Yet again asking the question

Yet again today I was asking myself the question: is it always going to be this hard?

Ben just left again for home to go to work tomorrow morning. We had a great weekend, lots of walking, relaxing, reading, etc. We went out for dinner last night and ate lunch today down by the lake shore. I can't believe it's over already. Next weekend I go there. This weekend is going to be pretty heavy and hectic, but all I can think about is being together again. Somehow this seems harder than when we lived on different continents - the goodbyes are more frequent and the visits shorter. Either way, I don't love him any less. I might just love him a little bit more.

I promise I won't make a post like this every Sunday - I guess I'm just going to have to get used to this.

In other news, this week I go back to clinical skills. We have a "back to the bedside" session in which I'm going to meet my new tutors, my new group, and hopefully remember something about examining patients. It's time to get out bates! I also have to review the neuro exam and significance of findings for PBL. For those of you who are not familiar with it, PBL is problem based learning. It was invented at McMaster university in Hamilton Ontario (Canada :) and has spread worldwide. When I lived in Scotland they were using PBL as a teaching strategy at Glasgow University. Some people love it, some people hate it. Basically we're given a case study in small bites and within our group of students have to read it over, discuss teaching points in the cases, and identify learning goals for the next session. There is a faculty member there to supervise but they're not meant to participate at all in the discussion - only get us back on track if we need it. My new supervisor went to McMaster university and is a bit of PBL nut. Overall my group seems to be full of nice people who are willing to contribute which is good - although one girl is always looking for zebras when the horse is trying to lick the salt off her hands.

This session was about MS. Well, we're pretty sure it was about MS - since we haven't actually had any more neuro than 3 neuroanatomy lectures and one neuroimaging lecture we can't be sure, but it was what we came up with anyways. Pre-teen girl presents with bilateral symmetrical parasthesias and muscle weakness in her lower extremity which spreads to the hands (also symmetrical and bilat). Normal sensory perception (proprioception, pain, light touch) and normal bladder and bowel function. Apparently this is a very typical presentation of something - We guessed MS. The only thing we were confused about is that it was progressing day by day which we weren't sure is consistent. I guess I'll find out with my research this evening! Something to do to keep my mind off being lonely.