My Journey
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My 'First Mentor Visit Is This Thursday'! I am excited to be able to use the time I have in ISM class to go learn more about the field I am interested in and to discuss with my mentor about what my future in ISM holds. I do plan to loosely follow my product plan, but I have received some feedback from Dr. Joe and he shows a bit of doubt when it comes to my idea for my final product. So, with his feedback, I know that some revisions need to be made to my product proposal before I take the time to start proceed with the process. I do have some other ideas, so I will bring that up either before the mentor visit or after, as Dr. Joe has a very busy schedule and limited time in between seeing his patients. Other than that, last week I researched cranioectomies which I found to be very interesting. Taking out part of the brain seems like an impossible procedure, so I find it fascinating that something like this was made possible with the use of advanced medicine and technology. If I were to find a way to make my original final product proposal work out, then I would want to do a craniectomy if it is realistic with the materials and sources that I have available. Although I am discouraged by this sudden change in plans, I know that in the end, everything will work out and I will make a product that I will look back on in future years and be proud of.
This week, I am hoping to 'Plan For My First Mentor Visit' with Dr. Joe. Although I will be going to a place that I am very familiar with, my father's office which I have visited on numerous occasions, I am still excited to go there to actually observe his work. I am hoping that this will be the week that I begin to go onto mentor visits, but if that is not the case, then next week is also a great week to start. His background check has already been approved, so we are good to start whenever. I have already constructed my product calendar to pace myself as I make my way to April, which is when my final product is due. This coming mentor visit I am hoping to watch him work, establish a visiting schedule, and to go over the mentorship handbook along with the product calendar. This is just a list of what I could possibly get done with Dr. Joe, but I do not expect that we will get through all of that in the span of an hour and a half or so. He has to see his patients and there is little time for him to idly chat with me. I am guessing that a lot of this will be covered prior to the mentor visit and I will be mainly following him around his office as he works. Nevertheless, I am extremely excited that this week may be the week that I get to go on my first mentor visit.
In the time that school has been in session since the end of our winter break, I have been working with my dad to get through the mentorship application process so we can begin the actual mentorship. Since that has been my main focus for the past few weeks in ISM, I'm going to discuss what I anticipate I will do in the next coming weeks. Although my schedule is busy with the original work speech approaching and completing assignments for the course, I want to make my final product "construction" plan/schedule early so that if any setbacks occur, I can quickly get back on track. Making the plan early will also allow me to fully understand and think through who I want to contact again from the interviews I conducted. I am excited to be contacting professionals I interviewed before who I did not end up being able to work with further this semester. That aside, regular mentor visits will begin very soon, and I am excited to be able to go to my mentor's office to see the patients he works with and how he helps them. I do know what my dad does generally during his appointments with patients, but I know it will be much more interesting being able to see it in person. So, after completing my weekly assignments for ISM, I am fully committed to making the 'Completion Of My Final Product Schedule An Early Goal.'
The week has finally come where I got a mentor. But, it's not the mentor that I was planning on having when I first started my ISM journey. 'My Dad Is My Mentor.' And, I am not unhappy at all. I am excited to work with someone that I am very familiar with, and I am also excited to be able to see what my dad does as a neurologist. Something I do regret is that I am interested in neurosurgery more than neurology, so having a neurologist as a mentor was not ideal. But, after talking to Coach Goff, she opened my eyes by explaining how the two are very closely connected, so in this semester of ISM, I will be able to see the neurology side of neurosurgery. Nevertheless, I am excited to finally be moving forward in my ISM journey, as recently I have hit a stump. It was discouraging not having a mentor and receiving news that UTSW would not be accepting any non-paid interns. Even though this outcome was not what I had initially planned for ISM, I cannot wait to be able to learn more about neurosurgery and to finally begin working on my final product.
With this, 'Winter Break Is Over' and I am ready to get back into the ISM flow. I am disappointed that my initial goal of having a mentor in November was not accomplished, and even now, I do not have a mentor. I am still hopeful as I work to make the mentorship work, but in the meantime, I will work hard to complete my ISM work and to continue working on my final product in addition to researching more about neurosurgery. I look forward to this semester as I set new goals that will help me move forward to the end of the school year. Some things that I am thinking about include how I will schedule mentor visits and what I will learn on these mentor visits. I hope that through the mentorship that I am trying to get, I will be able to learn more about their research and watch surgeries of the neurosurgeons that they work with. Something that I still need to do is complete my tasks from my last interview with Michael Levy. He suggested that I ask my counselor if there are any hospitals that are in need of volunteers or have a contract with my school. He also gave me some research papers to read through so I could learn more about some of the research that he took part in or had access to. There is much to do, but I am so excited to be a part of ISM again this semester.
