Day 4 of studying for

Day 4 of studying for the boards:

It is Wednesday morning. I have been studying since Sunday. Even writing that I had to check my calendar because I couldn't remember what day it is. I thought it was Tuesday. When I realized the truth, I experienced this brief moment of panic - oh my god! Its already wednesday? That's one less day to study. Only 19 days to go. Move move move!

Its sad that 19 days of desperate cramming seems like not enough time, but its really not. Yesterday, after studying at World Cup for 6 hours straight and realizing that I had only got through about a fourth of what I should have done that day, I let myself sink into desperation. This seems to be an impossible task. Re-learn every single bit of knowledge that I should have accumulated over 2 years, and do it in 3 weeks. For me, that boils down to about a subject every 1 or 2 days.

Right now I am on Biochemistry. Last year that amounted to a 10 week class with four tests, for which I would study like mad. Now I am summarizing all of it in 2 days. Yesterday didn't go so well. Do you know how many lysosomal storage diseases there are? Atleast 8. They all result from deficiencies of enzymes like alpha-galactosidase A and beta-glucocerebrosidase, which cause different sphingolipids to accumluate in different parts of the body, causing different symptoms. And just when I think I'm getting a handle on it - cherry red spots on the macula, think Tay Sach's disease, think Ashkenazi Jews - I do a practice test. Then I discover that Niemann-Pick disease also has cherry red spots, though not as commonly, and that little tidbit is fair game on an exam, even though it is nowhere in any of my books. Come on, Niemann-Pick, get your own damn symptoms and leave me alone.

At 10 last night I came up with a clever memory device for Krabbe's disease: "I'm Krabby because I have no myelin. And I can't see or hear." That honestly made me laugh so hard. Me, lying on my couch, surrounded by books, laughing by myself at a mnemonic that clearly won't actually help... that's my life.
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