Tri-8 Wk4 Day 474 - Tuesday

Well, I think I might be moving on to acceptance of my crappy 600 mile weekly driving. What a bunch of crap. One interesting thing regarding learning about having to come in 5 days a week was that I only recognized one of those days one at a time even though I saw the entire monthly schedule every time I saw it. I think I only saw what I was able to handle. The first time I saw the schedule I only saw that I had to come in on Mondays and it wasn't until later on that day when I looked at the schedule again that I saw that I had to come in on Thursday as well.

I think if I'd have recognized that I was having to go in 5 days a week initially that I would have walked out of the classroom.

AND ....it looks like my marathon driving starts this week ... Hell - today alone I put on over 150 miles.

oh yeah ...I need to turn in a sheet for our meeting tomorrow telling how many people in St Peters I've met ...now, this is one of those things that should be available as a soft copy but St Peter's is a little behind the times when it comes to electronic records.

OK - that sheet's filled out and ready to be turned in

next - PT review application due tomorrow ...

well, that PT application has turned into looking up and scheduling all the logistics for my Part III & Part IV boards as well as PT as well as the one subject I need to retake for Part II.

I need to check w/ NBS if I can take the review for Part IV next year in April, just prior to May testing. I'm way too tired and stressed to remember much of anything and don't want to risk $1,235 on an exam I'm not sure I'll be prepared to take.

Tri-8 Wk3, Days 470, 471, 472, 473 - Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri

Apparently, clinic is now manditory 5 days per week. That's 120 miles of driving per day, 5 days a week MINIMUM! - 600 miles of driving per week - MINIMUM.

At this point, all I can say is Logan can go to hell.

With only 3 days of clinic per week I've already broken over 600 miles due to other activities such as marketing or ARC.

The extra two days per week are for listening to and presenting case reports.

I'm not really sure what to say, do or think about this latest development. It's pretty much insane and asinine.

We have senior research projects we're supposed to be working on and, with that, we are to procure a teacher from the school to act as an adviser. Asking a teacher to take on such a position seems to be the most unpopular question one can ask. It's not something most of them like to do or be a part of.

Part IV National Boards applications are now being accepted. I don't think I'm going to be able to pull the trigger on this. $1235 cash is required - no credit cards, just cash equivalents. Exam dates of November 11,12 & 13th. I've already put out over $600 cash for reviews. One of which I've already partially taken.

It's late Monday - Memorial Day. Class resumes tomorrow with day 474. There seem to be some schools where the students are enthusiastic about chiropractic but, I can't say this is necessarily one of them.

If things keep up as they have been then I can only imagine that if I ever manage to graduate then the last thing in the world I'll be wanting to do is practice chiropractic.

Tri-8, Wk3, Day 469 - Monday

Today was class from 7:20 until 11 a.m. and then I hung around and was able to get in four hours of rad conference in along w/ write ups for 5 sets of x-rays so, i've got half of the hours I need now for my Tri-8 rad conference requirement and I'll have to keep up the write ups for another five weeks.

We also have Lab impressions to do over the next 10 weeks and the first one is due this week. We get a case, i.e., 42 yof w/ c/c of blah, blah, blah ... then we get their vitals, CBC work, chem lab and urinalysis and need to provide a ddx and dx and how we would care for them.

Let's see ...last Friday was a 6:30 a.m. start at school, the preceding Monday ended at 11 p.m. Got clinic tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. oh heck - i just remembered I need to update Dr. Hogarth on my adjustments - I *think* the 5 I did at ARC maybe count towards the 200 total I need to get in by graduation.

man it get's late quick - kind of a late night getting home but, only a 13 hour day so nothing unbearable. I do need to update my online Google calendar and sync it with my iPad - still have some other computer stuff to do as well regarding downloading materials for my 18 classes ---- nope - only 17 classes -

10 are structured classes that we meet w/ a teacher during the mornings and the other 7 are kind of like classes that we have to do on our own like the 10 weeks of lab impressions or 6 weeks of xray reports.

I really wanna think I can do this (get through the semester) and I really would like some decent grades to go with this semester. A few of those extra classes we're doing only have the option of getting an A or an F (or an incomplete) Getting it all done is the key. Dr. Guebert told us today that there are still Tri-10s with incompletes from Tri-8 coursework ...so ....wish me Luck! :)

Tri-8, Wk2, Days 464, 465, 467, 468 - Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri

Time to catch up :)

We can start with yesterday, Saturday, 5/21/2011 at Laurel Park in St. Peters, MO where I worked on six patients from the Cystic Fibrosis charity event walk. It was tough keeping a dry eye while listening to the stories of some of the people I worked on. The very first lady I saw told me the 12 year old girl she was walking for had died last week.

Friday was a day of early meetings starting at 6:30 a.m. followed by classes, then clinic then a stop at a classmates house who was having a little pre-party followed by the beginning of Tri party held at Hot-Shots over on Manchester in MO. I learned a few new chiropractic type moves both at the clinic and with friends later on at the pre-party.

