Saturday, January 9, 2016

Hello 3X. Nice to Meet You.

As I sit here on my back balcony, overlooking the palm trees, the green grass, and the delightfully coloured apartments, it is hard to believe that two days ago I was in cold, snowy Canada. Time goes so fast when you are studying, and now having a full two weeks off, it has occurred to me that time passes quickly all the time. It made me realize that it does not matter how long it takes you to accomplish your purpose in this world, as the time will quickly pass by anyway.

That is the basis for this post as the time at home with my family has made me realize that time still passes when you are away. Catching up with friends in your hometown (well...for me our meet up place is an hour away from the farm, I live a tad far out in the country), and realizing that everyone is doing okay and that nothing really changes. Life for everyone just continues on, and for some reason I thought different. Being away, you feel like you are always missing something, that you are always anxious to get home, and that being away from family and friends is awful (which it is), but it really is not that bad. I don't want my family and friends reading this and being like: "what?!" *sad face*. What I am trying to say is that being away from home for medical school is not that bad at all, and as you will soon realize, future students, current students, and past students can agree, everyone on this island is in the same boat as you. We are all in this unique situation together and we will all survive and pass together. Family and friends are my rock, and anyone reading my posts for the past year can see that, it is just nice to know that things at home aren't changing drastically, so do not feel guilty being away, and the truest friends will understand and are so excited to see you, even it is for a day :) I am very thankful for the friends that I have at home, and they all know who they are!

I start what is termed "the deadly semester" on Monday morning at 8am, and since printing my lectures for the week (ahem..only 5 days) we have twenty-two lectures for the week...22!! It may not seem that terrible, but when printing them, they are the thickest lectures that I have ever had to date. I used up all of my printing credit just to get through Mon-Thurs, and still needed to print Friday's lectures. This has never happened to me before, so I let that settle in for a second and then realized we are starting the semester off with a sprint...and let me tell you..being 6'4"...I am no sprinter.

I do not know if I am inherently competitive or it was a learned behaviour with my collegiate career, or growing up with three other sisters who were just as dominant as me. Nevertheless, I love a challenge. I love someone saying: "oh my gosh, it was so hard, good luck", To me, that is game time. I am ready to take on anything this semester has in store and just kill it. You know that feeling when you get nervous before a race or before giving a presentation to a bunch of people, well that feeling never really goes away in medical school. It comes over me before each exam and I've noticed recently that it is before doing something a bit frightening. But I have also realized to embrace this feeling, as it is telling me that not only is it frightening, but this feeling never lasts forever. It has a beginning and it has an ending, and the quicker you start, the quicker you will finish. And to be honest folks, if you can harness that sentiment, you will have no troubles navigating your way throughout life. It has truly changed mine.

Off to enjoy the last of my Saturday night at a restaurant called "Tomatoes" on the island, with some great food and some great company.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Bye for now,

--E xo

As always, some pictures:

Enjoying Dominica before I headed back to Canada

New look!

Sisterly Love 

Our little girl :) 

So hard to leave him. So cute.

The family on horseback :)

Horse and Sleigh! 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

[What Feels Like] The End of an Era

Hey everyone! It is 8am in the morning a day after my final exam, and of course my body would not let me sleep in. I am so excited to announce that I have made the Dean's List for a second semester in a row! If you would have told me that a couple years ago, I would have thought you were crazy, but I am happy that my hard work has paid off. This blog post is going to be structured a bit differently, as I will be listing the top five things that I have learned in my first year of medical school. I have read numerous lists like these before I attended Ross, but I felt they were more "fluff", like: "studying...and then more studying..and then study again"...well of course..it is medical school! These are genuinely the five things that I have learned while being eight months away from home and I hope the newcomers that are coming in for the January intake, current students, and past students will take something away from it!

Drum rolllllllll pplleeeaassseeeeee <----I swear I am still sleep deprived.

Number 1) 

Everyone has their own opinion. What I mean by this is that there are students here of all semesters, 1 through 5 (if you chose the curriculum based track, you will have an extra semester) on this tiny island and a lot of the time opinions roll around of what semester is the "easiest". Semester 2, for me, was not fun. I studied a lot...about 16 hours a day, and I still felt like I was behind. I had a different mentality going into this semester as I was told repeatedly: "oh second was THE BEST." "I loved it", "it was definitely the easiest", and with that mindset going in, the material quickly caught me off guard. Stay true to your study habits, stay true to yourself and take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt.

