Cost of Attendance

So a lot of people have asked me why I chose to study in Poland, and the answer is quite complicated really. Most people think it's because I was too stupid to get into a med school in the states, the truth is I only applied at two schools in the states, and I didn't even finish the application for one of them. The other one was through the military at their medical school in Bethesda, MD (and yes, in case your wondering I didn't get in- but, that was to be expected). The one other school I applied to was St. Georges in the Caribbean, I got in despite royally pissing off my interviewer.

My #1 reason for applying at these schools was, cost of attendance. The military medical school was free, but required me to serve in the military for a few years after graduating (they also would have paid me while I was studying). St. Georges cost between $23,000-$32,000 depending on the term. Making it one of the more expensive schools in the Caribbean, but also one of the more well respected. The school that I currently attend in Poland is dependent on the exchange rate so last year I paid $17,000 for tuition, and this year I paid only $15,000. The average cost of medical school in the US is between $28,000-$47,000 depending on if the school is public or private. And remember this is only tuition we're talking about! You still have to calculate in cost of living! Which at minimum I would say $10,000 to be on the safe side depending on where the school's at, more even if the school is in some big US city where rent and food prices are more expensive.

To pay for school I usually take out $30,000 per year via Sallie Mae and I use the money left over at the end of the year to pay for the interest built up on the loan. So in sum I'm going to be in about $120,000 worth of debt when I finish (excuse me while I go cry). But, in US schools the total debt when finished is quite a bit more and ranges from $150,000-$180,000. That's between $30,000-$60,000 worth of difference! I could put a down payment on a house or buy a really, really nice BMW with that money!

There a a few other important facts as to why I chose Poland, all of which are good reasons, however in the end I do agree that you get what you pay for. Looking back, I might have considered the quality of education and my job prospects when I'm through. But, what a person can think in retrospect, cannot change what has already been done. What does make me feel better, is that after all this is done, I will be in less debt than most, and I can practice anywhere in Europe without jumping through insane hoops. Plus, by then the euro will probably be worth more than the dollar and paying back my loans might not be so bad.

There isn't a day goes by that I want to be out of here but, medical school isn't always about graduating and being finished, it's about the journey to becoming doctors and better people. What we learn here will not be the end of our education, a good doctor is always learning, always trying to better themselves and where or how much you pay in medical school shouldn't change that.

Emergency Fail

So uh...interesting run tonight. 

I was running by the park and saw a bunch of kids knock an old guy down who had a crutch, I ran over to see if he was okay (because everyone else was totally ignoring him). Only to find that he was unconscious with a lacerated scalp. 

I ran to some lady and told her to call and ambulance and ran back to the guy to start CPR if need be-he was awake by then (thank goodness). I started talking to the guy (in small pathetic Polish sentences) and he was obviously drunk, but still obviously hurt too. Meanwhile the woman takes 5 minutes to get anyone on the line and then comes over to tell me that an ambulance will be there in another 5 minutes and that she has to go because her baby is getting fussy. 

I'm left standing there like an idiot with Copper trying to make sure this guy is okay, and he's now at this point trying to sort himself out and roll over and stand up and of course there's the band of kids who knocked the guy 

over in the first place laughing at us.

 

10 minutes later and the man is back up and hobbling away (still bleeding, and who know's what type of mental state he was in after that smack in the head).  The ambulance had already been called, but lucky for me a pair of cops walk by and I flag them down. But, of course first they have to yell at some other poor guy who was sitting near by first. And then I have to explain to them with the handful of words I know what happened and that a woman called the ambulance, but the guy walked off...they were helpful...NOT. 

And then because the ambulance never showed up I left after about 20 minutes. 

SO moral of the story don't get hurt in Poznan, especially if you happen to be drunk: people will totally ignore you despite the fact that you're face down, unconscious, and bleeding severely.

In any normal country people would be telling the guy to sit still and stay put and there would be about 10 good samaritans (at least), all of whom would have called the ambulance, which would have shown up in about 2 minutes tops.

No More Studying!

So I can't study anymore, I have a legitimate excuse I swear! 

