Interview at Louisville!
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog. I knew I needed to update, but I had just been so irritated by the whole process that I just kinda ignored it for awhile. Without getting into the whole saga…I’ll just say that I did finally get an interview from the University of Louisville! Needless to say, I was ecstatic.
So, last week I went to UofL for interview, and (because nothing in this entire process has been easy) I was fortunate enough to travel on the snowiest day in KY yet this winter. My trip to Louisville was only supposed to take an hour and a half from where I was staying, but due to all of the snow (and ridiculously slow drivers), the trip took me 2 1/2 hours. Fortunately, I had given myself 3 hours to get there and made it with a few minutes to spare.
I won’t bore you with all of the intricate details about the day, I’ll just say that I thought the interviews went really well…hopefully the interviewers felt the same way! For the most part they were pretty laid back, although the second interview was a little bit more formal – this guy was pretty serious the whole time, I couldn’t read him at all. But, like I said, I thought it went well. The rest of the day we took tours and went to a class called Intro. to Clinical Medicine (ICM) which was pretty sweet. The professor was teaching the students how to do a patient examination on the upper extremities. Just being there for a day made me feel like an actual med student and made me excited to get started.
One other thing that they showed us which I thought was awesome was their Patient Simulation Lab. When we walked into the room we could all see the dummy lying on the table and his chest was actually rising and falling! The lab tech explained to us that it actually breathes in O2 and breathes out CO2. Plus, if you feel the arms, neck ,and legs, you could actually feel a pulse. They also had brass electrodes built into its chest so that you could use an actual defibrillator to shock the heart back into rhythm. It was all pretty amazing.
University of Louisville Medical Campus
Overall, the day was pretty exciting. The visit was a great experience. I definitely wouldn’t mind going to the University of Louisville School of Medicine next year…now I just need to get accepted.
Senior Year Update #1
Man! I can’t believe I’m already 1/4 of the way through my senior year at Grace. It has gone by so fast. I’m finally on Fall Break, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I figured my senior year was going to be harder than most other years but this semester has just been ridiculous so far. I just had 5 Bio exams in the last week and a half! I guess it’s just a taste of what med school is going to be like. Plant Bio has just been awful though. Let’s hope I never have to see this stuff ever again. I’m looking forward to next semester when I’ll have Animal Bio, Genetics, and an Independent Study probably in Embryology and Development. I’m sure I won’t be as excited when I’m in the midst of exam week for those either though…haha!
I’ve slowly been getting my secondary apps done, but I won’t start hearing back from med schools until my letters of recommendation are all in…I’m still waiting on a few. It’s getting really exciting though, just knowing that I’m getting so close. I’m still remaining pretty optimistic about my chances of getting in my first year…I guess we’ll find out soon!
Med School Update #1
Well, I thought I’d start sharing where I am on the path to Med school right now. About three weeks ago, I was able to finally submit my AMCAS application and start getting the ball rolling. That application took forever! On my application, I decided to apply to 11 different schools…hoping to bump up my chances of getting accepted. I applied to the following schools:
The Ohio State University
University of Toledo
University of Cincinnati
Case Western Reserve University
Wright State University
Northeast Ohio University (NEOUCOM)
University of Michigan
Michigan State University
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville
Indiana University
My top choice would basically just be to stay in Ohio (so that I could stay closer to family), but really just getting accepted anywhere would be awesome! All of these schools would have great pros and cons, so it’s kind of a toss-up. Right now I’m just focusing on getting through the application process and waiting for the interview requests to come pouring in.
MMO Trip to Honduras
This summer I was able to go on a short-term medical missions trip to Callao, Peru. That trip was the biggest highlight of my entire summer (I’m sure I’ll be blogging about it soon). I went with an organization called Medical Mission’s Outreach (MMO) which is based in Ashland, OH. MMO goes on many trips each summer and takes medical personnel from all over the country.
I recently received a follow-up e-mail from their latest trip to Honduras. I was extremely excited to hear about the success that the Lord blessed them with on that trip. I was even more blown away by an awesome story that they included in their e-mail about a boy that they helped save as a result of this trip. God certainly put them in the right place at the right time!
Reading stories like these really makes me excited to possibly have a similar role in a ministry like this in the future. Medicine really can have a huge impact on the mission field for Christ!
