Almost Free!

Here we are Sunday night at 12:50, and I'm writing my review of the weeks exams. Overall it was a pretty tough week, it was definitely a challenge to get through everything. Really just emotionally it can be tough, after going through so many exam periods in my life, and so many at CCNM specifically. This is the second last major exam period though, with midterms and finals next semester, and then I'll be in clinic! It's almost surreal how fast this experience is going by, and also how much I've learned and how much I've changed as a person.

So anyway, the exams this week were definitely tough, but manageable. With only Primary Care and Health Psych tomorrow and Tuesday respectively, I was able to actually have a great weekend. The exams aren't worth too much and I'm not too worried about the difficulty, so I was able to do a lot of fun things. Friday night, was the night that I, and many people have been waiting for for a very long time. Star Wars Episode VII! It was fun first of all just to go see a movie, because I don't get a chance to go see movies very often anymore. And as a huge Star Wars fan, I was really happy with the results. Was it the best movie ever? No. But did it reach everything that it should be? Absolutely!
Saturday night I went out with some friends, we had a nostalgic night watching Superbad and just laughing like crazy, and then went out to a nearby club. And then today (Sunday), after studying for Primary Care all day with friends, except really slowly and mostly just joking around, I went to a really awesome concert at the Danforth Music Hall. One of my all time favourite bands Silverstein came back. I've probably seen them over 10 times, but it is always a great time to see them. They also brought with them Cancer Bats, a band I used to really enjoy and haven't seen in a long time, and Beartooth, a band I really like and have never seen before. It was a really fun concert, and a great way to end off a super fun weekend.

So tomorrow its Primary Care exam and then Health Psych on Tuesday, and then I'm off to Blue Mountain with a bunch of friends for a couple days. Unfortunately there's no snow there...but we have a lot of fun people and I'm sure we'll have a good time. I'm just excited to get out of school mode for a little while and just relax and have fun. So I'm not sure if I'll post anything during the break, so Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of my readers, I wish you all the best time and hope you enjoy yourselves with family and friends. And I'll throw out a PSA that the singer of Silverstein said tonight - "Put your phones away, just like, turn them off. Spend time with your friends and family and actually be there, those opportunities are the best."

Holiday Play and Exam Time

I'm sorry I missed my most recent post, it's been a busy weekend, and exams are coming!
Friday I went to a really awesome concert, one of my old favourites Protest The Hero did a reunion show and played their entire album Kezia from 10 years ago (one of their best songs if you're interested). They haven't actually broken up, but two members left the band, so it was nice for them to come back and play this old stuff. It was also fun because I went to the show with a friend from school, and I've never gone to a concert with anyone other than my older friends and my brother.

Saturday night was the holiday play which was a lot of fun. Every December the 4th years put on a holiday play - no actual holiday theme here - and use it as a fundraiser for Grad. This year the theme was Inside Out at CCNM, and it was absolutely hilarious. Instead of emotions, each character was a part of a human, like MSK, GI, Brain, etc. They had really funny characters with a lot of silly jokes - I could especially understand most of them being in 3rd year now! - and even a couple great songs. I don't know what capacity it will be in, but I'll definitely be involved in the school play next year for my 4th year, it's not something I could miss out on!

So anyway exams are coming up, it's going to be busy, but not horrible I think. Definitely manageable, a lot due to the fact that in 3rd year, we have lots of assignments and practicals during the year, so our exams are worth a little bit less. I think I'll be able to manage. Next week I've got Integrated Therapeutics, Botanical Medicine, Radiology, Mens and Womens Health, Clinical Nutrition, Asian Medicine and Physical Medicine exams. The following week I have Primary Care and Health Psychology. So that's 9 exams in 9 days. Seems like a lot, but I'm used to it by now. Also Physical Medicine is a short practical, Nutrition is open book, and Psychology is not worth too much, not to mention I have pretty much perfect from the practicals and assignments. So I've got a fair bit of work ahead of me for some of the others, with IT, Bot and Asian Med consisting of a lot of information, but it will be manageable.

I kind of doubt I'll have a post on Sunday because I'll be really busy studying for exams, but look for a post the following week - I'll still have two more to write, but I think I'll be in a much better state and be able to make a post, not to mention being really excited about being almost done my 2nd last semester as a full time student! (we have one class a semester in 4th year, I don't really consider clerkship being a student, not the same at least).

