MCAT Part Deux + Cinco - Day 1

BIG, HUMUNGOUS, shout out to my girl LP! Our convo did far more than you know.............

So as the title indicates, I'm studying again, for the 7th time for the MCAT. What's different now? I'm also repeating ALL the MCAT preq. courses except Bio I and II and I'm also going to repeat EK immiediately there after. Again, I have no rational explination for why I didn't do this the first time because clearly this would have helped me significantly. All I can say is I'm doing it now and moving forward.

Yesterday, I completed the first 2 Chemistry lectures and today I started O.Chem lecture 1. The resource I'm using is from MIT, is ALL online, and found here:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/

Chemistry I and II is taught in one class which suits me just fine since I feel my backgound sufficiently prepares me to handle this. I am of course, dreding the Physicas review and I'm saving that for last.

My tentative plan is to complete Chem, and OChem in May, Physics 1 and 2 in June (wishful thinking) and do EK in July, with an MCAT date of the first week in August. But I'm almost certain that my Physics review is going to splill over into July which is OK since I should be crusing real good by then. I'm also going to do some AMCAS test question during my subject review so I think I can say for the first time in my MCAT testing life that my preparation is going to be as through as I can possibly make it.

Moving on, it looks like I may have another surgical procedure in my future since health wise things aren't all that great with me these days, so again I think it's safe to say that things really do happen they way they do for a reason. There are some nonsurgical treatment options which involve hormones which I'm not too particular about since I have a family history of breast cancer. So the backdrop of my MCAT prep will be thinking and researching my treatment options with the goal of getting myself close to 100% by the time I take the MCAT in August. Obviously health comes first so I'm not planning on putting this off as I did before.

Finally, in the course of talking to my friend LP I realized one thing and that is going for a PhD as a conselation prize to medical school would be a terrible idea. Why? I try to think of worst case scenarios and for me, the worst thing that could happen in graduate school would be to be in my 6th year with NO end in sight. Besides being mad as hell, I would be bitter too, but more than that, I'd be VERY regretful. So that's my personal measuring stick, if I think of the worst case scenario of an idea I have and I'm ok with the worst case scenario, then I think it's a good decision for me. If I think I would have great regret, then its not. Being in my 6th year in medical school would so NOT be a problem for me because unlike PhD programs, there is a real push by admins to get their students OUT! In grad school, no such "push" exists so here I would be doing something I don't feel as passionate about, wishing I had gone to med school instead? Thanks but NO thanks!

At this point, it's either MD, DO, or Caribbean MD when my kid finishes high school. I'll happily do any of those knowing that my goal of becoming a Physican may only delayed. Maybe.

Age ain't nothing but a number??

The hell it ain't! I've had 3 adcoms tell me and another one hint that there is a real perception out there that a 40+ year old person is too old for med school, yet folks want to walk around like I didn't hear what I heard? For crying out loud, how much more plain does it get than this?

Now, I'm not trippin' because quite frankly discrimination isn't a new thing in my life but the idea that people think it's not real is dumbfounding. And since my advisor was one of the folks who admitted that age discrimination DOES exist, I'm not upset because I know he would never do or say anything to dissuade me from my career goals. But as my advisor, it IS his job to make sure I go into this process with my eyes wide open! The adcom that's a personal confidant? This person just came out and said, that post bacc prgram thinks your too old, so for me it doesn't get any clearer than this.

So now the question becomes, whatcha gonna do? Well my answer is the same thing I do when I think either my race (FAR, FAR less likely), or my gender (FAR, FAR more likely), is an issue, I just suck it up and keep it moving, doubling my efforts along the way. So since it looks like my age is now another added factor, I'll have to triple my efforts, LOL!!!

Decisions, decisions, decisions.............................

So I have my fall schedule and here it is, drum roll please:

Pharmacology Research
Molecular Physiology
Tumor Biology
Microbiology

In other words, I'd better be able to pull that 4.0 everyone has told me I need to get this Fall while carrying a full load.

I also met with 2 additional adcoms, one of who I've known personally since 2002 and the other was a letter writer for me and teaches one of the classes I'll be taking this Fall. Both were surprised I wasn't accepted to the 5 year MD program, and both very much encourage my path, provided I retake the MCAT. Well dam! A done deal, but at least I feel good about my plan (they also both suggested I talk to someone at AMCAS about how my Pharma classes were classified because this GPA issue is more concerning than I originally thought). And allow me to keep this real, they both agreed I didn't give the 1000% effort I should have in making a case for my admissions.

I also decided to see the recruiter for the PhD program in Micro/Emerging Infectious Diseases/Bioterrorist Agents in part to keep my options open and see what would be said. I was shocked to learn that I could pretty much come in starting with my research since ALL of my Pharma coursework would transfer. I'd then only need 4 core classes to sit for my Oral exams, then move on to PhD candidacy. I could also start January 2010 if I choose to as well. So what happened to Pathology? Well, nothing really other than I'd have to change schools, my current school doesn't have a Pathology PhD, and NOTHING from my Master's degrees would transfer. Absolutely NOTHING, so I'd be starting from scratch. The thing about PhD program is that it really doesn't matter what you get your degree in, it's about learning how to be a Scientist: write grants, defend a hypothesis, design experiments, ect ect you get the picture. And did I mention it would be paid for? So it would take anywhere from 3 to 4 years to finish which would get me right to the time my kiddo finishes high school. And speaking of kiddo..................

She made it VERY clear to me the other day that she does NOT want to move and to be honest I have to consider that (My husband is down for whatever). In fact, both the adcoms I mentioned earlier suggested I really think about not moving because they are both parents and I truly believe they want the best for me and my family. The one adcom was a close personal confidant during the time I was battling my daughters' school decision to put my child in special ed (the same daughter that was just yesterday selected as on of the top middle school students in the county for second year in a row!!). This person's point was that me and my "village" worked so hard to get her to this point that moving at this point in her life could potentially have devastating affects. Add to that, my daughter asked me just this past Sunday to wait until she finished high school if we had to move so I could attend medical school. So what does a responsible parent do in this case?

Well, I'm going to pray about it, but I will likely only consider schools in the immediate area except the one where I've been in contact with the powers that be since forever. That's still a darn good number of schools in different tiers so I should be able to get some local love. If not, I'll likely finish my PhD and reconsider my options after kiddo finishes high school. Either way, my future still looks so bright, I gotta wear shades!!!

MCAT Part Deux + Cinco ??? WTH???????

Om my dam!!! I kinda feel like this baby right now when I think about retaking the MCAT and I'm sure my readers are thinking that I have lost my mind! Well, I think going to med school in your 40's IS crazy, LOL!!!!