Fighting for his Life
By Christine Ellis
PLEASE BE ADVISED: SOME OF THE IMAGES SEEN BELOW ARE GRAPHIC IN NATURE.
Maynor rode his bicycle down the long, dusty road in Negrito to buy meat for his family. Though only fifteen years old, he already had a common-law “wife” at home to feed. He needed to run his errand quickly so that she could start lunch. Up ahead he saw an neighborhood teenager he knew, leaning against a post. This teen had a rough background in gangs and drugs, and although Maynor knew he shouldn’t stop, he decided just to speak to him for a moment. As he drew nearer, he realized the other boy’s eyes were red and bloodshot. Through his drugged stupor, he commanded Maynor to surrender his bicycle and cell phone. Before Maynor realized what was happening, the drug addict drew his machete and slashed at Maynor’s face. Blood gushed from a gaping wound starting at Maynor’s mouth and extending to his right ear. He dropped the bike and cellphone and somehow managed to run the seven and a half blocks to his mother’s house. She screamed for a neighbor to give them a ride in a pickup truck, and they headed for the village doctor.
Since the doctor was not able to treat such a serious wound, he bandaged it up the best that he could, started an IV, and instructed them to go to the nearest hospital. They began the hour and a half trip to El Progreso, fear in their hearts and prayers on their lips. There was not much time to spare; Maynor’s lungs were quickly filling with blood. He would soon suffocate.
Open wound
Ninety long minutes later, they burst through the ER doors at the Hospital El Progreso. Maynor was covered in blood from head to foot by this point. He could not survive much longer. The Honduran nurses panicked. What could they do to such a wound? Then someone yelled, “Get the American doctors!”
In an OR just down the hall, a group of doctors from all over the US had come to participate in a medical brigade organized by Medical Missions Outreach and hosted by Team Honduras. We were performing a routine laparoscopic gallbladder removal when we heard shouts coming from down the hall. “Come quick! We need help!” Sparing whom we could from our surgery already in progress, we rushed down to find Maynor on a stretcher with a large group of people crowding around, watching him struggle for his last breaths. Blood stood in pools at our feet. As Steve Taylor, PA, tried to remove the bandages to see the wound, Maynor panicked, flailing his limbs and fighting for his life. “We need sedation!” The doctors managed to sedate and intubate Maynor so that they could begin to suction the blood from his lungs. Then they looked at the wound. Maynor’s right cheek was splayed all the way to the jawbone. “Go get Dr. Levitt!”
Maynor reads a brochure from Iglesia Bautista El Faro that tells him how he can trust Christ as his personal Savior.
Rob Levitt, an MD from Ohio, deftly sutured the cheek, layer by layer. With most of the blood now suctioned from his lungs, the breathing tube was able to be removed. Maynor finally began to cough and breathe on his own.
He was transferred to a recovery room, where he rested, groggy from the sedation. When he awoke the next day, he was surprised to have a few visitors he had never seen before. The American doctors explained to Maynor exactly how close he had come to dying. “What would have happened to you if you had died, Maynor? Where would you have gone?” Maynor heard how he could receive complete forgiveness for his sins and eternal life in heaven. Although he did not make a decision at that moment, a seed was planted. He thanked the doctors profusely and promised to stay in touch.
Maynor poses with Reuben Driedger, CCP, who suctioned the blood from his lungs to save his life.
Maynor was just one young man helped by the medical brigade this week. We had a great opportunity to minister as Christ did: to both the body and the spirit. We praise the Lord for 66 souls who trusted Christ as their Savior. Please pray that Maynor soon joins them.
–Christine Ellis is the wife of Robbie Ellis. The Ellis family has been serving in Honduras since 2005. Christine writes articles about real life on the mission field. You can read more articles about our medical trip, and find out more about her life on the mission field at www.realmissionsreallife.blogspot.com.
First Post
This is my first official post on my new wordpress blog! The main purpose of this blog is going to be to track my path to and through med school…assuming that I even get there. I’m sure I’ll divert from the main intentions of this blog often enough, but that’ll just be the fun of it. Med school should be an exciting ride, once I get there, and the journey there will be just as exciting. Well, I’m excited to see what the next 5-6 years will hold…it should be interesting!