For those reading who currently have exams or exams coming up, as they say....

Midterm Review, Assignments, and Halloween

I'm really sorry, I know I was going to make Sundays regular, and then I went ahead and missed one! I know I said that midterms were not as big this year, but the 7+ assignments and practicals going on right after midterms, well those are. So all that was kind of on my mind post-midterms, and I unfortunately missed the post. Anyway, here's a quick midterm summary:

Nutrition - this was my first open book exam ever, and it was weird. I'm usually a really fast exam taker, but I was here writing up until the last minute. It was an interesting exam, asking you to think really critically about several different conditions, and use your textbook and notes to come up with effective treatment plans, diagnostics, and other stuff. It wasn't super hard, but it also wasn't an easy exam. You definitely need to know your stuff generally, and be prepared.

Men's and Women's Health - Pretty straightforward multiple choice exam. We went through a lot of conditions in detail, and it can get a little tough because there's a lot of similarities, especially with treatments. I think it went pretty well though, my biggest recommendation here is to know your basics. If you don't understand endocrinology and physiology, it's hard to differentiate your conditions. Also, having a nice group study session before the exam in the NSA lounge, and writing out our keynote symptoms for each condition on the blackboard, that works really well!

Physical Medicine - This was a weird exam of course, because it's more of a practical based topic, but we had a 100 question multiple choice exam. Weird right? Anyway, I had heard that a lot of people failed last year, so I was a little worried. Turns out the exam was a breeze! Now maybe it's because we were all pretty worried, and had an awesome group study session the night before, and got to know our stuff really well, or maybe...na that's probably it. There's a lot of information to know, but if you simplify and break it all down, it's not too bad. And also, as a practical based topic, I find it's really helpful to study using your hands a lot - go through the motions of each test and exam as you study them, talk about and really see why they do what they do.

So the big assignment that was on my mind this past week was our RCIA (Relevant Clinical Inquiry Assignment). This is basically a massive paper where you have to do a review on a clinically relevant topic to Naturopathic Medicine. It involves lots of research, tedious summary work, and some cool critical thinking about current treatment standards, and where your research fits in. It was a lot of work, and my paper ended up at about 19 pages (!!!), but it was a good experience. The really cool thing is that the professors are planning to compile all our reports and give it back to us as a resource, so we'll have some awesome summaries of hundreds of research papers on clinically relevant topics. Pretty cool right? I did mine on Mindfulness Based Therapies for improving sleep disturbance and insomnia. Long story short? It works pretty well, and that doesn't even take into account that it has some great results for anxiety, depression, stress, and lots of other conditions. Definitely something I want to incorporate into my practice in the future.

Anyway I'm off for the week, not like I have that much to do - oh just a health psych case formulation, practical male and female genitourinary exams, a homeopathy full case assignment, a marketing assignment, and a physical medicine practical. Should be an easy week right?

Oh ya and it was Halloween yesterday, my house is generally known on my street as one of the best - my brother sets up an awesome display with scary figures in the window, dark lights, spiders, zombies, the whole thing. And then my dad has a terrifying Frankenstein laugh, it's really funny how many kids get scared to knock on the door. Don't worry though, we always have good candy! And Halloween is supposed to be scary right?

As always, here's a funny relevant picture for the week. See you next week!

Shortest Midterm Week Ever?

It's Monday, sorry I missed my usual Sunday post, but I'm here right away! It's a bit of a busy time right now with CCNM midterms. Again, I'm in third year, so this is going to be my fifth midterm period at CCNM! Time sure flies. This is a really odd one though, because for the first time, midterms are not the week of Thanksgiving (I may have mentioned that in my last post, if so, sorry, I forgot). So we have midterms over five days instead of four. However, third year is a little different than first and second; we have a lot more assignments, so we have less midterms. So right now, I've only got three midterms - I know, my undergrad self would be crying if I had three midterms in a week, but at CCNM, when you're used to five to six exams in four days, three exams in five days is really not so bad! Anyway I've got Nutrition on Tuesday, Men's and Women's Health on Thursday, and Physical Medicine on Friday. I'll try to debrief these exams a bit on my next Sunday post.

