Every once and a while I run into a couple of friends from the past. Today was one of those special days. I had the chance to see three of my work mates from UCLA over at the campus at the University of Southern California this morning. Yes, these two institutions are rivals. It just so happens that all of us are now students at USC in the Nurse Anesthesia program.

Mia, Adrienne and Dana are 2nd year anesthesia students at USC and old friends. I was so happy to see them and all at once. Seeing them healthy and happy really made my day.

USC Anesthesia Class of 2006

The class at USC 2006 was wandering around half dazed a bit by all of the new things that have been going on for all of us. We are hanging in there though. Just outside of the book store at the Health Science campus at USC several of us were idle for a moment and got caught by a passing photo bird.

This is the second week of class and after today I think that all of us are feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of work that we are up against. The studying part is really starting to pile up around the edges, especially the Physiology class. The amount of information is quite high. The professor actually apologized today because the lecture was so detailed and had so much material. What a laugh. I have never had a professor do that before. Really, the cell physiology and neuro stuff that has been presented in the past week is a lot.

The goal is to just get through it the way every thing else has been done in the past. First is to just show up and second is to read the text books that everyone else is reading and do the things that all of the other successful students have done in the past. I don’t think there is a magic formula. Its back to basics just like the Dali Lama has said, “Before enlightenment you are expected to chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment you are expected to chop wood and carry water.” Oh my God! This chopping thing is getting harder and harder beside carrying water too.

No bitching allowed as one of our Professors has said, “Failure is not an option, its just a matter of how successful you are going to be and how much of an impact you are going to make in the world that is important.”
Chris Stein, CRNA MS Pain management specialist.

This last Saturday Jennifer and I were on the USC campus for the graduation party of the Nurse Anesthesia program class of 2004. While we were there we had the chance of wandering around the campus a bit to look at the architecture. Our first stop was to visit “The Trojan”. Tommy was pretty impressive especially with Jennifer in the foreground.

Just down from the Trojan statue is a wonderful fountain that is surrounded by benches. If we had more time I would have liked to just sit there and listen to the water splash down on the pavement. There are a couple of these fountains on the USC campus.

Just down from the fountain is an old Bunyan tree, I think that is what it is, that must be older than Methuselah. The roots are coming out of the trunk with some very interesting patterns. The USC campus is a wonderful place to visit if only for a half hour or so that we had to wonder around before the party.

Next time that I get over to the campus I will spend a little time with all of the red brick buildings there on campus. The library is a wonderful building that I did not get a chance to photograph Saturday. There is always next time.

LAC-USC Hospital

This week on the Health Science campus I will be taking some photos. The campus next to the LAC-USC hospital is not the old red brick that I so wonderful to look at but the campus is lively and full of interesting people. There is always something to look forward to you see.

In the morning the entire class is going over to the Big County Hospital for pictures and badges. This will allow us access to the County facilities without going through the security guard station every time we go into the Medical Center. The security there is well let us just say “on the job”. I was there in 1994 when they had the shootings in the ER. That was back in the dark ages of security when all of the doors were wide open without any guards at all. Things have changed dramatically since then. More later on this. Have a great week.

Yipeeeee a party celebrating the graduating class of of Nurse Anesthesia at the University of Southern California. This is the last class that will be graduating from the now defunct School of Nursing at USC. A new day is coming for the graduating class and for the Anesthesia school. The Keck School of Medicine at USC headed by Dr. Lumb and Dr. Gold is heading up the new program. The entering class that will be graduating in 2006 is the second class to be admitted to the Medical School program.

The party for the graduating students was held today at the Town and Gown on the USC campus. Festivities commenced at 10:00 and went on well into the wee hours of the afternoon. We are a really party group as you will see.

Gollie was honored as the recipient of the Memorial Hodgekins award which she shared with another student. Gollie was one of the students that worked very hard in her clinical settings putting in extra days especially at Arrowhead Medical Center where she is now a new employee.

We had a special guest appearance by Dr. Waugaman to receive special recognition for her contributions to the field of anesthesia. It was a real treat being able to meet the legend. Dr. Waugaman has been past present of the AANA and CANA as well as having received the national outstanding educator award from the AANA. Dr. Waugaman has over 35 years in Nurse Anesthesia practice and has been a leading educator for many of those years. She is pictured here on the left with Chris Stein on the right who is one the outstanding educators at the USC school of Nurse Anesthesia.

