- In lab, we cut open our cadaver's skull and pulled out his brain. It was a pretty surreal experience
- I found out I'm going to Haiti in February for a medical mission trip. I'm so stoked!
- I passed my first four exams, I'm surviving med school! :p
- Got to hang out with some old friends, definitely was a huge blessing
Anyways, I'm actually doing a lot better than I thought I would. I feel like because I didn't come from a traditional medical background, I'd lag behind all the other students in terms of learning the material. Although this is true to an extent, I feel like I generally have enough time to learn the material fairly well to pass the tests. One of the things that I really appreciate about medicine compared to engineering is that I can find fairly decent explanations for most of the topics I'm currently learning on youtube. Whether it's how the embryo folds or ways to memorize the cranial nerves, there always seems to be some video that will magically make it all clear. This is compared to mechanical engineering where I still don't really understand how to use bernoulli's equations in complex fluid flow problems (curse you ME 320!!).
My faith has also rebounded since the beginning of med school. When I first started, I think I definitely turned med school into an idol. It came to the point where I couldn't really focus on my devos since I felt like I needed to study all the time. However, once I started prioritizing my relationship with God over med school, I started having a lot more peace and joy amidst the daily grind of school.
One of the prayers that I found particularly helpful over the past couple weeks was to ask God to help me remain joyful irrespective of what happened in school. Regardless of whether lab went well or not, whether I passed my exams or not, I really wanted to focus on praising God in all situations. I truly believe that's important for me since med school really has been God's blessing to me. So rather than complaining about all the things that went wrong during the day or all the studying I need to do, praising God in everything has helped me remain calm and keep perspective as to why I'm in med school in the first place.
In addition, this passage from Ephesians 3:14-19 has been especially helpful over the past few weeks
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
In particular, the part of the passage that struck me the most is when it talks about how knowing the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge. This was such a huge reminder for me when I was studying for my exams. This passage helped me remember that it doesn't matter how much anatomy or embryology I learn because this worldly knowledge can't ultimately fulfill me. The only thing that can is the love of Jesus.
Anyways, this ended up being longer than I expected. Sorry I don't have any pictures to show you guys, I need to do a better job of that lol. Thanks for checking in though and I'll see you all next time!
Andrew
