vags and bags

The META lab is over. Meaning- the pelvic and testicular exams are done. It was as bad as I anticipated, but in different and creepy ways that I did not anticipate. We split up into groups, then 6 at a time we went into an exam room to do the deed. The first was the testicle. 6 women in the room with one male instructor/model. He was the one telling us how to do it all the while holding up his gown- "more pressure when you squeeze the shaft" and "roll the testicle between your fingers". I swear. To make things even more gross, there was an air of inappropriateness because of the behavior of a few students. I am sure they were just nervous, but the instructor did little to maintain control/restore a clinical and professional atmosphere and it escalated the creepiness and made a couple of us extremely uncomfortable. It made doing the exam very difficult.

ok, so then we move on from that trauma to the pelvic. we have an instructor as well as the model/instructor and they were both women. A little better. But not much. I try to dissociate and complete the exam. Finally after almost 4 hours of hearing about sexual abuse, testicles, uteruses, trim pubic hair, and looking for lesions and wildlife, we are freed.

The last 2 days have been with our psych class and psych lectures. We have learned all about clinicals, the theory portion of the class, expectations..... Today a recent graduate visited us at lunch so we could ask her questions and she could tell us what it's really like.

"the worst year of my life" she emphatically declares.

I cry. (jk)

She echoes what the instructors are saying. We haven't seen nothin' yet.

I have often told the tale of the boy who cried wolf to my children, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes not so subtle. I have always wanted to help them to discern what was important to be told and what wasn't, especially in terms of complaining, tattling, and the like. I just want to apologize for all the whining have done up to this point because I now feel that it has been premature. I was sort of hoping that once I got to this point it would become so interesting and exciting that I wouldn't even notice that I was doing work. The recent grad said "double it" in reference to our last class with this instructor and the difficulty level.

I have possibly "the worst year of my life" ahead of me.

So also let me apologize in advance for all the whining sure to come.

:)