OBGYN was rather interesting, our teacher is an FACOG, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or, a fellow. As I understand things, specialist like this are kind of like Mega-Doctors. After they put in their four years to get their MD they go on for another 4 years learning about a specialized area, such as OBGYN.

ACK! well, my computer crashed yesterday and it looks like what was written above is all that got saved.

oh well - the darnest thing about OBGYN is when we were talking about various secretions and watching slides of those secretions on a ladies fingers and the teacher commented that it was OK to touch a vagina ....then she recanted and said, it's OK to touch your own vagina. It was quite interesting though because, as she pointed out, the more serous effusion & clearer type of secretion was easier for sperm to swim through and thus make it easier to get pregnant. Something else the teacher mentioned and I kind of want to confirm this with more sources but it was mentioned that Green Tea can help produce a vaginal secretion that is more conducive and hospitable to sperm.

Last Monday, I spent the evening at the ARC - Adult Rehab Center sponsored by the Salvation Army in downtown St. Louis. They open their doors for medical type care on Mondays & Wednesdays. We mainly just did physical type stuff, blood pressures and so forth along w/ some physical therapies and some adjusting when indicated. I did get a couple thumbs up from a few of the guys w/ the A to P move I layed on them ;)

OK, better get this posted and update things for today. (Mon, Wk3) :)

Tri-8 Wk2, Day 463 - Monday - 50!

Let's see .....

My head is probably still a little in the sand but, I'm pulling it out and dealing with things the best I can. I did hit my 50th adjustment today ~finally!!! So, that will get rid of the Incomplete grade "I" that I had in HCP III. I also finished up the Gonstead retake over break to get rid of the F I had in that class. I think the only thing left to deal with is the F I got in SOT which, I simply stopped going to half-way through last semester. It was a ZERO credit extra class I was taking so I didn't think the grade would matter one way or another since it is a no credit class. I still have to find out but, maybe now I can get my student loan check which I *really* need.

Checking my mail, it looks like I've sold another shirt off Zazzle and got an email yesterday stating I had a check coming from Google for my Brachial Plexus video. That could be a nice little source of extra income. Once I see the money for real once, then the math brain shifts gears and I instantly figure if one video earns me $135 then 10 would put me over $1,000 and 100 well done videos might be able to give me enough per year to pay the property taxes on a pretty nice home.

I have ARC tonight. ARC stands for Adult Rehab Center. I have no idea what I'll be doing there but, the shift is from 6:30 to 11 p.m. Which means getting home late but still having to get up early. I think I still need to stop at the gym to invest at least 1/2 hour

I almost forgot, the highway leading to school was closed again this morning. It was closed Friday night when I was coming home from the Arthritis Walk I'd volunteered to help with then again this morning. This morning it was closed due to an accident and someone died.

Looks like I'm going to have a patient stopping by my place before I leave for ARC tonight.

Saturday Clinic Shift, Holding at Day 462

What a HUGE difference getting a decent night's sleep makes! Even though I spent almost as much time driving back and forth to work as I did with today's three hour shift, I found myself reluctant and sad when I had to leave work today.

When anyone has a new patient at the clinic we play our own version of House, MD with regards to the white board. All the available interns will sit around the white board and listen to the facts & findings about the case and are all free to contribute to the diagnosis (dx) & treatment (tx).

We had two pretty nice cases we reviewed today.

Heck again - I've got to get moving on figuring out all the work I need to get done for the coming week & semester.

Wk1, Day 462 - Friday

I gave my first school sports physical yesterday! He was a really good kid and his mother was quite grateful which was pretty darned nice. It was a big learning experience. I noticed any apprehension which was present before giving the exam was immediately replaced with caring once I met my new patient. Given the young age I tried to be as positive and emotionally supportive as I could with the young man.

Heck - gotta leave for Sat clinic shift!

Tri-8, Wk1 Thursday, Day 461

Just a single hour of PT III this morning. A much abbreviated schedule due to the Tri-7 comp boards going on today and tomorrow. I stuck around and got in an hour of my radiology conference requirement (1 of 10) and downloaded and printed out a bunch of material for most of my classes.

Tri-8, Wk1 Wednesday, Day 460!

pardon the brevity of these post -

yesterday was 13 hours long

today was 14 hours long

i don't know what tomorrow holds but

Friday is already scheduled to be 17 hours long

i work clinic on Saturday

and have some extra shift at some Drug rehab center in St. louis on Monday

need to beef up the dr bag to be able to handle some basic emergency type stuff, things like dealing with a pneumothorax (where to cut) and a cricoidectomy ...That was from Dr. Lanny

Then our Dx Imag teacher was mentioning needing to learn about different surgeries. who knows but, i do recall that our pharmacology class helped me the most in learning about why and how chiropractic is effective.

tough, tough schedule - really having my doubts

Tri-8, Wk1 Tuesday, Day 459!

