Next month will be my 30th medical school reunion. Not sure where the past 30 years have gone and can tell you little about what happened during the 4 years of medical school other than what happened in medical school.
Clinton’s first term is a blur. My parents sold our childhood home. My father sold my high school car. My mother threw away my baseball card collection and old aquariums. I would not know of any of this until internship. Jordan retired from basketball, then came back. That, in addition to anatomy, histology, pathology, pharmacology and so forth I do recall.
Have been asked numerous times how does one complete the course work in college to apply to medical school and then finish medical school. The task seems daunting to many. 8 years of school after high school followed by 5 years or more of on the job training so to speak in apprentice like positions.
My answer 30 years ago is the same as it is today.
Get used to sitting in chairs. That’s it.
Some of the most uncomfortable chairs you could possibly imagine on linoleum floors, run down carpeting or fake laminate. Horrible chairs with loose backs, legs or seats. Wood that has shown its use and wear, seats torn and armrests missing. Possibly too low or too high for the corresponding cubicle, table or desk.
Every medical, dental and law student, every MBA or PhD candidate completing coursework or preparing to defend their thesis has done and continues to do so today. It may be more electronic or “in the cloud” rather than with textbooks, syllabi, 3 ring binders and notebooks, but there are butts in chairs all trying to accomplish their respective goals.
The chairs in my first dormitory rooms in college and later fraternity house and apartments were beyond what would be expected for their lifespan. They should have been replaced years earlier, but they continued, supporting the work of that generation to learn the material expected of them and did the best they could to support the mission. Sometimes time was too much and ultimately, they were replaced by equally worn furniture.
In college a small group of pre-meds made a habit of studying in “The Stacks”. Far removed from the more open library and its collection of books, with the hum of copiers, information desk attendants and revolving doors while people searched the aisles for references. The stacks where we studied were closest the “African Studies”. Old volumes of journals beautifully bound from decades past. Theses from prior students. During breaks I would peruse these and learn about the history of Nigeria or Kenya or the suspected migration patterns in and out of Africa for early man based on thousands of hours of research and consideration and perhaps from someone who used the chair I was currently using. We didn’t have assigned cubicles per se but the spaces were essentially reserved. Everyone had their spot 4 or 5 nights a week. People would know where to find you if they forgot their highlighter, textbook, notepad or reading assignment and specific pages. I would do the same.
In the chair by 7 PM and there until 1 AM. 2 15-minute breaks to perhaps talk to the blond from organic chemistry or grab a soft drink which you could not bring back to the stacks. For mid-terms or finals, in the chair, every night for a week. Sometimes you would go back to your home and occupy another chair for more time.
One becomes accustom to sitting in chairs and staring at books and notes and empty walls.
My first year of medical school followed the same pattern. Lectures and/or laboratories from 8 AM to 5 PM. Exercise, shower, have dinner and in the chair from 7 PM to 1 AM. If my parents or grandparents called, I would consider that a break and told them I would have to get back to studying. The fear of failure was too great to continue speaking about the weather or an upcoming family event.
Admittedly, I lost touch with many high school and college friends during this time. They were working, perhaps starting families and I was in the chair memorizing body parts, pathways, mechanisms of actions of drugs, pathologic findings and how to do a physical examination.
One of my organic chemistry professors in college told me during office hours when I didn’t understand how something worked, “Memorize first. Understand later.” It was very helpful advice that has served me for over 30 years now. In the chair first you memorize then you organize it as to try to understand it. It makes the Krebs Cycle and cranial nerves and the bones of the hand and foot and the arteries, veins and nerves of the extremities much more manageable. But it takes time to do that as well. Repetition. Hours of it. And more hours of it.
In the chair.
The cycle continued for years. Students preparing for course exams, house staff preparing for national certifying examinations, law students studying for The Bar and so forth. Different chairs and different people if different cubicles but fundamentally we were all doing the same thing as we had been for a decade prior.
Sitting in the chair, in the cold stacks, the stench of old volumes and the blandness of tan linoleum, sterile cubicles and white walls is not hard. It just takes sitting in the chair, memorizing first, understanding later.
When I was 10 years old my father and I were watching The Masters on a Sunday afternoon. I was interested in golf and enjoyed the tournaments as well as learning about the players. The broadcast showed an interview with Lee Trevino who was one of my favorite golfers I followed. Trevino never knew his father and was raised by his mother and grandfather. He reportedly worked in cotton fields at a young age to help his family. His grandfather was a grave digger. After high school he enlisted in the Marines and served for 4 years. He worked his way into professional golf and would go on to win many tournaments including several major championships and would continue to win more after this Masters and into the senior tour.
I remember Trevino telling the interviewer that he “couldn’t remember a day when he didn’t hit at least 500 golf balls.” On that Sunday during The Masters I decided I was never going to try to become a professional golfer. I wasn’t interested in hitting that many balls in a week or month. I still am not that interested to do so full well knowing it would likely improve my game.
Musicians, plumbers, pipe fitters, electricians, teachers, professional athletes, computer programmers, entrepreneurs, pathologists, lawyers, accountants, etc., all must get enough repetitions in to master their craft. 500 golf balls a day. Running hills after practice. Playing hours of tennis after losing a match or hitting the driving range until after dark following a round, spending additional time in the studio and so forth allows for those repetitions.
Some of us do it in a chair, some do it on the court, field, job site, orchestra hall, studio, operating room or court room.
While I wouldn’t want to play a guitar until my fingers bled or hit golf balls for hours and hours a day, sitting in a chair flipping pages, memorizing, later learning, seemed to suit me. There is no substitute for getting in the reps.
I am still in the chair. Not creating music or building anything or designing anything and playing bogey golf.
But at least now the chair is modern with functional armrests and ergonomic design.
