Class/life update

My Dad's age today: 59 (Happy Birthday, Dad!)
Time (a.m.) after which I was awake, for good, today: 2
Days till match: 7
Hours per day in class: 6

It is hard being in class again! After nearly two years working almost exclusively in the hospital/clinic setting, it is really difficult to sit for so many consecutive hours per day. Our school feels the need to, before we graduate, educate us on a variety of topics "not covered elsewhere" in our four-year curriculum so, peri-match, we have this 3-week didactic block. This week, we have been having lectures and small groups in preventative/public health, clinical pharmacology (they figure we need a refresher on what we learned 2nd year!), and medical jurisprudence. Entering a primary care field, I am naturally very interested in preventative medicine; however, until today (when we had a great lecture on childhood injury prevention), these lectures have been a little "fluffy." I do like the clinical pharm, which is case-based-- yesterday, I had to lead the discussion on management of meningitis. But the post-lunch 2 hour block of legal talk is really hard to sit through. We do cover important topics, such as the distinctions between advance directives and living wills, HIPAA and privacy, as well as malpractice reporting, but the pace is at times painfully slow and by that time in the afternoon, we just want to go home and sleep (some people, ahem Nicole and Ajit, just leave and sleep!). I still find it hard to believe that I willingly and faithfully endured 8-5 class for first year and part of second year! My attention span has noticeable shrunken since that time!

On a positive note (Wendi tells me I am too negative!), it is nice to be reunited with our close-knit class of 40. While we are on clinic and hospital rotations, it is easy to go months without seeing some of the people we spent so much time with first and second years unless you specifically make a point to hang out. And, since I really like all of them, it has been great to reconnect and find out where everyone wants to/thinks they might be headed next year. Another great thing is that we get to wear normal clothes!!! While, as sad as it is, we do get used to the Mayo suit-wear, I am (and I would venture to say all of my classmates are) much more comfortable in jeans. It is actually weird to have to actually pick out an actual outfit every day again, instead of just throwing on a suit or scrubs!

In another quick news update, MATCH DAY IS ONE WEEK AWAY. In exactly seven days from now (in fact, around 12 p.m. on Thursday, March 15), my classmates and I will find out where we are all going for residency (or, as people have said, we will all have our entire future paths determined! Yikes!). As much as I can't wait to just "know," this is very scary to me. The other night (despite the free, great food!), I avoided a "Residency Dinner" geared towards informing underclassmen about this whole process because I just can't and don't really want to talk about residency anymore. It is starting to make me sad and I think next Thursday will be a hard, emotional day for me as the reality will set in that I will be leaving everyone and this place that I have called "home" for four years.

Thirdly, is insomnia contagious??!?!? Never in my whole life have I had trouble with insomnia, unlike my good friend Wendi. I am usually asleep within 2 minutes of my head hitting the pillow, and I rarely ever wake up during the night. I even slept through a 7.4 earthquake in San Diego one year. But I have had major sleep issues lately. I think some of it is anxiety-related due to personal issues and the upcoming match, move, etc. But I have also been sleeping a lot on my living room couch recently. Some of it is aversion because it's a lot colder in my bedroom than it is in the living area, which makes it harder to get up in the morning, particularly when I try to go work out. But mostly it's because I've been often falling asleep on the couch, watching TV or reading, and waking up periodically with the lights on, knowing I should move to my bed. But I just can't make myself do it. Last night, I again slept on my couch. I woke up at 2 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I lay there for about 45 minutes hoping I would doze off again. I listened to soothing classical music. I read some. When 4:30 rolled around and I was still awake, I decided I would just stick it out and go to the gym at 5, when it opened, and then just stay up. I do not know what the deal was. But the good news (I'm being positive!) is that, undoubtedly, I will sleep solidly tonight because I'm so sleep-deprived. I somehow made it through class today, but a little nap may be in store for me...