Tim's Blog

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick note this week to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! I'll share a bit of what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for my family. My parents, each with no more than an eighth grade education, ensured that I was reading before I entered kindergarten and I'll always have fond memories of sitting with Mom or Dad reading Little Golden Books. Both instilled a lifelong love of reading and my library is backlogged with books to read after my fill of medical school books over the past three years. I am thankful for my three sisters who put up with my antics as we grew up and moved away from home. I am thankful for all of my nieces and nephews, who carry on the family name and tradition of gathering on Thanksgiving at my folks' home. That's a lot of people in a 900-square-foot home, but the love expands the walls immeasurably when everyone is present!

The Gathering Banquet Table: (L-R) Tim, Danielle, Jenna, and Fatemeh

I am thankful for each of my classmates. I have said that before and I reiterate again today. The group of classmates I have are individually wonderfully people. They are some of the finest, most cooperative over-achievers one could meet. Regardless of the challenge, this group comes together for each other, charitable causes and communication. I am proud to be a part of the class of December 2013 and have made life-long friendships during my times at NUHS.

I am thankful for my friends back home. We have been through "thick and thin" together. Births, deaths, layoffs, downsizing, promotions, marriage and divorce; each of my little group back home is ever present to lend a hand, an ear, a shoulder or a back when work needs to be done. These are the folks who didn't say I was crazy for leaving a good job to become a naturopathic doc at 40 years old. These are the folks who ask every four months, "Are you coming home Ammons?" Friends who want to catch up and are eager to keep in touch are truly a thing to be thankful for.

I hope you are with the ones you care about this holiday. That you have experienced a year of abundance in health, love and happiness and that your dreams, plans and experiences have contributed to your betterment and the betterment of all!

See you next week!

Well, I'm sitting here in the middle of Week 3 of 7th Trimester wondering where the first two weeks went! This trimester, I believe is solely to test whether we can arrive at class on time, with homework completed and dressed appropriately, whether for simulated patients, clinic observation or simply remembering to clothe ourselves before leaving the house for school! :) 

The intensity of the information being delivered, the tasks being performed in class, lab and clinic along with the homework cycle is a strong rival to the "Terrible Triad" of classes from Trimester Two! The Terrible Triad is otherwise known as Head and Neck Gross Anatomy Lab, Neurophysiology and Neuroanatomy. These classes more than any other, have convinced many students here at NUHS (including yours truly) that the insanity track, or the track that will complete the program in only 10 trimesters, is sometimes a bit much if other factors are involved in one's life such as a longer commute, family or even a part-time job. 

One's preferred schedule here at NUHS can be as individually tailored as the person taking the classes. As with any endeavor in life, the choices boil down to the factors of time and money. How much time can you devote to your classes, both individually and throughout the program as a whole? Also, how much money do you have to be either employed part-time while attending classes on a lighter schedule (though still difficult, just fewer classes per trimester) or "self employed" as a Naturopathic Medical Student. 

Speaking of time and money, an old dear friend (back in my Joe Six Pack days) used to lecture me on spending money on being healthy now by exercising and eating properly or spending money later on maintaining health with prescriptions, surgeries, etc. Let's just say I was driving hell-bent on the road to either a stroke or a heart attack in my mid 30's.  

I did a pretty good job of getting healthier through learning, utilizing and pursuing a career in Naturopathic Medicine. Once I entered med school, however, my schedule became super full. I was poor at managing personal and school time separately, and health slowly began to waver, then wane--not terribly, but enough to cause concern to me through a tightening waist on my pants and a truly striking lack of energy on a daily basis.

(L-R) Steve Occhetti, David Popovic and the Panther Fan

Enter Trimester 7, a renewed focus on balance between school, health and Vitamin R (one of the Determinants of Health...rest, relaxation, rejuvenation). Combine the new focus with Steve Occhetti and Dave Popovic, who are true motivators! These guys, nearly 20 years my junior, and both of whom are excellent athletes, invited the "wily veteran" to join them with their workouts. Now then, any person who is halfway motivated to improve their health, increase energy and enjoy some laughs and groans at the jokes shared could not pass up this opportunity! 

So, you guessed it, I made time in my schedule despite this load of classes, patient simulations, clinic observation and homework (and exams...yarrrr) to ensure that I give my physiological person the same opportunity to grow that I have given my intellectual person (I use that term loosely) while here at med school. Only one facet left--my spiritual person through personal reflection, centering and calming. I'm still working on that one a bit, yet I guess we all are to one degree or another. 

I'll be sure to keep all of you updated on the happenings of the Naturopathic Student Gathering as well as my efforts at improvement in my personal triad (intellectual, physical and spiritual...or mind, body, spirit) as well! 

Now, time for some homework, then the Tri Mixer this coming Friday where we "seasoned" students welcome our new colleagues to NUHS over food, drinks and great stories! I'm grateful that our student population is open and welcoming to our new students each trimester despite their hectic schedules. I feel that is but one of the facets that make our student population incredible! 

See you next week!

Hi, everyone! I'm happy to be back at school and getting into the swing of things! The break was welcome as I was able to do some manual work with my hands rather than sit in a desk all day and at a table studying all evening. Well, let me share how the break went and a bit about our first week back in classes.

During the summer break, I completed a lot of work for the Naturopathic Student Gathering at NUHS in November of this year. The Naturopathic Student Gathering is an annual national conference for the students of the seven naturopathic medical schools of North America. At the Gathering, the Elder Docs of our profession come to speak to the students about the philosophy and history of naturopathic medicine and how to keep that vision alive for succeeding generations. 