Number 2)

Having a regiment every day is KEY. I got off track a lot with my workouts, eating, and sleeping near the end of the semester. Having something set in stone will not only facilitate a productive day, but it will make your thinking process about what you need to get done that day so much easier. I promised myself that I will be going to the gym every morning in third semester, and I will make sure to go to yoga twice a week. You have the time, and when you are six hours into material that is just awful, you have to tell yourself that you can take that break, as you will feel so much better for it.

Number 3)

Do not study long. Study smart. I know I may sound hypocritical here as I just mentioned previously that I study 16 hours a day, and you may be thinking: "ummmm Em..that is long...is that smart though?" My answer to everyone reading this is that everyone is different. I, personally, prefer studying alone, at my desk, inside, blinds shut, with a flashlight..ok ok I am kidding but I do like studying alone and not on campus. I just see way too many students staying up until 4am to get through the material...that is silly. I wake up at 7am, and I am in bed by 10pm, sometimes 11pm. Yes, they are long days, but I still get my 8 hours of sleep. Studying smart is where you take breaks, EAT, sleep, and making sure you do not burn out..which I was at the end of first semester and I feel much better today, which is the day after my four and a half hour final.

Number 4) 

Family is your support network. For those that have been away a lot for undergraduate studies like me, have become accustom to the long nights away from family and friends, missing birthdays, weddings, get-togethers, the whole shebang. Being away and being in medical school is a whole new ballgame. My undergraduate degree and playing basketball at the collegiate level was tough, don't get me wrong, but the shear volume of work that medical school entails just sucks the life out of you. I do not want to scare anyone reading this or make my family and friends worry, but it mentally takes a toll on you. It is mentally draining more than it is physical, but that is where you have to take energy from the people around you. You surround yourself with positive people, study in groups if that is your style of learning, but most of all...remind yourself of why you are here. That always seems to bring a burst of energy my way.

Last but certainly not least, Number 5)

Do not be afraid to be happy. This is something that I finally  had to let go of with being here at school. I was always "the pleaser", making sure I wouldn't make anyone angry, making sure they are having a good time, not wanting to disappoint my coaches, family, or friends. I finally had to let some of my friends go in my "already thought" tight circle, when I knew they were just bringing me down. I finally have the courage to stand up for my happiness and follow something that I have always wanted to endure, but admittedly was a bit scared. I always held my feelings back when I was happy, or sad, and life is way too short to ever hold those emotions in. In college, when I was benched for stating my opinion, or reprimanded because I didn't agree with what was happening with one of our coaches and players...stuff that I should have spoken up about, but at the the time was too scared of losing my scholarship. Looking back now, I had one of the top GPAs as a student-athlete, I never did drugs or have academic probation, there was no way they could get rid of me, and if you gave me ten minutes to go back and say all what I would like to say....well...let's just say they probably would have kicked me off haha. My point in this last segment is to let you guys know that my life in no way, shape, or form is perfect. My facebook may look like it is, or my instagram, but everyone fights their own mental battle sometimes. You have to let the things that bother you go. I am still working on mine, but I feel 100% better knowing that I am in a better place than any coach or player that did me wrong. Waking up and feeling happy is OKAY, and I am embracing that as the times before I remember myself feeling guilty. I remember when I was about 14 or 15 helping out with the Queen's University Basketball camp for kids one summer, and one of the other coaches, a female, about thirty asked me what I wanted to do when I finished college.

I said: "I think I want to be a doctor".
I remember her response so clearly: "ohhhhh people are going to hate you."
In my taken back response I asked: "well..why?"
She said: "Well you are tall, athletic, pretty, AND you want to be a doctor..that has hate written all over it".

I remember just sitting there thinking:

*then let them hate*

Aright folks, I am off to run some errands this morning and then Stephen and I are off on Sunday morning to Canada!! We are going to freeze, but I can not wait to be home.

Ps. We are almost at 15,000 views on the blog. All I can say is thank you.

Bye for now,

-E xo

Pics!

Merp was a year ago exactly!!

Love these girls!

Love her

Puppy play date!

Dominica, you are beautiful.

Our happy place.

Our walk to the playing field!

Little river by our apartment

Our walk

Practicing before my final practical exam!












Friday, November 13, 2015

The [Almost] End to First Year

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a lovely Friday afternoon, and since I just finished my Neurology block this morning, I thought I would sit down and write a quick blog post!

To put it bluntly: Neuro was tough.

To put it more bluntly: WHOA.

