Back From Chicago!

Happy Tuesday to you all. We are in the last day of March, how crazy is that?! Which reminds me, Happy Birthday Grandma :) After this week, there are only 3 more weeks of classes, and 1 week of finals. OH MY LORD that is not ok. I feel like I have so much work to do and so little time! There are many competencies I need to complete in clinic, and along with those, come fun case studies to type up and oral competencies to follow. My Clinical III course is winding down now and we are only two weeks away from taking our mock registry exams. Senior Seminar is also coming down to crunch time as we try to fit anything in to review that we do not feel confident on, and we have our final presentation that we must present during finals week. I need to get crackin' on that one. I am choosing to do a presentation on the foundations of radiation effects studies, which of course the majority of our information on what we know about how radiation affects humans comes from the atom bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I thought it would be pretty interesting. Right now we're learning a little bit about it in our Radiation Biology class. The statistics are pretty interesting to see. My dosimetry course is pretty much turning into all labs where we do treatment planning so that is well on its way. So all in all, the ball is rollin' and it's rollin' fast. But more importantly....

I went to Chicago this weekend!!! I had so much fun and it was a really interesting experience all in all. I cannot believe it is over though. Crazy. We were so busy the entire weekend that it went by so fast. I took lots of pictures but I will post a few of them so you can see a peek. Sight seeing at Millenium Park to see the bean

The entire group being tourists infront of the bean

We left our mark in Chicago and Gino's East Pizza!



Kim and I made it into the quarter finals, pretty good for the first time!



Don't worry, we were just starting the round, hence the score 0.


The entire group! Ryan, Nicole, Me, Kim, Michelle, and Al


Our wonderful advisors who we couldn't do any of it without.
Gina and Gidget

We got in on Friday afternoon around 1 o'clock and went right to our hotel to drop off our bags. We all wanted to walk around a bit and take advantage of our free afternoon, but not before we ate since we were famished at that point. We went to a little pub nearby the hotel called Timmy O'Tooles, just your usual pub food. It was fun, good food. After that we walked down the Magnificent Mile, aka Michigan Ave. Did some sight seeing where we went to Millenium Park to see the bean sculpture. After walking around the area of our hotel, we went back to shower and get ready for the dinner. Elekta, a company that manufactures Linear Accelerators (the machines we use to treat patients), sponsored a dinner/bar event for people attending to conference. Sort of like a meet and great. So we went to that and got some food, and afterwards we walked around the area to try to find some kareoke. After a failed attempt to find kareoke (probably for the better), we settled on going back to the hotel. Saturday morning we had to get up so early. Check In for the conference was at 7am. Lectures, started at 8am. So we went to the Northweastern Medical Center and claimed our table front row center. We Radiation Biology majors are very competative and strive to have the best experience. We knew sitting front row center, nothing would impede our lecture experience. After a day full of lectures, they didn't let us off so easy. The end of the day on Saturday was the preliminary rounds of the CART Bowl, the Quiz style competition of the Universities that attended the conference. Kim and I were competing for Suffolk. Being our first visit to the conference and first time in the competition, it was a little nerve racking. However, Kim and I were victorious in the first round and made it to the quarter finals. The following day was another early one, with a remaining lecture and a presentation of the winner of the Essay contest. Then, the rest of the CART Bowl was to take place, Kim and I competed again and unfortunately did not make it into then semifinals. We were not sad though, as we felt pretty good about our capability on answering the questions that were asked. All of the teams that competed were so great. Extremely smart kids. The winner was the Northwestern Team, I know I know, sounds fixed, but it was their first time winning after 7 years of trying so they definately deserved it. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and got our things and waited for our shuttle to the airport. That was where the trip took a turn for the worse. We sat in the Chicago O'Hare Intl' Airport for about 5 or 6 hours after we were supposed to take off, due to incliment weather in Boston. We were nervous our flight was going to be cancelled and we would be stuck in Chicago with no where to stay, but finally at about 6:30-7 o'Clock they started boarding us. FINALLY! By the time we landed in Boston, we were all exhausted and went our seperate ways to return to our own beds. I was extremely grateful for the fact that my boyfriend was coming to pick me up from the airport. At that hour, the last thing I wanted to do was get on the T to ride home. I am still exhausted from the entire trip but it was worth it.
It's sad to think the trip has come and gone, but that only means that these 4 weeks I have ahead of me, are going to come and go even quicker. So I will try my best to keep you all updated. After all, what kind of blogger would just leave everyone hanging on their progress right before graduation? Certainly not me...............

Start of Spring Semester, and Many Other Things

So, I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth out last Friday (ouch), but I was looking forward to just getting it over with. Instead, I woke up on Thursday morning, with the worst cold ever. So when I called the oral surgeon's office to ask them what to do, if I would still be able to go in the next morning, they said no way. Obviously if I cannot breathe well on my own, they would never put me under the anesthesia knowing that. So I had no other choice but to reschedule for the only break I have coming up in the next few months.... my spring break. My first Monday off of spring break, I will be having me wisdom teeth removed, and of course St. Patty's day is the next day. I guess there will be no celebrating for me! I will celebrate with pudding and icecream. I'm sure I will look very funny and I'll be sure to try and take a picture and post it up for you all.

