School Update

Now that we're at midterms, I think I'd better update everyone on last quarter! Y'know, the one that ended before Christmas? Hey, I never said I was on top of things...

By the end of finals week, I was pretty sure that I could score at least a C on most of the physical exams. After having head/eyes/ears/nose/throat, cardio, respiratory, GI, neuro, spine/hip, hand/wrist, knee, shoulder, and ankle/foot practiced on me so many times, I had the first bit of each of them down. "Hi-my-name-is-Betsy-Becker-I'm a-PA-student-I'm-here-to-do-your ______ exam-it-should-take-about __ minutes-does-that-sound-okay? okay-I'll-clean-my-hands-and-stethoscope-and-observe-the-patient-for-habitus-posture-level-of-comfort-signs-of-distress-and-affect-did-they-take-your-temperature? what-was-it? I'll-check-the-pulse-count-respirations-and-take-a-blood-pressure..." That should give you an idea of how much time Andrew spent practicing these things. They each took between 15 and 40 minutes, and he had to know them all for one class. I'm pretty sure he aced that final though...

Of his five classes I think his lowest final score for the quarter was a 93.7%, with everything else being over a 96%. Needless to say, we're very proud of him. He's actually doing so well that people are starting to doubt how hard the program really is (they've actually asked me, "Is it really all that hard? He seems to be doing so well!"). I just kind of look at them and smile. He's in class 30 hours a week with workshops on top of that, and he studies between 35 and 55 hours a week. Yes, it really is all that hard. He is so enthralled by it though that it is doable. Medicine is what he loves, and he even manages to make us fall in love with it too (have I mentioned that I want to become a radiology technician now?). A normal day for us involves getting up at 7, enjoying breakfast together as a family, and then Andrew heading off to school at 8:30. He's home by 4:30, spends some time with all of us, we eat dinner around 5 or 5:30, and then he's usually studying by 7. Lately, we've been going to bed around 1 AM. They are very long days, but Andrew's dedication is paying off. This week marks the halfway point of the didactic year in Spokane. Over spring break, Andrew will spend a week in a clinical setting where he will actually be seeing patients. We've met with his advisers to discuss where he will do his clinical rotations next year, and the possibilities and opportunities are very promising.

I have a countdown on my phone to Andrew's graduation day. When I first set up the countdown we were somewhere around 630 days, and now we're at 563. But, we're 344 days in. It's arduous, but so exciting at the same time.