I just finished my exam this morning and I am happy that the scores were literally posted fifteen minutes ago and now I can enjoy my weekend! I really would like to be a Neuroscience TA for next semester and with my current grade on the practical and the mini..I am definitely in the running! The great thing about having a block end on a Friday, is that there is no new material to study until Monday. That has never happened here at Ross before for our class so this weekend is planned with some amazing hikes, catamaran rides, swimming and just chilling. A "block" means a section of material. Our first block was Respiratory/Cardiovascular physiology, our next block was GI/Renal physiology, and our third block was Neuro. We will finish 2nd semester with Endocrine/Reproductive physiology and this is where things get hectic. We have our final histology practical, Mini 4 exam, Final exam, and our final practical exam all in on week...and it is going to get Crazy. With. Emotions. (sorry in advance Steve)

Our 2nd semester practical is nerve-wracking because if we fail it ....then we fail the entire semester and have to repeat, even if our "in classroom" grades are completely fine. There are three stations and they are all timed. A total of only 25 minutes, but a lot could go wrong within those 25 minutes. We get a random selection of patients with cold and cough, headache, muscle plain, etc and we have to make sure we know what to do in those situations, answer questions from our proctor, perform the appropriate physical exam skills, and summarize our findings in the end. All within eight minutes. YUP. Eight (8).

I can't believe that my first year of medical school is coming to a close. The time has literally escaped me. I remember starting the Merp program way back in December of last year thinking: "okay..this is it! This is how my medical school journey is beginning!" It was a really cool feeling to imagine Dominica, what it's like, how are classes are run, how are the people, the professors, the education. Even to this day, Ross has blown me away. I am very happy in my decision to come here, and the fact that I do not really want to return to practice in Canada (wayyy too many healthcare cuts in Ontario), that the Step 1 geared education for the U.S has become very beneficial. I am learning more than I have ever imagined, with some fun along the way as well. THAT is key.

My last blog post sparked some personal sentiments of my followers and I absolutely love when that happens. I have had a couple emails that have said "thank you" or "that is exactly what I have been thinking, thank you so much!" to "whoa..deep Em...real deep". Every comment has made me so happy and I just want to say that I do this blog because of everyone that reads along with me. Sure, I can write for myself, but I could write in my journal...(if I had one). Writing out loud to a vast audience gives me a certain type of calmness and it makes me feel good after a long week in medical school. I feel connected to all of you, even if you have read my blog once and moved on, or people who have stayed from the beginning, all of you mean a lot to me. It is nice knowing that people from afar are on this journey with me, and I will say it again as I have said it 204964255642 before...thank you.

This is a "quicker" post than usual and maybe not as "deep", but know that all of those deep emotions are in there, and I am just too excited to have a WEEKEND OFF. WHAT?! Is this real life?!

Stephen and I are off to dinner at 5:30pm at a beautiful restaurant called "Sisters", I thought it was fitting at I will be seeing my sisters and my family in a little more than a month!

Bye for now,

-E xo

Pics: (as always)

Free scrub shirt! woo!


This island really is beautiful. 

Soon.



Oh ya! I made the Dean's List! 

Happy :)

RIP xoxo







Thursday, October 22, 2015

Semester 2 and all it's Glory

My followers! I hope you are all still there! It has been almost exactly one month since I have written and boy how that month has flown.

So. Semester 2. Typically termed "the easier semester" out of the four on the island, but honestly...I don't think any semester is easy in med school. Yes, in semester 2 you have "more time" as you do not have that anatomy lab session in the afternoons, but I have studied more this semester than I have last semester by far, as physiology does not come naturally to me. I have to make sure I understand it conceptually before I can start applying my knowledge to questions, and that seems to take awhile. We have had two exams so far and what is different about this semester is that we actually have a clinical practical exam at the end of the semester. Yikes! This is where we get tested on our physical exam skills and simulation techniques, wish me luck! I will make sure to blog about it so don't worry.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for being patient with me. I know it has been four weeks since I have last written, and to be honest, this is the first time I am sitting in front of my computer where I do not have mediasite up, my lecture notes, google images, or anything else related to school. It sure has been a whirlwind. This semester has been tough, but one that I am just getting excited for as today we start our neurology block. It is about four weeks of material and really interesting to me, so let's hope it's smooth sailing from here!

