I will start off with our OMM test last Friday as I promised I would.
The entire day was blocked off and we were bunched into groups of 20 people. My test was at 2:30 so I had a nice day to sleep in a bit and got to school for 11am to study and practice with my group. Right before the test we were given our partners and the next 40 minutes went like this: go into the room, I was the patient for my partner as he did his 20 min test, feedback for him, switch stations to a new grader and then my partner was my patient for the next 20 minutes. Of course with my luck I was being graded by the most good looking student doctor in the bunch and had to get my words out through the lump in my throat (red face blushing and all). The exam started and I talked my way through the whole thing. We are expected to know everything and be able to structurally examine a patient without any papers or notes in front of us. After we diagnose a somatic (muscle) dysfunction of a certain region, we are asked to demonstrate 2 osteopathic manipulative techniques (we don’t get to choose, they tell us). Sounds simple and to the point but it took a LOT of practice to become comfortable with all this. I am really enjoying this class and am very excited to be well practiced in OMM in the future. If you don’t know, learning OMM is what sets myself apart from M.D. physicians. So, as a D.O. physician I am learning everything an MD knows and MORE!!!!
After taking my test on Friday I had a 3 day weekend and started it off right by going out with all my classmates to celebrate surviving our hell week. On Saturday I got to hang out with the Godwin’s for Heather’s birthday and had a great time out in Hermosa Beach. Sunday I spent sleeping and Monday was spent studying. I was pretty fatigued and sick during hell week and then Monday I started to get serious respiratory infection symptoms.
I went back to school Tuesday to begin the week taking out a human eyeball and studying the ins and outs of the eye and its orbit. Then it was onto the neck. Wednesday afternoon I couldn’t handle it anymore and had to go home and went to the doctor. 500mg of daily antibiotics would do the trick… unfortunately, I missed a patient encounter on Thursday in which we started doing physical aspects of the exam as well as the patient history and Friday I missed the most dramatic labs of all, I missed the disarticulation of the head (to put it professionally). Ania came into town this weekend and unfortunately most of it was spent sleeping and studying. Though we did try going to October Fest on Saturday with dad, it failed. After resting up, I came into lab today to find Lucy’s head not attached to her body AND her face in a cross section (cut in half). I know this sounds gross but you would be amazed at how much you can learn from this cross section. Seeing the inside of the head and neck from the middle out makes everything so much more clear. It is awesome to see how everything fits together and why certain disease processes work the way they do.
For example, I had a major respiratory infection these past couple weeks (a pneumonia if you will). The infection in my lungs was also in my throat and sinus’ and because of a small hole in your throat on either side (the pharyngotympanic tube) the infection spread to my middle ear. This is why I had a headache and was also very dizzy and hazy for a while. I saw this tube in my cadaver today and other connections from the brain to the face and it made me realize even more how delicate our bodies are and how easily we can get hurt. The brain is soooo close to our eyeballs and our nose vasculature, etc, etc. I am amazed not more of us have massive infections or virus outbreaks that debilitate us completely. Not to all of you out there, popping zits in the skin around your nose (think broadly in the nose region) can end up in a brain infection because the blood supplying your nose is going straight to your brain. SO, DON’T squeeze pimples.
Anyways, I know I have been saying over and over that the cadaver business has been bugging me and that I would never get used to it but…..after walking into lab today and laughing off the fact that my lab-mates had to cut a head in half with a saw…I brushed it off and moved right into studying and learning the pharynx and larynx. I know this is not normal but for me, it is becoming normal. I am going to be a doctor, this is normal. I haven’t fainted once and I know I will not ever faint in anatomy lab (THIS IS OUR LAST WEEEEEEEEEK!) But, I can guarantee you I will faint in the hospital at least once. Seeing a LIVING person bleeding and cut open will be very different then a dead one laying on a silver slab.
So, after a weekend of studying for my midterm and fighting with Ania since she came to visit, I am ready for a nap. After a very very long day (Head and Neck Midterm this morning, Lab after that, volleyball game at lunch, anatomy quiz, lecture, lecture, some more lecture (until 5). I am ready to go home and start practicing my auscultation, palpatory, purcussive, and reflex techniques and then go to BED. Look those up if you don’t know what they mean. Oh, and I am counting down the days until Thursday! We are learning phlebotomy on each other! For all you non-science people, that means I get to stick my classmates with needles to make them bleed their own blood ☺
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