I’m soaking in the sights and sounds of this beautiful land.

I’m learning every day.

And I’m loving it.

Health Center | Cantel, Guatemala

Well this would be the end of the conversation, except she randomly  happened to select, out of all the patrons of this very large retail establishment, a first year Emory medical student.  Do I know where she can go for free or low cost medical care? Yes, of course I do. I happen to volunteer in one of our (that’s right, we have several) student-run free clinics a few times a month.  This is my thing, this is what I do.  How did she select me? No particular reason. Just the universe working in mysterious ways.

So we exchanged phone numbers, and I got in touch with the clinic directors, and now hopefully I’ll be seeing my new friend soon in the clinic.

How cool is that?

Right at this very moment, what I’m most excited for is my cardiology exam this Friday. Just kidding. My feelings towards that are more the diaphoretic, tachycardia inducing type. You know, like in heart failure. What’s actually exciting is the following week, which is Spring Break! This year, I’m specifically looking forward to my first trip to Puerto Rico! I’m going with the Medical Spanish Interest Group down to Ponce School of Medicine to hang out with students there, round in the clinics, and hopefully improve my medical Spanish. Also I hope I can learn about Puerto Rican culture. Especially the beach culture, I really want to examine the beach culture carefully. How is the beach in the afternoon? Who likes to hang out at the beach? What kind of food is most commonly enjoyed at the beach? You get the idea. The worst part about things to look forward to is how hard they make focusing on the present. Now back to the pathophysiology….

[ignore that date, this is actually from 4/08/11]

Emory’s administration is very supportive of students taking time off from medical studies. Every year, students have said goodbye to their classmates and gone on to pursue research (either domestic or abroad) and/or additional degrees (either here at Emory or at other institutions). And sometimes, there’s even financial support in addition to academic support to do so! It’s been an amazing year “off” from medical school, where I’ve been able to further pursue my longstanding interests in public health, global health and reproductive health. It’s definitely been a great change of pace to widen my clinical perspective from the individual level to the population level. I’ve learned a lot from the books, from additional research and probably most importantly, from a slew of passionate folks.

But there have also been bittersweet moments this year, especially during graduation, when I celebrated my friends becoming doctors from my seat in the audience – as a medical student still. Medical school has been a strange but exciting ride. The relationships you make during this time can be so great and so deep – in a way that is different of relationships from undergrad or outside of school – due to the shared experiences of academic studies and patient care. You will change. Undoubtedly. And at times, medical school will isolate you from your other friends and family. Your loved ones will try really hard to understand what you’re experiencing, but ultimately, most won’t be able to fully grasp the whole story. So, your friends often become family, without replacing your real one.

I miss my friends already but I’m right behind them. Only one more year.

Congratulations to Emory School of Medicine’s Class of 2011. You were a historic class.

ps. I started my M5 year on the right foot…by jumping out of an airplane from over 14,000 feet.

The last 4 months have been exciting and engaging to say the least. But before I delve any further into what my experience has been so far let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Thali Sangha and I’m a first year student at Emory SOM (which you’ve obviously figured out) and I attended Emory for undergrad as well. You might think that having attended Emory as an undergrad would make me feel more at home, and yes to a certain degree it does. I walk over the same bridge I used to in undergrad on my way to biology, except this time I’m walking in the opposite direction towards the medical school. That’s about where the similarities end in my experience. Medical school has been a completely new journey at a familiar place. The great thing about Emory is that they throw you into the deep end with a life jacket. After we finished orientation we shadowed for a week in the hospital known as Week on the Wards. As Dr. Schwartz put it, this was our last time to be a lay person in the medical field. Any time after this point we would be expected to help rather than simply observe. I was fortunate to be placed in Grady- a hospital in downtown Atlanta full of interesting cases and characters. I could probably write a whole book about my week in Grady but I found myself doing more than observing during my time in Grady, which is often the case as they are shorthanded with help and inundated with patients. Already in my first week I was experiencing one of the main reasons I chose to stay at Emory. I had the opportunity to work hands on with patients rather than sitting back and simply observing. After that week we came back to Emory and spoke within our small groups (a group of 8 or so other students who you will spend the next 4 years discussing a wide variety of topics) to discuss our experiences.

Another great thing about Emory is the way they handle the transition into our new mentality of “lifelong learning”. They have slowly eased us into the workload- as I’m sure you’ve heard by now how much studying you’ll be doing once you enter medical school. Talking to my friends at other schools I listened to how overwhelmed they were with everything expected of them academically, whereas at Emory we were gradually being introduced to the language and skills of the field. Week by week the workload increased and some weeks were harder than others (me and biochemistry are still not friends). However, even as more was required of us academically we were still having debates about U.S. Healthcare, discussing patient autonomy, and learning how to perform a full physical (you and your classmates will become closer than you think). So while we were busy learning the science behind the medicine we were also still getting hands on experience with patients and what it would be like to actually practice in the field. This was great because it gave me a focus for my studying- I was able to see why all this information was necessary- as evident from my massive void of medical knowledge when learning to perform the physical or taking a patient history. Rather than being discouraged by this it has given me the drive to learn as much as I can to fill this gap as quickly as possible.