With that said, I'm going to have to be honest here. The absolute critical mistake I made in taking the MCAT 4X over 3 years was that I was too stubborn/arrogant to realize that I obviously needed to retake my preqs. But I figured I had excelled in higher level classes including medical school classes, so I should be OK, right? Hell NO! The MCAT doesn't test "higher level sciences", they want to now if you know the difference from a Phyla and a Class. Really basic stuff that if you don't prep for it means you could be in trouble. So I'm thinking, the majority of the people taking the MCAT have had the preq courses with in the past year of two and after taking the MCAT 6 times, I'm convinced that the advantage is pretty significant in terms of setting yourself up to score well, as in 30+. These folks then normally follow that up with a formal prep course. As far as that is concerned, I'd simply do the prep course as I'm going along in the classes.

So since I'm not working and have no classes scheduled this summer, it wouldn't be an issue for me to retake most of the MCAT prep courses online except general biology and retake the MCAT later this summer. Unlike before, I don't have the slightest concern that my score will go down because I'm doing what I should have done in 2004 and that is retaking the prereqs. Therefore, my score can ONLY go up! And the fact of matter is that AMCAS has really f*&ked up my science GPA by counting my Pharma courses as health classes, and I've since been told by a couple adcoms that a slightly higher MCAT score will be needed to help me off set that problem. So crazy or not, I'm in maximize my chances mode.

I also spoke earleir today to a school I've spoken to off and on since 1988. I know crazy right? This same school has encouraged me to apply since I can remember and I never have, so I guess you guys have figured out that I won't make that mistake this application season. Once again, until you get that letter of acceptance, everything you hear is just talk so I'm applying to more than enough schools to make sure there's a seat with my name on it for the class of 2010.

Other thoughts, I'm still not 100% sure about what to do about my Fall class schedule which I have to turn in tomorrow, so for now, I'm going to stick with what my advisor has already approved and take the 3 medical school classes. Worst case scenario is that when I start med school in 2010, I'll be ahead of the game and since it looks like I'm going to be relocating, I'll take any advantage I can get to help me acclimate to a new environment.

Finally, I'm a firm believer that everthing happens for a reason and I have to admit that getting rejected has lit a fire under me that didn't exist to this extent before. Every failure is both a test of your will and an opportunity to fine tune what needs to be fine tuned so you can eventually be successful!!!

It's not what happens in life, it's how you respond to it

Yesterday, I purchased some fresh lemons from a local flea market that look a lot like these. And I was thinking about how much these lemons could be a microcosm for what's going on in my life right now. Then I reminded myself of how blessed I am to not be working and still have all my families necessities plus a little more being met. I then decided to stop licking wounds permanently and start thinking about what my next plan needs to be.

First, now that moving away is on the table, I've decided to attend open houses at two local DO schools this summer since over the past few years which I've taken the MCAT and requested my scores be sent to DO schools, I always received the invite to both apply to and visit the schools. What it comes down to is what a person is willing to do to become a Physician and for me, the answer is anything I have to.

Second, I considered again for a hot minute applying to PA (Pathologists Assistant) school because I'm obviously attracted to the focus learning in Pathology but I shot that down because 1) getting admitted there is far MORE competitive then medical school and 2) I don't want to spend the rest of my life kicking myself for not giving medical school 1000% effort.

Third, I'm still thinking about which classes I want to take this Fall with the idea that I don't necessarily want to take rigorous medical school classes twice. I'm now leaning toward taking some fun and interesting classes in the Pathology department at another local university (one that I've attended before) since my school doesn't offer much in the way of pathology classes and I could save money by taking them at another school. Today, I have to say I'm leaning strongly in this direction since given how hard I've worked these past few years, I deserve doing something "fun". Along these lines, I also thought about taking the classes at a school I'd need to relocate to to attend you know, be a visiting student somewhere I've never lived before, since I can transfer 8 credits from ANY US grad school to my program. Of course, I'd have to consider many, many, things in selecting such a school such as the probability of me being competitive for med school(s) in the area and good pathology course offerings as well.

At this point, I'm taking my rejection in stride because as I think about all the possibilities for how to spend the next school year besides applying very early to MD and DO programs, I'm excited about the lack of predictability of what may come knowing it will be a great learning experience and bring me one step closer to becoming a Physician.

Now, I'm off to have a tall, cool, glass of lemonade!

Rejected, Part II

These days, when I think about med school, the picture on the left is what comes to mind. I'm one of those strange people than when something unexpectedly negative happens to me, it takes me days to process. This morning I woke up recalling something else the adcom over the post bacc said to me: "I have two applications here. One with a student who has made few academic mistakes and yours which is filled with academic mistakes from your past. Give me a reason why I should pick your application over their's?"

Now I'll preface this by saying that I was initially told that my academics are fine, GPA and MCAT. Then this came up so obviously I don't buy the this persons first assesment of my academic perfromance, unless we're talking about the past 5 or so years (which when you think about it is an indirect reference to being older).

My response and I'm going on recall here: " I don't know".(WTF????) After thinking for a few seconds I said, "There's more to a potential good medical student and Physician than what's on paper. Over the years, I'm participated in numerous academic and volunteer activities which clearly demonstrates a commitment to a career in medicine".

So after giving this some thought, here's what I think is wrong with what I said. Saying I don't know is just dumb (but keep in mind that I didn't know I was going to meet with this person until I was actually in their office, thus I wasn't pepared!!!) The first part of what I said comes off as snarky. The second part of what I said shows ME emphasizing how old I am. BAD IDEAS!!!

I think what I should have said was something like this:

While I've been aware througout my academic life of the presence of competitors, I've strived to maintain focus on my own objectives and goals to keep myself on track. Since my matriculation at XXX, I've consistently proven that I have the desire, motivation, and preserverence to succeed in medical school."

That's off the cuff, but the best I could come up with in a short amount of time. Trust me I'll be sure to work on that answer in the future because I know it's not the last time I'll hear it. However, there is one VERY good thing to come out of all of this is and that is now I know what I need to work on interview wise because this time, the stakes were reasonably low. The next time, the stakes will be high and now I know what I need to work on to be throughly prepared.

With that said, if there's even the slightest possibility that you'll run into an adcom, keep yourself prepared!!! When I look back on this particular situation, I did NOT put 1000% into the process of getting accepted. Which sounds strange given how much I want to become a Physician. But saying it and having your actions say it for you are two completely different things and with competition so stiff these days, you absolutely have to have BOTH!!

Message from a "friend"

So I have a close personal "friend" who recently had their medical school aspirations shot down like a bird in winter as they say, and I think it's something EVERY nontraditional student needs to consider, particularly when applying to MD programs.