A lot has happened since I last wrote, like my tablet completely dying (yay), to having one of my good friends in third semester lend me his old one (so nice), to being emailed about attending the Dean's List Honor Roll Ceremony on November 6th, to losing both my doubles tennis matches in intramurals (ok..one we had to forfeit because I pulled my back), and that tutoring is going amazing. I actually love being a tutor, and I make sure I put enough effort into it where it does not interfere with my schedule. Domi (our little pup) is doing awesome, and she officially gets spayed tomorrow and I am REALLY not looking forward to it. She gets picked up tomorrow, driven on the back on a truck in a tiny cage, has the surgery, stays over night and is returned to us Sat morning. Not looking forward to it, but it is better than having her in heat down here as there are a lot of stray male dogs...that would not be a good situation. Now that I have updated you a little bit, let me get real for a second:

Medical school is hard. A different kind of hard though. I think it is more the fear of not doing well, failing, messing up an exam, or the fear that you are not supposed to be here. I fought internally with the last one for the past couple weeks, and to be honest, I am happy I did. I think if we go through the motions throughout the day and we don't even look up from our pages of life that life will literally pass us by. I had a fear that I am doing all this intense work and that life will not work out for me. You hear of horror stories of students doing well at Ross and then not passing Step 1...the board exam of hell. To be honest, I really psyched myself out. I thought..."Omg..I could be doing all this work and after two years I would have accumulated all this debt and not even be close in being a physician." I believed the stories and I got scared. But then I realized...there are numerous physicians in this world that were always scared of something throughout their education. Then I realized further that almost every person in their lifetime has been scared of something, and that this is okay. It is okay because if it didn't mean a lot to you...then you wouldn't care as much, and I understand that wholeheartedly now. I know that if I didn't care about my exam yesterday or passing Step 1 that I am here for the wrong reasons. If I didn't care in making that Dean's List or being a tutor or getting a high pass on exams, that I am striving to JUST get by...and trust me...I never want to be a student that just gets by. Life is not about going through the motions, it is making sure you are scared a little bit. Waking up and doing something that challenges you, talking to a friend that you should have two weeks ago but are held back by trepidation, knowing you are in a profession that you are HAPPY with, in which sometimes you may not feel that you are. IT IS OKAY. Being scared let's you know that you are doing something that may not necessarily be easy, and one that someone will look at you and be like "wow, you did that?"...that is overcoming fear..and that is awesome.

Alright guys, thanks so much for reading and allowing me to vent/getting all philosophical on you. I just felt that I needed to express how I feel throughout different parts of my medical school journey, as it is all not high passes and swimming in the ocean, it is a grind, but one that is definitely worth it.

Off to learn about neuroscience!

Bye for now,

-E xo

Pics!

The best tennis partner! Thanks Chris!

We tried to win! lol

A little throwback from the U.S Navy's USNS Comfort Mission

2 months I'll be home!

Can't wait to see the sisters and cousins! Dane where are you lol

Beach Bash in October...I don't hate it. 

Monday, September 21, 2015

Why Canadian Medical Schools Suck

I know what you're thinking: here goes another rant about how a Caribbean student didn't get into medical school back home in Canada, but actually...it is quite the opposite.

Growing up in Canada, for me, was the best gift that my parents could have ever given me. My three sisters and I not only grew up on a farm, but we were surrounded with 3,000 acres of farmland to roam and completely immerse ourselves in. My parents still reside on our farm, and going home to visit is always a breath of fresh air...literally and figuratively. Canada is a pretty amazing country, and no, not because of our "free" healthcare, that we are allies with every country, we know when not to get involved, and we know when to act. Canada is everyone's best friend that they have had for several years, and we don't want to make anyone angry...but those who tend to get the short end of the stick are unfortunately....healthcare providers.

Canada has officially fourteen medical schools, and for a population of 35 million, fourteen schools is definitely not enough to compensate for the people/physician ratio. Compare that to our fellow neighbour, the Good Ol' US of A, which has not only Allopathic (M.D degree) schools, but Osteopathic (D.O degree) schools as well. Hundreds of schools established, and the biggest kicker is that they are constantly opening new ones. According the AAMC, quoted on kaptest.com "in the next two years, we can expect seven new medical schools to open in the United States in Washington, Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Oregon." SEVEN new medical schools, and what is sad about this is that Canada has not opened a medical school since Northern Ontario School of Medicine in 2005, ten years ago almost to date. According a paper written by Strassel et al.(2009) in the Academic Medicine Journal titled Canada's New Medical School: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine: Social Accountability Through Distributed Community Engaged Learning, a long winded title to mention in their introduction that "This paper outlines the development and implementation of NOSM, Canada's first new medical school in more than 30 years." How sad is that? Not only that, but according to the same paper: "[NOSM] seeks to recruit students into its MD program who come from Northern Ontario or from similar northern, rural, remote, Aboriginal, Francophone backgrounds." So you are probably thinking.."great!...I might have a chance at this!" I am from a small farm town in Ontario, with no more than 300 people in my area, I have dealt with the rural aspect all my life (an hour and a half bus ride EACH way to school), I understand and appreciate rural physicians more than ever, as I have had the privilege interacting with many of them, I graduated with a 3.5 GPA from a top ranked U.S school in New York, played NCAA Division 1 basketball fifty hours a week and graduated with distinction as I simultaneously obtained my B.Sc in Biology degree. I could go on about my medical placement volunteering in Vietnam at an orthopedic hospital, and how I have numerous extracurricular activities to my name...but the sad part is...NOSM does not care. Canada has opened up a medical school for the first time in 30 years (which was 10 years ago) to students who need to be rural, aboriginal, and/or francophone, yet Canada persistently strives in being "diverse". Oh Canada eh?

