Posts tagged Medicine
Classes all paid for! At least for this semester. I’m a little excited after hearing that I had 16 credits and a 4.0 GPA already. It’s kind of cheating since 12 of the credits were transferred from champlain and the other 4 were from a networking class I took in HS in 2008. Still, it mean I may not have to take as many classes at CCV before I’ll be eligible to transfer to UVM. After one year I’ll try to transfer. With any luck I’ll be going to UVM sooner than expected. Books are still going to cost me a lot though. Books I have to pay for out of pocket, which will total $450… Plus next semester if I take a similar course load, I’ll need to pay about $800 out of pocket for tuition. Plus books. Time to start saving! As far as the EMT stuff goes, I finally found an application to Burlington Rescue. I’ll have to call them for some more information but I think this is what I need to start with becoming an EMT. Hopefully they won’t require I take the EMT-B exam right away. I couldn’t fit that class in (or afford it) if my life depended on it. Maybe I can take it over the summer or during the fall…

Classes all paid for! At least for this semester. I’m a little excited after hearing that I had 16 credits and a 4.0 GPA already. It’s kind of cheating since 12 of the credits were transferred from champlain and the other 4 were from a networking class I took in HS in 2008. Still, it mean I may not have to take as many classes at CCV before I’ll be eligible to transfer to UVM. After one year I’ll try to transfer. With any luck I’ll be going to UVM sooner than expected.
Books are still going to cost me a lot though. Books I have to pay for out of pocket, which will total $450… Plus next semester if I take a similar course load, I’ll need to pay about $800 out of pocket for tuition. Plus books. Time to start saving!

As far as the EMT stuff goes, I finally found an application to Burlington Rescue. I’ll have to call them for some more information but I think this is what I need to start with becoming an EMT. Hopefully they won’t require I take the EMT-B exam right away. I couldn’t fit that class in (or afford it) if my life depended on it. Maybe I can take it over the summer or during the fall…

EMT Training! I heard that EMT experience will look great to medical school admissions because it gives you two types of experience. One working with patients and learning the medical/clinical side of things while the other is responding to emergencies and the service work involved.  Being an EMT was always sitting in the back of my mind as a possibility, but I didn’t think it would make that big of a deal since I already work at the hospital. Looks like I was wrong. So here I am! I signed up for a CPR/AED certification course on the 26th! It was kind of expensive ($110), but required to get my EMT-Basic training done. That I’ll probably start either Spring or Summer of 2013 just because I don’t want it to interfere with my study time, and also because its $550 and I just don’t have that much yet. Med School, I’m ready for you.

EMT Training! I heard that EMT experience will look great to medical school admissions because it gives you two types of experience. One working with patients and learning the medical/clinical side of things while the other is responding to emergencies and the service work involved. 

Being an EMT was always sitting in the back of my mind as a possibility, but I didn’t think it would make that big of a deal since I already work at the hospital. Looks like I was wrong. So here I am! I signed up for a CPR/AED certification course on the 26th! It was kind of expensive ($110), but required to get my EMT-Basic training done. That I’ll probably start either Spring or Summer of 2013 just because I don’t want it to interfere with my study time, and also because its $550 and I just don’t have that much yet.

Med School, I’m ready for you.

“

“Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.”

-Antonio Machado

”

I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot recently. Sometimes I feel like I’m straying from what my friends and family are doing. Like I’m picking up a new path that people weren’t expecting from me. 

I’m scared. Am I really going to like doing this in 16 years? Am I even going to make it that far? How hard is this going to be? Can I afford it? What if I’m not smart enough? What if I get denied into Medical School?

I’m Excited. Being a doctor is a great accomplishment. I’ll get to help people every day in a way that peaks all the boundaries of modern technology and science. I’ll meet new friends and coworkers that will make me laugh or teach me something new every day.