My "friend" told me the story of meeting with an adcom to discuss thier rejected application to an MD program. My "friend" told me that a good portion of the conversation was spent with this particular adcom talking about their own troubles with finishing medical school, namely that this adcom had been kicked out of medical school many years ago. This person talked about their career after medical school, while simultaneouly trying to convince my "friend" that they too would perhaps better off considering careers other than as a Physician.

I told my "friend" that if I had a dollar for every time someone discouraged me I'd be a rich woman and that sometimes you have to work extra hard not to let the life disappointments of others become your own. OTOH, I have to expect that most people won' tunderstand why I passed on medical school many years ago no matter how compelling my reasoning was. At the end of the day, you also to work extra hard to stay true to your own truth especially when dealing with people who aren't as positive as you'd like them to be. Basically, you have to know when to listen and when to tune out and keep pressing on.

Rejected

Yesterday, I learned that I've been rejected from one of the post bacc programs I'd targeted this year and I provided some details of that event. And as a result of my not being able to finish my MS by the end of this summer for reasons already discussed, I've withdrawn my app from other programs because finishing my MS is required for all of the programs I was interested in.

Circumstances have changed somewhat since yesterday, so I will likely have to ammend what I previously wrote. Stay tuned!

Black Conservatives, Hidden Voices

I usually don't hold back much as far as things that are on my mind are concerned, but my recent participation on a Black run blog and the absolute disaster it turned out to be changed my mind. Out of a since of loyalty to Black folks, I have in general preferred not to use my blog to that speak negative about "my people". However this time, I'm going to have to make an exception.

I talked before about the party I attended earlier in the year, attended by highly educated, high income earning Black folks and how when I mentioned that I had voted for McCain, that for a minute the party goers turned on me. The same party goers that hadn't done one dam thing in the Black community since some of them left the 'hood. So despite that experience, I continued with my lollipop dreams about how someone with any type of formal education beyond high school could accept the fact that not all Blacks share the same political views and I had some how deluded myself into thinking that being a Black conservative would be OK to the average rational thinking Black person. BIG MISTAKE.

I realized again as I had learned on a certain VERY popular premed website when revealed that I was Black everything I said would be seen through "black" eyes. So it was no suprise that once I revealed I was a conservative and had voted for McCain on this black blog, every dam thing I said would be seen through "sell-out" eyes. For example, there was a discussion about Obama's new tax laws and I stated and I quote "Even though my household is one of the ones affected by the new tax laws, I'm smart enough to realize how blessed my family is to be in this situation in the first place". Now before I revealed my political views, a similar statement went without response. But as soon as I revealed my political views and made that statement again, I suddenly became an Uncle Tom, a bragging bitch, my professional training as a Scientist was questioned, and became a sell out. Anyone who knows my posting history knows that I can be pretty sarcastic when posting (which I had already learned isn't allowed of you're female), but I'm not going to be too many bitches and token Blacks before I attack back. And in my 15+ years on the Internet, it was on a Black website that I resorted to language that I've never felt I had to use on the net. EVER.

Now, I'm not bragging about having to bless out a bunch of ignorant Black Liberal Extremist and I'm sure some of the words I used to defend myself, would have prompted my now deceased grandmother to wash my mouth out with soap. But this idea that because I'm a black conservative that I'm going to be your personal whipping board is an idea that I'm never going to be down with.

The post on this blog that I took the most issue with was the one where the definition of a field negro versus a house negro was explained. To my uninformed readers, these terms developed during slavery and defined the attitude of slaves who either wanted to attempt to runaway to freedom or those who did not. House Negros didn't want to runaway, field Negroes did. These days, these terms are used by Black liberal extremists to define conservative and/or republican Blacks as house negroes and liberal and/or Democratic Blacks as field Negroes. Here's a partial list of the Blacks the blog owner determined were house Negroes: Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Micheal Jordan, Clarence Thomas (I agreed with this one, LOL), Colin Powell, Dr. Condollezza Rice.

In other words I could be a "gang banger" bringing and slinging drugs in the 'hood, but as long as I'm a democrat, it's all good to some Black folks. OTOH Oprah giving away 10 of millions of dollars to minority students either directly or indirectly doesn't mean jack shit, she is still a house negro, what because she had Martha Stewart on her show? (Lemme change that. The blog owner said that Oprah is now on the porch (roll eyes)). Now I can admit that Cosby has been a little harsh on Black folks, but is he lying when he says that inner city kids need to focus less on the latest Air Jordans and more on math books? I don't think so, so how in the hell can he be characterized as a house negro? At the end of the day, this type of thinking IMHO makes ALL Blacks look like complete, idiotic fools!!!

After thinking about my experience pretty much most of the day yesterday, three things came to mind. First, I don't regret a dam thing I said on that site and second, I now understand completely why people like Colin Powell and Dr. Rice appear to not be all that connected to the Black community. Why attend the summit on the state of Black America when you're only going to be accused of being a sell out by your own people? Third, I'm going to continue to post my views whether people like it or not, and when they call me a Bitch for having a different point of view, I'm gonna light their pathetic, hypocritical, black liberal asses up like a Christmas tree, LOL!!

One final point is about the election of Barak Obama. After my experience, I'm now convinced that his election is likely going to drive a huge wedge between conservative and liberal Blacks and that's quite unfortunate given all the work that needs to be done in the Black community. Unfortunately, some Black conservatives have resorted to some of the nastiest caricatures of Obama that I've ever seen of any politican and that's not only wrong, it's highly distasteful and disrespectful. OTOH, those few wackos don't represent ME or people like me who are Black, conservative, and are doing part to improve various aspects of the Black community. Yet, Black liberal extremists seem to have no problem ignorantly lumping "us" all together.

At the end of the day, I want what I think most people want. To have a happy and healthy family, continued success in my career, and to make a difference in causes that are important to me. How unfortunate it is to realize that people who look just like me have decided because I'm conservative and didn't vote for Obama, that not only am I not deserving of those things, but I don't deserve to call myself a Black woman. And in that way, they are far worse than the neonazis and klansmen of the world to me because loyalty is to me one of the most important aspects of human relationships. So with that said, I guess it's a good thing that I don't allow political jerks to define me, and take no issue with repeadly telling them to kiss my conservative black ass!

From flunked out of college to Honor Society?

So I received notification today that my department nominated me for membership to a national honor society. WTF?? You know Path201X, the one with the 2.2 cumulative undergraduate GPA from eons ago, the one who really struggled in the first year of my grad Pharma program, has been nominated to an Honor Society? Now for many of my readers the Phi Beta Kappa's, Dean's List making, 3.5+ GPA earners, this is small cheese that probably comes off as bragging. But for those like me with undergrad GPA's underneath the gutter, you just want to pinch yourself and break out the hallelujah choir.

