Our records indicate that you have already passed this Step or Step Component or the equivalent NBME® Part. The USMLE Policy on Reexamination generally does not allow applicants to retake a Step or Step Component if they have already passed that Step or Step Component or the equivalent NBME Part.

While I won't know my actual score until I receive the score report in the mail, I really don't care what it is right now: all that matters is that miraculously I seem to have passed.

Hi Carsten!

We have been able to accomodate you at NY Methodist Hospital for cores. You will receive confirmed placement shortly.

Clinical Placement Coordinator

Now that I have my confirmed placement, I have to start looking for apartments quick - I start August 28th. Crazy thing is, I can't find anything decent for under $1,500/mo in Brooklyn! If anyone knows anybody that died in NYC recently, please let me know!

I took the exam on July 20th, and there is nothing to do now but wait a nebulous "4 to 6 weeks" for my score report to see if I was able to cram enough useless information in my brain over the last two years to satisfy the National Board of Medical Examiners. I call a lot of the information useless because no practicing physician knows half of it (I know, I asked!). They say you really learn medicine in the clinical years by doing. I'm definitely looking forward to this, provided I passed that minor roadblock on the way.

Posting should pick up again soon. I spent the last week on Lake George camping without internet access (hence the delay in posting), but I have a few shifts scheduled in the hospital ED and on the ambulance over the next few weeks to provide me with at least some fodder for this blog.

Dear Dr. Stracke:

Well that's nice of them - they gave me a field promotion, since I didn't think I graduated medical school for another 2 years…

The letter goes on to say:

Your score report for USMLE Step I/Step II is available.

Even better news! Now not only do I not have to graduate medical school to be a doctor, but I don't have to take the licensing exam either! I just hope that my score report shows that I passed the exam (even though I am not scheduled to take it for another month.)

And then I remember I still have to take the USMLE Step I.

Anyways, 6 days, 10 hours and 59 minutes until my flight takes off, and I leave the Caribbean forever. (Or at least until I come back for a vacation in 10 years…)

-you start running out of bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol ®) from eating your own cooking.
-you start driving on the wrong (or the right, depending on how you look at it) side of the road.

For some reason, the Business Office here at the Kingstown Medical College made a singular check for all SVG CPR instructors out in my name for the recent recertification sessions. So, couple of days ago, I had to go into the capital city to cash this massive check (EC$1,576) at a bank. After my tenth time around the block looking for a parking space, I was in the right hand lane, and attempting to make a right hand turn. On that block, the parking is on the right hand side of the street, next to the fruit and vegetable market. Somehow my brain thought that meant I should be turning into the right hand lane, and unfortunately I had forgotten that this section of the street was two-way traffic, and I had just turned into the on-coming lane. Luckily there were no "Reggae bus" drivers speeding at 800mi/hr, and I managed to squeeze into the correct left lane with no damage to the vehicle, other than a few glares from other drivers.

In other news:

-At a financial aid seminar on Tuesday, we learned there's a new federal student loan program which starts on July 1st called GradPLUS. Benefits: Theoretically supposed to have a low interest rate, currently capped at 8.5%, but probably will be in the 6-7% range. (Staffords go up to 6.7% from 4.7% starting in July.) No aggregate loan maximum. Low(er) 3% origination fee (vs. 6-10% at private lenders). Unlike Staffords, GradPLUS is credit-based, but not really. They don't look at a FICO/Credit score, just that you haven't had any accounts 90 days past due. Details are still being finalized, but sounds interesting at least. We'll have to see if the government can do better than prime rate - 0.5% that I currently get with my private lender.

-Made my final car rental payment today. As my landlord (and car rental agency said), "all good things must come to an end." Well, maybe it was good for him. He also gave us a stern warning not to wreck the car in the next 11 days (did I say 11 days? !!! ), like he didn't trust us for some reason. It's not like we have given him any reason not to trust us.

-Pharmacology Final Exam is on Monday. Back to studying.

Did I mention? 11 more days!

Today I experienced another Customer Service debacle with my cell phone company. Since the beginning of the term in January, my phone has been on a "Seasonal Suspend" plan for $5.95/mo to allow me to keep the account open, as well as my phone number. Usually, customers are only allowed to be on this plan for 3 months out of a year, but exceptions were made for me, so I usually ended up on the "Suspend" plan for 10-11 months out of the year while I was away at school. The company's generosity ended this month when I was automatically put back on the $39.95/month plan. When I emailed the Customer Service department, it took them about a week for them to realize that they needed to have voice contact to straighten things out and extend my "Suspend" plan the extra month and a half I would still be out of the country. The first agent was great, and actually called me long distance, since the local phone company here doesn't allow toll-free access to 800/888/etc. numbers. Unfortunately, he couldn't help me, and as usual, I was transferred to about 3 different people before I got to someone who could authorize an extension of the "Suspend" plan. However, he told me he would not be able to give me the extra month and a half, because my account has been suspended for so much of the last two years that the company was "loosing money." Tell me how a company can loose money by getting paid every month for no services being provided other than refraining from hitting the delete button on my account in the database. Now I get to pay a lot more for services not being utilized. Well, I could look at the bright side of things - it's only one extra month, and my phone will be ready to use when I get home (no waiting for re-activation).