I’m impatient. That’ll be a downfall I have. I need to slow down and not overwork myself. My brother talked to me a bit about this. I need to have a good plan in place not only financially and time wise, but I can’t overwork myself. I’m in a tough situation where I can’t quit my job because it’s helping pay for school and I just signed a new lease on an apartment. Not to mention I have mounds of debt to pay off. I read online about tips for keeping a 4.0 GPA in college. One of the tips was to have a full time job because it helps enforce a strict schedule of school-work-homework-sleep. I’ve been training myself for 3 years to adjust to repetitive tasks like that so hopefully this will work to my advantage.

I’m ready. Let’s give it a shot. I won’t know how things will turn out until I try, right?

Then this quote brings me back. Even though people aren’t expecting me to do this, and I don’t personally know anyone that’s been on that path doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. Everyone starts somewhere are who knows, maybe I’ll inspire someone to do the same.

So I had my first day of volunteer service yesterday! It was awesome! Lots of people recognized me and it made me feel a little special. I’m excited to be doing this more and more as the days go on.  One a slightly lighter note, I got denied from a Vermont Grant to help pay for college. Which is super lame. I’ve got a meeting on Wednesday to see if a Stafford Loan can cover the money needed to go to school this year. Dear lord I hope so. I need to get back in the game. My new school work desk is kind of just sitting around doing nothing. My Boy and I went to Juniors tonight and had a great time. The food was fantastic as always, and the waitress we had was phenomenal. Extra gratuity given for wonderful service. There was something that threw off the atmosphere and mood a little though. About 10 Minutes after we took our seat and ordered our food, a group came in and sat in the booth next to us. Most of this group was fine and peaceful, however one particular member of the group was very impolite and rude. He was talking very loudly in a quiet restaurant and ordering the waitresses around like they were his property. Being that it was impossible to not hear what he was saying, it soon became apparent that this person was the owner of the restaurant. This made me disgusted. The individual then proceeded to talk in a vulgar, rude, and disrespectful manner that was loud enough for everyone to hear. Luckily there was only one or two other parties in the place at the time.  The gentleman was talking about how he had a right to kill people and where/how he would do it, he was being very racist and prejudice and his language was less than pleasant. This was one of the worst conversations I had ever heard period, let alone from the owner of the restaurant that we were eating at. My appetite was ruined from being unable to ignore the loud mans vulgar conversations. I was one tic away from interrupting his party and his conversation to express my disgust. To my surprise, even though the gentleman came in after us, and ordered from a larger party (he had five in his group), and ordered the same food as us, the waitress they had managed to serve them first. This could be a owner privilege but I feel it may be a little disrespectful to his paying customers to prioritize his parties food over ours. Needless to say if I go there and run into this gentleman again, I will mention something about our experience. Hopefully he hasn’t ruined anyone else’s romantic evening in the past.

So I had my first day of volunteer service yesterday! It was awesome! Lots of people recognized me and it made me feel a little special. I’m excited to be doing this more and more as the days go on. 

One a slightly lighter note, I got denied from a Vermont Grant to help pay for college. Which is super lame. I’ve got a meeting on Wednesday to see if a Stafford Loan can cover the money needed to go to school this year. Dear lord I hope so. I need to get back in the game. My new school work desk is kind of just sitting around doing nothing.

My Boy and I went to Juniors tonight and had a great time. The food was fantastic as always, and the waitress we had was phenomenal. Extra gratuity given for wonderful service. There was something that threw off the atmosphere and mood a little though.

About 10 Minutes after we took our seat and ordered our food, a group came in and sat in the booth next to us. Most of this group was fine and peaceful, however one particular member of the group was very impolite and rude. He was talking very loudly in a quiet restaurant and ordering the waitresses around like they were his property. Being that it was impossible to not hear what he was saying, it soon became apparent that this person was the owner of the restaurant. This made me disgusted. The individual then proceeded to talk in a vulgar, rude, and disrespectful manner that was loud enough for everyone to hear. Luckily there was only one or two other parties in the place at the time. 

