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....

Primary Care - Doctor Week!

As usual, it's late on Sunday night and I really should go to bed, but I said I'd do these posts, so here I am. I was actually going to write this earlier, but I decided after 3 years, I'd finally give Game of Thrones another try. I tried watching it years ago and just couldn't get into it, but everyone is always talking about how good it is, plus it's almost December, so you know, "winter is coming." I know I technically saw it in the past, but watching the first episode just now, it was actually really good. I'm excited.

So anyway, a couple cool things this week. First off, I was finally the doctor in Primary Care. I think I explained in the past, but in Primary Care the class is set up as a practical with groups of 8. Every week someone acts as the doctor, we have a standardized patient come in, and for 45 minutes the doctor does an initial intake with questions and physical exams. The kicker is that as we are still learning, your group is available to help guide your thinking if you get lost, or are making a mistake on a physical exam, or miss an important question. This week was case 7, so we've been doing this for a while, but I was only just the doctor this week. It was a very humbling experience. When you're watching the case and doing research in your notes and online, you're disconnected enough that you can really think about stuff. As the doctor, I felt so connected and in the zone with the patient, I almost lost focus sometimes, and of course missed a couple really important questions. Thanks to my group though, I got on track, and I think I did well enough, getting a good amount of information to work with. It was definitely a cool experience, and I'm excited to do it again next semester, of course also doing more of this stuff with real people in my clinic shift. Also side note, I'm also going to be the doctor in Health Psych this week, so that should be interesting too. It's still a 45 minute visit, but a bit of a different focus. I'll talk about that next week.

So another cool thing this week was that it was Men's Health Week. We started off the week on Monday with Suit and Sunglasses day. It was a lot of fun, I usually come to school in joggers or sweatpants, so it felt pretty cool to come all dressed up. At common time we ran a Men's Auction, and raised a lot of money for our charity. I auctioned off some personal training services, so I was glad to be involved. Our charity by the way is Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth, a great cause for homeless youth in Toronto that really need help. You can check them out at here.

There was also a really great talk I went to on Wednesday, by Dr. Yashar Khosroshai, ND. He's one of the TAs for health psych at CCNM, and in addition to his practice, runs a company called MindShift Ninja. He has some pretty cool outlooks and perspectives to talk about. His talk this week was very intersting, called "Don't Be A Man, Be A Leader." I thought this was fantastic, because in our society today, there is too much focus on men being this stereotypical character, who is strong, closed off, and doesn't need anyone's help. I have lots of notes on this topic that I'm happy to share if you're interested. He also referred to a cool TED talk I finally watched today by Brene Brown on vulnerability, and how important it is to be vulnerable in order to succeed. To be a leader, to be connected to others, it all comes down to being self-aware, and being strong enough to be vulnerable, to be open and to be able to put your ego aside, asking for help when you need it.

I could talk about this stuff for hours, but I really should get going to bed, it's another long day tomorrow. Fun things for this week? Tomorrow we've got dance practice for Medgames, something I'm really excited about, and hopefully I'll have a video to link for you in January after it happens. I'm also going out to Costco to buy food for the MOSCE, an event I attended last year, but this year as one of the VP Academics for the NSA, I'm actually running! So that's on Tuesday, and I'm hoping it'll be a great event to help support the second years and prepare them for their OSCEs. On Friday I'll be shadowing the Fibromyalgia/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis shift, which should be pretty interesting. Speaking of that, my application was accepted and I got an interview! My interview is next Friday (December 11), so I'm hoping that will go well - we're a few weeks off, but I think I'll know if I get on the shift around the end of December.

Alright, long enough post, and it's almost 1! I'll leave you with a picture of my Mo progress for Movember. I don't do the 'stache only thing because it looks pretty bad on me, but it's been a fun month anyway.

I think I took the original picture really late on November 1st, that's probably why I look so out of it.
Or maybe I planned on making the Mo picture look a lot happier, strategy!

Focus Shifts

Another pretty relaxed week this week, though focus shift applications were due on Friday, so that was a bit of a stress. The Robert Shad Naturopathic Clinic (the school clinic at CCNM) has several different focus shifts that students can apply to. The purpose is to have a focus on a specific patient population during their shifts, and also to learn from supervisors with extra training in that area. The following shifts are available at the RSNC:

Pediatrics
Sports Medicine
Adjunctive Cancer Care
Fertility/Reproductive Health
Fibromyalgia/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

I decided to apply for the FM/ME shift, so I'll keep you posted on what happens with that. The applications included a CV (I haven't made one of these in forever!), and an essay. The essay was really tough because I haven't really done a lot of personal essays. Give me a research review or a scientific paper to write, sure thing. But writing about myself, and why I want to do something and would be good at it? That is a little more difficult. So it was a bit of a struggle, but with some help from my dad (who is a pretty great writer), I was able to put something together that was pretty good, and hope it'll get me the interview. There's an interview process in December I think, or possibly early January, and we'll see what happens.

