If the title is true, then I am definitely a turkey. With Thanksgiving having passed, I have finally finished eating turkey leftovers. This would help to explain how I have felt over the past month. I feel like I'm full of turkey. I am tired, fatigued, and I just want to lay down on the couch and do nothing. This past month has been an extreme challenge for me to power through and stay motivated. It hasn't been easy and I've had some bumps along the road. Getting a week off for Thanksgiving break has finally allowed me to stop and digest (pun intended) what has been going on. Every time I lack motivation and don't want to study, writing this blog has reminded me of how lucky I am to be in the position that I am in. To write to the 16 new students, to family and friends, or to new prospective students reminds me that I have worked immensely hard to get to the position I am currently in. I am three weeks away from completing the didactic year. Shortly after that, I will be able to put all of this hard work and energy that I have been putting into studying, and can begin to make an impact on the world on a daily basis. I can and I will finish out this year the best that I can.
Exams and classes have been rough in the month of November. We had 5 exams, including a practical exam, in 6 days during the week before Thanksgiving break. That is more exams than I will have during finals week. To say that it was not easy is a complete understatement. The exams were fairly routine, so I will not talk much about them, except for the frozen practical. Before I tell you that, for you sports fans out there, I have an analogy for you. Two years ago in the NCAA basketball tournament, number 1 seed Virginia lost to number 16 seed UMBC, which became the first time there was ever an upset to this degree. Along those lines, in 2016 my 2 seed Michigan State Spartans lost to a 15 seed Middle Tennessee team. When I took my frozen practical, I was Virginia and Michigan State. I have practiced all year long and have felt that I knew exactly what I was doing going into the exam. I expected myself to perform under pressure well, as I have done all my life. Then UMBC decided to change that. I bombed my exam. Nothing went right for me, and just based on how long I took to finish my exam, I had already failed not even taking into account the quality of my work. Yikes. I felt like I was prepared, but I just did not perform. Do you know what happened the next year Virginia was in the tournament? They won the national championship. The next time I do a frozen, I will do much better. I don't doubt my skills. I may get a bad grade, but this won't deter my confidence. I know that I can do it. So don't get down, when you have a bad day. Have faith in your skills and the hard work you put in. I'm sure along the road somewhere I will learn from this experience. I feel like things have been turning around since that long week of exams. I am refreshed after Thanksgiving break, and have a new head of steam towards the end of the semester.
The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty straight-forward. We have a couple of more regular exams, and then our final exams coming up. We also have oral presentations for our surgical pathology class, that we have been working on in the gross room this semester. We were to take pictures of specimens we worked on, get clinical history, and final diagnosis of the patient. This gives us a chance at some practice for next year when we have to give two extensive presentations of cases during our clinical rotations with the first year students in attendance.
Tonight is our White Coat Ceremony. My classmates and I will receive our White Coats in front of our friends and families as a symbol of how far we have come as a class and where we are to go from here. It is almost time to have an impact on patient's lives. I am so excited to attend clinicals in January. I am proud to be a part of WVU pathologist's assistants class of 2020.