The gentleman was talking about how he had a right to kill people and where/how he would do it, he was being very racist and prejudice and his language was less than pleasant. This was one of the worst conversations I had ever heard period, let alone from the owner of the restaurant that we were eating at. My appetite was ruined from being unable to ignore the loud mans vulgar conversations. I was one tic away from interrupting his party and his conversation to express my disgust.

To my surprise, even though the gentleman came in after us, and ordered from a larger party (he had five in his group), and ordered the same food as us, the waitress they had managed to serve them first. This could be a owner privilege but I feel it may be a little disrespectful to his paying customers to prioritize his parties food over ours.

Needless to say if I go there and run into this gentleman again, I will mention something about our experience. Hopefully he hasn’t ruined anyone else’s romantic evening in the past.

I have been getting a lot of people recently that do t think I can make my goals. Luckily these people are nice about it by simply saying “you know… Nursing makes a lot of money too” or “make sure you have a backup plan!” While I understand the importance of having a fail safe, I also will continue to achieve my goals, and people putting me down like this isn’t helping. I know what I want to do is near impossible. Do you not think I’m scared of failure? Of course I am, but you know what? I know I’ll fail if I don’t try. So to anyone trying to politely tell me I can’t do it, piss off!

I have been getting a lot of people recently that do t think I can make my goals. Luckily these people are nice about it by simply saying “you know… Nursing makes a lot of money too” or “make sure you have a backup plan!” While I understand the importance of having a fail safe, I also will continue to achieve my goals, and people putting me down like this isn’t helping.

I know what I want to do is near impossible. Do you not think I’m scared of failure? Of course I am, but you know what? I know I’ll fail if I don’t try. So to anyone trying to politely tell me I can’t do it, piss off!

Well that puts a damper on things. I had a dentist appointment today because my wisdom tooth cracked and was bugging me. and I had an exposed root in another tooth that i cracked (#31). So I went in to get things checked out. A typical examination with an estimated cost of $90. I just got back with $190 less from the appointment (They took 16 X-Rays) and a nice layout of what needs to be done. Total estimated cost of things that need to be done? $4040. The real kicker is that I don’t have dental insurance so this is going to be an out of pocket expanse. I told that to the receptionist as she gave me the treatment plan, and she gave me a flyer for a credit card. Now… Normally I would say “Fuck that!” to something that isn’t bugging me that much and costs $4000+, but I know dental health is pretty important unless I want to spend even more than that on dental implants for every tooth in 10-20 years. Damnnnnnnnn.

Well that puts a damper on things. I had a dentist appointment today because my wisdom tooth cracked and was bugging me. and I had an exposed root in another tooth that i cracked (#31). So I went in to get things checked out. A typical examination with an estimated cost of $90.

I just got back with $190 less from the appointment (They took 16 X-Rays) and a nice layout of what needs to be done. Total estimated cost of things that need to be done? $4040. The real kicker is that I don’t have dental insurance so this is going to be an out of pocket expanse. I told that to the receptionist as she gave me the treatment plan, and she gave me a flyer for a credit card.

Now… Normally I would say “Fuck that!” to something that isn’t bugging me that much and costs $4000+, but I know dental health is pretty important unless I want to spend even more than that on dental implants for every tooth in 10-20 years. Damnnnnnnnn.

So I just paid off the outstanding balance on my student loan. A whopping $800. Thank god my 401k cashout came in today. That should sustain me until I collect some money again. Up next is to pay for my new apartments rent and security deposit. Woo? Dear lord it’s a lot of money.. But now there’s nothing stopping me from being able to get $3500 in financial aid! Plus with FAHC Paying $2600 a year, I shouldn’t have too much of a problem paying it back either. Just so much money. That’s what it all breaks down to.

