Week 1.

I know it's still thursday. But darn, Med School moves so fast!
So from break we dived right into 8 hours of lecture on Monday. And on it goes. The good thing is that most lectures are done by an amazing teacher/pediatrician. The bad thing...EIGHT hours of lecture (which translates in 8^200 hours of studying).
We're learning Genetics (labs are done, YAY!!), genetic disorders, chromosomal abnormalities. And the very cool thing is that every 3 lectures or so, we get a patient presentation. Say, for instance, that we learn about cerebral palsy. That day a woman with the disease comes in and tells us what it is like live with a disability that makes her speech and gait appear like she is drunk, and that makes her motor coordination so poor that writing anything is a real hardship for her. This woman was as alert as you and I (well, at least the day that she presented, more alert than I am), and at least as intellectually capable as anybody in my classroom. Yet, she was sent to a "special school" when little, was told that couldn't get a degree, and had a hard time finding love and praise in her life. Just because she sounds drunk. But stubbornness and a bit of luck allowed her to find a fulfilling career path (as a social worker) and she has been blessed with what it seems like a wonderful family (who seems a lot less bothered by her disability than she is). And she is able to come to med school to teach us all about focusing on what she, and all people with disabilities CAN DO, rather than on what they can't. Focus on my abilities, she said, not on my DISabilities.

We're also preparing for next week (when we start working with real patients) by having pediatrics clinical examination presentations. That is, they bring a few kids and their parents, and they show us some tricks to examine a terrorist (that is, a 15-18-month old) without causing an uproar. Or they tell us that part of caring for a kid is to schedule an anti-terrorism policy appointment with the parents (ie, have a talk about the terrorist's behavior, what's normal, what to expect, etc). This is far from a classical classroom setting, as our teacher is doing this in front of 100 of us, while the kids are being supercute and crazy, and the parents are telling us how they cope (and what do they think of their pediatrician...). Even though I am not really into pediatrics, I have to say that it was an awesome conference. All of us had a smile on our face for at least 80% of the presentation. Kids sure can be cute!

And here is the other thing. We were studying chromosomal abnormalities that might lead to, say, a person with male genitalia but that has boobs. Conveniently, i have just finished Middlesex (the story of an intersex person). And I have a good friend that has posed many many questions about sex versus gender. So I go and ask the teacher what does he think that determines sex identity. He says sex chromosomes. Your other genes. Your anatomy. But then he says that really what matter is our attitude. That we need to keep an open mind. That it doesn't matter whether Calliope is raised as a girl or as a boy, as long as her parents love her, as long as if there is a point in which she decides to switch genders, it comes in a loving environment where she feels supported. Open mindness, he keeps saying.

So for this week I have been taught to keep an open mind about "dis"abilities. And about gender.

Man. I love med school!

Oh. And I am going skating tomorrow. Will let u know if I loose my teeth :)

Gotta get to bed. Week 1 still has 4 more lecture hours!!!
~e