1. Physiology
2. Chemistry
3. Clinical Sciences
4. Microbiology
5. Pathology // General Diagnosis
6. General Anatomy
7. Principles of Chiropractic
8. Spinal Anatomy
9. Neuromuscular Diagnosis.
10. Diagnostic Imaging
11. Chiropractic Practices

Rad Pos

[Holding at Day 458]

One final cup of coffee before I head off to school to jump through another hoop via Radiological Positioning and take a few x-rays of some phantoms. I'm looking forward to re-establishing my habit of stopping off at the gym on the way home from school. I have to think of exercise as another necessary class I need to attend in order to make it through these last three semesters. That attitude seemed to work well for me this past semester, in Tri-7.

The actual Tri-8 semester starts tomorrow - got plenty to do to finish getting ready.

Best Day of the Week, A Day Off, Friday Clinic

[Holding at Day 458]

[4 a.m.] I actually have a day off today!

[7 a.m.] (insert BIG time gap here) OK, I've actually just wasted 3 hours on the Internet! Oh, well, it's been a while since I've been able to do that and I have been enjoying some coffee and the light sound of rain outside my window (which sounds much better then outside my slightly opened garage door)

I did muster the courage this morning to look for a grade in the Gonstead class I just got done taking over my break (break?! what break???) At the very least, I do hope I passed the class but, passing grades alone aren't going to do much for my GPA. I at least want to finish the DC program above a 2.5 which, I'm already above but, can't afford crappy grades and still hope to maintain that GPA. I lose the opportunity to take Master's classes w/o a high enough GPA.

anyway - Thursday would have been the best day of the week because I got to have lunch with my Dad and really enjoyed the time with him.

Yesterday at the clinic was pretty fun also. So far, I tend to be happy there and the only drawback is that god awful drive. We're supposed to meet 5 people from St. Peters by our next meeting. I'm not sure how much time I can dally around in St. Peters to meet people but, I guess I'll have to make the time since I need to find 10 new patients before I graduate.

I've got an enormous amount of stuff to take care of, better get to it! :)

I was looking for a pic of just me and my Dad but today's pic will have to do. It's me, my Dad and my Grandma! :) Taken just ..geez, just 6 days ago up in Minnesota :)

Gonstead, Board Reviews, 4th Wedding Reception

[Holding at Day 458]

We had our Gonstead final this morning. 10 pages written. It was my choice to go to Minnesota this past weekend but, it was not a choice without consequences.

Prior to leaving for Minnesota, I had an 83% average during our first four days of class. In the four days after getting back from Minnesota my average was 48%. So, I went from a very respectable B (just shy of a B+) to nearly 20 points below an F.

That sucks

Makes me feel pretty crappy about myself.

Mondays test was one of the hardest, emotionally, and I just felt like a worthless piece of sh*t while taking that exam.

Today, I just wanted to crumple up my exam like that guy did on Shawshank Redemption when he threw it in the trash and said, "There's your two points!"

Then I thought (again) of Chevy Chase's Las Vegas Vacation when the blackjack dealer recommended "buying a bullet and renting a gun"

So, my thoughts are kinda in the crapper. I've wondered, from an academic perspective why all my anger and violent type thoughts are directed towards my head. From the beginning of Tri-7 the thoughts have oscillated between

1. wanting to flush my head down the toilet
2. shooting myself in the head
3. chopping off my head
4. stabbing myself in the temple with my pen (that was a new thought formed today while taking the Gonstead final)

I do recall various personality disorders and remember a distinction between those wackos who might hurt other people and those wackos that would only hurt themselves. I guess I would fall into the latter category.

As far as benefits of heading to MN, I know my Dad was happy and I got to take some pictures of my Mom with her brother so, in that regard, I'd probably do it again.

I still may have passed the Gonstead class but, given the diminished self perception over the preceding trimester, I really could have used something positive with regards to school.

oh well. .....

let's see, i've already driven about 84 miles today so I guess I'll start my next 50 miles to work ....then 50 miles home ....184 miles today alright - ....yeah ....this is going to work out well. ..... :(

Some Tri-8 Hoops

[Holding at Day 458]

just want to get this list down somewhere which was provided by an upper tri on facebook - these are a few of the things we need to do in addition to our 35 hours of class and 3 to 4 clinic days each week and god knows what else...

• 35 pt credits,
• 10hrs of xray interpretation (which apparently you cant start getting credit for til may 10th),
• 10 lab interpretations (they won't be posted until a few weeks into the tri. They put all of them up at once on selfserve so i would suggest doing all them at once... then u just have to submit one a week),
• 5 hrs of marketing and
• a marketing paper,
• 30 xray reports (15 new and 15 corrections posted every monday in the little room across from Erica's office in radiology,
• 2 phantoms and
• 2 patient series (doesn't have to b your own patient)
• 2 case reports written (listen to 20 from others) and last but certainly not least,
• PRO D - you have to attend a boot camp and then do a post grad seminar (u need 12 hrs - 1 weekend - and they have some that are free if u aren't already enrolled in one. They will send u an attendance verification and u just turn it into dr. goodman.) sounds like a lot but if you do as much as u can at the beginning its not that bad...