anna in med school

As I was leaving the library tonight, I felt this older gentleman looking at me.  We made eye contact three times.  Okay, if we were in a dark alley, I would be a little freaked, but we were in the middle of Penn campus, and tons of students were milling around, so my thoughts quickly shifted to, “Okay, do I have my skirt tucked into my underwear or something?”  A quick body scan revealed that this was not the case.

I approached him: “Can I help you with something?”

In a thick Eastern European accent, he replied, “I am looking for your blinking light?  How do you ride home–” pointing to my bike in hand–“without a light that blinks?”

Fair point.  John would be pleased.

Before I had time to reply, he went on, furrowing his brow, “Then again, you are quite tall.”  Not entirely sure how that will be of much help when I lack a “light that blinks,” but I’ll take any comparison to C.J. Cregg I can get, albeit a totally inadvertent one.

And then, “I take it you’re European?”

Ummmm, not a bit.  Thanks, weird old guy.  I made it home safely.

I’ve been reading the recommended textbook for Immunology (Basic Immunology: Functions and Disorders of the Immune System by Abbas and Lightman–if you ever feel as hopelessly lost in a stream of acronyms as I do, with all them HLAs, MHCs, APCs, IL-2s, etc., I definitely recommend this text).  It seems like at the end of most every paragraph (at least in the chapter of autoimmunity), there is something to the effect of: “the basis of this effect of infections is unknown”; “how T cells choose…is not understood”; “it is not known which types of self antigens induce anergy.”

First of all, I find it absolutely refreshing that we’re being so open about what we do and do not know in this medical field (not exactly sure why I’m including myself in the general “we” here…I guess I’m using the term loosely).  And it’s also quite exciting that they’re still so much left to discover.  On the other hand, it’s unsettling, really.  Going into medical school, I knew that there were plenty of things left to unravel in the sciences, and I knew that I would be taught plenty of skills and concepts that would, frankly, be proven wrong at some point over the course of my career.  I just didn’t expect this level of uncertainty at what seems to be the most fundamental level.  This class is, essentially, Immunology 101, the very basics.  At the center of field, the building blocks of how our immune cells work, there is a huge level of uncertainly.  We observe a chain of events in the immune system (the role of CTLA-4 in both T cell inactivation and activation through completely different mechanisms), over and over again until we accept it as a rule, and yet we seem to rarely have any idea why that progression or mechanism is in place, what makes it function.

Exciting or absolutely terrifying?

Three fabulous weekends in a row!  Negative amounts of work.  Pass/Fail first semester; ’nuff said.

Unfortunately, due to my horrible pattern of procrastination, I need to get on this immunology problem set that’s due tomorrow and then get some sleep, but I wanted to at least post a few pictures from an incredible weekend, and hopefully write a bit more on the adventures later.

And, in addition, HUGE thanks to Sara–a new friend who I look  forward to discovering more and more–and to Tiffany–an old friend with whom, as she put it, I can pick up exactly where we left off, year after year.  Sara and I went for what was the longest run I’ve ever enjoyed with another runner (as in, I almost always run solo) on this past crisp Saturday morning; it left me in the best runner’s high I’ve been in for a long time.  Tiffany visited me from Virginia.  She’s been among my closest friends for the past fourteen years (can you believe it?); we are truly kindred spirits, and she is so good at challenging my philosophies, supporting my passions, sharing her love of life, profession, and spirituality, and bringing out the silliness.

I think I have a talent for being sappy…has it been getting worse in medical school?

In front of my favorite neighborhood mews (note all the doorbells):

Introducing Tiffany to Chapterhouse, complete with requisite picture of friend sipping hot beverage:

The Headhouse Farmers’ Market!

For some reason, this picture makes me want to read “When I’m an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple.”