Moral of the story, find out whatever it is that's keeping you from excelling in school, fix it, work your ass off, then prepare for the accolades to come rolling in.

Doctor's Diaries on PBS' Nova

In 1987, Nova featured a series which followed 7 medical students from Harvard med school through their careers in the medical profession. Last night I watched the most recent installation not realizing that the series had continued over the years from 1987. However because I had just been expelled from college as a pre-med major, I immediately remembered the program so it was with great anticipation that I watched the program last night.

The immediate first thought that came to mind was that the age for admission to medical school really, really needs to be increased to at least 28. And I don't think its a coincidence that the happiest practicing physician among them entered medical school as a 31 year old divorced nontraditional student. I was taken aback by how old they all looked knowing that they were only a couple years younger than me. Now I understand quite well that medical school WILL age you, but IMHO nothing ages you faster than being stressed AND unhappy. Multiple marriages, health issues, unhappiness, it just didn't paint a very pretty picture of the personal toll having a career in medicine takes, but as a realist I appreciated their perspective.

Case in point, I predicted during the first commercial break that neither of the two Black women featured were 1) Married or 2) Mothers. Why such a gloomy prediction? Again, I'm a realist and I know of many professional women, especially Black women Physicians, who are in a similar social situation. I was also not surprised to hear one of the Black women talk about the racism she's experienced in her career, the "dances" she has to do to be seen as equal to the "average" physician. Then there was the Jewish physicians who I remembered for snapping at the filmmaker in 1987 as she was about to go into surgery (I have no idea why that scene stands out in my mind). She has a career serving the underserved as a primary care physician and was one of those Docs that when you hear them tell their story, you're so happy there are people like her in the profession. I won't talk anymore about the characters, just click the title of this post for the link.

The overall affect of seeing these stories was initially some hesitation about my career goals, then I thought about how thankful I am to be doing this in my 40's where issues like having kids, getting married, confidence in myself, knowing who I am in the world, are non issues. At the end of the day, I'm reminded of a quote which I paraphrase, by one of the doctors in the series: "Do medicine only if you can't imagine yourself doing anything else because only then will the sacrifices be worth it". And at 42 years old, having thought about everything else at least twice, there's nothing else in the world I'd rather do than become a Physician

When it rains, it monsoons !!!!

This is how I felt about my academic life when I got up this morning:




And this is how I feel about it now:



?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

So in my latest string of "I don't believe this $hit news" I learned from the graduate school today that because I took my med school courses graded on the H,P,L medical school grading scale, that I may NOT transfer these grades to my graduate program in Pharmacology. WHAT?!?!?! Honestly, I had NO CLUE about this rule and I suspect that this is one of those rules that changed since I started the program in the Fall of 2007. Either way, I'm just dam happy I hadn't sent out one invitation to my graduation, LOL!!!

Now 20 years ago, I would have bee in cursing up a storm, Navy Sailor style, maybe thrown a dish or two around, kicked the garbage can. Maybe. But these days, my first inclination was to go for a run, but of course I can't because I haven't recuperated enough from my abdominal surgery 3 weeks ago. So I went with my next reaction which ironically was relief, relief that I hadn't applied to ANY medical schools this year which would have surely required that I finish my MS by the end of the summer to matriculate this Fall. In other words, God ALWAYS has a way of looking out for us even when we don't know it since qite a bit of money would have essentially been wasted applying to med school this year.

Of course, the problem is that as far as post-bacc/ 5 year MD programs go, I went from possible being able to attend any one of the 8 in the 2 hour window away from my home, to only being able to attend 2. Like med school, current programs have to be finished before matriculation, and for reasons you can probably guess, 2 of these programs are OK with me having not finished my MS degree (and don't ask because I'm not going to say why until a decision is made on my admissions).

So I've made an appointment to see my advisor who's just happens to be a "friend" of the adcoms of the 2 postbaccs and the med school, to see what my options for the Fall semester will be since there's no way I can take 10 graduate hours of science or medical school courses over the summer. What I do know in my half-full thinking mind is that if I can take the schedule that I have my eye on in the Fall, which will essentially be classes in the medical school curriculum, this will be my chance to show the med school/post bacc programs "what I'm working with" for once and for all, which essentially means that I'd better not let my 4.0 GPA go by the wayside. This will be particularily advantageous since half of my grad pharm courses are considered health classes and NOT counted toward my graduate BCPM GPA. Of course, the rather irritating downside is that I may have to retake the MCAT, since score expiration dates vary with school, for what the 7th time? Dam, dam, DAAAAYYYAAAAMM, LOL!!!!!

Mother Daughter small talk

When your kid asks you to turn the music down in the car when you pick them up from school, it's a sure bet that your music is probably up way too loud, LOL!! Now if I were listening to the Spinners or Marvin Gaye when I rolled up I could understand the complaint. But I'm listening to things like "kiss me through the phone" by Soulja Boy or Beyonce's Diva (a personal fav these days) so I don't really understand what the problem is. Mucis has become therapeutic especially given all the minor setbacks I'm dealing with right now, that loud is the ONLY volume I know.

My daughter has been talking a LOT these days about things related to medicine and I guess it should come as no surprise given I've been a graduate student or Scientist all of her life. But I really, really, really do NOT want her to become a Physician when she grows up. Sure, I get that I don't have much control over what she becomes and I'll ultimately support whatever she decides, but I also can't deny how she is pretty much breezing though her scinece subjects like anatomy and genetics. As reference books, she uses and understands my college anatomy and biology books and even used my Robbins pathology book are a reference for a project (she's also a very good artist). Yeah, it probably comes as no surprise that this child, of Engineer father and step-father and Scientist Mommy, has a natural propensity for science, I was just hoping she follow in the footsteps of her fathers and become an Engineer. Now I'd like to think that I'm not one of those parents that pushes their own agenda with their kids in a lame attempt to live vicariously through then. What I do believe is that we did a great job of letting her interests drive our support for her. For example, for as long as I can remember she has always been interested in building things so we spent a great deal of time in the boys section of the toy department (I just regret we didn't let her be Buzz LightYear when she was 6 years old). Interestingly, when she was in second grade she expressed to her second grade teacher that she wanted to be a Civil Engineer when she grew up (one of the fathers is a Building Construction Engineer). The teacher suggested to her that since she was interested in building things, she should become a Carpenter. Now there's nothing wrong with Carpentry, but would any "other" child good in math and science who also liked to build things, be encouraged to go into Carpentry? Hell-to-da-Naw!! I angrily digress, the point is that we've spent a ton of money on building toys, build your own robots toys, computer software that lets you build houses, you name it, we've purchased it. And my thinking is that the key to true employment happiness is to ultimately work for yourself, so I already envision her one day having her own Architectural or Civil Engineering firm. Of course, that's MY dream for her which I must, as a good parent, keep in check somewhat. In the meantime, I'll get to listen to her explain things to me like why her uvula is itching, why a stroke in the brain stem is particularly deadly, and why excess alcohol consumption causes liver cancer.