I built some structures for the Gathering from branches of trees that were felled during storms as well as driftwood from streams and ponds. These structures (which I will share photos of in future posts) are built without any nails, or other man-made materials. While I had never attempted anything like this before, the process of creating an object that is useful, structurally sound and symbolic of the Student Gathering turned into a bit of a journey of self-discovery in patience, perseverance and flexibility...or much like the process of getting through medical school, he he! Once the Gathering is closer and we have everything set up for the conference, I'll share a little bit more about the structures as our team is keeping some things under wraps for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the conference.

(L-R) Dr. Kelly Baltazar (Naturopathic Chief Clinician), Dr. Jenna Boazzo (Naturopathic Clinician)
Intern Michelle Ennsman, Intern Christine Schoenek, Intern Joseph Vazquez, Intern Tim Ammons

When I returned to school last week, I entered clinic as an Observer for the first time! As Observers, the 7th trimester Interns shadow the more senior Interns during patient visits, morning preview, and evening review. We help with the day-to-day tasks, as well. Primarily, our job is to observe, listen, practice charting in the proper manner, and help when and where asked. 

On our first day, my lab section, which also consists of Christine Schoenek, Michelle Ennsman and Joseph Vazquez, had our orientation session with Dr. Kelly Baltazar, Naturopathic Chief of Clinics and Dr. Jenna Boazzo, Naturopathic Clinician. I could the see joy and excitement from our clinicians who were truly happy to see new Interns, wet behind the ears, join the ranks of the Interns already under their tutelage. I didn't think I would ever be as excited about something as I was upon entering clinic adorned with my white lab coat and taking the first step to help others heal. This was the reason for being here at this stage of my life in the first place! So, why so excited?

I'll tell you why! Sitting with our Chief Naturopathic Clinician on our first day in clinic going over the mundane details of dress code, paperwork, responsibilities of confidentiality with our patients, and the order of paperwork, drove the point home that we "are here." We have made it after two years of grueling science courses, hours upon hours of study, research and practice. As I sat in the orientation, I had to keep reminding myself that this was simply a milestone on the path that I had chosen. The true challenge lies ahead through working other human beings who have come to us for a solution to their illnesses. We have the safety net of working in a teaching clinic with experienced clinicians to guide us through proper case taking, information gathering, diagnosing and helping those who visit the clinic have the best outcome possible from each visit. Now is the time to take advantage of the experience that surrounds us, the knowledge and wisdom from our clinicians, and each moment that grants us the opportunity to grow as future doctors.

Hi Everybody! The wheels are starting to churn this trimester! We had two cases due, another midterm in Physical Diagnosis class, as well as helping to make some Chinese Angelica (Angelica sinensis) salve in our botanicals class this week. The week was capped off with Tri Games and my trimester, Trimester 6, finished in second place out of 8 teams. More about that in a moment, though. 

I'll highlight Physical Diagnosis this week. Physical Diagnosis is the culmination of evaluation classes beginning in Trimester 2 all the way up through Trimester 5. In the evaluation classes, we combine patient intake skills such as taking vitals, heart and lung exams and neurology exams with physical medicine. The physical medicine part includes musculoskeletal adjustment and soft tissue work. When we reach Trimester 6, we put all of the pieces together in one huge class that is 8 credit hours. We spend 10 hours per week (6 in the classroom, 4 in the lab) rehashing each system of the body along with how to inspect, evaluate and determine if something is going wrong. We apply pathologies that can impact that system or group of systems as we go. To top everything off, we spend time learning these systems through 'hands on' training.

This is a vast amount of time and information, so we have alternating written exams and lab practicals every 5 weeks. These combined exams will culminate in finals week with an hour-long lab practical and two-hour written comprehensive exam. Needless to say, I have been spending quite a bit of time on 'Phys DX'! This is a fun class with many of our clinical professors lending a hand on various subjects. In my opinion, it's a great way to learn from each subject matter expert as we learn of their specialty!

Tri Games 

Now!  About Tri Games! Tri Games is a competition held three times a year at the Lombard campus. Each of the trimesters (1 through 7, and 8,9,10 combined) competes with each other in a team sport. This spring, co-ed flag football was the game!

After classes last Friday, everyone packed up a cool beverage, donned their trimester's color (Tri 6 was red) and readied themselves to defend their trimester's honor on the gridiron--well, the field in front of Lincoln apartments. The favorite is usually the clinic team (students from trimesters 8, 9, and 10) as they have the opportunity to combine forces.

Although Trimester 6 (ahem) put up a great fight after battling through the ranks to make the Championship Game, the "Mighty Swans" of trimesters 8, 9, and 10 were able to barely "squeak by" with a 30-point victory. Even though we were a little bummed at coming in second, we joined our classmates after the game and listened to some tunes from the DJ on the basketball court. A great time! Plus, we'll take the win at the next Tri Games this fall when we are Trimester 7!

This week I'm thankful that my classmates/teammates would let the "wily veteran" come out of retirement to join them on the field! What a great feeling to be welcomed by one's classmates on the sports field, even though a "step may have been lost" somewhere in the past 15 years. The inclusive nature of the student body of NUHS is defined in young, recently graduated college athletes turned naturopathic/chiropractic med students welcoming a middle-aged naturopathic med student to represent our trimester in an athletic competition! Time to hit the practice field and be ready for kickball in the fall!

Until next week!