December 2011
1 post
Day 848
Today, the dean of my medical college gave a very important announcement/press conference at the university. One of the biggest philanthropists in this area has given a gift of $20 million dollars to my school specifically for the building of new facilities for the college of medicine which are badly needed. This is spectacular news! It’s not every day or every decade someone gives a gift...
September 2011
2 posts
“F is for Fake” - a demo from Year...
Attention!
This blog is not dead!
It is in a persistent vegetative state.
You can expect it to emerge spontaneously at an undisclosed date in the future and to pick up exactly where it left off.
In the meantime, you should know two things:
1. I passed the USMLE Step 1 exam!
2. You can follow me on instagram. My username is trey_penton.
Innervate!
- Trey
August 2011
16 posts
Day 727
Today was good. Slow but good. I learned a lot from my two residents who took time to point out the finer details of the neuro exam to me. They have a lot of patience. We also had an unusual consult today on someone with an odd mix of psychological and lower motor neuron problems. Maybe. We’ll round on him tomorrow with the attending and probably have a better answer.
Day 726
Today my family was having a conversation about local politics and I wanted to have an opinion but I didn’t know anything that was going on. Not that I knew a whole lot before about politics but it just showed me how out of the loop I am with everything happening in society. On the whole though, I’m pretty okay with trading in my knowledge of pop culture and politics for a better...
Day 725
I studied all day and then my friend Apple came over and I showed him the demos I had been working on. He’ll be co-producing this Year Two record with me. Luckily, he liked the demos and seems to have plenty of ideas to flesh them out. I’m excited about the direction we’re going to take it in.
Day 724
It was a slow day in neurology right up till the end when things got exciting.
We got a consult for a man with vertigo and possible stroke that may have occurred several weeks ago.
Five minutes into the exam I got the distinct feeling that he was faking it. I felt like a jerk. I put my suspicions aside and really tried to ensure the resident and I gave him a thorough exam. And we did. ...
Day 723
Cortex
I had my first real encounter with a patient who was clearly faking his illness today. There is a little loss of innocence involved with an experience like this I think because it proves that you can’t always believe patients 100% of the time like you hope you can. But don’t think I am getting jaded in a new way now. Probably the biggest thing I learned today is that...
Day 722
On my way to morning report today, my friend tells me some horror stories about the surgical rotation a lot of my classmates just went through. Apparently, it’s the only rotation where the atmosphere is highly “malignant”. Morning report reminds me a lot of CPS in 2nd year. Attendings, residents, and med students sit around as one resident presents a current case to everyone...
Day 721
The first real day of neuro was a slow but fun one. The first thing I learned was how to tell if a patient is really having neurological symptoms or just faking it. That’s the kind of stuff you wont find in textbooks; it only comes from residents who have experience. Speaking of residents, so far they are pretty awesome. And my attending, who I only see for a small part of the day, seems...
Day 720
The first day of the neuro-psych clerkship was mainly orientation plus some practice we got to do on standardized patients. I actually knew a lot more than I thought I did about giving a neuro exam. Lets hope I still think that tomorrow when I start training for real.
And now as a last hurrah before year three really escalates, I present to you a demo. The first demo for the Year Two album...
“White Mass (demo)”
Day 719
Baptism at the Beach
Day 718
Some Things
I nearly finished all the demos today minus the vocal tracks. Productivity is awesome.
Day 717
Ahhhh. The start of a good weekend doing the things I love best.
Number one: Reading fiction.
Today I finished The Chicago Way by Micheal Harvey. Outstanding. This guy is the Dashiell Hammett of the 21st century. No joke. Of course I’m a sucker for a good detective novel. I’m really fond of the genre for some reason. The dialog was quick, smart, clean and laced with sarcasm. ...
Day 716
Well, that was rough. I feel like I may have not passed. Outside of saying that there were some crazy questions involving the DMV and what not, I don’t really feel like talking about it. It was extremely difficult. End of story.
Day 715
Well, my father has been discharged with a generally clean bill of health! Hooray!
I got to sit in on the endoscopy via my short white coat powers and I have to say everything looked beautiful. Textbook actually. Now I can say I know my father inside and out.
The GI doc concluded that the pain must be coming from a spasm of the lower esophageal sphincter. Of course we have no hard evidence...
Day 714
I got my sylabus for my first rotation, neuro-psych, today and it made me very excited. Excited? To start school again? Heck yes I am.
Meanwhile, dad’s still in the hospital. Cardiac issues are completely ruled out at this point and an endoscopy is scheduled tomorrow which I’m hoping to observe. Oh the privileges of having a short white coat. They’ll almost let you in...
Day 713
I wanted to get in the hospital but not this quick.
My father took a trip to the ER this morning and wound up being admitted for severe abdominal pain. I think he’s going to be fine though. The doctors and nurses have focused on making sure it’s not a heart problem and have pretty much ruled that out at this point. We’re hoping they’ll finally focus on the real issue...
July 2011
28 posts
Day 712
Motives
Lately I’ve been pondering my motives for doing certain things. The biggest thing I’ve been thinking over is this next album and perhaps The Culprit Life in general. I started the blog/band with half a thought on the suggestion of a few friends. It wasn’t very serious. I didn’t think it would ever mean so much to me or provide for me such an important way to...
