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| There is life outside of medical school!
I have a tip for anyone thinking of going into med school (or grad school for that matter) - you're not going to have time for non-med school activities, but you have to MAKE time for it. If you wait until you "have time", it will be too late and life will have passed you by. Seriously, I forgot in the past 8 months that i've been in school that there IS a world that is not consumed by school, and quite frankly there are a ton more important things going on in life than if I can memorize a thousand drug names. I realized that I've lost connections with so many people that I care about because I didn't "have time" to hang out, or even call them. While studying to become a physician for the sake of Allah SWT is a form of worship, we also must have balance in our lives and that is something that is severely skewed in a med students life.
It's funny, I've heard that "keep a balance" statement so many times before but never fully understood how bad it could get messed up until recently.
Staying spiritually strong is a struggle. I think being part of a community of Muslims is so important and when you don't have that it's easy to stray. Alhamodlillah, I am so thankful for the friends I have at school, they've made a huge impact on how I'm doing. Our budding "MSA" has made headway into dawah efforts at school, which helped me in return reconnect with why I'm doing what I'm doing. But I do miss having a HUGE circle of Muslim people...it really is something unique to college life that doesnt get appreciated until it's gone. Today I went to the rancho masjid for a halaqah, and it was so nice to be around that many young Muslims, getting together to discuss Islam. I really miss it.
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| It's sad...
I'm studying neuroscience right now at school...studying about ataxias, aphasias, neurodegenerative diseases. This is stuff my aunt has, and seeing statements like "etiology unknown" or "no treatment to date; provide supportive care" makes me realize what a scary disease OPCA is.
We learn little bits of info in school that make me think "maybe that's the cause" or "oh, maybe it's this". But it isn't that simple...the myriad of doctors who cared for her would have picked it up. This isn't like House where he has a stroke of genius and solves the medical mystery by pointing out something that was right under everyones nose. This is a real, unsolved disease.
Losing proprioception must be so scary, not being in control of your own body, being lost in a whirlwind of space.
Studies have pointed to the possible genetic link...is this something you would want to be tested for? Knowing that there is no cure, would you really want to know if you are at risk for getting this disease?
I do feel as though somebody eventually in the future will discover the cause and formulate a treatment for OPCA; perhaps it will be as simple as taking a pill. It's just frustrating that that knowledge isn't here now when we need it.
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| Praying, praying, praying for the people of Gaza. This slaughter is monstrous and merciless.
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| I've tried some weird things to try and stay awake. One of my college buddies said Flaming Hot Cheetos worked for her, but all they did for me was make my fingers orange. I saw my lab colleague chewing caffeinated gum, so I tried that but the taste of Jolt was just gross. I think energy drinks have a requirement of being nasty-tasting. In order to circumvent my taste buds, I bought caffeine pills my senior year of college, only to discover that I really didn't like feeling my heart pounding and hands trembling. For the first month of medical school, a can of Coke usually worked to keep me up an extra 3 hours. But when that effect subsided, I turned to coffee.
I never really liked the taste of coffee. It's bitter. But over the past 4 months I have undergone a strict training routine to get myself to like it. At first it was buying an occasional mocha from Coffee Bean before exams. It then progressed to the purchase of a cute 4-cup coffee maker that proudly sat next to my blender. I have come to actually like coffee, although purists would scoff at the sheer amount of sugar and cocoa I add to one cup. I weighed the pros and cons of developing a coffee habit, but in the end decided that I would risk a caffeine addiction if it meant getting better grades (which unfortunately has yet to be fulfilled, but I do have high hopes...).
This xanga post was rather pointless. I came here to write about my Mexican orphanage trip but got distracted. The orphanage post was actually a distraction from studying, so I suppose I got distracted from a distraction, if that makes sense.
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| I just came back from one of the most amazing adventures of my life. For the past two weeks I have been exploring Indonesia with a group of friends. I took a video camera instead of a regular camera, but I have included photos taken from friends.
We flew from LAX to Hong Kong which, by the way, is a beautiful airport with gorgeous mountains in the background.
view from Hong Kong airport
From Hong Kong, we flew to Jakarta on the island of Java, then immediately took a flight to Yogyakarta, a smaller city about an hour plane ride away.
Day 1 - Yogyakarta
Our first day in Yogyakarta was spent walking around the city, taking in the culture and exploring its beauty. We visited the Sultan's palace, a gorgeous and serene place, a nearby Watercastle, which was the play-area of former sultans, had our first Indonesian meal at a cute cafe, shopped at batik painting shops, and walked around a cool underground mosque.
view of Yogyakarta...reminded me of the first scene of The Hulk
underground mosque
One of the most spectacular parts of Indonesia is the greenery. It made our long car rides (sometimes 10 hours!) bearable because we were able to enjoy the view from our windows.
 
views from the car
Indonesian food...there are two "staple" dishes, nasi goreng and mie goreng (rice and noodles) served with veggies and eggs. I usually ordered the mie goreng.
Mie Goreng
Day 2 - Temples in Yogyakarta
Day 2 was spent visiting the Buddhist and Hindu temples Borobodur and Prambanan. We woke up super early to catch the sunrise over the amazingly peaceful Borobodur temple, then climbed up and learned about the architecture and history.
Borobodur Temple near Yogyakarta
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9/15/08 - I wrote this post about Indonesia back in July but haven't had the chance to finish it...iA I'll do that eventually :)
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