Still Not a Budding Dermatologist

I am really enjoying this heme block, even though it has been a lot of work, and even though it is really depressing. On Wednesday, we had another terrific discussion in PBL. I don't know what it is about this PBL group, but it is just gelling really well. The downside is that I knew this week's patient was going to die, and sure enough, she did. Afterward, we had another small group seminar on tumors of plasma cells. (Those are the B cells that make antibodies.) Then I had a few free hours to study, because for some reason we didn't have anything scheduled until the derm exam at 3 PM. I wasn't too excited about doing the derm exam, but it wound up being a pretty interesting, albeit disgusting, session. Now I know the difference between macules and papules and patches and plaques, but none of the above is very pretty to look at. Basically, if you were the kind of kid who was totally into scabs and scatology and anything else that was gross, you will totally love derm. To me, it was fun to do it for one afternoon, but I wouldn't want to make a career out of it.

Yesterday, we were supposed to have a class meeting and a portfolio meeting in the afternoon. But I was sick, so I didn't go. Today we had a seminar on anemias that was excellent, just like the others for this heme block have been. I was all excited about today's POD talk because it was supposed to be about cancer drug discovery, but it was pretty disappointing. The speaker mainly just went over general cancer principles, and I didn't really learn anything new. It wasn't a bad talk, actually. I think it was more that it just wasn't what I was expecting.