Let's Get Real!

         After a hard day of class, studying, and labs I remembered an experience I had this past June that shed some light on how little people understand about the difficulties of becoming a doctor. In June after I told my fellow CNA employees that I was quitting and was going to medical school one of them said in a rude tone, "Congrats, just don't forget where you came from!" At the moment I was caught off-gaurd by the comment and told her of course I wouldn't. After all I was a CNA, the janitor of the health care field, for over five years.  Then I put myself to thinking and I said to myself, "HOW DARE SHE SAY THAT!" Here comes my ranting, but she has no idea the stress, money, worry, anxiety, time, and dedication it takes to even to get into medical school.  Now, after my first exams and another grueling test block just around the corner I repeat, "HOW DARE ANYONE," think that a good doctor, who works his whole life to be successful, would ever forget where they came from and why they are in the medical field. If anyone or anything causes us to forget where we came from it would be from the ignorant patients and people who lack gratitude and empathy for the men and women in the medical field.
          I think my wife Hailey would back me up on this one, but it has been a long journey and we still have 7 more years. Does anyone know how many hours I usually spend with Hailey and my baby Olive a day? Probably about 2 maybe 3 hours.  So while the majority of all other college graduates have a blossoming career, a 9-5 job, and time with their families, I am still a full-time student x 2.
          I have been on the side of where I believe doctors get payed too much. In college I had a bad stomach issue and with crappy insurance I was billed $800 for a basic 20 minute visit to have the doctor tell me they would run some tests and refer me to a GI doctor. So yeah I can see why people feel doctors are in it for the money and get payed too much.
         Now that I am in the ditches and trenches of medical school I realize why doctors can be jerks sometimes, and why they want to have a nice car and big house. Because we earn it.  By the end of my medical school journey I will hopefully walk away with just under $300,000 in debt. That could buy me a nice house in Idaho or Utah. Most doctors take close to 15-20 years to finally pay off their medical school debt.  I am going to charge you and your insurance every dime I can because I need the money.   I come out of medical school and residency with so much debt that it would be equivalent many people paying a mortgage without even owning a home.  So when the Bennion's do settle down, I will be paying all the normal payments a normal person makes when they start there married post education life plus my medical school debt. My payment estimates will be around $3,000-$4000 a month! So maybe I will be earning around $15,000 a month but 1/3 of it goes toward loans. And what happens if I want to build my own practice? Oh yeah I will have to be paying for the cost of my building, the office employees, the nurses, the MA's, malpractice, and all the other associated costs. So people please open your minds as to what doctors have to pay for and why they may charge you and your insurance a couple hundred dollars for a routine visit.
        So to those who hope I never forget where I came from to you say, "Don't you forget what I am going through and the pressure of trying/learning to save lives, heal bodies, and not get sued in the process." I love medicine and for that I am striving to be a doctor.  Medicine is not the most lucrative profession, especially when looking at the amount of time and training involved in become a doctor. There are many types of doctors in the world, good and bad.  But for those who don't like a doctor or think he/she has horrible bedside manner, take a moment and reflect upon the life and training of that doctor. Gain some empathy for every physician in the medical field, even if you feel some of them are jerks.
       After stepping off my soapbox I now want to make you happy. So here are some pictures of my family at my little sister Katee's wedding. I love my family. They support me in so much! Love you all! Don't forget who you are too! HAHA