How I flunked out of college - Repost

One of the great suprises I've realised in the couple years I've kept a blog is that my blog receives literally hundred of hits from folks looking into info about what to do if you flunk out of college. And because I'm sure I've permanently broken the links to the other site of my blog, I'm having to go back manually and repost pertainent posts from that site. With that said, please excuse what may appear to be unrelated posts showing up on my blog.

So this post is a repost talking about my expereince with having flunked out of college:
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In the process of filling out my AMCAS application, I’m thinking back to what was going on in my head each semester I dug myself into the academic hole that finally lead to my flunking out of college. It actually all started my first semester when despite having taking Calculus in high school, I managed to get a “D” in Algebra and Trig. I thought my enrollment into the class would be a review, in preparation for my future enrollment in Calculus 1. The first mistake I made was taking this class in six weeks, which quite frankly was done out of pure arrogance. The second was in taking such a heavy load over a 6 week summer session instead of just taking it easy by taking just one course, like the Salutatorian of my high school who also went to College with me had done.

The following semester, I earned another “D” in Asian Humanities, a course I had an “A” average going into the final exam. I remember my advisor telling me first of all not to take Latin this Fall but of course, I took it anyway since as a premed, I thought it was best for me to take a competitive load of courses. Of course, that only works if you’re doing WELL in those courses. Anyway, my father was distraught reminding me that I was ONLY at UF which wasn’t anywhere near as competitive as Berkeley where he and my mother had graduated. I was distraught by my parents lack of support, but I continued on.

Now the following Spring is the semester where I should have followed my advisers advice, and taken a REAL light load to get both my GPA and confidence up. Well I didn’t and I earned 2 more ”D’s”, this time in General Chemistry and Calculus 1. By now my advisor had given up because it was obvious I wasn’t listening to him. But what happened next, changed my perspective in my abilities and thus my performance in school for 5 LONG YEARS!!!!!! I went to see my Chem prof about my grade and when he entered the system, he saw my other grades too. He then remarked with a comment that I thought about EVERY time I took an exam and that was “well, I guess you’ll never be a Scientist or Doctor” and my response was to nervously laugh and say, “I guess not” (obviously I hadn’t learned to stand up for myself, but hey, I was only 19 years old).

Unfortunately, I can actually still play this conversation in my mind, however given that I’ve been a Scientist for years now, I don’t think about it unless I’m retelling this story. And obviously it hasn’t affected my success, in fact I think it made me a bit of an over achiever in some regard. When I was awarded my BS in Chemistry 8 years later, I thought of him. When I was awarded my MS in Chemistry, I not only thought of him, but went to see him diploma in hand, when I returned to this school to visit a friend. However, when I got there, I learned that he had died a very painful and miserable death from colon cancer at the age of 53, and to be honest, I felt absolutely NO SYMPATHY for this man. I was well aware of the many other minority and female premeds who had been so discouraged by this man that to my knowledge, I’m one of only a handful that kept pressing on in science majors.

1 year after my fateful meeting with the Chem prof in my Sophomore year, I was expelled from college as a Microbiology/Premed major. I was humiliated for a ton of reasons including the fact that I had lost my scholarships and on a more personal level, I had been runner up for Most Likely to Succeed in high school. My parents offered me NO HELP at all, and I was forced to get a full-time job and a place of my own. So what did I do? I got a job working in a lab, where I did VERY well. After a year at the local CC, I was readmitted on probation and had to maintain a 3.0 until I graduated. Now the committee thought they were setting a standard I could never achieve since I hadn’t done better than a 2.3 for the ENTIRE time I was enrolled. Of course I did it and while working sometimes full-time too. However, instead of leaving with my double major in Religion and Microbiology, I finished the Religion degree 1 semester before I would have finished Micro. But by this time, I was so thoroughly burned out with this Southern school, that I had had enough. I did however, leave with a minor in Microbiology, so all was not completely lost.

Having said all that, I think the moral of my story is to:

1) Get a good advisor and LISTEN TO THEIR ADVICE (emphasis on the words GOOD advisor).

2) Get the scoop on Profs especially those in your major, before you sign up for class. Me and every other minority and/or female premed should have just avoided this guy since it was so easy to do. Of course, you can’t always do that, and I’ll speak to that in a future post.

3) Be sure to surround yourself with people who aren’t slackers. After my best friend died during my first few years in college, I wasn’t left with much in the way of friends and the of the ones I had, not one of us was doing well in school.

4) If you find yourself in a hostile learning environment, by all means TRANSFER!!! I knew this school had a terrible attrition rate when it came to minorities (and STILL does), but I enrolled anyway. BAD IDEA!! Go to a school where you’ll be supported.

5) If your parents won’t support you (and mine were brutal during this time) find an adult who will.

6) After 2 semesters of poor performance in school, withdraw for a semester to get your head together. Losing one semester won’t be the end of the world although at 18 and 19 years old, it’s hard not to think this way.

7) Finally, by all means DON’T GIVE UP!!! Failure is a certainty if you don’t try!

Study tips

Just thought I'd share the study tips that FINALLY allowed me to be a great student:

Here's a gem about learning I learned (I know redundant, LOL) when I took Neuropharmacology. It takes the brain seeing a piece of info 7 times, over a specified period of time, to commit it to memory. So as an example, when I was enrolled in med school courses this is what I did, and keep in mind that ALL of this is post ADD Dx and meds:

1) Preview lecture

2) PAY ATTENTION in class and make notes in margins. Much, much, much easier with meds.

3) Go over lecture ASAP. At most, I had a 2 hour gap between when I was in lecture and when I could review my lecture notes again.

#4-7 depends on the class ie my apporach for histo was different than for biochem.

4) Review notes, making notes in margin, of todays lecture that night. Or listen to taped lecture for difficult concepts, making notes in margin. For histo, I'd review slides + notes.

5) End of week (Fri) - review each days lecture notes.

6) Saturday, make note cards, study sheets, whatever I needed to study focusing on difficult concepts.

7) Sunday, review note cards, study sheets the night before the next weeks lecture.

Also keep in mind that I had a 1.5 hour commute so I used that time to either listen to lectures or review note cards, especially if I had someting special planned with my family.

The ultimate Plan "B"

It's amazing the things that you'll do to see a dream come true.