So I just paid off the outstanding balance on my student loan. A whopping $800. Thank god my 401k cashout came in today. That should sustain me until I collect some money again. Up next is to pay for my new apartments rent and security deposit. Woo? Dear lord it’s a lot of money..

But now there’s nothing stopping me from being able to get $3500 in financial aid! Plus with FAHC Paying $2600 a year, I shouldn’t have too much of a problem paying it back either. Just so much money. That’s what it all breaks down to.

Just got back from my little meeting at CCV! Got a handy student handbook, made my schedule and blocked out my time. I’ll be taking 14 Credits (Full time student is 12 or more) and working 40 hours a week at the hostpital.. Then I also signed up to volunteer! That will probably happen on the weekends for a few hours. I still have to have a meeting with the volunteer board to work out what ill be doing and when. Then I have to fit in an orientation on a Tuesday.  At any rate, This will be good! School in the Morning, Work at night. Plus some volunteer hours to boost up the looks of my resume when I’m applying to Med School or UVM or a residency program. School for this semester will end up costing $3372 after fees and before books. Fletcher Allen will pay $2600 a year (almost half) for me to go. So Financial Aid shouldn’t be too much of an issue.  I’m ready!

Just got back from my little meeting at CCV! Got a handy student handbook, made my schedule and blocked out my time. I’ll be taking 14 Credits (Full time student is 12 or more) and working 40 hours a week at the hostpital.. Then I also signed up to volunteer! That will probably happen on the weekends for a few hours. I still have to have a meeting with the volunteer board to work out what ill be doing and when. Then I have to fit in an orientation on a Tuesday. 

At any rate, This will be good! School in the Morning, Work at night. Plus some volunteer hours to boost up the looks of my resume when I’m applying to Med School or UVM or a residency program. School for this semester will end up costing $3372 after fees and before books. Fletcher Allen will pay $2600 a year (almost half) for me to go. So Financial Aid shouldn’t be too much of an issue. 

I’m ready!

So it’s been a while since my last post. I realized the other day that I want to update this more often so that If and When I achieve my goals, I can look back at the journey I had. I think it’d be kinda neat! So what happened. A lot. First of all, I heard back from CCV and it looks like i’ll be attending school in September as the class of 2016!… eh. It doesn’t have as nice of a ring to it when I should have been class of 2013. But at least I’m getting on track! And more good news about that, when I logged on to check my student profile, a class popped up that I took way back in 2008! (wow. 2008 is “way back”..) I took a computer class in technical school and got a perfect 4.0 GPA and 4 college credits at CCV from it. So I’m already on the right track! I’m kind of hoping that they don’t try to combine my Champlain College GPA though. That would be terrible. I want a fresh start. Two years here, then i’ll transfer to UVM to get classes specific to my major done. What major you ask!? A science. Preferably Neuroscience because I find all that brain chemistry stuff interesting, but also because it’s one of the majors that will put me in a good spot with medical schools and Neurosurgery residency programs. Things are finally shaping up for me! The only thing I have left to worry about thats not entirely in my control would be my student loans, and if I can get them or not. I still have a past due balance on them (not defaulted) since my time at Champlain. about $650. I could pay it off if I absolutely have to, but I think i’d like to keep more than $0.23 in my bank account….  On another note, at work the other day I got to spend a whole 20 minutes around the O.R.! Scoping out my future work grounds. Or looking for mistakes that other people in our department had made. Either way, Being up there was amazon. I saw all the different suits with tables laid out. 25 of them in total I believe. I want to say about 10 of them were being used. It was tough to see in the position that I was in just because the windows are usually pretty small and theres 4 or 5 people standing over the body at any point, but I was surprised at a lot of things! First of all, One of the O.R. rooms was actually playing music quite loudly. I would have thought it be against policy, but it was kind of cool at the same time. When I’m doing that, I’d love to have some music playing to help me concentrate. Nobody was dancing though. 10% of me was disappointed because it was a dance-worthy song. The rest was glad. Another thing that got me surprised is that there was a lot of conversation and “oh its just work” kind of behavior in there. Like there were two residents or techs that were sharing photos on their phone from a vacation or something. It was very laid back. It was the opposite of what I expected after seeing what O.R.’s look like on TV and in the media. Other than that, walking around was nice. Seeing those sinks that they always show surgeons washing their hands in. These were identical and it made me giggle a bit inside.  Anyway. Photo is a picture I took the other day when I was around the O.R. for a while. Its a picture of the Fletcher Allen/UVM medical education building. This is where I Aim to be going in four years after I get my degree. Its the most beautiful part of burlington in my opinion. To the right (out of the picture) there’s what they call the “castle”. Its a very old church building that they’ve renovated into offices or classrooms. Very cool. I want to be there. So bad. Though working that with work will be difficult. At least work pays for a little bit of it. Well i’m off to a CCV appointment! Have to schedule classes and meet with an advisor to see what my next steps need to be.

