Time Flies When in Love and in Medical School

Hailey and I have officially been married for over two years. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past Saturday and Sunday. We were married August 24, 2012 in the Provo Temple.  As medical school has begun, Hailey and I have had a lot of time apart and a lot of time with friends.  We spend 90 minutes together in the evening to eat and put Olive to bed then I don't come home until it's time for bed. This has been a huge adjustment compared to our adventures this past summer. We didn't realize how much we missed each other until we were able to go on a date with just the two of us. Saturday night we planned to go out to eat at Olive Garden and then go bowling.  The night turned out to be just us eating and talking.  We love to talk. I don't know if our friends and family realize this! Haha. Anyways I just love my Hailey! She is so fun to be around!
So we got home around eight and put Olive to bed.  We stayed up watching Parks and Rec and then went to bed.  We woke up for church at 7:30 a.m. and Hailey said, "Let's go to Mt. Rainier." When she said it I felt like we needed to take this time to go on one more weekend adventure before things got too crazy.  The next few weekends will be nuts.  This weekend I will be studying non-stop for our first test block, the following weekend Hailey leaves for Utah, the weekend after that is Katee's wedding, and after that we will be getting close to another test block.  So yeah I will miss church one Sunday to keep my marriage strong and have a fun time.  Don't judge us because we sin different from you.  But we probably should have at least gone to sacrament. Haha.
Mount Rainier was amazing. The views were incredible. From Yakima the drive to Mt. Rainier is an hour and forty minutes. We arrived at the park and did a small hike called Myrtle Falls and then took a detour to get some better views of the mountain.  Then we went on another hike called the Grove of the Patriarchs.  This post is short but here are pictures of our adventure. I love my girls!

Snowball Effect

Overwhelming, frustrating, impatient, and difficult could all be words that describe my second week of medical school classes here at PNWU. Though I sound negative I still love being a medical student. I guess I am just not used to the snowball effect and the amount of information my instructors want me to know. The most difficult part of my studies is not the material, but managing of the material, understanding the class structure, keeping all the facts straight, and figuring out how to prepare.  About every 2nd year student on campus has a different study system.  So I have chosen to appreciate their advice, but I need to build my own system.
Out of all my classes, the top two that have the most material are Histology and Anatomy.  Histology, the study of tissues, is beginning at the basics.  I think most people believe that doctors jump into medical school learning about drugs and doing stitches, NOPE!  We learn about cells, organelles, intercellular junctions, and then we combine those cells to make tissues and then organs. Then we learn about diseases to those tissues and organs.  It's amazing that all disorders and diseases happen on such a microscopic level, but when you go to a doctor he/she tells you the basics. For example they tell you, you have a asthma , and gives you a steroidal inhaler.  But maybe what's really happening is the cell protein receptors in your trachea are overly excited so you need a beta protein receptor inhibitor, albuterol or epinephrine, to turn off the activation chain of the action potential for the smooth muscle contraction.  Did I sound smart there? Maybe to an average person? But that is just the tip of the iceberg and very superficial knowledge compared to what I have to know for exams. I would probably fail an exam with that explanation.
As far as anatomy goes, the sheer load of material is crazy. Undergraduate anatomy was easy.  We only had one semester so we sprinted through the body systems memorizing all the main structures. In med school we learn every detail, including but not limited to the nerves, blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and so forth. I know it's a necessity, after all I am going to be a doctor. But my lands, it's sometimes hard to see the big picture when we start anatomy learning about the vertebral column and back. I guess we have to start somewhere.
The overall experience is a rush everyday. Time flies when anxiety distills in my gut from the pressure to study and keep up with my peers. The tough part is being away from my wife and baby.  I usually leave home around 6am and don't get home until 6-7pm.  Then I relax, give Olive a bath, play a little, and then get back to studying until late.  The time is flying by and my little girl is growing up so fast already.  Anyways this was just a little tidbit of how I feel classes are going.  Thank you all for following me.
BTW I have my first anatomy dissection lab tomorrow in anatomy. I didn't realize this before, I don't know why, but I just realized last week that I will be the one cutting into the cadaver.  We have  book that teaches us how to cut up a human body.  That is kinda morbid to think about, but I am excited for it in a non creepy way.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to work on a real human body and am grateful for the good people who donate their bodies for science.  
Thanks for the follows and reads.  I am getting back to my studies.