Anyway, real quick about FM/ME so you know what it is. Basically they are two very complex conditions that do not have the best diagnosis and treatment right now. Both of these conditions can be very debilitating, and pull people away from work and the things they want to do in life. Naturopathic Medicine has a huge potential to help these people to improve their quality of life, and I'm very excited about the opportunity to help these people. In addition, I want to be the best doctor that I can in the future, and I believe that the challenge of working with complex cases would be a valuable experience. Here is a quick summary of FM and ME if you'd like to read more into them.

That's all for now, and oh ya this week is actually Men's Health Week! A very important time, remembering the importance of Men's Health. By the way, it is Movember, and I did shave clean at the beginning of the month, and I'll have a picture for the blog next week to show how far I've come. Hopefully I've helped raise some awareness and money for good causes as well.

Music, Energy, Passion

This was a pretty quiet week compared to last, with very few assignments or practicals going on. A rare and nice break to relax a little bit, kind of. I did some preceptoring on Wednesday with Dr. Jonathan Beatty, it was a pretty cool experience, though very tiring (had to be up at 6 to get there for 7:45, and I was there until 5:30). He's got a serious Naturopathic practice with a big focus on the nutrition and lifestyle aspect. His wife is actually a holistic nutritionist, and together they work patients through serious dietary protocols, and see amazing results with them. I'll be preceptoring with him several more times and am hoping to learn a lot from him.

Other than that, nothing too exciting this week, though I went to a really awesome concert on Thursday night with some friends, Parkway Drive. They're a really cool metal band from Australia, I've seen them a few times in Toronto, and they recently came out with a great new album and are touring North America in support of it. It's not the style of music for everyone, but it really highlights my love of music. There is something about live music that you just can't get anywhere else. The connection you feel with all the people around you, everyone knowing the words to the song, singing and screaming along, dancing together, and enjoying that same vibrational experience. The artist up on stage, passionately sharing the music they've created, and observing people having a great time because of what they made. The energy you feel is unreal, and it creates a perfect space for mindfulness. When you are at a good concert, there is nothing to worry about, no messages or emails to check, no facebook, there is only the music, the crowd, the band, and you.

I hope that everyone can have similar experiences like I've been so fortunate to experience with music. I think since I was 16, I may have been to over 50 concerts, and even as I get older, I'll continue to go and dance like a crazy person, because it is such an amazing space, there is so much positive energy, and I can't imagine what life would be like without. That being said, it doesn't necessarily have to be a live concert for you. It could be sitting in your room with headphones on, sitting in the car listening to the radio, singing in the shower, whatever you like best. Find your space where you can escape the world, and experience the energy of good music. There really is nothing like it.

It must be so cool to be in a band like this, providing so many people with so much joy.

Student Leadership

Quick post today because it's late and I've gotta get to bed. Today we had one of our roundtable meetings for the NSA executive. The meeting obviously has some tedious points, but it also reminded me why being part of student leadership is so great. I really enjoy getting to spend time with lots of like-minded students who want to be involved, and work together to improve the student experience for all our colleagues and classmates. It's also great to hear about all sorts of different activities and initiatives you may not have heard of and learn how to get more involved. And of course, after the meeting, we had an awesome potluck dinner where we got to just hang out and rap about anything.

There's a lot of different aspects to being a student leader, and I'm happy to talk about any of them if someone wants to comment with a question. In general though, I think that being a student leader is an amazing thing that you can do at school. We only have limited time here, and I think that you get what you put into your experience. As a student leader, you have a lot of opportunity to make a difference, both for other students and for yourself. And it's important to note that being a student leader is not restricted to being elected on student government, or as a class representative. There are always opportunities available for those who are interested, all you have to do is ask.

On a quick school note, crazy assignment time has finally quieted down a little bit. After finishing my RCIA last week, having my live patient DRE and GYNE exams, my Health Psych Case Formulation, Homeopathy Case Analysis, Primary Care PEP (busy week because as Scribe I was in charge of ensuring everyone got their work done and doing final edits) and Phys Med Practical Case, it was nice to have a little bit of a break this weekend; some time to chill out and not worry about much. We did start our partner cases in Asian Med this week, so I took the case of a classmate, and I need to workup the case, come up with a differential diagnosis list, and a treatment plan for my classmate this week. I'll present that to my TA on Thursday, and if its approved, then I'll start treating my classmate in a couple weeks. They're also going to do the same for me, which is pretty cool, hopefully we can see some good results with each other.

Alright off to bed, have a good week everyone!

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!