McGill School of Medicine just recently was put on probation, according to The Globe and Mail article, "The flaws include concerns over students' learning experience and the quality of instruction in women's health". Furthermore, in the same article "In one of the more significant findings, the assessors said the school failed to ensure all students had the same experiences regardless of which hospital or clinic they were training in." It doesn't stop there, "McGill is not the first Canadian medical faculty to be targeted by accreditation bodies. The University of Saskatchewan’s medical school has been on probation more than once, and Dalhousie University’s medical school was put on probation in 2009." Another recent uproar was an event that involved a professor at Queen's University in the Kinesiology and Health Studies Department, Melody Torcolacci, who was caught teaching anti-vaccine lectures over several years to students (The National Post). She has been since removed from the position, but it was never discovered until a student brought this to the attention of other faculty members, and which brought swift action to take place. Oddly enough, my father, who attended Queen's University for undergrad, mentioned she actually coached him in shot put, let's be thankful that her anti-vaccine ways did not influence my parents' decision for my three sisters and I.

I am not writing this article to point out all that is wrong with Canadian med schools, I am bringing it up because things have to start changing. Just recently, Ontario announced that is will cut fifty residency spots over the next two years according to an article from CBC News: "Health Minister Eric Hoskins is defending the Ontario government's decision to eliminate 50 medical residency positions when hundreds of thousands of people don't have a family doctor" (Aug 2015). This announcement literally came out two weeks after a statistic outline was addressed that more than 800,000 Ontario people do not have a primary care physician. How is this even okay? Why are we cutting residency positions when there is a massive need for physicians in Ontario? Oh wait…here it is: "Ontario has nearly doubled the number of first-year medical residency spots since 2004 to about 1,200 a year, and is now scaling back to make better use of scarce health care dollars, said Hoskins
." We have "scarce" health care dollars? Where is it all going? We only have FOURTEEN medical schools across the country, and only SIX in Ontario, but we have limited funding so we have to cut back? The U.S is opening medical schools left and right, but we can't seem to manage 1/100 of healthcare costs that they have. People always ask: "Oh where are you attending medical school? U of T? McMaster?" And the sad part is, many qualified, and even over qualified Canadians are heading abroad, as the acceptance rate for medical schools across Canada is  staggering 4%. 4% of Canadians who apply to get into Canadian medical schools, but we have such a massive shortage of healthcare providers. This statistic, among others, does not make sense. The numbers get worse, according to Oxford Seminars, that 5,000 applicants apply to McMaster School of Medicine every year, do you want to know how many get in? 200. NOSM? More than 3,000 apply...how many they take in? 64. 64 people in one medical school class is complete nonsense, especially as Canada pleads rural areas need the most help; then enroll more rural applicants! C'mon Canada! Queens? More than 4,000 apply..and they take 99 students. When Queen's officially opened in 1854, do you want to know how many students they enrolled back then? 23. So only 76 more people have been allowed me be admitted since 1854...that is sad. I also found out last year when I was applying that they have designated spots for incoming Asian international students, honestly, that is what the undergraduate admissions coordinator said verbatim when I called to inquire about the stats of Queen's, which I found out along the way that Queen's does not like giving numbers. It is disappointing to know know that Canada does not want to change when our country is ever changing and the demand is more than ever. The amount of students that want to be physicians, and the need for such physicians is such a linear relationship, but Canada tries to compensate with our amazing benefits along with our use of ludicrous taxpayer money. We will always have a saturation of students leaving this beautiful country of ours to attend medical school at more than 300% of tuition of that of our Canadian med student counterparts, leave our family and friends for quite a long duration, and to only be given limited spots to return to our residing homeland because there isn't enough spots to be accepted in the first place.