This week was the beginning of my Spring semester, my last semester as an undergraduate student, YAY! In just two days, a lot has been going on. Monday I went back to my clinical rotation at Mass General, and Kim and I started a 2 week long rotation working with the Dosimetrists in the department, watching and learning how to do patients treatment plans and dosages. It really brought back a lot of stuff we had to learn in my Radiation Physics class last year. I guess I have to look back at my notes because i'm still a little fuzzy on some of the stuff. Other than that it was great to see everybody back there again. They were all so friendly and happy to see us students back from break. After clinic, I had my Dosimetry class which was ironic. That was so much material that I had to take in on my first day back. A little overwhelming but not too scary since most of it looked somewhat familiar. This year, the program is now trying something new where they are taking us seniors in clinical (me and 5 other people), and instead of just us in the Dosimetry class, they are also adding in all the first year clinical students (who have not yet taken radiation physics, a big foundation of the class). So, I kind of feel bad for them since they really are lost on a lot of the information but, hopefully it will allow the professor to slow down a bit to a pace we can all take in. As for today, I had my Clinical III class with Gina. It was nice because we spent the first part of class going over what we need to finish up this year. We also found out we're going to get a lot of help studying for our boards exam (we kind of knew that..) and also we are going to get a lot of help with writing our resumes. That I definitely really appreciate. It is such nice advantage to be able to use people working in the field you are applying to, to help you write your resume. As for the rest of today, I went to a meeting with other Ambassadors and signed up for Office Hours and Special Events, and then am now here in Admissions finishing up a workday. Fun!
Tomorrow morning I have my first Radiation Biology class at 8am. I'd be lying if I were to say I wasn't scared. I am. This professor is very tough, because she is incredibly smart and teaches very fast. I have a feeling I'm going to be seeking a lot of extra help this semester from her. Nothin' wrong with that :)

Oh, also, this Saturday, I'm going to be going to a CPR Certification Training at school, for the 5 other clinical students and myself. Suffolk is paying (very nice of them), so that we can be certified for when we apply for jobs. Nice huh? Should be a pretty good time. Well.... my mind is going blank and I'm running of of updates to give so until next time kids, have a wonderful next few days!!!

Rockin' the First Blog of 09'

Happy New Years to you all, hope everyone had a good new years. Mine this year went pretty well. Usually I am not a fan of New Years as it can be an incredibly expensive adventure that usually ends up in some form of disappointment. I know I know, i'm not trying to be negative, and to back myself up on this one, I shall post a few pictures of myself and friends on New Years.

(Just a warning, I have no idea why but I get extreme red eye in just about every photo taken of me.)

Catie, Me, and Jen (Sister Sandwich!!)

Another group shot, probably more PG rated...

A group of my friends and I spent it at a fellow friends apartment in Brighton. Everyone brought a dish of some sort of finger food or appetizer/desert. YuM!! There were some pretty good creations that people brought, needless to say, I did not go on with the night being hungry. Haha. The night went well and the following day it was pretty nice to be able to relax and recover.

As for the rest of my break from classes... I cannot complain about the free schedule I have. However, I am guilty of needing things to do from time to time. So, I find myself coming back here to the Admissions Office doing some work to keep myself busy. Next week when classes start up again I know I will regret not taking my vacation more seriously in a lazy manner but, ehh what are you going to do. Here is a sneak peak at my new set of classes for the spring. Obviously I will be starting up my clinical rotations again, however this one will be rather interesting, as I will be spending the first half of the semester doing my "elective rotation". This means that I am not assigned to a specific treatment machine in the department to work on or 6 weeks, but instead, I am bouncing around to different machines to complete any competencies I did not get to on any machine. I also will be doing a Nursing Rotation with the Nurses in the Radiation Oncology Department, I think that will be really fun!!! I will also be doing a dosimetry rotation with the Medical Dosimetrists at the hospital in the department as well. These guys are responsible for planning the dosages and treatment schedules for each patient pertaining to their cancer type, staging and grading. It is really cool because doing all of these mini rotations within my actual rotation, I get to see how everything else in the department is run and how it all comes together. If I complete everything I need to, and I have extra time on my elective rotation (which i'm not sure if I will but keep your fingers crossed!), I can go to do a few extra options such as the following. First, I can go and observe in an IORT. IORT is Intra-Operative-Radiation-Therapy. So, obviously it is a radiation treatment, that takes place in the operating room while the patient is in the middle of surgery. There are many things that need to take place before treatment is definately decided and actually performed, so that can involve a lot of waiting around and being on-call. I luckily got to go in on a surgery over my summer rotation at Mass General with one of my team leaders. It was amazing and I am so happy he took me up to see it. So, being that I have already gone to see an IORT (which i'd love to go see more!), I also signed up to check out a day with the MSPCA animal hospital, because believe it or not, they do radiation therapy on animals that have tumors. Insane huh!? I think that could be really cool. There are a few other things such as going to the Proton Center as Mass General and going over to see a different type of radiation performed called TBI (Total Body Irradiation) at Brigham and Women's Hospital. But the first two, are my top choices. So other than my clinical rotation, I will also be taking my Clinical III Class with my wonderful advisor Gina. That will be really fun because it will be our last class together, all 6 of us and Gina. I am also taking Clinical Dosimetry, which I explained what the Dosimetrists do before, so we will be learning about that, and with the class, there is also a lab. The class is on Monday nights at the hospital, and the lab is on Thursday nights at the hospital. Boooo for night classes. :( I will also be taking Radiation Biology with Dr. Martin, i'm horrified for that class. I will keep you all fully informed on that one because I am interested to see how I will do there. And last but not least...... Senior Seminar!! Crazy huh!? Each class will be taught by a previous professor/oncologist/resident/therapist/etc. that we have had along the way and it will basically be a review course of everything we have learned along the way. Scary huh?? Yeah, i think so too. It is supposed to help us prepare for our Boards Exam which I do have to admit is nice. But all of this sounds so overwhelming!!!!! I hope I can make it out alive people. So don't take it personally if I have to come here to rant and rave about something to vent. Ok? Thanks, I appreciate it :) haha.




Oh and I MUST do a shout out before I end the blog,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!