Hopefully you’ve gotten some idea of what school has been like so far. If you’re having trouble figuring out exactly what we do every day then I’ve done my job, because each day is a completely different experience and part of the reason why Emory has been so exciting thus far. Yes there is plenty of lecture, there is no getting around that, but interspersed within all those lectures are patient interviews, learning to do a physical exam, volunteering at local clinics in the evenings, and hanging out with your new friends. This week we are starting Prologue II and starting Human Anatomy and I’m feeling the same excitement and anxiousness as I did on week one again. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Until then,

Thali Sangha

So It’s been awhile coming, but I’m going to finally take a stab at this whole blogging thing. I’m not even sure where to start with how to describe the med school experience up to this point. I feel like Emory does a great job with slowly notching up the intensity of the curriculum. We are now in week 1 of our 5 week Cardiovascular module and I think it’s safe to say that this will be our most difficult module to date, but it also seems like it will be one of the most interesting. To be honest, every module since the good old days of Healthy Human has been more difficult than the last though. I think Emory likes it this way. The curriculum definitely moves fast. It’s crazy to think about how much we’ve covered in the 7 months we’ve been here.

Anyways, I’ll keep this first post short mostly because I’m not entirely sure if this will even end up posting to the admissions site. I’ll leave you all with some words of wisdom that I wish I knew when I was applying last year. Stay off studentdoctor, it’s a terrible portrayal of medical students (or at least Emory medical students).

-Jeff

But at the end of the day, they’re also just teenagers. They talk about boys. And about each other. And they’re constantly texting on their cell phones.

One afternoon, Tanesha* came into the exam room with her cousin, who was sporting bright red streaks in her hair. They were both 16. As I talked to Tanesha, asking about her sexual history and what she knew about birth control, I noticed she and her cousin were wearing matching black skirts.

“Hey girls, what’s up with the tutus?”

“It’s for our friend Jay.* She died last week.”

“That’s horrible. I’m so sorry. What happened?”

I maintained my composure, but internally, I felt alarms going off and a tight knot already forming in my stomach.

“Her baby daddy shot her in the head. They got into some stupid fight and he started calling her names, pulled out a gun and shot her. She was three months pregnant too. I mean, she shouldn’t have been talking mess but he could’ve just hit her or something. She didn’t deserve to be shot and killed like that. You may have met her. She’s been coming to this clinic too.”

Tanesha relayed this information matter-of-factly and promptly whipped out her cell phone to show me pictures of Jay, who apparently had a penchant for bright red hair and tutus. Her friends were paying homage to her in their own way. When I later poked my head into the waiting area, I noticed a few others in black tutus.

During that clinic visit, we talked about the importance of personal safety and appropriate behavior in relationships. But I’m not sure if my words fell on deaf ears or not. They were listening to me but also appeared accepting of their young friend’s fate.

How could my words possibly return innocence lost?

*names and personal information have been changed to protect privacy of patients

A lot has happened with us M1’s since my last posting. We attended our first “Cadaver Ball” at the famous Fox Theater (If you end up here – make sure to visit The Fox a t least once!). It was very cool to see all of the med students- first through fourth year- in one place, especially dressed to the nines.   A lot of the time it feels like we have this building all to ourselves, so when we get a chance to interact with other years, it’s great to get advice and hear the experiences they are so willing to share.   We all lived through yet another BLAM, this time for pulmonary. It included our first set of NBME (National Board of Medical Examiners), which was a new perspective on things and gave us a little practice for the type of questions we will see on the board exams looming not to far in our futures.   We’ve seen the weather warm up a bit, recovering from the coldest winter on record in Georgia since 1978 (Northerners, put this in perspective – it “snowed” thrice and we still saw the sun regularly) and we returned to Frisbee on the lawn and biking to school.  There’s quite a bit of rain ahead of us on the schedule, but rain I can deal with.

We start our Cardiovascular module this month, with module director Dr. Joel Felner, one of the best known professors at Emory. He’s won multiple awards for his dedication to teaching and to us. I’m already getting the feeling that it will be an exciting few weeks, for sure.  We finally get to practice in the SIM lab on our simulated mannequins, “Harvey,” who I’m sure you all will get to see on your tours.

Lately, though, as much as I’ve loved going to class every morning and OPEX every other week, I’ve watched the M2’s go to the wards and the M4’s get ready to Match and move on to residency, and it’s struck me how quickly everything seems to go by! It seems like all the modules we have gone through have raced by, and with each month going by so quickly, it won’t be too long before we will be in their shoes. Knowing that, the question keeps pestering me: What will I choose to do when I move on from here?  At first, I worried about this. Some people in our class have known since the day the walked into kindergarten that they wanted to be an ophthalmologist, or a cardiologist, or a family practice doctor. Some people religiously attend Aspiring Surgeon’s Program meetings or practice their suturing in their spare time, intent that nothing will stand between them and surgery.  As for me, who knows? Every time I meet someone new, doing something I haven’t seen before, I find it exciting and fascinating.  I’ve realized a lot of the cause for this is that most of our professors are doing something they love, and the passion they have for their job and their teaching is contagious. I just want to be able to love what I do someday that much and be able to pass that passion on to generations that come after me the way they have. The cool thing is, watching the M4’s move on, I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter if I know now what I want to do, because Emory will have prepared me for whatever I decide I want to throw my heart into.  For now, I’ll just enjoy the ride!