CollegeKyd.com

Robin Taylor Corbridge  aka CollegeKyd

Born Aug 9th 1961

Deceased Nov 20 2009

She was the “BEST”  wife, mother, and grandmother.

She had “dreams” of being a doctor.  The world missed out on a fantastic one IMHO.  Time just ran out Honey … I Love You!

As I lay here in the hospital bed as a patient with bilateral eosinophilic pneumona taking in gobs of medication round the clock to get well I realize what a great opportunity God befell upon me. Here I am ready to start medical school to become the best physician I can be, and  I was treated by a group of awesome physicians (an nurses). How blessed am I? I could’ve taken this entire situation horribly badly – you see it started at the UCF Health Center with Dr. Karcsh and the next thing I know the x-ray he ordered looked scary. My right lung looked very weird, almost as though it had a huge fatty lipoma in the middle of it that was clogging it up – the whole right lung looked trashed with white pathces – I didn’t see any visible breathing room there, the left lung showed that whatever was in the right lung – certainly wasn’t happy staying on it’s side and was traveling over to the left side – ut oh, not a good thing!  The good part is the top left lobe has capacity for me to breathe. So there you have it, I’ve been functioning on very little lung capacity for probably a long time, who knows how long. I’m amazed I made it through my MCAT’s and who knows, perhaps my illness cost me a lot of the points – I had noticed for some (outside not usual / unexplainable) reason that it seemed as though my head was clogged. Well it’s in the past and there’s not a lot I can do about it now – so I press onward to where ever this journey takes me – I know I get my BS degree May 8th.  I’m VERY proud of that accomplishment. Not sure if I mentioned it (by the way) I recently was inducted to the Golden Key Honor Society, making that 5th honor society - So, I’m pretty proud of all of my accomplishments to date.  Anyway back to the pneumonia..

Later on today I get out of the hospital – sent home on a week of “no school and no work” per doctor’s orders – rest & medication. It will be nice to be home again – I’ve been here a week – so I miss home -we always miss home, I’m no exception. 

Here’s to a speedy recovery! One thing I know for sure – God just wanted to remind me what it’s like to be a patient before he allowed me to become a physician

I took my MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) on Thursday September 10th because I didn’t have a good experience on July 17th, I fell ill the night before and wound up only having 2 hours sleep prior to it – it is a VERY dense complicated exam that takes 5 hours to go through and I had a HUGE disadvantage – I scored it nonetheless because how would I ever have known how I did unless I scored it – so I chose to score it – you always have the option of voiding your exam. I pray that with a decent night’s sleep prior to this last exam and some extra studying I was able to attain a score that will allow me the opportunity to be considered a serious candidate at a US Medical School (Preferably a FL one!) I will find out my destiny on October 13th when the scores are released. I hope I am pleasantly surprised as I didn’t come out of the exam feeling anything less than beat up and defeated, I certainly did not feel like I did well at all – but time will tell and there’s no point in trying to speculate. Meantime I have a lot of studies to complete and grades to secure this semester. It’s hard to believe I will be graduating UCF this Spring with my BS degree!

Well here I go again – not like it’s unfamiliar territory – so Thursday’s exam ought to at least be familiar to a seasoned pro like me I can honestly say that at least I am blessed enough to get another crack at it – so MCAT – here I come – my last “ole’ college try” is on it’s way. I’ve had obstacles in my path for the other ones so hopefully this time it will be smooth sailing. I know for sure I will at least get a night’s rest before the next exam and hopefully my health will keep improving (came home sick from the cruise and been working on getting rid of this cough ever since!) to perfection so that my last MCAT writing will be a real honest reflection of my true capabilities, after all that’s all any of us ask isn’t it? Wish me luck – MCAT slayer in action

Still waiting for the score report from my July 17th MCAT. While it shouldn’t bother me to wait, being that I knew before I went it would not be released until August 18th, 2009, it doesn’t make the waiting period go by any faster or easier. Perhaps because so much uncertainty was present for the exam and so much rides on this one very important test – it raises the importance level up a huge notch and with that comes a lot of anxiousness and anxiety. I know win, place or show, come August 19th I will feel better to the degree that I will now if I will be retesting on September 10th or not. I keep finding that I keep thinking about the exam and all the answers I recall that I know I got correct and all of those that I can’t recall or even the few I know I goofed on and made bad choices on and got wrong. It’s so difficult to express how it feels to have everything you’ve worked so hard for come down to one test, I am not a gambler – so I’m not used to “letting it ride” I suppose. It certainly feels like an “all or nothing” game at the moment. Perhaps I shouldn’t be posting this – I feel like it shows some vulnerability – but then again I guess it also some the humanistic reality of this process as well, for I am not the only pre-med to feel like this – I am sure all the others out there share in this moment as well. Keeping my fingers crossed that I performed well that day! Hopefully next update will include a glowing MCAT score

I wish I could give a better indication as to how well I did on my MCAT – alas – just as all of those before me and surely those after me – I simply can’t place how I will score. I know one thing – if I didn’t do well enough to get me where I need to be I will be retaking it in September with the clear goal of accomplishing that very task. I’m glad my test is over – now I can just relax knowing that come August 18th I will be surprised with the score, hopefully it will come as a pleasant surprise

Well we’re getting down to the wire here with the upcoming MCAT exam and I am feeling good about it actually. I feel that I have gained a lot of needed tools from Kaplan and I appreciate them for their help and also can promise they are worth their money – I am confident I will get a higher score due to their system. At this point I am just going to look at the MCAT (medical school admissions test) as another evidence of proof to medical schools that I deserve a seat in their 2010 class. I am looking at it as an opportunity to prove my worth. I do not fear the exam – though taking it last year I know how physically taxing it is – it’s okay – it’s one of the few methods I am afforded to show the schools I belong there – so I plan to seize that opportunity and be thankful I am afforded it. Okay back to my study hole – I have some more work to do Think of my on July 17th and feel free to send me your positive energy – the more the merrier

Congratulations to Brook & Dan on the birth of Jackson Paul Perry, born Monday June 29th 2009. We rejoice as we welcome grandchild #3 into our lives!

So I just heard back from one of the medical schools I applied to for what’s called a “secondary application” – this email elicited a warm feeling in my heart. It both let me know that the application did go out because it obviously was received and it also helps me feel like “wow I really DID do this and this is really going to happen” -it’s an awesome feeling when you see your hard work ready to pay off

Now all I have left to do is slay my MCAT to prove I belong there

Okay back to my study cave. I’m happy and just wanted to share

So they updated the iPhone software for those of us that bought these phones 2 months ago – while the new people get twice as much stuff (like a video camera in the phone – this is stills only) and other neat features and pay half the price – I must say the new text messaging feature (turns sideways) is kind of cool – but I was hoping for more of a “wow” from the all advertised 3.0 software upgrade. It’s okay – I’m still happy with my phone – for me it’s more of a PDA and text messenger than anything else anyway – and those features are still pretty awesome on the iPhone! Okay – back to MCAT studying!

Oh and my AMCAS application is officially complete now with all the transcripts in – it’s pending verification review and then submission – the wheels have turned – now it’s down to the MCAT to decide my future. Root for me!