Big, big test

I am not looking forward to this week. It has nothing to do with work, kids, major household projects or invasive medical tests. I have to take an exam. Every 6 years those involved in my profession have to take a board re-certification exam to prove our worthiness. I have elected to take mine in the 5th year of the cycle just to get it over with.

The whole thing makes me nervous...I have to answer 300 questions in 5 hours. The question pool is taken from all areas of medicine...cardiology, GI, pediatrics, OB/GYN, pulmonology, orthopaedics, EENT, neurology, etc. The problem is that I don't do general medicine. I do bones...that's it. In our world, we only care about the heart because it pumps blood to the bones; we care about the GI system because bones work better with calcium; neurology is important so the brain tells the bones what to do, etc. We completely ignore OB/GYN because it scares ortho people. And, EENT (ear, eye, nose and throat) we have no interest in either...no bones involved there.

So, my point is I've now gone to a 50 hour review course and spent the last month or so dredging up all this stuff I learned in school. It has been painful and my head is about to explode. I've been stuffing it full of stuff about murmurs, kidney disease, strokes, dreaded parasites, skin disorders, high blood pressure, psychiatry and even STD's. Ugh.

My test is Thursday and after that I have sworn off any medical reading for at least a month. I plan on leaving the test, having a good cry (of relief), hitting Starbucks for a really yummy mocha, going to the gym to blow off steam and going home to my family.

The most important thing to do after my test is giving my husband the biggest hug. He has been fantastic: encouraging, watching the kids so I could study and calming. He rocks.