Orientation Done Real Class Starts

Wow, the real work is now beginning. So my first semester is loaded with all of my tough undergrad classes all thrown in to one semester. My classes include Microbiology, Cellular Science, Anatomy, Physiology, and Histology. In addition to these classes we have labs and technical training classes.  These classes cover dissection, clinical skills, osteopathic manipulative medicine, and general patient interaction scenario role playing.  PNWU is very patient oriented and so their curriculum in the technical training is based on building people skills and learning how to build patient-doctor relationships, which I feel is a much needed skill in todays medical world.
So we are in class everyday Mon-Fri from 8am to 5pm.  So far my study schedule is in the works. I am shooting for studying about 5 hours a day Mon-Fri and then hitting Saturday for about 8-10 hours so I don't have to study on Sunday.
The curriculum is system based.  So we focus on things that have to do with certain body systems at a time like the musculoskeletal system, endocrine system, reproductive system, and so forth.  Every system we cover for about 4 weeks then we take two days to take exams.  These are called test blocks.  Some test blocks we can have up to 14 exams.  All are formatted to be simulate our board exams.
Out of all the classes so far the only class I feel nervous about is Histology.  This is the study of human tissues and cells. From what I gathered from second year students here on campus, Histology is the class that takes up the majority of study time during semester one. Every week we are hit with about 50 pages of notes and about 20 pages of followup questions and answers.  Lots of stuff and honestly I did not know how I will fit it all in my brain, but obviously it is possible.
My school has a phenomenal philosophy about the success of students in their pursuit to become a physician.  About 10-15 years ago the philosophy revolved around the idea that only 2 out of 3 doctors make it out of medical school.  My school believes if they do not provide the tools for every student to become a physician they have failed.  The United States is currently facing a shortage of primary care physicians so why make the shortage worse. Now this is not to sound as if our school is lowering the bar in their training.  Currently our students have a 96% board pass rate and we score  well above the national average on our boards.
Anyways enough bragging about my university.  I am excited to be a doctor in training.  The road ahead is long, but if I put my nose to the books, I am sure it will pass by pretty quick.

This is a picture of me with my official student doctor ID badge. The feeling is still surreal being here in medical school. I think that will wear off pretty soon as the first test block is in 3 weeks.

Life After Acceptance and the White Coat Ceremony

So after such a long blog post I realized I need to shorten this next one for everyone's sake.  So here it goes. I received my acceptance letter and phone call a week after my interview in January.  From then I worked my last job as a CNA in Spanish Fork until July.  We then packed up for Yakima and moved here July 16th with some awesome, wonderful help from our Aunt Kara, Grandpa Neal, Papa Dave, and Camille.  Now we are moved in and are making this place our new home.  Rumor has it that my current class has about 36 LDS students, which is pretty amazing odds.  Just in our town home complex we have about 13 LDS couples and small families.  Our ward is amazingly outgoing and we have had non-stop love and support.
Our first few weeks here flew by as we were getting our utilities set up, applying for government benefits, and unpacking our belongings.  We also managed to fit in some fun family outings as well.
So the state of Washington has some pretty amazing government benefits due to the every growing need of immigrant workers in the fruit industry up here.  We were put on food stamps,  WIC, and medicaid in just a week. That is because my income fell to zero once I became a student. In Utah, had we signed up for those benefits, that would have taken over 2 months.  I think some people look down on us for maybe getting on benefits, but they are probably not going to medical school and are not obtaining $80,000 in debt per year including interest.  That's right, my tuition costs $49,000 a year and the addition $31,000 is taken out for living and other school expenses. So yes I will sign up for every benefit available so as to not take out more loans to live on, thank you very much.
Anyways, lets get on to the first week of school.  So days 1-5 of school was full of general orientation to technology, a service project, the class schedule, and general scare tactics that basically were, "if you don't study more than 50 hours a week on top of the 40 hours of class you will fail." So that was nice.  Then Saturday we had our white coat ceremony which included our taking of the osteopathic oath.  These next pictures are the pictures of my first week of school and the events.