This week is the 'Conclusion To The First Semester" of ISM. It's been a long journey, but I'm surprised that the break has come so soon. Over the first semester, I have learned more about neurosurgery than I ever have in all my life and I have gained experience that I otherwise would not have gained if I did not enroll into the ISM course. Last week I completed my original work, and I'm glad that I have come so far since the first time I wrote the proposal for my original work. I still have one thank you note to complete plus various assignments for ISM, but it's basically done. As for my next semester, I have much to accomplish. This past semester, I focused on deep brain stimulation, laminectomies, craniotomies, and lumbar disk replacements, so the next step will be to choose one of them to simulate on a dead specimen or a fruit. I will also hopefully be starting the semester with a mentor. Neurosurgery is just as complex as I had initially thought, so beyond ISM, I also hope to research more about the field in relation to neurology in my second semester. The ISM program is more than I could have ever asked for and I cannot wait for another great year with my classmates.
My entire focus this past week has been on my original work. While I am not satisfied with my progress up to this point, I am determined to have it completed by the deadline and not be disappointed with what I created. Through my original work, I have also learned so much more about neurosurgery. Through all of my interviews and reading medical articles on PubMed, I have widened my knowledge about neurological surgeries as a whole. The most interesting surgery to be is still deep brain stimulation, but as for my final product, I do not believe it is feasible to perform that surgery due to the complexity of it and my lack of access to the necessary technology. I do, however, look forward to working with my future mentor about spine related surgeries that could also help me learn more about my sister's surgery for scoliosis that happened a while back. I have another interview tomorrow, and I want to focus my questions much more on things that will help me with my original work so that I am able to stay true to an accurate paper that is purely factual. I'm unsure of how useful my original work will be to the medical community, but small steps are needed in the beginning of a journey so I hope to make up for what I don't do in my original work in my final product. So, my main goal this week is to meet my deadline because my 'Original Work Is Due This Week.'
In the past few weeks, I have been able to focus more on my original work. After the interview with Dr. Torel Patel, I have centered my focus completely on my original work and all the research I will need to do to complete it. One thing I considered is that my original work is meant to be a research paper, but due to this research not being my own and being pulled from multiple sources, I will most likely change the formatting to fit the information I am displaying better. I have already began working on the abstract along with the introduction and I am so excited for the final product. I have also sent the email to get a mentor. After a lot of deliberation, I picked Christie Caldwell to be my mentor and I hope her response is yes. It takes a lot of dedication and time to watch over a high schooler, so I hope that she will look past that and guide me along my ISM journey as we learn and grow together. I am nervous as the deadline for my original work approaches, but am determined to end this semester of ISM with all my work completed to the best of my abilities. So, just today, 'I Sent The Email To Get A Mentor.'
The day I am writing this blog is a big day for me in ISM. At this point in time, I have completed all my interviews (aside from one in December) and am going to do my research presentation speech during second period. I am both nervous and excited, but after seeing what I have learned in the past few months, I am proud of the work I have accomplished. I not only interviewed many professionals at reputable medical centers, but I also did my own research on something that interested me far more than anything else. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is something that I first heard of when I researched my initial interest in neurodegenerative diseases. I am excited to talk about it today in class to my peers. Along with those things, I have also gotten a tip from my latest interview with Dr. Torel Patel that can expand my research further. She recommended the Neurosurgical Atlas to watch surgeries that show certain procedures such as aneurysms and tumors. I've watched a few videos so far, and they were all very educational and gave me the opportunity to discover something new about neurosurgery. So, in total, this week I am 'Done With Interviews And Today Is My Research Presentation.'
This morning, I had my interview with Christie Caldwell. I was surprised, in a good way, at her responses and the way that she presented herself. She was extremely down to Earth and made the interview feel more like a conversation between a student and a teacher. I think the reason for that is due to her having a career change not too long ago, from being a AP Biology and Physiology teacher to being a physician assistant specializing in spine. She said that she just started working at the UT Southwestern hospital in Frisco in January, but when I talked to her, the lack of experience was not apparent compared to the other neurosurgeons. Out of the things she said, what she emphasized the most was how much flexibility being a physician assistant can have and the fact that she was more happy because she decided to become a physician assistant instead of a surgeon. She also talked a bit about what kinds of patients she can see, and what I thought was interesting was when she talked about tumors developing on or in the spine. She also was wanting to do research, and we were able to discuss some of her topics of interest during the interview too. As for surgeries, I cannot recall the name of the spinal surgery she told me about but I will listen back to the interview later when I write my assessment. I am extremely grateful to Christie Caldwell and cannot express that enough. I'm excited to have 'Five Interviews Done and Many More to Come.'
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2022
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