So it’s been a while since my last post. I realized the other day that I want to update this more often so that If and When I achieve my goals, I can look back at the journey I had. I think it’d be kinda neat!

So what happened. A lot. First of all, I heard back from CCV and it looks like i’ll be attending school in September as the class of 2016!… eh. It doesn’t have as nice of a ring to it when I should have been class of 2013. But at least I’m getting on track! And more good news about that, when I logged on to check my student profile, a class popped up that I took way back in 2008! (wow. 2008 is “way back”..) I took a computer class in technical school and got a perfect 4.0 GPA and 4 college credits at CCV from it. So I’m already on the right track! I’m kind of hoping that they don’t try to combine my Champlain College GPA though. That would be terrible. I want a fresh start. Two years here, then i’ll transfer to UVM to get classes specific to my major done. What major you ask!? A science. Preferably Neuroscience because I find all that brain chemistry stuff interesting, but also because it’s one of the majors that will put me in a good spot with medical schools and Neurosurgery residency programs. Things are finally shaping up for me! The only thing I have left to worry about thats not entirely in my control would be my student loans, and if I can get them or not. I still have a past due balance on them (not defaulted) since my time at Champlain. about $650. I could pay it off if I absolutely have to, but I think i’d like to keep more than $0.23 in my bank account…. 

On another note, at work the other day I got to spend a whole 20 minutes around the O.R.! Scoping out my future work grounds. Or looking for mistakes that other people in our department had made. Either way, Being up there was amazon. I saw all the different suits with tables laid out. 25 of them in total I believe. I want to say about 10 of them were being used. It was tough to see in the position that I was in just because the windows are usually pretty small and theres 4 or 5 people standing over the body at any point, but I was surprised at a lot of things! First of all, One of the O.R. rooms was actually playing music quite loudly. I would have thought it be against policy, but it was kind of cool at the same time. When I’m doing that, I’d love to have some music playing to help me concentrate. Nobody was dancing though. 10% of me was disappointed because it was a dance-worthy song. The rest was glad. Another thing that got me surprised is that there was a lot of conversation and “oh its just work” kind of behavior in there. Like there were two residents or techs that were sharing photos on their phone from a vacation or something. It was very laid back. It was the opposite of what I expected after seeing what O.R.’s look like on TV and in the media. Other than that, walking around was nice. Seeing those sinks that they always show surgeons washing their hands in. These were identical and it made me giggle a bit inside. 

Anyway. Photo is a picture I took the other day when I was around the O.R. for a while. Its a picture of the Fletcher Allen/UVM medical education building. This is where I Aim to be going in four years after I get my degree. Its the most beautiful part of burlington in my opinion. To the right (out of the picture) there’s what they call the “castle”. Its a very old church building that they’ve renovated into offices or classrooms. Very cool. I want to be there. So bad. Though working that with work will be difficult. At least work pays for a little bit of it.

Well i’m off to a CCV appointment! Have to schedule classes and meet with an advisor to see what my next steps need to be.