It wasn’t because of laziness that we didn’t send the form”). Now you tell me, since I hadn’t said word one to this lady, how would she come to this conclusion? If you knew her boss, that’d be all you’d need to know. Enjoy this entry too, guys! Pathetic.

When I reviewed the site to make sure the last post uploaded, I noticed, just barely, that today is Friday the 13th! So I wonder: do people cancel surgeries, procedures, etc. altogether? Do surgeons, interventional radiologists/cardiologists, etc. just enjoy the slow day as the ED gears up for serial trauma? Hmmm… Seems silly to me, kind of like buildings that don’t have a 13th floor–the elevator skips from 12 to 14. People on the 14th floor know that they’re the 13th floor, but somehow, does having “14xx” as a suite no. stave off the evil? Is it obvious I’m procrastinating something?

My cousin, who recently fled the field of neurology to begin his basement dwelling pathology residency, sent me this hilarious quote from his fancy-ass new Blackberry (bitch!) as he was reading a histology text:

Lymph nodes are like singles bars for lymphocytes and antigen, providing the perfect location for lymphocytes to be exposed to a wide variety of antigens to undergo stimulation.

I thought this was too priceless not to share. Non-medical readers will just have to trust me, it’s seriously funny, medgeeky humor. I was going to msg him back and ask him why he was reading a histo book for Pete’s sake, as not even I have cracked open one of those in almost 2 years, much less him. Then I figured starting anew with path, he’d have to start somewhere remembering all those intimate cell-type details. So instead, I messaged him back about one of those cells at the bar “being a total lympho.” I know, I know…

… is up at Aetiology, the blog of a prolific epidemiologist. Last week’s GR was hosted by fellow med student Graham Walker at Over!My!Med!Body (pre-rounds). Sorry for being such a bad medblog citizen, not keeping up with the announcements. If you ever noticed you weren’t mentioned, it was never anything personal, I promise. No go read!

I’m in the middle of studying for a huge exam on Monday (more later on that), but I simply could NOT WAIT to post this, probably one of the best Bushisms I’ve ever heard:

I’ve only watched the first 20 minutes or so, but if I’m brave enough I’ll post my useless review/opinion in the next day or so. Of course I’m leaving off how I got the video. It’s confidential research materials, after all.

P.S. For those returning readers wondering where the school posts of late went, I’m going to make a final update on that later today. Don’t worry–it’s not bad news. (for once)

While searching results on something at Google today, I wound up back at the home page, and saw this:

What’s wrong with this? There’s no cool Independence Day graphic! I was at the real google.com, not google.com.mx, where I’d see this:

(by the way, this is hilarious because the button for “I’m feeling lucky” has been translated to “Voy a tener suerte,” which literally says, “I will have luck,” or as one would colloquially read it, “I’m gonna get lucky.” I don’t think Google has that much control over everyone quite yet…hehe)

Then I thought, “I wonder if I’m not seeing it because it knows my IP is in Mexico?” I then VPN into UH (becoming a local node on the campus network via a secure connection, so although physically here, I’m virtually “in Houston”), and voila:

How’s about them apples? Google intentionally doesn’t display the cool art for anything other than people in the USA, even if they go to the USA Google address. Party poopers.

(More on the background of Google’s artwork here)

Of course, here in Mexico, it’s non-existent. I spent the whole day yesterday forgetting today was a holiday. There are no “4th of July Sales” advertised on TV/newspaper, no ads for barbeques, and no brilliant fireworks tonight. There are, however, fireworks on any random night that one of the local soccer teams wins a game, so I hear (not see, because they’re mostly just noisemakers) them all the time.

Last year, I was in my hometown, and my grandmother’s house is very close to the stadium where they do the fireworks/music-on-the-radio thing. Our daughter was a little peanut, less than 2 months old. I thought bright lights could attract her attention a little bit. She didn’t show much reaction at that age of course, but when some of the louder “booms” started happening mid-way through, she was NOT happy (understandably, as even I could feel the reverberation in my gut), so we just went home.

I mentioned all of that only to say this year, I know she’s going to go nuts with excitement. At 13-14 months, the louder, the brighter, the better. And this time, it’ll be with vocal approval, clapping, pointing, and general happiness. I wish I were there to see it. I thought about grillin’ and chillin’ here, but I really had nothing to grill. I’m low on money and am by myself, so I don’t want to buy a big slab of meat. I thought about hot dogs as at least an American substitute, but the best Mexican hot dogs are like the no-name not-sure-if-you-want-to-chance-it generic brands in the States. The “cheap” variety here are these disgusting, gray-pink Vienna-sausage-looking things, and Oscar Meyer brand dogs here will set you back almost $4/pack. Wrap your head around that one–Oscar Meyer, probably at $0.99/pack on sale in the US this time of year, is the “fancy import” brand. LOL!!

I think I’ll just open a bottle of wine later tonight, watch a movie, and relax. I’ll need some calm-before-the-storm given tomorrow’s meeting. I don’t think Thomas Jefferson ever said, “¡Viva la independencia!,” but it’s all I got right now. As an aside, I don’t think any of the founding fathers would have condoned this disgrace, either, but I don’t want to ruin my day thinking about it any more.