All in all, the education that I am receiving at Ross is above par and I am happy that I did not take "no" as an answer. I sucked it up, did not give up on myself, and found an alternate route that will allow me to be the best physician that I can be. We are already in second semester, and tomorrow I get to interview a patient in front of eight other people. Where at the end of the interview we all discuss and students give constructive criticism of what I could improve on, and what I did well. We are implementing a systems-based practice where we work together in the healthcare field, and I only wish
Canada would listen. Then you get the med school forums and blogs that bash any International Medical School Graduate (IMGs) that are studying outside of Canada, this one was just lovely from Healthydebate.ca "I know several individuals so under qualified they could not even secure an interview at a Canadian medical school, then essentially purchased MDs from the Caribbean, Ireland etc. These people now feel it is their “right” to practice in Canada. I would rather an IMG who earned their degree, than a Canadian doctor who bought theirs overseas." So much for a "healthy debate" forum eh? Sadly, this was from a Canadian medical student, and if they are so arrogant and ignorant about their prestigious degree than I am surprised there were so many spelling errors in his paragraph that my OCD took over and I had to correct before re-posting it here. It is sad to know that our fellow Canadian medical students have such a stereotypical, preconceived view of the offshore medical route, but sadly...I am not surprised. So for every 99 people that get into Queen's, are the remaining 3,901 students rejects or "not-fit" to be a physician in Canada? Of course not. Those that settle and take "no" for an answer are. I would want to walk into an office of a physician, whatever the location their degree, and know they worked their butt off to get where they are today. To know that they might not have gotten into their first, second, third or even their Canadian choice for med school, but let that "no" fuel their determination to excel even more. THAT is who I would want as my physician. THAT is what determines excellency.

I am off to study airflow resistance of the lung, and as I do...I remember why I am here. I am here because I am supposed to be. Canada lost out on a potential great physician, and with all the laws and cut backs that are happening in Ontario, my desire to return is slowly fading with time. I would rather practice in a country that needs and understands the value of a hard-working Caribbean medical student, rather than making them jump through hoops. To return to a country that is in desperate need of the help, but just can't come to terms with making a change for the good of the people, is not appealing to any professional degree holder, and in the end, I am saddened to be a Canadian citizen.

Rant over.

Bye for now,


-E

References:

Branswell, Helen. "Queen’s University Professor under Fire for Anti-vaccine Teachings Granted Leave from Course. "Http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/queens.  National Post, 9 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

"Canadian Medical School Profiles." Oxford Seminars.ca. Oxford Seminars. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Hause, Emily. "How Many People Get Into Medical School?"Http://www.kaptest.com/. Kaplan, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

"Ontario Cuts 50 Medical Residency Places, Critics Warn of Doctor Shortage." Www.cbc.ca/news. The Canadian Press, 10 Aug. 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Peritz, Ingrid. "McGill University Takes Hit to Prestige as Medical School Put on Probation."Http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/mcgill. The Globe and Mail, 18 June 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Strasser, Roger, William McCready, and Marie Matte. "Canada’s New Medical School: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine: Social Accountability Through Distributed Community Engaged Learning."Academic Medicine 84.10 (2009): 6.Http://nosm.ca/uploadedFiles/About_Us. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Bonjour Semester Deux!

Hey everyone! We made it safe back to Dominica, it was an adventure, but we are here! *whew*

As I sit here in our new apartment looking over the ocean, with our cute little puppy, Domi, at my feet, I can't help but smile and think to myself how lucky we really are. Tropical Storm Erika hit Dominica hard, with over thirty deceased and about fifty missing, it is so hard to see a country that is struggling. It is crazy to believe that we are starting class Monday morning with no delay in schedule, and that even though the entire country lost power, water, and internet about five days ago, we are all here to continue medical school with everything up and running.

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. They went wayyyy too fast. My friend Viive visited us from Estonia (within Europe..don't worry...before I met her I didn't know it existed either ;)), and we spent our time in Barbados and then we were stuck in Guadaloupe for about four days waiting to hear from Ross. Unfortunately, Viive couldn't make it to Dominica with us, as they had ferries for students first, and then family and visitors second. It wasn't a problem of her visiting Dominica, it was the fact that she may not be able to get out in time for her flight back to Europe. We said our goodbyes about five days early, and that was pretty hard as we have that friendship that's like: "Alright..well..see ya in three years maybe??" So that is always not a fun goodbye.