Day 711
Day 710
Day 709
I’ve been really quite hooked on the full length debut album from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. entitled It’s a Corporate World. I can’t think of a finer example of electro-pop that’s come out in the last few years. It’s fun and catchy but never makes you feel guilty for listening to it, kinda like Phoenix. It’s “intelligent” pop music if you will (which...
Day 708
night 707 →
I wish I knew who this medical student was because she sounds exactly like me. Too bad tumblr isn’t keen on the whole friend thing. Well Elise, just know I’ll be praying for you. We share the same spirit I think.
- Trey Penton
elisemv:
Most days I wished for the heavens to open. And for God to spell it out for me.
I sat for hours last semester looking for a direction...
Day 707
Whatever It Takes
Day 706
I took my double practice exams today. 400 questions in roughly 9 hours for $120. I did pretty good on the first one (by my standards) and just okay on the second one. But it doesn’t matter. I’m taking it next Friday no matter what.
Day 705
Right now I feel determined. Full steam ahead.
Day 704
I feel hallowed out. Like a pumpkin left on the front porch after Halloween. I’m not depressed, in fact I’m the opposite of suicidal: I really want to live. I look out from my window, from my computer screen, and I see people living and I want to be living like them. Instead, I’m immersed in this gelatinous body of stagnation. I’m a pot left outside for weeks that the rain has collected in and...
Day 703
My board exam is exactly two weeks from today. I’m feeling a little worried. But I’m pretty much doing as much as I possibly can so… yeah.
I haven’t posted a photo of myself in a while so I figured it was time. Purely for documentation purposes.
Day 702
Study, Study, Study
Day 701
Seafarer
Day 700
Tonight I wrote what I believe is the best poem I’ve ever written. That might not be saying much since I haven’t written strict poetry in a few years and maybe I was never the greatest at it to begin with. But I am pleased with these three stanzas. I would post it here but I’m still deciding how I’m going to publish it (contests and etc.) and I think I want to display it...
Day 699
Most exciting part of my day. True story.
Day 698
Today I finished The Bell Jar. I have such mixed feelings about it.
At first I kinda liked it. The beginning is somewhat reminiscent of Salinger. Somewhat. Then, about halfway through the book I realized I really didn’t like what I was reading because it sounded like an upper-class, ivy league school girl complaining about all this crap and basically just being plain miserable. And...
Day 697
I’ve been thinking lately that neurologists (and neurosurgeons for that matter) really have to be the most intelligent physicians. Not only is their residency the most competitive to get into but the actual information they deal with on a day to day basis is extremely complex and hard to process. Neuro-anatomy/physiology is my worst subject in all of medicine I think. It’s so...
Day 696
Study, Study, Study
Day 695
I’ve been working a little bit at night on the demos for Year Two. I’m using some basic keys and rudimentary drum beats to help me figure out the structure on these songs. It’s fun to working on some music again.
Day 694
Study, Study, Study
Day 692
I saw the latest Woody Allen film, Midnight In Paris. I liked it a lot. I think it was classic Woody Allen in a way because of the magical realism employed. It reminded me a bit of The Purple Rose of Cairo. I liked Allen’s many literary and art references (many of which I didn’t fully get) because I thought they were used so effectively: they added to the story if you knew them but...
Day 693
It’s almost too hot to study outside.
Oh wait…
It IS too hot to study outside.
Day 691
Day 690
Drive-In
I saw a double feature of Transformers 3 and Super 8 at a really cool drive-in theater in the mountains! Fun stuff.
Also, earlier in the day, I went to a large exhibit at the Frist museum in Nashville on Warhol and how his art intertwined with the worlds of music and dance over the years. It was pretty interesting. I’m a huge fan of Warhol’s work ethic and quite a few...
Day 689
Music City
As part of my world wind tour of Nashville, I got a chance to check out the Third Man Records store. It was pretty sweet even though they didn’t have my favorite White Stripes album on vinyl. I like Jack White and what he’s doing with his label.
My friend Ali also took me to Nashville’s downtown library which is gorgeous and everything a library should be. ...
Day 688
No, I did not eat these.
Day 687
Taco Truck
Day 686
I saw The Social Network tonight. It was a refreshing change of pace from The Tree of Life. The narrative was excellent. The soundtrack, by a musician I’m not fond of, was superb. And the acting was spot on, even Justin Timberlake was perfect for his part. I actually think he’s a pretty decent actor. Of course, Jesse Eisenberg stole the show as Mark Zuckerberg. I was expecting...
June 2011
28 posts
Day 685
The Tree of Something
The Tree of Life was more of an experience than a film. I still don’t quite know what to make of it. It was a beautiful collection of cinematography but not quite a beautiful story, to me anyway. I get that Terrence Malick is a philosopher and that he and his thoughts on existence are more the stars of this movie than the actors themselves but even with that...
Day 684
I’ve been listening to the new Bon Iver self-titled album and I pretty much love it. The first eight tracks are stunningly gorgeous. I think it’s brilliant. The lyrics are wildly ambiguous but it kinda works. Here and there a line will stick out to you. Justin Vernon’s voice often acts as another instrument. Really my only qualm about the whole thing is the last track. ...
Day 683