So one of the real downers of my Spring 2009 semester is the knowledge that I will NOT be graduating this May. A change in the medical school curriculum has unfortunately meant that the credit hours assigned to the old courses I took no longer apply. In other words, what once was 2, 4 credit courses has now become 2, 3 credit courses. That leaves me 2 credits short needed for graduation and a change in graduation date to Fall 2009, unless I take a course this summer. But that may have opened a whole new window of opportunity for me........

Most programs have a set minimum number of credit hours needed for graduation, but I've never heard of a maximum and this is the case for my MS program in Pharmacology. So I was thinking to myself what if this Fall, I again enrolled in courses in the med school curriculum to finish my degree?? Sure that would require a TON of work, and it's likely that I'd have to repeat the classes again in med school (maybe not if I got admitted where these courses were being taught) but wouldn't that be a risk I'd be willing to take to see this 35 year old dream through to fruition? It worked out pretty well for me before, taking med school courses over the summer in 06 and 07, so why wouldn't this work out again (of course, I won't be stupid enough to be working full-time at the same time). Now I haven't run this by my advisor who is surprised I haven't yet received any feed back about the post-bacc situation, but maybe THIS is a better option for me. At this point who knows, what I do know is that one way or another I WILL be enrolled in med school courses this Fall. The only question is will that be toward a 5 year MD program or a "6 year" MD program. Either way, what the hell difference does 1 year make when you're already over 40?

Finding inspiration during periods of uncertainty

It's a strange thing for me to be wondering what I'll be doing 6 months from now. I usually have unshakable faith during periods of uncertainty but for the past few months, that just hasn't been the case. The first "issue" was the very real yet highly unlikely chance that I wouldn't wake up from the anesthesia. The second is the doubt I have that I'll be in med school later this year.

What has become more obvious after I had a moment last night about putting med school off indefinitely was that there is absolutely nothing in the world I'd rather be doing 6 months from now than being neck deep in the med school curriculum. Absolutely NOTHING!!! And sometimes I think that what these periods of uncertainty are all about, is God shoring up our resilience and determination for the long road ahead and what better way to do that than to add a minor set back. Because in the overall picture of things, having no word this early in the post bacc with linkage game is fairly typical considering that some deadlines for applications aren't until mid summer. And how many times have I heard the story of a person getting the call to start med school on a Monday, the Friday before.

So with all that said, I going to stand out on a limb here and have faith that now is my time and that I'm just waiting on the acceptance letter(s) to arrive in the mail.:)

How much do I REALLY want to become an MD?

These days the answer to that question is obviously not that much. Sure, I'm willing to put my family through having me be preoccupied for most of the next 5 or so years, but at this point I'm still simply NOT willing to relocate (despite full support from my husband). Why? I think it would be too much on my kid and if you've been reading my blog over the years, you know that it was no easy task to get her to Honor Roll/Gifted and Talented in Middle School from going up against 7 teachers/counselors from her elementary school who were hell bent on placing her in special education classes for being "slow". My personal feeling is that moving now would be great for my career, but perhaps not so much for hers, and now over the nest year, I'm going to go back and forth trying to decide if I moving a kid about the enter high school is a good idea or not.

Having said that, things are looking questionable for me staying in the Metro DC area for a post-bacc/5 year MD, and because I haven't talked to any of my contacts yet, much of the reason why at this point is speculation on my part. But given the competitive nature of this particular program (with an acceptance rate 1/2 of that for regular MD admissions = 25%) I wouldn't be surprised what happens.

First off, while I did have a 4.0 GPA last year in a graduate Pharma program and finsihed my first MS in Chemistry with a 3.75 GPA, my overall AMCAS graduate GPA is 0.5 points LOWER than I though it would be thanks to 4 "B-" and 2 dreaded "C's", earned in 2 programs I started but didn't finish 4 years ago and 15 years ago, respectively. THAT looks REAL bad and I don't need anyone to tell me that. Unfortunately, doing well in medical school courses kinda gets lost in the meritocracy of my overall graduate GPA unless you know to look for it.

Second and I mentioned this before, I found errors on my application which I blame on having to turn in an application in person when my original one got lost. Unfortunately, it's quite likely I turned in a draft of my app instead of the final copy because I was rushed and in a TON of pain the day I turned it in in person. Of course, I procrastinated in the name of rereading my essay over and over which delayed me turning it in earlier in the first place and this may come back to bite me in the arse (and distractions/excuses like having surgery and getting fired in the interim just do NOT fly). Bottom line and I know this from experience, you absolutely MUST get your stuff turned in ASAP that way if issues come up, you won't be as pressed as I was/am. The idea that I was at this medical school the day I was discharged from the hospital turning in another application is simply ridiculous even if I had been calling for the past week and no one answered the phone to confirm receipt of my materials. Getting my app in 5 weeks earlier could have prevented that headache because surely in that 5 previous weeks, someone one would have had to answer the phone. I also had a last minute issue with LOR which were turned in during the first week apps were due however I didn't find out I needed another one until one week before the deadline. Again, NO LAST MINUTE TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS!!!

Man, I'm so mad at myself right now but I have to get over it and make some decisions about my future. Do I stay in the area and mainly focus again on this same program next year? I still think this is the best program for me but this is my LAST year placing my mental eggs in one basket as far as schools are concerned. There are about 8 schools in the "area" so at this point, pretty much ALL of them are in my mental "egg basket" now. At this point, no matter how good your connections and academics are, there are no sure bets until you get that acceptance letter and the reason why I'm not a basket case right now, is because I never once let myself forget. Keeping me "sane" is the realization that my plans and God's plan for my life haven't always been in sync throughout my life and I've have to be OK with that because there's a HUGE difference between to no, not now, and never!

Back to what I'm going to do now, I'm already planning for when AMCAS opens for the 2010 class and will get my transcripts in and my app verified by June 31, 2009. I'm again looking at essentially the same list of schools I've always been interested in, schools that have post-bacc with linkage programs and strong pathology departments. Including metro DC schools, that's about 10 schools in 7 different states. I will also reapply if need be, to the post-bacc/5 year MD program I'm referring to in this post, keeping in mind that as many as 40% of the students in the program applied at least twice to get in (and I know of one person who applied 3X).

In the meantime, on a personal level I'm going to continue my volunteer work with breast cancer organizations, while focusing my professional life in infectious disease/public health preparedness/bioterrorism. I'm also going to to continue to attend Pathology conference and sit in on sign out with Resident and Attending Pathologists (which I'll get to do quite regularly until I find another gig). In other words, I'm STILL blessed and life must go on......................................................