The trip back to Dominica was not a fun one. Anyone who knows me knows that I get SO sick on ferries. We waited in line in the heat for about an hour and thankfully Ross paid for our tickets. We boarded the packed ferry and went straight to Portsmouth, as the roads from Roseau (the original ferry destination stop) to Portsmouth are not accessible due to the storm. In the end, we are here. We are safe. We FINALLY have power, water, and internet at our apartment and fresh groceries in the fridge...so bring on Semester two! The reason that some of the title of this post is in the french is that fact that Guadaloupe is a french speaking country, and if you don't know french..look out...they do not like you haha Stephen and I tried to manage our way through, and didn't do too shabby...but if Mr. Russel, my former Grade 12 french teacher, could hear me now..he would be so disappointed.

While unpacking our stuff and checking my Ross email, I got an awesome opportunity from Ross asking me to be a tutor for the incoming class. I was so excited, as it showed that my hard work paid off and was noticed by the university. I can't wait to help out some firsties while simultaneously helping myself stay on top of the material for the Step 1 exam. <-- already freaking out about this exam even though it is a year away. I also got another email from one of the amazing professors at MERP, Dr. Lindner, who asked me to be a representative from RUSM to prospective MERP students, as they do webinars for students to allow them to speak to us and ask questions. There is one representative chosen from AUC (another Caribbean medical school) and RUSM, so I am very happy to stay a part of the MERP program and community! Thank you Dr. Lindner for thinking of me. Furthermore, I have gotten some amazing emails from my blog that literally made me tear up. So many nice things were said not only about the blog, but me personally, so for that I thank you. I also have many instagram followers that ask numerous questions and follow my journey throughout Ross through my pictures (@d1todr). One follower in particular is a current MERP student and he suggested that I do a video for his MERP class and talk about my time on the island thus far; and I thought this was a great idea. One email later in to Dr. Lindner, I am recording myself tonight and sending the video to Florida and Canada so both classes can see my beautiful face haha it looks rough right now due to traveling, so sorry in advance Merpers.

I love being a part of such a great community of not only prospective Ross students, Caribbean med students, current students, but MERP students as well, I have connections with all of you and I am forever grateful. To the 1st semesters that saw me in IGA here in Dominica yesterday and follow my blog and took the time to say hello and introduce yourselves, you honestly make me happy! Thank you so much. Thank you for reading and please do not hesitate to ask me questions!

Off to walk our little princess, Domi, and give her a nice bath after. This is going to be a busy semester, but I am ready. Cardio Physiology here I come!

Bye for now,

-E xo

Picccccsssssss:

I can't...look at that face!

All ready to go!

Beautiful Guadaloupe.

Cronk and Vegas

She has gotten so big since when we first found her on the street!

The death that was this volcano hike. 3 hours.

Love him.

Barbados!

Steve being the best teacher I know xo






Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Calm. The Storm. The Aftermath.

Helloooooooooo my lovely readers! I AM alive! I promise! I finally have the mental capacity to sit in front of my computer and write. I am officially DONE my first semester of medical school, and boy, was it tough. I am officially a 2nd semester Ross student and it feels quite nice to say that.

The last time I have written I think I just finished Mini 4? Or maybe it was Mini 3, but either way, it has been a long time since I have written and the past 5 weeks have been crazy. Our last week of the semester, we literally had four exams in seven days. It was a lot to take in, but I made sure to pace myself through that high stress level time.

So where do I start? Do I talk about the "hell week" or the death that was Mini 4? Or do I talk about saving a puppy on the side of the road that was bound to have a short life close to these busy streets? Do I talk about how I am officially a part of the PAWS at Ross Eboard for next semester? Or that I made the Dean's List Honour Roll for this semester?! (I am spelling "honour" the Canadian way...#britishsystem) So much has gone on that I have to think back to my memory so I can tell you all about my crazy last month. Mini 4 was hard. It just is. Thankfully, I have had immunology before with MERP, but if you haven't, you will be studying your buns off even harder. Thankfully, I kept my study strategy consistent, and even though I kind of questioned it a bit at times, it all comes through in the end. I ended up getting a high enough score to keep me in the running in getting a "high pass" for this semester. For 1st semester at Ross, the curriculum is set up where you will get a P or an F. Pass or Fail. You still get numerical grades, but in the end, either you are passing....or you are failing. You can also get an "HP" which means high pass, where you score higher than an 85% for the semester, and thankfully I worked hard until the end to get that HP. If you are wanting to return to Canada, they see EVERY SINGLE GRADE that you have ever gotten at Ross, so just keep that in mind. This is where I had to make a decision for myself. It was Friday night, all of our grades to date are uploaded and I calculated that I had already passed the semester even if I didn't write our 25% cumulative final. I am exhausted, a tad burnt out, ok...a lot burnt out..and I have to decide if I want to work for that distinction. Thankfully, I have Steve here to say to me: "you have worked this hard all semester...would you be happy with anything less?" And knowing me...I know that I would not be happy if I got any lower knowing that I could do it if I just put the effort in. So I cracked open my books on that Friday night...and started studying for my final. It was a long, long haul that weekend, and there were many points where I just had to go lay down for about 20 minute increments, as it felt like my brain was literally melting. Semester 1 is tough....it's so called "the weed out" semester...because that is exactly what it's doing. It is trying to see who is tough enough, not only physically as you have to endure the heat, eat right, sleep right, fuel your body right, but also mentally tough...because the days get very long, very quickly. The final was actually not terrible, very specific but not anything too out of left field. I left feeling confident and that I was ready to be done with this semester already! I'll hopefully qualify to be an Anatomy TA for next semester for all the firsties! (I can say that now because I am now a 2nd!), but it will be great to keep anatomy fresh for Step 1 studying.