When I study I get stressed out and my body temp increases. The change in temp signals all of these neutrophils and what not and they head for the source of infection (my brain) once there a respiratory burst occurs releasing reactive oxygen species, which cause lipolysis of the cell membranes, blebbing of the ER, increase intracellular Na+, and most importantly damage to the cellular DNA. Which begins the process of liquefactive necrosis. But, then after a day of freaking out over an upcoming test the macrophages come in and are like "OH NO, DAMAGE" and they continue the mayhem started by the neutrophils release cytokines, growth factors, and more stuff and bring in more leukocytes. When I take a break repair is able to start, but it doesn't matter because the next day I have to study...and so the condition becomes chronic!!!! And then fibrosis begins, because there really aren't enough stem cells in the brain to make any difference.

Thus, slowly I become less able to focus on what I'm doing, and I forget things I've just read making me more stressed and causing another increase in temperature which as it happens could be causing brain damage.....so that is why I can't study or take the test.

They say it's a terminal condition...I hear it could also be a contagious environmental factor....

So Happy and yet so Insanely stressed out!

I passed my first pathology test!!!!!!!  I'm so happy!!!! After two weeks of what seemed like 24/7 studying and reading about 200 pages of everything, I finally get to take a break! It's short lived obviously, as I have another test tomorrow and one on Friday as well (and maybe one on Thursday now that I'm thinking about it). But, I don't care!!! The amount of people from previous classes who said that pathology was insanely hard and terrible was enough to have me rocking back and forth in worry. They said that no one ever passes the first time, and yet most of our class succeeded in doing so (and I did excellent for a change). I know it was only the first exam, but I think it says a lot about our class or a little about theirs....

Of course they also said that the head professor was a terror, and I think she's great. She's the nicest professor we've had yet! She's volunteered on more than one occasion to help us out and she tells the greatest stories. Yeah she's yelled at some people and can be strict, but she's old school and she just wants us to learn. You give her respect, she gives you respect. Of course lot's of people in my class and in others have no idea what respect even means.
Some say she's a wolf in sheep's clothing, I think she's my grandmother in disguise. After all she's done for me and my lab group, I'm more than happy to stand up for her!

Okay, relaxation time is over time to figure out the kidneys for my pathophys test... now where did I put that book?

Starting Second Year

We started classes two weeks ago at the end of July. Unlike most US schools we only got about three weeks of actual vacation, and when we returned we had a test in our first new class of the year - pathophysiology. Seeing as we were only warned about this test three days before it took place, and seeing as no one had the text at that point it's easy to surmise that a majority of the class failed. I guess that was our "Welcome Back" gift.

Usually, I like classes that are medically oriented but the professor for pathophys is interesting to say the least. Last week, because he was mad at the world, he gave us a particularly difficult worksheet about the kidney and gave us about five minutes to complete it; which was only enough time to complete the first question (and even then barely). Upon returning he began to question us about the sheet and when someone asked for more time he exploded. Basically, he told us that we were dumb and didn't deserve extra time because we obviously don't care about the class. Lovely man. Anyway, he proceeded to read the remainder of the questions and then stormed out of the room without a backwards glance. We were stunned.

This year also has some other changes. We've lost four members of our class. One couldn't get a visa, one was removed from the university under mysterious circumstances, and another is going into another less stressful profession. The final person, one of my best friends has decided to transfer to a school in the Caribbean.

Personally, I can't blame her, the school has done more than enough to make everyone want to leave at some point or another. My friend severely broke her leg the first year she was here and apart from ending up with MRSA and having an allergic reaction to the vancomycin, she also had a pulmonary embolism, and almost died on more than one occasion in the various Polish hospitals. On top of that she was given no pain medications for the duration of her hospital stay and when she returned to the US they had to basically reconstruct her ankle. The school was little help with this situation seeing as she slipped down the school's tile stairs while it was raining, and there was no hand rail or anti-slip grips. And then last year the school "misplaced" about $10,000 from her loans which was supposed to pay for rent and food and miscellaneous; she got it back after threatening to call a lawyer. Finally, during this summer the school expelled her and four others for allegedly not passing anatomy because they hadn't taken the test yet (which coincidently was scheduled for last week). After they all got reinstated to the university all of them also put in applications at other schools.

