It's time for the real deal

So this week was our first 2 lecture sessions and cadaver labs. Wow. The first day when we walked in many groups had already uncovered their cadavers and I almost got stuck in my tracks. The head is covered until the final block, for which I'm grateful. We want to treat the cadaver as a human patient, but it is just kind of a wierd emotional thing to see the face, especially if we saw it on the first day. But after we started "digging in" (literally...) and got into the muscles of the back, it was much better, amidst frequent uncertainty because for many of us it was our first time. Even though we have the lab manual right in front of us we kept asking "do we cut here? how deep do we cut? is this something we shouldn't cut?" I will spare you all the gross details (harhar--gross anatomy lab, get it?).. I was EXHAUSTED by the time I got out of there...4 hrs later. We had our second lab on thursday and discovered the spinal cord. IT IS A GOOD THING that it is so tough to get in there, or we all would be paralyzed the first time we did anything.

After having our first lab, I started really feeling like a medical student--kind of "initiation." But today, Friday, was our "White Coat Ceremony," the entrance ceremony where our class is introduced into the professional community as student physicians. It was great that my family could come up for it. There were several speeches (what is a ceremony without them?) and then the moment when they call your name and you walk up on stage to shake the dean's hand while donning your white doctor's coat. It really was cool hearing all the different kinds of people we have in our class--a few people with PhDs!! several with master's, and many kinds of bacherlor's degrees. Even anthropology and geology. And finally we recited the oath of Geneva--a modern Hippocratic oath. We had spent some time earlier in the week talking about professionalism and what that would mean--altruism, integrity, humilty, and a host of other virtues. As an aside, last week we shared about our hopes for the next few years, and I mentioned how I hoped to grow in my faith and understand more of how to integrate my faith and being a doctor. I want to be salt and light, I just hope that I'm being wise too with my words, as I want to be an extension of God's love to the world, and not cause stereotypes to unecessarily form just because it is obvious I am a person of faith. Anyhow. when we said the oath of Geneva together--that was what really cemented to me in the ceremony that I'm gonna be a physician and the great responsibility, privilige, and honor it will be. When you pledge that "I will make the health of my patient my first consideration," it isn't to be taken lightly.

To end the afternoon, my family and I went to the Rose Garden. Then my roomie and I went for a great bike ride on the Springwater Trail--it goes along the waterfront on the eastside of the river. Absolutely B-eautiful and the weather was fab. So begins the weekend. I should be studying right now probably, but it's Friday night and really hard for me to be motivated.

In other news...I encountered 2 racoons on my walk down to the fitness center this week, free food is awesome, and practicing trombone felt really good today.