After some "gentle" urging from my Aunt Megan, here goes the first blog entry of my third medical year. The summer had a lot going for it. I got to spend a lot of time with my family, which is great considering how much those little nephews change in short periods of time. My work at the clinic was fun, educational, and I got to continue to develop some friendships and professional contacts there. There was some weird interpersonal stuff at one of the clinics, where a couple of the LPNs decided they didn't want me helping them. The other clinic, however, had plenty to keep me busy and were quite happy to have me. I also go mini tutorials from Dr. Sondhi throughout the summer, about some kind of medical condition that was relevant at the time. I also got to see a lot of my friends Carrie and Gabriel, and their spouses, which was really fantastic. I've been friends with Carrie since we were about 5 years old, and it's kind of amazing to have that kind of longevity to a friendship. Gabriel I met later, but it is great to renew that friendship after several years apart. I got to spend a full week on the Cape for the off-site session of Camp Tofu, which was too much fun. I don't have any of those pictures, so you'll have to harass my family for those. Because school started a month earlier than it has in the past I only got to spend a few days at family camp, but it was a great way to prepare myself for the coming year.

After getting an interview at Drexel over the summer, I was once again rejected. I was having a really hard time getting excited about coming back here. But, with the help of various professionals (including the McKenna/Crawford/Smith family doctor, Julian Jonas) I find myself quite happy. My mood is generally much higher than it has been in years, I'm feeling confident, more or less relaxed (how relaxed should I really be in medical school, you're wondering). I'm also noticing that I'm able to feel more at home and content here, and less like I'm divided across two continents. A whole bunch of us seem to be happier, so there could be some kind of adjustment period in effect as well. Something else that helps is that the school is much better organized this year than it has in the past, so with a few exceptions, things have been running quite smoothly. It's also the first semester I truly feel like I'm in medical school. We're finishing all of our class work (at least for this year) by Christmas, so it's going to make for a very busy fall. Or autumn as they insist on calling it here. Pathology is the biggest single class, and that's moving along at quite a clip. Who needs more than 3 hours to talk about disease processes of the lungs, anyway? Pharmacology, epidemiology, clinical practice, and an elective (I'm hoping mine is going to be a moot court with a lawyer who's on staff here). One of the other exciting things is that 3 mornings a week we're in the hospital. Our role is minimal, by which I actually mean non-existent. We're there to take histories and examine patients, since those are the skills that will provide about 90% of our diagnoses in the future. In the spring we will be full time in the hospital, I believe with a little more explicit teaching going on. In the mean time, I'm with a gastroenterologist who specializes in liver disease. Let me assure you there is no shortage of that in this country, naturally mostly due to alcohol. These patients make for interesting examinations and histories, which is great. Also learning some about ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Lots to do!

The pictures in this post are a random sampling of recent months. The top is a picture from our tutorial on how to scrub in for theater. At the bottom is a picture of Camp Dad took from the ridge, and a picture of me and my cousin Molly from a hike we went on with Pam, Megan, and Mom. Fun times!

I suppose that's enough for now. Hopefully I'll post some fun/exciting/interesting stories from life in the hospital!

All my love,

Eli