Nutrition is going to be a little strange, because it's actually an open book exam; to my knowledge, my first open book exam ever in seven years of post-secondary. We can bring in whatever we want, and for me that means the course textbook, the Gaby "Bible of Nutrition" (honestly this book is over 1300 pages, it has so much information!), and course notes. The exam is all short answer instead of multiple choice, so it'll be a little different, but I think it will be okay. Critically think instead of memorize. What a concept!

Men's and Women's Health is regular multiple choice, there's a fair amount of material, but I don't think it will be too bad. Lots of overlap with other courses, and stuff we have done in the past. There is a lot of therapeutics to know though...oh third year.

Finally Physical Medicine, it's going to be a little weird as a multiple choice exam. This is the type of course that you really see as more of a practical based thing, and the final will be just that. But for the midterm, we've got about 400+ pages worth of material, all sorts of physical exams and conditions and dermatomes and trigger points. So much information! But at least it's at the end of the week, so there's lots of time to prepare for it.

Anyway, on to something that is not just school. I've recently been doing lots of self-development, with books and podcasts being a big part of that. There's so many interesting and useful little tips you can learn, and I thought it would be nice to share some of those through my blogging. So for this week, I wanted to share a pretty cool one I learned today, called "block breathing." This is something I had learned in the past, but modified. Basically, you breathe in for 3-4s, hold your breath for 3-4s, breathe out for 3-4s, and hold again for 3-4s. While you do this, you can imagine drawing a square with your finger, or even actually draw one. Each side of the square is a portion of that breathing. This is a great exercise for helping draw you back to your breath, become more mindful, get into a parasympathetic state, and just relax. The simple things are always the best aren't they? The cool twist I learned today though, was to do block breathing while walking. Walking can be especially stressful if you are in a rush or in a big crowd of people. It's also something you have to do all the time, so why not use it as an opportunity to be more mindful and relaxed? So in this scenario, instead of using 3-4s for each side of the square, you can breathe in, hold and breathe out based on the number of steps you take. 4 steps is a pretty standard number, but depending how fast you walk, you can switch between 4-8 steps and have a pretty good rhythm.

So give that exercise a try next time you're out walking, and let me know how you feel. I'm off to study again, see you Sunday!

Remember to breathe properly! Breathe with your diaphragm and not your chest to get the best airflow, and better relaxation. This is as easy as putting you hand on your stomach while breathing - ensure it pushes out while breathing in, and comes in when you breathe out. Enjoy!

The Importance of Community

Back again for my second "regular" Sunday post. I'm kind of procrastinating doing some work tonight, it's been a long day, but I'm going to do my post as promised.

This has been an interesting week as always, with our first ADNSA meeting, practicing CBT on standardized patients in Health Psych, trying out moxabustion and cupping in Asian Med, the Jays clinching the playoffs (woo! I'm such a bandwagon fan but boy is it a fun energy to be part of! Plus my grandfather loves the Jays and it's really nice to share something with him), and a really big one, the Proclamation Celebration on Thursday. That's right, the Naturopathy Act of 2007 has finally been proclaimed in Ontario - Okay, well it was actually proclaimed in July, but we're finally celebrating it. As with anything politically related, this is just one step on a long road, and you can't appease everyone as many people are a little upset about certain things, but overall, this is really great news for NDs in Ontario and across Canada and the US really. Improved regulation and legal rights leads to better patient care and protection, and better outcomes for doctors in the end. It was great to celebrate this occasion with fellow students and doctors, and to look back on how far we've come as a profession.

Anyway, onto the topic of my post for today. Community. An awesome TV show (well at least season 1-3); but also, an important word. A quick google definition of the word shows the following: "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals." Coming from a large family, I think I've always taken for granted the importance of community, but it was really while reflecting on my last week, and doing some digging into some old psych notes that I got a greater understanding. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is an interesting concept based upon what it takes to find your purpose in life: self-actualization. I think this is something that everyone should and eventually will want to achieve, to answer the big question, "why am I here?" Maslow posits however, that in order to reach this point, you first need to attend to your most basic needs. This starts with physiologic needs like food, water and air, and then moves on to safety. How can you worry about your purpose if you can't eat, breathe, or drink, or if you don't feel safe from harm? But the next part of the pyramid is actually a feeling of love and belonging. We as humans have always survived and flourished because we build communities; we work together to help each other succeed; together. 

