1 Year Blogiversary!

Today marks the 1 year mark of my starting this blog. I was quite bored during reading week (aka procrastinating) and had been reading medical blogs for quite a while, and decided I should write one myself.

To date, I have written 88 posts (much lower than I expected when I started), and have received 6,261 hits (definitely much MORE than I expected!). I have had quite the time this past year, with plenty of things happening, not only to me but the world as well.

I would like to say thanks to all the people who read this, and hope you have enjoyed it. I definitely plan to keep this going, especially once I start my clinical time in Preston, so stay tuned!

Thanks,

-AMiB

Fake memories...

hmm...saw this on a friend's blog, decided to see if anyone here would give it a go!

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don't speak often) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE-UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you.

In other news, I have essentially gotten all my data for my dissertation, and my advisor says that "in theory, in two weeks time, I should have written the whole thing". So yeah, basically all during my spring break at home, I'll be writing (if I can motivate myself, that is!) I still have 2 weeks after that to finalize, etc, but it's nice to finally have a deadline, of sorts.

-AMiB

Me in a nutshell...

Saw this picture on the internet today, thought it summed up my life quite well lol...

In other news, tonight is the Bute Ball, the big medical school ball put on by the Bute Medical Society. At the beginning of my 1st year, I told myself that to the 3rd year Bute Ball, I would wear a kilt (and associated outfit). Well, that day is finally upon us, and the kilt is here (rented). I'm quite excited but also a little apprehensive...we'll see how it goes.



-AMiB

QUB Scrubs Emergency Medicine 2008, Day 1

So, Day 1 (of 2) is over of the QUB Scrubs Emergency Medicine conference for 2008. It was pretty good, although a lot of the morning lectures I've heard before (ABCDE, causes of SOB/ACS, etc etc), but it was still fun because the friends who came with my from St. Andrews and I were passing writing notes to one another on our little notepads...

After lunch, there was a circuit of 6 skills stations, including Cannulation, ABG taking, ABG interpretations, some Sim-Man sessions with the Territorial Army, which were really awesome because I got to use my ABCDE skills from the ILS sessions as well as my EMT-B training from back home to care for a "soldier" (SimMan dressed in army gear) who had been a prolonged extraction from an crash.

Tomorrow looks to be interesting as well, with different lectures including things like Diabetic and Obstetric Emergencies, as well as more skills stations, like suturing and defibrillation. These topics are more fun than what you'd study in a medical assistant degree program.

Anyway, my friends and I are going to relax after a MASSIVE dinner at Villa Italia, and might just watch a movie and get ready for tomorrow!

-AMiB

Emergency Medicine Conference

Later tonight 3 friends and I are headed over to Belfast for the Scrubs QUB Emergency Medicine Conference (http://www.qubscrubs.co.uk/conference). I went back in first year when it was the first year of the conference, and I LOVED it. It looks to be bigger and better this year, so I'm quite looking forward to it. I will hopefully post pics/update, but then again, I seem to be neglecting my blog more and more recently.

If by chance you're headed to the conference as well, drop me a line! (I'll have my laptop with me)

-AMiB

Awesome.

Each of you [visitors] will be getting a different "fact" about me...feel free to refresh to get another one lol

Last Friday and Saturday were two of the best days of medical school I have had so far. Friday was the first Cycle of MD4003 - Applied Medical Sciences. Besides our dissertation, it is the only class we have, taking up an entire Friday (9-4) once every fortnight. Hopefully I will find time to elaborate later (although I seem to find plenty of time to find meme's online...hmm). Friday I and 29 of my colleagues became ILS (Immediate Life Support) certified by the Resuscitation Council of the UK. It was basically a refresher of what I did back in the summer when I became an ACLS Provider back home in the states. It was still great fun, and luckily no one killed anyone with the defibs (they were live). The instructors were pretty laid back and funny, too, which always helps. Although after one of them gave the lecture on the ALS Algorith, I went up and asked him about a couple discrepancies between the UK algorith and the USA/AHA algorithm. He sort of laughed when I said I was American (I get that a lot), and then seemed to pick on me a bit for the rest of the day. Or maybe I was imagining it. At one point though when we were practicing, a put my stethoscope around my neck (y'know, because its the simplest place to put it), but then he came up to me and asked if I was a doctor and if not then why my scope was around my neck. I guess in Tayside they don't allow anyone but Consultants to wear them. Weirdos.

-AMiB

SNP SNP

So I had another meeting with my dissertation adviser today, and I think we've changed my project completely. It's ok though, because this one doesn't go completely over my head like the last one.

From what I understand, I'm meant to analyze patterns in 4 biopsies of breast cancers, look for DNA amplicons, and try and match them to known gene transcription regions in the human genome. For example, on chromosome 17, there is a large area of DNA amplification on the "q" segment (lol don't I sound fancy - I barely even understand what I'm saying!), and when you match that to the human genome, you see that this is the are in which the HERB B2 binding site is. This is the major site of action of the relatively new anti-breast cancer drug, herceptin. So basically I'm supposed to spend the next few days or so looking at different amplification regions, and looking for patterns of areas of genomic transcription. Or something like that. Maybe I've completely misunderstood, or am just spewing complete BS to look smart.

Probably that last one. lol.

-AMiB