Day 1                                   Orientation

White coat ceremony

Application + Ovulation Cycle

This may get a little personal, but after six months of being married, Hailey and I realized that the pill was making her crazy. So we switched our family planning methods and we found out we were fertile within about 4 months. Surprise, surprise! I was shocked it lasted that long. Anyways we were surprised, scared, and excited to be parents. Heck, when we found out we were pregnant we both sat by the bathroom and cried. We were both so emotionally confused that I do not know if we were experiencing tears of joy, fear, anxiety, or all the above. Nonetheless our baby girl was coming! We are so glad she did! Olive Rose Bennion was born toward the end of the medical school application cycle, haha, in December 2013.

So bring it back about seven months and we begin the medical school application cycle. So what is the medical school application cycle you ask? A nightmare! Before even applying it's your task to complete an undergraduate degree and all of the schools individual premed pre-requisites which take about four years to complete by themselves. They include English, biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, calculus, anatomy, physiology, and all the labs associated with those classes. After that is done you must prepare to take the $275 MCAT during your junior or senior year. I could spend a whole blog post talking about how much I hated the MCAT. But I will not for my sanity! I took the MCAT for the first time in June 2013. My preparation for that exam included a semester long free prep course and two weeks of self-study right after coming home from a medical research project to Peru. So of course I did not feel prepared and I entered the exam room about ready to throw up and poop my pants at the same time. Due to my stress level and lack of preparation, I did not do too well on the exam. A few weeks later I got my score, it was a 23. For those who do not know, 24 is about the lowest score you can get and still get accepted into a medical school. The national average for M.D. schools is about a 30. So I was very disappointed with my score and to show how disappointed I was, I went to my bed room and buried my face in the pillow for about an hour. Hailey tried to console me, but I told her to get away. I was so mad. The next day I came up with a new study plan. I obtained some new study materials and hit the library for about eight hours a day for the next six weeks. I retook the last available exam in September. I improved my score dramatically and proved to myself that I can work through failure.

 Just a brief exlination of the MCAT, it is a 4 hour exam that includes a physical science section, biological science section, and verbal reasoning section. The verbal reasoning section is a load of crap. You basically read passages about butterflies, crime rates, Eskimos, or whatever milarky they decide they want you to read. Then you answer trick questions about what you read in the passage. Questions sound like, "if this author were to write a passage about gun law instead of butterflies what would be the tone of his passage?" Then the answer would be something like, "Potato." It really wasn't that bad, but it kind of felt that way. The physical science section covered inorganic chemistry and physics. Which most students learn about two-three years prior to taking the MCAT. So that is a lot of review. The biological science section contains anatomy, physiology, biology, and organic chemistry. In short, the exam is loaded with tons of material and it is a horrible determinant of medical school success. Stats will tell you it isn't but I believe it is, at least in my case.

So after you are finished with all your prereqs, and taking the MCAT, now the real work begins. First you must pay to use the med school online application service. This costs about $300 for your first time use and about $30-$50 for each school applied to. With Hailey's and my great saving skills, we only had enough money to apply to about 4 to 5 schools. Most students apply to at least 15. With my own personal believes, my scores and grades, and a bunch of other factors, I thought my chances were best to apply to DO schools. They are in the long run more expensive, but they are a little easier to get into and provide great education for doctors wanting to going to primary care medicine. So I began my search for DO schools and found 4 to 5 schools I want to apply to.

My top three schools were Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, Midwestern University in AZ, and AT Still in AZ. My primary application cost cost was about $600. After schools receive your primary applications and see that you meet the minimum requirements they send you a secondary application attached with another $50 to $100 fee. All of the applications include about 2 to 3 essays that are very tedious and critical, luckily I had a lot of family to help me edit and proofread my essays. 

So with all my primary and secondary application fees I ran into about $1200 worth of expenses. This is only to five schools and this does not include travel expenses for interviews. After the schools receive all my applications I then waited.  I immediately received rejections from my bottom schools. From my top two school I receive one interview and one wait list spot. The odds were not much in my favor, but I guess one in five is not too bad. A lot was riding on my interview to Pacific Northwest University.  It was a good thing I had great letters of recommendation and a friend who had connections. I received my interview in January just two weeks after Olive was born. I nailed the interview with flying colors and was accepted to Pacific Northwest University. 