So you can see why she left. Even so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do without her here. She was my study partner and we did everything together. I hope that I'll be able to see her again, and that she has better luck than the rest of us!!! One of my other friends who helped see her off yesterday morning made a statement that while morbid, reflects the truth of the situation, "It's like someone has died, but in this case she really has gone to a better place."

Welcome back to Purgatory...

Mnemonic's

I realize I haven't written much lately...my insane amount of exams have seen to that. 

I actually have one tomorrow: a neuroscience practical =-) Can't wait!!! 

While studying for this next experiment in memory I realized how important memory is, and if you have a bad memory how miserable your life can be. My memory could probably be classified as fair, I mean I am in medical school. But, I'm most definitely not the top in my class! Nor would I probably ever want to be...I like having a life. 

So given my predicament (which is more of an issue than you'd imagine the normal person would encounter with their brain) my friends and I have come up with several memory devices otherwise known as mnemonics, which help us remember. Sadly most of these are the most immature and provocative sayings you will ever hear civilized people say. But, the fact is the more 'dirty' or ridiculous the saying is the more likely you are to remember it. 

Some of the most useless things I learned in high school were due to horrid mnemonics. For example in the 10th grade my biology teacher taught us the classification of species using the mnemonic: 

Kids Put Condoms On For Good Fun --> Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species 

I haven't forgotten it since. 

As you can imagine the mnemonics for medical school aren't much better:

(Make an X with your arms and in your best heavy metal voice shout) TRIPLE X --> Kleinfelter's disease 

Vladimir Putamin --> To remember the Putamin of the Lentiform nucleus of the Brain

*Censor Warning* Oh Oh Oh To Touch And Feel Virgin Girls Vagina And Hymen --> The cranial nerves in order 

The Egyptians live next to the Greeks --> Referring to the location of the pyramids and olives on the brain stem. 

The list goes on. But as you can see we can come up with some fairly interesting stuff when put under enough stress!

So the next time you go to the doctor's and the doctor says something that sounds kind of quirky, just pass it off as a mnemonic that will help diagnose you not as sexual harassment or insanity.   

Sleep

Sleep is the one thing that I'm usually pretty good at...until it comes to actually sleeping at night or falling asleep. Then I usually just lie there thinking about everything else and how miserable I am.

I'm very good a being miserable =-)

That's why I'm writing this at 2:15 in the morning. Because I can't sleep. And like most people I have to be somewhere tomorrow. However, unlike them who are well rested from their weekend I will be half asleep. It's going to be AWESOME! Thank goodness I only have one class tomorrow and for the first time in forever NO tests!!!!

This weekend I got a pair of Rollerblades. I used to love to Rollerblade when I was younger. I would drag my sister to the skate park and we would spend hours there. This pair isn't quite what I wore when I was fourteen. But, they're going to be perfect for going to class and walking with the dog (or having him walk me). As to why I got a pair of Rollerblades and not a bike the answer is very simple:
       1. They just re-did the sidewalks for the euro cup this summer.
       2. Bikes have to be ridden on the road
       3. Have you ever seen people in Poland drive? It's terrifying!!!!
I have seen one too many car crashes to get on a bike and be one with the cars in this country. I thought drivers in the states were bad, but they take bad driving in Poland to a whole new level. I once saw a guy run a stop sign and the guy he almost hit honked the horn (rightfully so) the guy who ran the sign stopped his car got out and proceeded to rip the other guy out of the car for honking at him. And apparently this is a common occurrence.

To name a few of the most recent crashes I've seen: a Toyota cut a Mercedes off from behind at an intersection, a city bus plow into a turning car, and a VW hit another parked VW and a pole. I've also been in taxi's that have purposely gone down the wrong side of the road to avoid the line of traffic and who run red lights because stopping is inconvenient. On top of this I see ambulances everywhere so I know there are more crashes happening that I don't see...I can only imagine what the highway is like!

So next time you ride your bike think of how dangerous it could be. You could end up a hood ornament...and the best part is somehow no matter what it would be your fault. (That's this country for you.)