Missionary Orthopod in the Making

THESE BLOGS ARE AN ARCHIVE FROM MY FIRST BLOG ON THE ORIGINAL SDN BLOGS, SO IF THINGS SOUND A LITTLE OFF, IT IS BECAUSE I’M REFERING TO PEOPLE AND EVENTS IN THOSE PREVIOUS BLOGS.

Hey Wassup Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I have to say that I’m very excited to be writing on this diary. I promised you a full bio of myself, so here it is: I was born and raised in Maryland. I’m 18 yrs. old, and I’ll be starting my sophomore year in college this fall. My father is from Jamaica and moved to Brooklyn, NY when he was nine. My mom was born in Brooklyn. My mom is a pediatrician; she went to Howard University for med school (I was in her belly when she got her diploma; see, I’m already a doctor!!!). My dad is a social worker, he takes sexually abused kids out of their homes. All my life I’ve been fascinated by computers. I built my first computer before I went to high school; and started teaching myself how to program in C during high school. I had absolutely no thoughts about medicine, because my mom was a doctor, and I wanted to be unique. After a little summer pre-med program where they had us taking medical school classes and examining cadavers, I knew that medicine is what I wanted to do. I focused and finished high school with a 3.97 GPA (although I did pretty bad on my SATs, an 1170, not sure why). I threw away all my applications to CMU, UMD, BU, etc., and started looking at places with good biology programs. Well, my high school only had 400 kids in it, so I liked small environments. So I went to Oakwood College; a small private school in Huntsville, AL with 1800 students.

Me and my girlfriend met senior year of high school, and both came to Oakwood college as biology majors (I’m still with her, she might be the one!!!). It was a good year. I ended up with a 4.0 GPA and received the Freshman Biology Student of the Year award. During my freshman year, I got into a lot of stuff. I sang in a gospel quintet group called Gimme 5 (yeah, you know you like it);I was a senator in my student government; I was in 2 gospel choirs; I was part of a medical missionary group called the National Association for the Prevention of Starvation (NAPS) (you’ll hear more about them later); I was in the Pre-Alumni Association; I was in the Student National Medical Association (SNMA); I was in the science club; and I was taking 18 hours. By the time I got to second semester I dropped everything except for SNMA, NAPS, and Gimme 5. Sometimes you have to know how much you can handle.

I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, and proud of it. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m always open for religious debate.

I went to Zambia, Africa this summer with a missionary group called the National Association for the Prevention of Starvation (NAPS). This group was started by our biology chair after he realized that he was putting out too many premeds who didn’t care about service. Well, this program has changed that all. We’ve been all over the world including Jamaica, Costa Rica, Haiti, Guyana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, and Madagascar. While there we feed hungry children and evangelize. We work locally too. Every Saturday, we go out to the local projects and put on children’s programs, and give Bible studies. If you want to see videos from all the places we’ve been, just to go our website; HERE

I’m currently at the University of Cincinnati doing research in the Neuroscience lab. MY GOD IS IT BORING!!!!!! I mean the actual subject is pretty interesting, but it’s just way too tedious, and the instant gratification factor is way too low. But I’m not complaining too much because they are paying me $4000. I’ve gotten a lot of shadowing experience while I’ve been here. I hooked up with a trauma surgeon at the University Hospital. He’s so cool, and has allowed me to get a lot of experience. This 25 yr. old guy came in with a gun shot to his back. He lost his BP on the table and they had to crack his chest (called a thoracotomy) to relieve pressure off his heart and to keep blood flowing to his brain. The surgeons gave me the pictures of the thoracotomy, and you guys can view them on my below:

[Show as slideshow]

I only ask that you DON’T save or share them. I just want you guys to get the same experience I had in the ER. I’ve also gotten to anestisize a gun shot wound on this 17yr. old and I’ve touched a girl’s skull through her gaping forehead laceration.

My research ends on the 13th and I start school on the 18th. My upcoming semester is looking pretty rough. Here it is:

Microbiology

Microbiology Lab

Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry Lab

Physics

Physics Lab

Software Tools

Public Speaking

Pray for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m very much a democrat, and very much into politics (HOWARD DEAN FOREVER!!!). So I’m always up for a political debate I love computers and gadgets, so any comments about that are welcome too.

I really don’t have much to write. I’m at the lab right now (I’m supposed to be doing work, but my whole lab is Chinese and I can never understand a word they are saying, but its whatever). They are really cool, but there is just a language barrier. Stay tuned for more entries. I was just warming up. I love all comments and opinions, so don’t hesitate to write!!!