The interview flight cost me about $400. And then I had to come up with $1000 deposit to hold my spot. Thank goodness for the blessings of family and tithing, or Hailey and I would not of been able to come up with the money to pay for my MCAT and medical school applications.  So all in all we dropped about $3200 in application costs. I could have paid off my car or paid for a luxury second honeymoon with that money! 

Well, I think this post is long enough. I will continue with our journey after my acceptance and our move to Yakima in the next post! Here are some cute pictures of Olive. Kinda random but I love to show how adorable she is! 

 

Post High + Undergrad

After I graduated from high school, I decided to continue my passion for baseball and went to play at the College of Eastern Utah. I play for one year, then left on an LDS mission. I served my mission in New Jersey and learned to speak Spanish. After returning from my mission, I attended my second year at the College of Eastern Utah. After tearing my lateral meniscus, ending my baseball career, and receiving my Associates of Science, I transferred to Utah State University. From there I decided to study international business and economics. My hopes for this degree was to understand how the business world, private business, and the medical field function. I was sorely disappointed as I only learned basic business world knowledge and how it functions in general. The greatest asset I acquired in my undergraduate degree was the ability to manage, cooperate, and work with people of diverse backgrounds. I also gained a passion to study abroad. During my time at Utah State, I also continued to develop my love for science through my pre-med prereqs. I graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelors in international business , a Bachelors in economics, and I minor in chemistry. I graduated in December 2013. 

Now I would be selfish if I didn't mention how, when, and where I met my wife, Hailey! She has been as much a part of my journey as I have. I began working as a CNA during my second year at the College of Eastern Utah. When I transferred to Logan, Utah, I continued working as a CNA in an assisted living home. I met my wife working as a CNA in Logan.  We were wiping bums, transferring patients, and giving bed baths together for over four months before I got the nerve to ask her on our first date, which by the way was to my fraternity's white trash dance party. The theme was white trash. We had a blast and ended up talking about some pretty deep stuff while there was Lil Jon playing in the background. We also drew figures on our arms with highlighters because we were sitting under black lights. How romantic! Anyways, long story short from that day on we pretty much spent every day together for seven months. Then we got engaged. And then we got married, typical Mormon style. We have been happy ever since, minus the stress of getting into medical school! Which will be my next post!

My Intro: The Tip of the Iceburg

I was born in Bountiful, UT in 1987.  From there until six I lived in Magna, UT.  My dad, a recent college graduate, then landed a solid job in Idaho Falls, ID. Good old Idaho Falls is where I tell people I am from. I grew up playing baseball, exploring the outdoors, and staying out of trouble. Putting all the small details aside I would say that I had a pretty regular childhood for a southeast Idaho boy, minus harvesting potatoes. Sorry had to throw that in there.
My passion for medicine actually started in the animal kingdom. Growing up I had dogs, lizards, fish, and all sorts of pets that I could capture.  I loved the living world and continually strove to know how things worked in those tiny animal bodies.  I remember on many occasions capturing spiders and cutting them up to look at them under a microscope. Kinda weird!  One of the coolest moments I remember from my childhood was when our dog Pepsi, my beloved Pepsi ha ha, gave birth to her first litter of puppies.  Though the experience was slightly traumatic to a young preteen boy, I quickly realized life was a miracle. I wanted to study that miracle.
My love for animal life put me first into the mindset to become a veterinarian; however, after I grew older and began to travel the world, I realized that I enjoy learning about the lives and science of people more than animals.  So tossing the dream of becoming a vet aside, I set my sites on becoming a physician.
Idaho Falls was luckily home to many great physicians, many of which were my friends fathers.  I loved to hear and observe the types of lives and jobs these men had.  They were men who seemed to be cut from a different cookie cutter. Their lives were lives a service and though I saw at times they were stressed and tired, I saw a sense of joy that  came from their line of work. I wanted to enjoy my work and serve others.
The past summary was just the tip of the iceberg of why I want to be a physician. I could do some name dropping and shout outs to all the people in my life who got me this far, but honestly the amount of people that influenced my life up to this point is astronomical and frankly I would probably miss someone and feel bad. In short I wish to thank every member of my family, especially my parents,who have been so supportive. I could not have made it without them. Thank you for letting me take this long, worthwhile  journey. Thank you, thank you, thank you.