Congratulations, Granny: Winner of Exciting Story Competition

Congratulations, Granny! She was the winner of my exciting story competition: "How Christy Broke Her Nose"

The following is a completely fictional story written by Granny:
(she got extra points for imagination and heroics on my part)

"Christy was observing her third autopsy at UW Medical School. She was one of those gathered intently around the unfortunate patient.

The patient suddenly shot upright and swung his arm outward and backward. All the doctors were frozen in horror at this grotesque event. Dr. Christine Harris' nose was bleeding, hit by that unexpected blow!

In spite of her pain, Dr. Christine knew immediately what to do. Taking charge, she firmly pushed the patient back down on the table. Everyone breathed deep sighs of relief. But they all had to pause to consider: Was this simply a dead man's reflex or are we autopsying a still-alive gentlemen? What do YOU think?"

Me and Julie and my broke nose :>)

Most people say that my nose doesn't actually look that different after it got broken. Thanks to my preceptor who bravely set it! It is a little swollen and slightly deviated to the left, but all in all it is pretty much the same. I still enjoyed going to the med school social at the Space Needle. Here I am with Julie.

I wasn't really ready for this picture and I was sort-of looking off to the side. However, I decided to post it anyway so you could get see some of my other med school friends. From left to right: me (spacing out), Julie, Maria, and Emily. So slightly funny story: I have had this black dress for a while, but I haven't really worn it anywhere because I remembered trying it on several years ago and thinking it was too low cut/immodest (you can't really see any cleavage in it, but if you were standing above me and just of at an angle, you might be to see a little bit). I told some of my first year friends before the party that I didn't know if I was going to wear the dress because I felt like it was a little on the scandalous/immodest side. But the night of the social came and I decided to wear it anyway. I got the the party and some of the other girls were eager to see the "immodest dress" that I had been worried about. They laughed pretty hard when the saw the dress I was wearing and sarcastically teased me the rest of the night about my 'immodest dress' and how I was pretty much ready to work the streets in that kind of clothing. It was pretty funny.

More about what we will be doing in Uganda (possibly)

I have found out a little bit more about what I will be doing in Uganda this summer. I will be going with a girl named Annie who was also a neurobiology major at the UW before starting med school. She has done 2 years of research and she traveled extensively in Europe and Asia. She is really nice and seems like a lot of fun.

We will be working out of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. (see picture below).

Picture of Makerere University complements of BBC world news. BBC says that Makerere University is considered the "Harvard" of Africa. People come from countries across the continent to study there.

Aparently, Annie and I will be engaging in something called the COBES program and also observing some clinical work.

The description of the COBES program from the Makerere Handbook is:
"It has been recognized over time that it is critical for professional education to include a time when you are trained in the community, students go for COBES internship for 6 weeks. Students are sent to different health centres in a rural setting all over the country. This helps appreciate how the majority of our populace lives, thinks and what afflicts them. Students get involved in activities that help them understand people’s needs and concerns.

They also get an opportunity to participate in any non-governmental organization (NGO) programs, which may be in place in the community.

The approach to education based on the principles of small collaborative group learning, applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills will be maintained during your community placement period. "

Another enormous benefits of spending time at Makerere University is being able to observe amazing clinical work on AIDS and other infectious diseases. I am really excited about the trip and I hope to learn a lot!

Now, you know everything that I know about what I will be doing this summer. That didn't take long, did it?

"Cute" - what people say when they can't say "cool"

I got a car over spring break! Exciting, no? It is my very first car. It is (are you ready for this?) a 2002 Kia Rio. It is white (see picture below) and is in really good condition.

The med school told us that a car is pretty much required for 3rd year. Third year at the UW med school is when we start doing 6 week rotations in different hospitals in various specialties. Sometimes med students get off very late (ie 11:00pm or 3am) and bus aren't running or it would be unsafe to take them, so driving is pretty much your only reasonable option. Also, in second year they have us doing some interviews at the VA hospital which is pretty hard to get to by bus (3 buses from my house). So overall a car is pretty handy for shopping, etc.

Anyway, I started looking for a car a couple months ago. When I say, "I" started looking, what I really mean is I asked my stepdad who is a mechanic to start looking for me. My goal was to find a small used car that would be affordable, good for the city, have low mileage and that would get good gas mileage. Initially we found some good deals but they turned out to be lemons. One car looked like a really good deal, but it was owned previously by a chain smoker and my clothes smelled like cigarette smoke all day after test driving it. After some disappointments, Andy found an add in the local newspaper for a car right down the hill from us. It had only been driven by a little old lady to her job and back for a few years and then sat in her garage after she retired. It only had 13,000 miles on it and was in great condition. I bought it and I have been very happy with it so far.

For some reason whenever anyone sees my car for the first time they say, "Oh, it is so cute!" Andy says this is because they can't say, "Oh, your new car is so cool!" because it is a Kia Rio and a Kia could never be considered cool. Therefore "Cute" is the next best thing to cool. It is true that my car isn't the fanciest thing on the block. It doesn't have air conditioning, electric locks or windows, and is probably outshone by the 3+ Mini Coopers that park on our street. But whatever, it works for me!






Here is my car. Isn't it cute?
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Epilogue by Stephanie: (See posted comment) :)

Thanks Stephanie for making my car "cool"!!!!

Thanks University of Rochester! I got to visit Stephanie in San Diego

When I was applying to medical schools I received 4 interview invitations. The first was from the UW School of Medicine (my in state school) and the last was the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York State (I applied there because I thought they had a very unique and innovated curriculum). I felt like my UW interview was a complete failure. It was a very stressful interview with 3 men firing questions at me from behind intimidating black notebooks. One of the interviewers never smiled or gave any sort of encouraging look during the interview. Probably everyone who knows me has heard about how I struggled to answer when the interview committee asked me why the UW school of medicine should accept me if I was going to just take their education and go to Africa instead of serving the disadvantaged in Washington State. Anyway, after the UW interview, I was sure I wasn't going to be accepted at UW bought tickets to go to all of my other interviews. However, 3 weeks later I was accepted to the UW School of Medicine and decided to cancel my University of Rochester interview (and leave for Africa on a great adventure!). The airline couldn't refund the money for my flight, but they gave me a voucher that I used to fly down to visit my friend Stephanie over spring break. We had a really fun time as the pictures below demonstrate .


Stephanie and I on one of the many beaches of San Diego.

Stephanie and I went "rock hopping" to look over the tide pools. We looked for the octopus, but he/she was not to be found. We did see some very interesting other sea life.

Another picture of the tide pools (the tide went out a little after this so we could get to more pools).

Stephanie also took me up to see a national monument for the dude that first discovered San Diego (Cabrillo). There was also a very cute lighthouse up near the monument.


We also went to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. It was really fun.

Exhibit of medicinal plants.

This is Tony, Stephanie's boyfriend. He is extremely nice and a perfect match for Stephanie. He works for the Nokia phone company as a software developer. He carries at least two cell phones with him at all times and is very eager whip out the Google map function on his cell phone(s) if you ever need directions.

Stephanie and Tony together. Ahhh.... aren't they sweet?

Me and Stephanie together.... Ahhhh.... Warm fuzzy memories. My nose got a little sunburned while I was down in SD