Not so nervous waiting.

So the wait for May 15 continues. May 15 is the magical day when all medical schools are required to have admitted a number of students equal to the 1st year class. What this also means is that the waitlists at the various schools will be ranked and applicants will be notified. Some schools will tell you the exact position on the list; OHSU is one such school. Others will give you a rough idea of where you fall, like UVM which tells you which third of the list you're on. Right now I'm pretty set on going to SLU. I don't know what we'll do if I have to pick between SLU and OHSU or SLU and UVM. I reallly liked Burlington so it'll be a hard choice. Of course, I might be ranked 200th at OHSU and in the bottom third at UVM, so who knows. This might all be moot. All I know is that I'm really grateful that I don't have to sweat a waitlist in order to attend medical school next fall.

Osmolality, or How I Kept My Cool

Patient X has Q6 osmo's and sodiums. He's in the SICU, and I don't know/care what else he has. All I know is that during the night, the ICU nurses have ordered Q2 Osmo's and Na's. But they don't want them. Rather than simply cancelling the order in the computer, they simply turn us away all night long. No biggie since I'm asleep at home when this is happpening.
Change of shift in the lab. I get report that the ICU has been carrying on like this, but that they finally cancelled the Q2 orders. Patient X has a 0600 Basic Metabolic Panel which has included in it a sodium level. We do this, but for some reason the 0600 Osmo and sodium were cancelled along with the Q2 orders. Since the nursing staff now wants the tests Q6 at 0600, 1200, and so on, we need to reorder the osmo which we do. By the time we get to the floor to do a slightly late 600 osmolality, Mr. X has gone to CT. The nurse irately explains to the phleb that they don't want osmos except at 0600 and 1200. Wisely the phleb deflects the spittle from yonder moronicus giganticus. He hops on the phone and yells at me, 'Osmo's? We don't need no stinkin osmo's", well he would have if I'd been Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles. He actually berated me for sending someone up.
I tried explaining that we were actually trying to perform his precious 0600 Osmo, but that the patient had been in CT. Since it was 0715, and the patient had returned, I felt it requisite to draw the blood as ordered. He stammered incoherently and tried to make me understand, using his best patronizing tone, that he only wanted them at 0600 and 1200. Yes, massah I replied. I then reached into the phone, and dug my finger into Nurse Moronicus' ear. Feeling the wrath of the lab, he backed off, and apologized. I told him that we were doing the best we could to comply with their orders, and that if he wanted an 0600 osmo, he would have to let us draw it. If not, we'd be more than happy to cancel it. My cool, impassive mien and unflappable Harrison Ford voice let him know who really was in charge. He might be all bluster, but Cool Hand Lab Man wasn't takin' no crap from nobody, nohow.

editor's note: In the interests of factual accuracy, Lab Man was in fact exquisitely polite, did not physically harm the nurse, and the situation resolved itself peacefully. Had it not been so, there would have been a Wild West showdown in the halls behind SICU. We all know who would have drawn his pearl handled six shooter fastest too.....

Descent from Cloud 9

Now the high is wearing off. I keep surfing SDN every day, posting on the allopathic boards that I can in good conscience frequent. I'm trying to figure out where we can live, which neighborhoods to avoid, but which are an acceptable distance from SLU. Never having lived in a big city in a non-missionary capacity, I don't really have what you'd call "street smarts". There are quite a few of my classmates on SDN, we'll see how long we can remain anonymous. It appears that classes are beginning on August 13, but that the white coat ceremony is on Aug 5. I think that mindy and I are going to move in late june, but spend a few weeks at camp before driving down to St. Louis for good.

I sent my acceptance of their acceptance in as soon a humanly possible. Two days later I got a letter saying I was enrolled in the class of 2011 at SLU!!! I'm still on Cloud 9, and I keep saying "I'm going to medical school" because it doesn't feel real. I can't really fathom it all right now, since it's been occupying most of my waking hours for the last 3 years. It hasn't really sunk in that I have been accepted.

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!

OK, here's the skinny. I"M going to be a doctor!!!! I got into Saint Louis University School of Medicine today!!!!! I have to retro post a lot of stuff, but I'm going to be a doctor!!!!