During these intense study days, Steve and I went for a walk and we were greeted by this sweet, sweet little pup. She was starving, had ticks on her, and definitely had fleas. My heart literally sank when I saw her and to be honest, I could not leave her knowing she is out there alone. We live on a very busy road (thankfully moving next semester) and I know that she would either get hit, or die from infection/worms/disease. I am part of this amazing group called PAWS at Ross where we help students who are bringing their pets down to the island with up to date information on shots, flights, etc, but we also try to help the many strays that Dominica is unfortunately known for. It is really hard on me walking by and seeing a stray dog, and knowing me, I am going to try and do something about it. So, the little girl pup that we named Domi is coming with us to our new apartment next semester! Our new apartment does not take dogs and after pleading with our new landlord she is charging us 200 US just to keep her for 2 months...I will work my magic to make sure she stays with us the entire time. I have created a GoFundMe account for her and PAWS at Ross as this club is in much need of help. We have only three Eboard members, while some clubs have more than ten and access to so many resources. We literally have very little funds and have twelve dogs in our care right now that the $ is coming out of our pockets. To paraphrase a conversation that I was having with a very good friend of mine, that it takes a special person to be a part of PAWS at Ross. It is not like the other groups where you get that rush of taking someone's blood pressure, educating them on how to eat right and care for themselves, taking blood or listening to a child's heartbeat. PAWS members have to understand that all of our hard work might go unnoticed, or that we literally pick a puppy off the street and smuggle him into a "no-pet" apartment because that is what is morally right. We see a lot of heartache with animals, and more than you can imagine. The amount of students that just walk by a little puppy and do not do anything astounds me, as we are not here to be only physicians, but here to make a difference in the world. So as that is said, here is what I am proposing as my readers who have been with me through thick and thin..that if you donate to help Steve and I and the amazing people who are a part of PAWS..I will write you PERSONALLY about my "tricks of the trade" with passing first semester without even having to write the final. I will answer ANY questions you may have about anything and everything and I will tell you my study secrets...honestly...they will help you. If we could get to even $1000 raised, that would help us spay and neuter a big chunk of our dogs, and that would mean so much to us! So please, even if it's $5, every bit helps and I will make sure to include lots of pictures of cute little Domi. I will reply as soon as I can and make sure when you donate, put your full name and comment on the blog with your email, and I'll write you guys! Last thing, PLEASE share share share! Sometimes when these campaigns get in the hands of the right people, they take off (or so I only hope). And how amazing would it be to raise enough money so this club does not have to be waiting on paycheck to paycheck to take care of these little guys. That is all I will bug you with...but all I ask is that you take 1 minute of your time to donate, it is really that fast.

Here is the link, just click!: http://www.gofundme.com/kygsy6r8

Well guys, I can finally enjoy my night knowing that is off my chest now and you know what I have been busy with ! Not only school anymore! haha I am off to a friend's house to hang out and relax with Steve, it has been too long where we can just kick back and relax. Thank you for all that you do, for being in my corner, reading and encouraging me, and above all else...listening to my chaotic thoughts at times. This is where I am meant to be, and I am so happy that you are all along for the ride. #DonateforDomi!

Bye for now,

-E xo

Pictures!


These 6 black pups were found in a crate on the side of the road :(

My little girl :)

I could take all of them if I could

There she is. Look at her ears?! How can someone just walk by? I had to scoop her up.

Enjoying the beach and PUPPIES!

Beautiful Dominica.

This place really is beautiful.