Premed website

In the process of web surfing while recuperating, I found this gem of a premed webiste. It's run by a young man who's a graduate of Northwestern University. Check it out when you get a chance!

http://www.doctorpremed.com/

Carolina, National Champs again!

Don't know how I could forget to post about my alma maters' 5th national B-Ball championship win last night. I'm usually not much of a B-Ball fan until the sweet sixteen rolls around but since at least one of the schools I'm either attedning or graduated from nakes it this far, this time of year is always a test of my true loyalty.

So in case you didn't know, it's ALL about the Carolina Blue this year, babe!

Post application angst

Right about now, I’m feeling pretty ignorant. I submitted my apps weeks ago, now I’m looking through them out of curiousity. And of course, I find a ZILLION mistakes! Yikes! I’m gonna look a little on the ignorant given some of the errors I’ve made, so if I don’t end up with acceptances, I guess I won’t be suprised.

Of course, this brings up the necessity of having a plan “B” in case being in med school this summer isn’t in the cards for me. And honestly when I think about it, that thought is usually followed by the idea that if that happened I’d likely wait until my daughter finished high school before pursuing the MD again resulting in a 5 year hiatus. I don’t know, I’m just in an all or nothing phase kinda kicking myself for having put this off this long to get my personal life, academic life, and most importanly my motivation all in line. But then again, doing someting like this takes all ones ducks being in row before beginning such a journey.

Speaking of plan “B”, salaries for federal positions have increased so now the average salary for positions I’ve applied for is around 110K and that’s some pretty good cheese if you know what I mean. But I have a saying, ANY job that pays you that kind of money won’t be 9-5. In fact, everyone I know making over six figures works between 50 and 60 hours/week. And the jobs I’m looking at require travel both internationally and in the US. My concern of course, is that when I’m at the JOB in my 10th hour, I’m going to be thinking to myself that I may as well be in med school if I’m going to be putting in these kind of hours.

Again, well see what the future holds……………………………………….

Premeds can be a sadistic bunch of SOB’s………………………

* originally posted on April 6, 2009

Thanks in large part to eagleeye checking me a few years ago about wasting time on premed websites which serve to regularly denigrate URMS and after I was banned for lighting a few folks up like a Christmas tree, I pretty much avoided surfing on this one particular premed site. But tonight after feeling the best I have in days, I decided to don my virtual biohazardous suit and do a little surfing on the dark side.

Lo and behold in the process of my surfing, I look in a particular thread where a regular poster to this thread claims to be posting under a different user name to let the students in this thread know that interviews for a particular program were already being assigned. The problem is that the date they told everyone who are no doubt on pins and needles waiting, can’t possibly be true. How do I know? Because I know one of the student interviewers for this program who told me something completely different than what’s reported in this thread.

Over the years I’ve been admittedly disappointed in how little support the minority site received compared to this majority one. But the idea that someone would purposely post some WRONG INFO in a thread like this is really disappointing and simply indicative of just how sadistic and malevolent some premeds can be. Especially toward URM students. I even thought about going against my own principles, registering a new username there, and posting what I know in that thread but then I remembered that if MRM had been supported, info about this particular program would have been readily available to ANYONE.

So I’m going back to following the advice given me by Eagleeye, and sticking to sites like Oldpremeds where the spirit of being a helpful premed/med student/resident/doctor is alive and well.

Disadvantaged or Triflin?

*Originally posted on April 3, 2009

With peak application to linkage programs in full swing, I decided to tell the story of a woman I worked with at a local breast clinic.

This woman was Caribbean as in from Trinidad, a mixture of Indian (as in from India), Syrian, Caucasian, and Black. Now her “black blood” wasn’t nearly as obviously unless you saw her from behind. And I mean rap video style if you’re wondering what I mean, and with a close friend from India, I know that Indian women can be shaped very similar to Black women, but this chic had a little something extra that screamed the continent of Africa, LOL!!

This young lady was very attractive, in great shape, and academically highly accomplished, as in 3.9+ GPA in both her Biology undergraduate degree and her MPH from a highly ranked program. But she took the MCAT ONE TIME and scored a 20T. The Black woman who trained her for the job she currently had, was a former student in this post-bacc program and was now in medical school. Unfortunately, she had just flunked STEP I when I met her, the only student from her postbacc class to have done so that year. So my colleague decided that since she was part Black though public ally claiming NONE of it and NOT disadvantaged ever in her life, she would apply to this post bacc program. Needless to say, she was rejected and was actually called out by one of her interviewers for trying to take advantaged of the program knowing she didn’t fit what they were looking for.

If there’s one thing I can’t stand to see people do, it’s people who claim whatever “heritage”, usually Native American or Black, strictly for the purposes of helping their application to professional school. Outside of that, they’ll either give you this, “I’m a member of the human race so I don’t claim a particular race” bull$hit excuse for not otherwise mentioning who they really are or they give you that “I don’t choose a race because I don’t want to isolate myself from the heritage of one of my parents” bull$hit excuse. Either way, I think it’s crass beyond belief to play your heritage only when it’s convenient for you.

Getting back to the title of this post, my now former colleague was of what I call the triflin elk, meaning that whatever “easy” way she could get into medical school, she was going to try it. I mean who do we know would take the MCAT one time, score a 20T, and call it a wrap? Most people take that dam test at least twice. And when these folks get rejected from these programs, I don’t know why they can’t understand that the folks they’re interviewing with have been in the game a while and seen it all. So why even try it?

Now this may bring into question my own applications to postbacc programs, some of which are for disadvantaged students and/or minority students. The bottom line is that no matter how much success I have now in my life, it doesn’t change the fact that I grew up in the ‘hood, and THAT more than anything that shaped my initial poor performance in college (my high school was in the ‘hood, simply average and offered NO AP courses for example). Not only that, that 2.000000 I finished with as an undergraduate follows me EVERYWHERE my application goes. So am I saying that every kid form the ‘hood should be expected to do poorly in college? Of course not, but different people handle different situations differently. Most of the people I went to high school with NEVER went to college, and very few of us could afford it (and for the record I was not one of the ones who could). But my disadvantaged background also shaped my volunteer activities throughout my adult life from the time I was 18 years old in womens’ clinics in rural areas to AIDS counselor in large cities. In other words, I don’t carry my “disadvantaged background” status around like a dirty diaper, it doesn’t define me but it has contributed to the person I’ve become and the Physician I will become. And THAT, I’ve been told, is what these programs are looking for.

Post With No Name

* Originally posted on March 28, 2009

I realized that the title of my last post was the second time in a year I talked about wanting to b*tch slap someone in the medical field. Maybe that’s why I can’t seem to keep a good job, LOL!! In all seriousness I tend to be honest about how I think/feel in my blog which is why I do not disclose the schools I’m interested in (not that it wouldn’t be hard to narrow down. Of course, that list has ~8 schools on it so have at it with the guessing game).

