Guess who's all caught up with his lectures? THIS GUY. *points to self*

Guess who has an exam in five days? THIS GUY. *points to self again*

Guess who's totally not ready for it? THIS GUY. *points to self yet again*

Thankfully, there won't be any new material presented to us this week. We've pretty much already learned everything that is going to be on this upcoming exam, which is nice to know. Instead, we'll be using the knowledge we've acquired over the past two-and-a-half weeks to solve patient cases in class. We will also have a class session on Wednesday where patients with respiratory problems will come in and talk to us about how they're coping with their respective conditions. I always appreciate when patients take time out of their day to come and talk with us; it really brings a lot of what we learn to life, which makes it easier for me to remember certain things and also allows me to fully appreciate the fact that what I'm learning has the power to literally influence and save the lives of other people. A couple other things on our schedule this week include an Ultrasound Lab, a simulation lab with a dummy patient, a Jeopardy review game and a “field trip” to the hospital wards. Overall, I think that the integrative nature of this week will really help synthesize a lot of the subject material we've learned. Also, it's awesome that we get a week just to review everything we've learned because I very much so need it. Like, very much so.

While I was playing catch-up with my lectures this past week, I got the chance to go to the annual Medical Student Research Poster Presentation Day at the old medical school next to the hospital, where a lot of my friends presented the research projects they worked on during the summer. There was such a diverse array of research topics that were undertaken by my classmates. It was so cool man. These research topics included: The Influence of Summer Camp Cooking Classes on Children, Assessing Cultural Awareness and Peer-Peer Microaggressions in Medical Education, The Mortality Gap in Black and White Breast Cancer Patients in Chicago and the Comparison of that Data to other US Cities, The Association Between End Stage Renal Disease and Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia, The Use of Information Technology Among a Diverse Sample of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Sustainability of CPAP in a Regional Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Accra, Lineage Tracing and Labeled Stem Cell Fate-Mapping in Murine Bladder Regeneration, and The Effects of Trauma on Reproductive Behaviors in HIV Populations. There were over 50 students presenting their posters, and they all looked splendid and professional while presenting their summer work. I was happy to show up and help support them! It also reminded me that I still have yet to perform some kind of meaningful research project, let alone present a research poster…

A few other things I ended up doing this past week included helping set up a Ophthalmology Interest Group lunch talk where we had an Ophthalmologist come in and talk to the audience all about her journey and what life is like in her career path, learning how to use respiratory support equipment by actually using them on dummies, going through a few patient case presentations with a facilitator and a small group of students, attending a lecture about healthcare disparities and how it relates to respiratory diseases, and talking with the Dean of the medical school about how my experiences here at Wake have been so far. Each of these events were great in their own way, and I was able to take away quite a bit from each experience. I could talk more about each of these experiences in detail, but I don't feel like making this an unnecessarily long post. Plus, I need to go back to reviewing for this upcoming exam. 😭😒

Before I leave you though, I have one more thing to say. Guess who's about to be back in Lenoir next week for his second and final week of his Community Practice Experience? THIS GUY. *points to self one more time*. I know some of you remember what my time was like the last time I was in the quiet town of Lenoir…if not, here's a reminder. Last time was cool and all, but I have a feeling that this time will be even better because I know a bit more than I did before and I'm also a lot more confident in talking to patients than I was back in February. Plus, there's good Southern food waiting for my roommates and I at the restaurants that we dined at last time. I'm sure it'll be a fun time, especially since I don't have to worry about really studying anything that whole week. I just gotta get mentally prepared for the severe lack of diversity that I'm about to walk into in that little country town…

Y'all have a great week!

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” – Bertrand Russell

– Black Man, M.D.

P.S. – Yes, I'm VERY salty that Miami lost to FSU…BY ONE POINT. I missed most of the second half because I was at a birthday party, but best believe when I got the update of the final score on my phone, I was not pleased. Damn it Florida State…