Test Block #2 Speedily Approaches

The test anxiety continues to build as the next round of tests start next Monday.  This round of exams will be a little different as we are introduced to a practical exam and a histology lab exam.  These practical exams are more intense and more hands on. The histology exam is a microscopic slide exam. The professor will show us a zoomed out picture of a particular tissue sample, then he will zoom in to higher magnification, and then even higher magnification, and then will point to a cell or structure and we will have to guess what he is pointing out.  So far we have covered well over 30 types of tissues and the different types of cells and structure in these tissue are astronomical. When I think about all the possible things he could test on, it gives me anxiety.  Luckily I have dedicated a lot of time to this class and so hopefully I will do well.  Active recall and fill in the blank tests are much more difficult than multiple choice.
I will also be having a Osteopathic Principles and Practice practical exam where I will have to demonstrate manipulation techniques to certain body parts.  Much of what we have learned so far is about manipulation of tissues, particularly the fascia.  For those who don't know, fascia is a type of connective tissue that is located in-between muscles and layers of your body.  A poor analogy of this would be if you put a piece of silk fabric between your two hands and slid your hands back and forth along the silk fabric. Your hands would be your muscles and the silk sheet would be the fascia.  Fascia is anatomically important as it helps to divide body compartments, provide circulation, support, and reduce friction to your muscles and cavities. Many studies believe that when you have a "knot" in your back, the knot is not a muscle knot, but more of a fascial knot.  So our practical exam focuses much not he muscles of the neck and back. Most of the techniques I have learned look like modified stretches and massage to joints and muscles. Later on in the year we will be learning techniques similar to chiropractors where we use quick movements to align "pop" and fix muscle/bone issues. If you want to learn more about what makes a DO different from and MD then google Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to give you a sense of what I will be learning and what make me similar/different from MD's and Chiropractors.
The other exams are similar to last test block where the instructors force information down our throats with the hopes that we retain at least 75% of the information.  From last test block the stakes have been upped as the material has become more difficult and the information is compounding on previously learned concepts.  I feel confident in my strategies and studying plans from last test block and feel they will work in all my classes except Anatomy.  I passed my Anatomy exam but just above the lower end of the average. I hope to put in more time with hopes to make up for my lower score from last exam. The exam will be on the upper limb.  This includes lots and lot of nerves, arteries, muscles and tendons that control movement in the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand.
Anyways this is a quick update for my blog.  I will update some more when I need to take another break from my endless studying.  I feel studying serves as a good anti-anxiety drug.  The upcoming test cause anxiety and the only way to feel better is to study, study, study! My next post I will post pictures about Katee's wedding and some recent events.

Exam Block One is Done and Done

So four weeks of hard work boiled down to ten exams in two days. The experience was a mixture between an anxious nightmare and pat on the back.  The exam block, as it is called, felt like all my science finals over four years wrapped into two days. The reason things were so nerve racking was because failure in medical school is not much of an option unless you don't want to become a doctor and want to drown in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. If we fail an exam, which is getting below a 75%, then we have to receive help to make sure that does not happen again in that same class. Failure in any course at the end of the year results in failing out of school.
The exams were also a pat on the back because my hard work did pay off.  My exams included Anatomy Lecture, Anatomy Lab, Physiology, Microbiology, Clinical Skills, Osteopathic Principles, Microbiology, Cell Science, Epidemiology, and Histology. In all exams I received or felt confident I got B or better in; however, the Anatomy Lecture exam is the one I am worried about. I don't know my grade currently. The lecture material covered imaging techniques, muscle and bone attachments, muscle movement, nervous system pathways, and embryology.  The part of the exam that hurt me the most by far was embryology, and specifically the signals which make it all possible. It was rough and I hope I passed.
I learned that Anatomy Lecture exams are much harder than I expected and require ample time to prepare. The amount of material to cover is tough.  If I could take it all back, I would have subtracted some time from my Cell Science and Microbiology classes to focus more on Anatomy.  But all in all I feel if I passed 9 out the 10 exams for every test block, as long as they are different each time, I consider myself a decent medical student. Sounds bad saying a future doctor is okay with failing tests, but if you were to put yourself in my shoes I am sure you would feel the same.
In celebration of my test block success I will now eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch and watch Netflix.  Hailey and Olive flew out of the week and I won't see them until next Thursday. Which makes my celebration quite lonely. Haha. My girls flew out to see Grandma and Grandpa Harlan and then we will all reunite at Katee's wedding next Thursday. Thanks for reading my posts. I hope my family enjoys reading about my journey.  Thank for all the love, support, and prayers.

Miss my girls! Have fun in Utah and see you in Idaho!!!