So after leaving the hospital yesterday, I ended up having to go to one of the schools on my hit list because I wasn’t able to confirm by phone receipt of my application materials. And it’s a dam good thing I did because my application was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!!! The physical problem I had was that because I had major abdominal surgery on Wednesday, I wasn’t able to stand upright, AT ALL!! And of course, that would be the time when I would run into almost EVERY adcom member I knew at this school who all asked me the same question “What are YOU doing here?!?!” On one level, I felt like an idiot, and I was sore because I didn’t take any pain meds for fear of running into someoone looking/being “high”. Physically, it was the worst I’ve felt in a LOOOOONG time. But I was determined, to the point of splitting my stiches, that NOTHING was going to keep me from maxizing my chances of being in med school later this year.

So when I got home, I wasn’t suprised to see an email from one of the Deans that I ran into earlier admonishing me for being there and telling me to stay in bed for the next 4 weeks…..or else. I haven’t responded back to find out what “or else” means nor do intend to.

Ever want to b*tch slap a nurse?

*Originally posted on March 27, 2009

Now I’m normally not the one to complain much at least I don’t think so, but I’m so glad that I’ll be checking out of the hospital today. After having my surgery on Wednesday and surviving (despite the trick my Doc played on me with the anesthesia, as in I DID get the tube placed down my throat), I had 2 of the best nurses in the world. Then I got my current nurse who needs to be soaked in some bedside manner with a dash of do your dam job. I’m of the opinion that the ONLY thing worse than a bad doctor is a bad nurse because you spend so much time with them in some pretty intimate ways. She has what they call “tude” as in I hit the buzzer for, I don’t know the water I asked her for 30 minutes ago, and after buzzing her twice, she FINALLY decides to show up. And I’m glad I’m reasonably mobile or else my “butt” would stink to high heaven because she hasn’t offered to sponge bathe me once! Man, there’s nothing in the world I hate more than a lazy ass person but especially a lazy ass nurse >:L But it’s all good, when my Mom the retired advanced registered nurse practitioner shows up later this morning, she’s going to wish I was the only sistah she had to deal with today, LOL!! And I probably forgot to mention that there are only 2 patients on my floor!

So it turns out that I had a minor complication with my surgery and it took twice as long as it should have. When I was in my 20’s in addition to being Dx with fibriods, I was also thought to have endometrosis and yes I know that surgery is the only way to accurately Dx endometrosis. I don’t yet have the details yet because I was “high” on fentanyl when my doctor did her rounds yesterday morning but I’ll definitely need to get more info on that.

Being in the hospital, despite the nurse from hell, has been very inspirational for me as in I can’t wait to get on with medical studies. I’m also reminded again of how blessed I am desite being recently fired of how good it is to live in a country like the US where there’s access to great health care. More than that, I’m so looking forward to providing some quality healthcare myself one day.

How Well Do You Know Your Boobs?

I’m having a hard time with this blog entry because I don’t want to point the finger at anyone (especially someone who should know better about this topic), so bare with me as I try to discuss a subject near and dear to my heart.

Some of my readers may know that I’ve had some breast “issues” in the past, that is 2 biopsys, one with a diagnosis (dx) of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and the other benign, but florid. Now the first dx is a little tricky because I’ve since learned that one pathologist’ ADH dx is another’s Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS). In other words benign versus malignant. Yeah , YIKES!!! I’ve also learned that a woman can inherit the propensity to have breast tumors from her father, and I’ll repeat that. A WOMAN CAN INHERIT THE PROPENSITY TO HAVE BREAST TUMORS FROM HER FATHER. So in my case, there’s a branch of the family where ALL of the women except one, have either had breast cancer, ovarian cancer or both and I’m almost certain it’s due to mutations in the BRCA1 gene). My father also died from adenocarcinoma of the colon and prostate cancer (PC) and it’s in the PC Dx that the correlations between lies (not strong info proving this as of the last time I checked it out 4 years ago, but from my own cancer epi work, I noticed a higher than normal incidence of PC in BRCA1 families).

Most people with even a cursory knowledge if genetics knows that African genes tend to be highly penetrant. In other words, Obama looks like a regular ol’ lightskinned brotha feature wise, due to his having an African father. So it stands to reason that, Black women in America tend to have the same issues with breast cancer as woman of “purely” African decent, those issues being Dx’ed at a later stage and higher grade, and a higher death rate from the disease compared to all other racial groups.

Now I suspect ALL Black Americans living in America ( excluding those 1st and 2ndgenerations with parents from Africa) have genetic profiles that include just about EVERY major race on the planet. For example, my own background is African, Native American (Cherokee), Irish, Spanish, and Jewish ( OK, OK, I KNOW Judaism isn’t a race). So because I’ve always known that I’m not a “majority” of ANY race genotypically (although I check the Black box), I insisted on having a baseline mammogram at age 33 instead of age 35 after my father was Dx’ed with prostate cancer. Turn’s out, it’s a dam good thing I did since that was also the Dx of ADH, a precancerous lesion (my past 3 years of mamo’s have been great thanks I believe in large part to some lifestyle changes I’ll discuss in a later post).

After I finished my fellowship at the NCI in 2005, I decided then that I would tell EVERY person I knew of ANY level of African decent to get a baseline mammogram at 30 instead of waiting until age 35. With black women getting diagnosed earlier than every other race of women with more highly aggressive and highly fatal breast cancers, it’s simply prudent to err on the side of caution even if your insurance won’t pay the bill. Luckily, most metropolitan communities provide Mammo’s for minority women either free or charge or at a reduced rate, so no excuses here ladies. Ironically, in 2007, I read an article by a renown Black female breast cancer specialist who was now recommending Black women get baselines at age 30 (I actually met her in 2005 and shared my thoughts about this with her).

So what is this post really about? It’s about protecting your cleavage. It’s about the fact that even if you look like Vanessa Williams with her blondish hair and blue eyes, Halle Berry, AND Beyonce’ combined, those few onces of “black blood” should tell you breast wise, things may be different for you so you’d be wise to act accordingly. Get that baseline at age 30.

FYI, this year I’ll once again be participating in both the Avon walk for the cure and the SG Komen Race for the cure so if you have any questions, drop me a line at msapas1@yahoo.com!!!

*This post is NOT an attempt to give medical advice simply to share my persopnal experiences and opinions

We're moving!

Pardon the dust while I change blog locations! Of course, I messed up something trying to import the old posts over here so it may take a few days (weeks?) for me to get things straightened out.

Thanks for your patience in advance!