Of course being aware of this concept has led me to reflect on my recent past, going through this difficult program of Naturopathic Medicine. Could I have done this all by myself? Without a strong community? I really don't know. I do believe that we are all amazing beings with tons of potential for success, but I also think that we can all be better with the help of each other. In my first two years of CCNM, I was provided with endless resources from older students to help me succeed in my classes. I was given motivational speeches, invaluable tips, and people to talk to when I've felt overwhelmed. The help this community provides extends beyond just the older students though; my friends and classmates, future colleagues, are always there for each other. We all know that we have what it takes to succeed, but sometimes we need help to get through certain aspects. Individually, we are strong, but as a community, we are unstoppable. It is because of this that I am so glad to be a part of the NSA executive - my goal is to always help foster this sense of community among the students in years below me, and also students in my year and the one above me. 

This week I really appreciated the opportunity to give talks for the 1st and 2nd years on how to approach midterms, as it can be a little daunting. Having been in their position before, I know that it's tough, but I also know that they have what it takes. And more importantly, I know that they have what it takes to help each other get through. I have been pleased to see lots of sharing of resources and responsibilities among these students, sharing notes, creating study groups. This is the benefit of having a strong community, and I hope to continue to help build it stronger and stronger.

That's all for now, I've got work to do and my ability to write well is kind of flopping, but I'll leave you with this quote from Helen Keller: "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much."

- and okay fine I'll put a funny cartoon this week!

But I swear I'm going to do my work today!
.... But maybe a quick break since I just wrote this blog post...

Exam Season

Final exams have begun once again at CCNM. The school is filled with students struggling to remember that last detail about that one thing they missed in class, and it's definitely much quieter.
My first exam was this morning, and yes, it was the OSCEs. It was a bit of a nerve racking experience, but it definitely went well. My exam was at 8:56 (on the dot, everything has to be very structured and specific!), so we had to meet as a group on the second floor 20 minutes early. Dr. Roberts explained the process to us one more time, and then filed down to the clinic one by one, with our lab coats, medical equipment, and our clipboards. Dr. Pachkovskaja met us in the clinic and provided us with a last minute pump-up speech, telling us all to smile and be excited. Then we were sent off to our rooms, of course mine had to be around the corner and waste a bit of my prep time. We were then given 90s to read our case stem and write down any notes on our clipboard. Our patient had an earache, which is an interesting complaint because it kind of jumps all over with the types of exams you need to do, but it's definitely a little less intensive than something like cough or hypertension. I walked in the room and my evaluator was actually my resident from clinic 2, Dr. Irons, and the standardized patient was a fourth year I knew from unity summit. Needless to say this didn't really calm my nerves at all. I thankfully remembered to wash my hands right away and introduce myself to the patient, getting consent, and then got started on my exams. For some reason I started taking pulse without giving him the thermometer first, but I recovered and got vitals done pretty quickly. After that I kind of jumped all over the place, not really following my previously set up script, I think in the moment of anxiety I was forgetting some things and just went with what I remembered and what I had written down. I did pretty well I think, getting through all the exams, except for some silly reason I forgot to check his sinuses (I checked his nose why wouldn't I do sinuses!). The bell rang at 20 minutes and I was given the post-encounter probe (like a little quiz), it was pretty easy just 3 questions, and then the next bell rang and it was over. I got out of the room and found my classmates all happy and smiling, the anxiety drained from our bodies and left in the exam rooms.

OSCE 1, you were quite the challenge, especially to prepare for, but we took you down. Now, on to the next 7 exams I have! (oh clinical medicine and microbiology, I can't wait until you're over on Thursday).


As a quick side note, I wanted to just comment on the 4th year holiday play that I had the pleasure of seeing on Thursday night. Their theme was Frozen at CCNM, and it was just fantastic. They did a musical adventure with lots of inside jokes about CCNM, and lots of really great Disney songs adapted to fit the play. The words were changed to include CCNM jokes, but they played a lot of my favourites, like "A Whole New World," "Hakuna Matata," and "Be a Man." Of course they also did "Let it Go," a bit of an overrated song but it was still really great. The whole experience got me really excited about my own 4th year holiday play, something that I definitely want to be involved in. After exams are over I think I'm going to start seeing who will be interested in being a part of it; of course it's 2 years away, but this one was really fantastic so I think the earlier we start the better we can be. I just love musicals!

Some of the stars of the play. They really did a great job setting an atmosphere
considering it was all done in the Lecture Theatre at CCNM