INTERESTING TIMES

Today was the last exam....and it was pretty easy. In fact, all the finals seemed easy to me this time. Last quarter I was worrying about merely passing, and this time I'm thinking I should have fought for a few more points in a few more classes and maybe got some H's (for honors, instead of P for pass) on my transcript. But it is not the time to worry about such things. I have let go of my old habit of going for the A+ (since there isn't one to get...). I'm going for comprehension.

I made it through most of my notes and index cards from this quarter, integrating them into my ever-evolving filing system. I want to be able to lay my hands on any piece of information that I need. Some my files are destined to become chapters in books. All of them will help me as I dig deeper into each aspect of medicine. The beautiful thing about medicine is that each layer builds on the last. It's like learning a language, and we need a certain fluency to pass the boards, and another kind of fluency for each possible specialty we might take on. And then there is the language of human compassion, which is the core of the practice of medicine.