Three of the new students from the future graduating class of 2006 were able to be in attendance. From left to right David Godden (author), Karen Embrey, and Anya Bibergal. Don’t we look the excited little group. Unfortunately the rest of the class was not able to come to enjoy the festivities.

Tommy Trojan in all his glory this morning was a lonesome monument until we showed up to wake him up. If you want to see what Tommy is up to at any time you can always just check out the web cam that sits on top of the Student Union. The Tommy Cam looks down on his majesty and whoever else is in the vicinity at the moment. I have been meaning to see the movie “The Trojan House” or is it Helen of Troy”, I can’t recall at the moment but I understand that the cinema photography is pretty outstanding in the film. Seeing the movie will catch me back up with the Iliad classic (or was that The Odyssey, can’t remember) which has been sitting on my shelf for so many years.

This afternoon I would like to check out the movie which will leave Sunday free for some serious study time. The graduating class of the USC Nurse Anesthesia Program, I salute you and am following in your steps.

The first week at the University of Southern California School of Nurse Anesthesia in the Keck School of Medicine is completed. That’s 5 days down and 495 counting down to graduation August 31, 2006. Meeting all of the faculty and new students, as well as all of my new text books, and getting all of the details worked out for a new campus has taken an adjustment. Currently I am studying full time with work on hold for the foreseeable future. This program is so much fun even if it is very challenging and tons of work.

Noris Library Access

Doing research on line is always a treat. What makes it really wonderful now is the search engines are capable of doing so much work for you from the comfort of your home. The first thing you have to do is to set up a user name, email and computer access. You can do this at the ISD New Student web site. Once you have the entire log in stuff taken care of you are free to roam about the web at USC from the library or from home.

The problem with accessing the library system from home is that access to the secure areas is blocked unless you know the secret! Well it’s not really a secret but a process that takes a little to set up. The idea is that the computer system on campus wants to see if you are from the outside or from a campus server. If you can make your computer look to the system like you are on campus than all is hunky dory and you can get full text searches and down loads of every thing on Ovid.

VPN (virtual Private Network) software is available from Cisco systems that will allow you to log into Noris Library from a distant location as if you were on campus. The problem with the newly issued VPN software is that it is not supported by the tech people on campus and is a little difficult to get working. At least it has been for me. I am still working on the set up of the VPN software at home to see if I can get it to work. The advantage of using VPN is that you can use your current FAST DSL or Cable internet provider to give you quick search and downloads.

Dial Up Solution

Sometimes the newest technology is not the most reliable and the old tried and true “horse” will get you to town. USC has a dial up web access for students that works just fine. The tortoise wins the day. At least in the race that was offered last week for my entertainment. I am currently using the dialup connection into Pasadena with a 626 area code to access the secure network parts of the Ovid search engine at the Noris library. It works just fine even if it is a little slow. Actually it’s not that bad because most of the downloads are text without graphics. I may just keep it this way.

Wireless Future

I have a bright shiny laptop with the Centrino technology and all the trimmings. The IBM screamer is really sweet at the coffee shops working on line with the wireless networks. In order for me to get it to work on campus with the wireless network there is going to require a little bungling and tweaking on my part. More to come on this topic. And now some entertainment.

Tommy Cam

You can see what’s going on campus overlooking the famous Tommy Trojan by clicking on the Tommy Cam link.

The first week is almost done. I did some counting of days today like some prisoner stuck in the Castle de If ala the Count of Monte Cristo. I figure that school is 5 days a week including clinical days for 24 months. We get maybe 2 weeks off a year for semester breaks and holidays. That makes it 50 weeks times 5 days will equal 250 days per year times 2 years is now totaling 500 days. Three days down and 497 to go does not seem too bad now does it.

The first three days at USC Anesthesia school have been pretty much what I have expected. So far there is not anything that is way out of the unexpected. The physiology class is pretty intense. The subject matter goes into detail that I have not seen before. This is a good thing. Really, there is so much to learn and it is all so exciting.

I had a little talk with my friend Roberto today. His name is Robert but his email address at USC is roberto which is kinda funny. He was telling me how much fun he has been having this first week. Between us we can’t stop smiling. All I can say is Thank God were free at last, free at last to pursue our passion.

In the morning we have Anesthesia practice didactic with the associate director. I am looking forward to this class the most. Between the anatomy, pharmacology and physiology this will be a little break and lots of fun. What a great day to be alive.