Two weeks of studying all day, every day. I’ve read the entire review book, gone back and filled in missing information. Rememorized the Kreb cycle, found out that patients with sickle cell disease are more prone to infections with Salmonella in their bones, tried to learn the side effects of a whole bunch of drugs. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And it’s not doing any good.

I’ve been taking practice tests for the past two days. And getting around 60%–which was about what I was doing before I started the studying schedule. Today’s: 50%. Fifty percent! I’m doing worse than before!

Example question:

An obese patient is brought into the emergency room in shock and in need of intravenous fluids. No superficial veins can be seen or palpated. The emergency room physician decides to make an incision to locate the great saphenous vein for the insertion of a cannula (“saphenous cutdown”). In which of the following locations should the incision be made?

A. Anterior to the lateral malleolus

B. Anterior to the medial malleolus

C. On the dorsum of the foot, lateral to the extensor hallucis longus tendon

D. Posterior to the lateral malleolus

E. Posterior to the medial malleolus

Answer is B. Missing it is not the bad part (I thought it was D). The bad part is I didn’t even know where the medial malleolus was! I thought it was the knee. No, It’s the bony part of the ankle. And though I know it’s foreign to anyone who hasn’t taken anatomy–it really is a basic concept in anatomy, one that I should have known.

Yeah, this is good.

10 days… I am so screwed.

Chris emailed M—- this morning and got back an email that said she had already talked to Dr. B— and admitted her error of “laziness.” So it looks like we won’t have to do another paper and there’s no hard feelings or uncomfortableness. I am relieved. I hate thinking that people are out to get me–and at least in this case, it looks like an honest (although pathetically stupid) misunderstanding.

Spent most of the evening tracking down new icons. I’m like Oliver!–I want more, sir! I’ve got another dozen that I couldn’t use, and I keep thinking of more that I want. The Simpsons–I keep thinking I would die to have an animated one of “Lisa the Tree Hugger” and the five-star vegetarian or one of Homer and Maggie, Get Fuzzy, or Calvin n Hobbes for humor. Some more Anne ones. A pen and quill. Maybe a Harry Potter drawing, etc, etc, etc. Yes, folks this is how Julia procrastinates studying how the complement system works.