Farewell, Molecules to Cells

Farewell, Molecules to Cells. I will not miss thee.

On Wednesday I took my final exam in biochemistry (and passed!). I have moved on emotionally, physically, and spiritually from (hopefully) the most boring topic in all of medical school. Frankly, I don't think anything can be more off-putting than RNA polymerase II (see left) and its transcription factors. After talking to some of the MS2s, apparently this is the worst block of our first year, and luckily we start Anatomy in just over a week. But first off to Boone, North Carolina for my first Community Week. Finally back to seeing real patients and human interaction instead of tyrosine kinase receptor / hormone interaction...

It was a fairly tumultuous week, beginning with the annual MS1/MS2 keg race. This past Saturday at 10 AM the kegs started flowing. 20 v. 20. Why we had to start so early I'm not sure (I guess a 9 AM wake-up is sleeping in for med students?), but the experience took me back to undergrad. We won (of course), but I think the best part about the morning was getting yelled at for drinking too slowly, being too social, and not being enough of a team player in my efforts. Apparently med students are like athletes: we like to win (or at least get an "A"). That even includes our "extra-curricular activities."

That time could have been better spent studying, however, duty called. Sunday through Tuesday was spent in the library gearing up for our final, and it was a relief to be free at noon. Ginny Moye and I then drove up to Blowing Rock, NC (right outside Boone) to spend some time at a mountain time-share that one of our classmates had for the weekend. About 20 of us made it up there, and we spend the time going for walks, seeing the bears, cougars, and bald eagles (all in captivity of course), "climbing" grandfather mountain, and debating whether Lawrence v. Texas negates the North Carolina anti-sodomy statute (this one is still up in the air; if you are an expert in NC Criminal Law please contact me immediately). This gave me the opportunity to really meet some of my fellow students. I met an MS2 named Shane who summited Kilimanjaro just a day before I did this past July. And one of my classmates, Ronnie Millingham, lives a block from Brandon Suddreth's house, and was in the same EMT-I class with me this Spring. Small world.

I recently posted on my Facebook status that I couldn't wait to start "real" medical school next week. I have a week of shadowing starting Monday, and then Anatomy begins 7 days later. I thought I would be nervous to start dissection, but I think I was so disillusioned by Molecules to Cells that I'm just plain excited. I see the relevance in this Block (obviously), and when you think about medical school, this is what comes to mind. Dead bodies, scalpels, tissue, cutting. I just can't wait to use my hands. And after reading Christine Montross' Body of Work, I'm very interested to see how I respond to the tense emotions and stresses of the Anatomy Lab, the real bodies, and my classmates. I think I have a good group of students I'm working with, but people deal with all this in many different ways. I certainly view the body with a ton of reverence after reading that book, and I hope my fellow group members do the same.

It looks like I have a good couple weeks ahead of me. Hopefully I won't make a little kid cry. I might not be able to post until Saturday if I don't have internet, but I should be able to write by Friday night and share some of my community week experiences.