week 4 recap

I am not even sure what happened this week, its all a blur. Tilly and I left Tuesday morning for our east coast trip. We haven't been able to talk to Richard much with the time difference and study schedules but I do send him a good morning smile from Tilly every day =)

That being said, I am not sure what Richard has been up to at school. He has attended a family practice dinner, and another lecture after school. He has been studying a lot, and he is currently on his way to go camping with some college friends. I am hoping he can give us a month in review on Sunday or Monday when he comes back. I can not believe it has only been a month, and I definitely can not believe it has almost been 1 year since our sweet little girl was born!

Week 3 recap

We went out quite a bit this week--Monday night Richard went to the some celebratory parties with classmates after their first exam, while Tilly and I caught some beauty rest. Tuesday night we caught up with some friends we hadn't seen in a while and had dinner while the babies played. Wednesday we went to the circus with some friends who are moving to Australia. Thursday we all stayed home relaxing, and the same goes for today!

Richard made honors on his first exam, we are really excited and proud of him! They dove right in to the next assignment: heart and lungs. He came home and told me his cadaver (mildred) had had a coronary bypass surgery, I am not exactly sure what that means but she had some heart work done and he got to see where they had reworked stuff... and the stitches in her sternum (holding the bone together). He also held her heart in his double gloved hand (he don't know where that girl been). The doctor teaching came around and said mildred had the nicest lungs he had ever seen, this took my breath away. ;)

He has also been hard at work on the Health care reform and took part in conference calls with the white house and dc advocacy gurus in efforts to push a single payer plan.

Week 2 recap

This week has been packed with all sorts of things. We started off the week with a nice labor day. I went with Krisanna to her family's bbq while our husbands studied. We came back and prepared a nice meal to enjoy with David, Richard, Allen, and Brian who make up the AFP (Attorneys For the Poor) study group. They studied well into the night past the time Krisanna, Tilly and I went to sleep.

The rest of the week was similar. I don't think a day went by that I didn't spend some time with Krisanna while the boys studied. I can't express how great it is to have someone so close who is going through the same thing. She feels like family and it's so fun to be neighbors!

Richard has been busy! Tuesday he had his first of a weekly preceptorship at OHSU's CHH (Center for Health & Healing) where he shadows a doctor in family medicine. He enjoyed himself and got to work with Dr Daisuke Yamashita who is one of the residents in family medicine, who had also been volunteering with him at the SW clinic the previous week, and had gone to the AAFP National Conference of Residents and Students in Kansas City last month. On Wednesday he has PCM (principles of clinical medicine) and this week he also set up a booth at lunch to get other students involved with the student chapter of PNHP (Physician for a National Health Program) that he is starting--something he is very passionate about. Thursday he went to the work on the ADHD MRI study that he had been working on prior to school--now he gets to continue his research and get credit for it though school. Friday was the regular 8-12 school day as well as a few prossection and cadaver videos and a lot of studying, and a little Tilly time so I could run an errand.

He has his first exam this Monday, and an 8 hour study session set up in the library tomorrow with AFP. I am currently working out a healthy menu for the boys to keep their belly's full and minds focused.

Week 1 recap

What a week! It was the first full week of classes, the previous week only having two school days. For the most part I am wondering when he will be totally busy to the point of not being able to even eat with us. This week, with the exception of yesterday, Richard had been able to play with Tilly and I every day at least an hour. Yesterday was different because he had an American Med. Student Association (AMSA) meeting at lunch, then went straight to volunteer at the community health clinic.

He has been learning the embryonic cycle of development in lecture, and dissecting the arm pit and back muscles in lab. They also had a lecture on breast cancer which was interesting to hear about because my mother just had her lumpectomy two weeks ago and is going through the radiation in the coming weeks. It's nice that Richard is able to tell me the meanings behind some of the things she is going through. Richard also saw a patient at the community health clinic that had already had a lumpectomy and had discovered another lump in her breast, so now he knows what to feel for, hello monthly breast exams =)

Today we went to BBQ with the 1st years and 2nd years. Tilly was loving 'walking' around meeting all her new friends. The two classes have a lot of great people, I'm so excited to get to know them better over the next four years! I am especially excited to watch the cutest med school cheerleaders you will ever meet grow over the next four years!