Student SPHere 2008-09

Well spring break flew by and evidently the week after it did to, as its now been two weeks since spring break. Oh how time flies.

Break went as well as it could have. I was able to spend a lot of time with my Grandma and help out with various things that needed to be done at home. It never ceases to amaze me how people dont know what to do, when something unusual pops up. One of Grandma's tumors is rare. So they called a tumor board meeting to discuss it and suggested chemo and to get a second opinion. That baffles me, as I was able to quickly find treatment guidelines in the medical literature and position papers from some of the leading treatment centers in the US, which all advised to not do chemo and provided a suggested course of action. We found out later that chemo is the defult and the second opinion is to figure out what to do. Maybe they will appriciate the info we provided. I dont know about you but I am anxious for some form of healthcare reform. At least something that will allow doctors to make decision based on the right kind of care, not the cheapest kind of care and gives them the time to look for answers.

In other news, school is continuing to be pretty busy. I had various homework assingnments due the first week back and work to catch up on. I am still working on my molecular epi review paper, its due next wensday. The goal is to finish it up this weekend. I will have a bit of free time on Friday night to work on it. I know, who works on Friday night. Well I have the privilege of joining some of my colleuges and other SPH students at Grand Casino Mille Lacs for a community engagement meeting. Its part of the ongoing work by CIDRAP on a CDC/ASTHO funded at-risk populations project. In a nut shell its helping ensure at-risk populations are planned for in pandemic planning. This community engagement meeting is for the tribal community. I am really looking forward to it. Its on Saturday but because its a 8am start and a long drive, most of us are getting up there on Friday night. I have never been to a casino before and not really interested in gambling, so I thought it would be a nice time to really focus on some hw. More on how this goes later.

I had my last midterm on Tuesday, a fun epi two midterm. Now I just have some big project, another biostats test and the regular hw standing in my way before finals. Its crazy to think the semester is close to being done. Time sure does fly.