Off to bed with visions of fluorescing amoebas in my head...

Yes, it's strange, but true. I've started my second Microbiology rotation, which includes parasitology and mycology. Yesterday we learned and performed the Crypto/Giardia screen, so when it came time for me to fall asleep, I swear all I could see "in my head" were little green glowing Cryptosporidium and Giardia. By the way, those two happen to be the most common parasites we see here in Wisconsin.

Anyhow, once I finally did drift off to sleep, I had yet another lab dream. In this dream, I had gone to the doctor (who knows why) and he told me that my glucose level was 100 mg/dL and he needed to put me on insulin immediately. Naturally, the proper dream response was for me to start explaining in great detail (and very passionately) why he was absolutely WRONG! I can only hope that such a wealth of knowledge is so easily accessible when I'm sitting in front of the computer taking my board exams.

With 11 weeks left until graduation, our class is starting to show signs of fatigue. We seem to be recycling a cold over and over again. There are some days when I just want to crawl in bed as soon as I get home! My strategy has been to take one entire weekend day off each week. It seems to be working so far. I keep trying to get to bed at a reasonable time, but that doesn't seem to work. Then there are nights when I get so wound up thinking about everything I can't get to sleep at all--that's when I seem to have crazy lab dreams.

The internship is a long haul, but I've made it this far! I'm guessing the rest will fly by. I can only imagine the sense of relief I will feel when it's all over. That's a feeling I like to daydream about...

I can't believe I just said that, but it's true. I just completed my chemistry rotation at the hospital, and I enjoyed it way more than I had anticipated.

On campus, our degree required us to take 1 year of General Chemistry, one year of Organic Chemistry, one semester of Biochemistry and an Intro to Instrumental Analysis class. I didn't hate any of the classes; they just weren't necessarily my favorite subject.

It occurred to me part of the problem was the "general" part. Chemistry courses on campus can only be just so specific to appeal to multiple majors. It was hard to see where it all fit together in the clinical laboratory.  However, in the lab, the "chemistry" is based much more on physiology--now that was a class I loved! You can directly see why these tests are important and how they fit together.

Even though chemistry tests are becoming more automated--I hear some labs are just about completely automated--you can't lose that knowledge. It's important to know the results you are looking at make sense. 

There has been some buzz about the new Doctorate in Clinical Laboratory Science, and my rotation in chemistry has confirmed my decision to pursue that degree. Looking at a patient's chemistry panels is like piecing a puzzle together--it requires a lot of understanding and interpretation of results, not just memorizing normal ranges. I would hate to get so used to just reporting out patient results you don't even question them anymore, or worse, you forget what would cause them to be abnormal in the first place.

Anyway, if there are any students out there who have already decided chemistry just isn't their favorite thing... just wait! It will be so much different in the lab, and by different, I mean better!

The issue was teams could only be a maximum of four people and we have six. So we had assumed two people would sit out and be the "cheerleaders." Then we discovered we could have two teams of three, which we were all in favor of doing. Today we picked numbers out of a hat to decide our teams. Now the taunting has begun--all in good humor of course. But I'm pretty sure my team is going to take first place!

The Student Bowl is set up in sort of a Jeopardy type format; each team gets to pick the topic and point value, and then has 30 seconds to answer the question. Winners of each round move on to the next round and so on until you have the top two teams competing for the title.

Having two teams from the same hospital competing could seem like a bad situation, except that our group honestly does get along fabulously!  Five of us have been together for a few years now from campus and our sixth person has turned out to be a seamless addition. I can't imagine having gone through this internship without the support of my other classmates. We have heard stories from our firector about classes that were so cut-throat competitive with each other that they couldn't get along. I'm so thankful that isn't us!

It's hard to put into words how helpful it has been to enjoy the company of my classmates, my friends, throughout this experience. At some point, we have all been there for each other and we have all needed support in one way or another. If I can offer any advice to other students, it would be to get to know your fellow classmates. It makes a world of difference to have good people in which to share this journey.

So in the end when my team wins first place and the other team wins second place, we will all still be friends, and this little competition will have been just what we needed to push us forward in preparing to take the board exams in 15 weeks!

It would be a lie to say I enjoyed every minute of the journey. There were moments when I questioned whether or not I really wanted to be a med tech "when I grew up."  The long hours of homework, trying to learn every detail of renal physiology and make sense of S_N1 and S_N2 reactions, finding time for my daughters and husband, trying to keep up with the laundry and everything else life throws at me... Sometimes it really was (and can still be) overwhelming. 

I find it entertaining that after almost 4 years, most of my family still thinks I am going to be a Medical Transcriptionist! They give you that half-hearted "that sounds like a nice career" when you know they are thinking you will be making minimum wage or at least not very much. But I patiently correct them over and over again, even when they make the next "logical" jump to nursing. 

I have to admit when I first read the program title "Medical Technology," I had no idea what it was. As far as I was concerned all "blood work," as I had always heard it referred to, was sent to "the lab" as if it were some far away secret place. I've since heard it referred to as the black box where samples go in and results come out, but what happens in between only the people in the lab know!

As it turns out, the more I looked into it, the more I discovered how much I would enjoy it. So here I am now 16 weeks from graduating. I interviewed for a position in the Microbiology Department of the hospital where I am interning and I am anxiously waiting to find out if I will get the position.

Right now I am focusing on the Boards. I try to spend every moment I can reviewing and making sure I really understand as much of the information that has been crammed into my head over the last few years. 

The internship has been an amazing and intense experience thus far and I feel I will be well equipped to enter the workforce in a mere 4 months. As for right now, I need to study liver function for an exam on Friday!

Perhaps next time, I'll share the story of the day that I had a "slight" breakdown at the hospital and fled to the bathroom in tears.