It has been very difficult to get back into the swing of things after mondays test. i swear it felt like a friday since i was studying all weekend and on campus on sunday!
on a good note, we got to take out and bag up all the internal organs in Lucy (we have started calling her Lucy since she has Ricki tattooed on her butt). Lucy smells better (better...but still not good). Tomorrow we get to saw off her leg. no seriously, we are dissecting one leg and dissecting through the pelvis of the other. loose your appetite yet?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Vicks vapor rub does not work
SO my last post was on Wednesday and a lot has happened since then. a lot of digging through cadaver fat and guts (this post is going to be hard on the stomach so i'll warn you upfront)....
Wednesday during lab we had the unique opportunity to split apart the upper abdomen by cutting a long line down the stomach and two horizontal cuts across. then we dug around to find the different muscles layers. After going through tons of fat (which is NOT like cutting through a piece of butter) we reached the inner organs. the GUTS. the best part about it is that we have the worst smelling person in the entire lab. no joking, one of our professors walked by and make the comment that our body looks pretty 'red and fresh' and that she 'most not be embalmed properly.' Take a second to visualize this, yes i know...GROSSSSSSS (it is Gross Anatomy, right?! haha) So here we are, 4 students around a very very smelly and pink body. Well, it actually ended up being 2..me and my dissecting partner Brendon. The other two couldnt stomach it. that made me feel like such a champ HAH. but i did have to walk out of the lab twice to stop myself from projective vommitting after getting several strong whiffs of poop and formaldehyde (we cut into the large intestine to look at structures....i wont describe this, it was pretty bad). Later in the week one of my lab partners brought in Vicks vapor rub to put underneath our nose to smell something over then body juices. i didnt think it worked very well but some other people liked it.
So after lab needless to say i was not hungry, but i ended up getting a sandwich for lunch and was able to eat just fine. I guess after going through all that and being able to eat means I am a good medical student :)
Thursday I got to sleep in a bit (8am...sweet!!) and then headed to school to study before class. In the afternoon I had my 3rd simulated patient encounter. A man around the age of 45. He was nice. It was nothing difficult, we just had to take a patient history and do a 'review of systems.' Then, i went to the lab to end my afternoon starring at dead bodies. Again, another regular Thursday afternoon.
Friday was an extremely overwhelming day. We had lab (digging through more fat to find small arteries that took forever to find) and then 3 lectures. Two new material powerpoints and a third 'review.' I left lecture in a nice panic and immediately drove home to get myself out of the school environment. I had a LOT to learn and review as our second exam was the upcoming Monday (yesterday!!)
Saturday and Sunday were spent responsively with my face in books and starring at powerpoint slides. I did take some time out to get lunch with dad on saturday and play some tennis. Boy was it nice to smash the hell out of those tennis balls and get out my stress and frustration!!
Then yesterday come around faster then i wanted it to! The exam was another combination of written clinical questions, image identifications, and then a lab practical in the afternoon. I thought the exam was pretty tough and the lab practical to be fair. Afterward, my classmates and I again celebrated by going to Characters Bar by school and then we went to a mexican restaurant for margaritas and dancing. It was a GREAT night...fun people, strong shots, and lots of dancing. Perfect way to end that pretty terrible monday.
Now it is back to the books. No rest for us, lab started up again at 9am today and lecture at 1. We also had OMM in the afternoon and learned some more manipulative techniques. Its a pretty relaxing class I must say.
Wednesday during lab we had the unique opportunity to split apart the upper abdomen by cutting a long line down the stomach and two horizontal cuts across. then we dug around to find the different muscles layers. After going through tons of fat (which is NOT like cutting through a piece of butter) we reached the inner organs. the GUTS. the best part about it is that we have the worst smelling person in the entire lab. no joking, one of our professors walked by and make the comment that our body looks pretty 'red and fresh' and that she 'most not be embalmed properly.' Take a second to visualize this, yes i know...GROSSSSSSS (it is Gross Anatomy, right?! haha) So here we are, 4 students around a very very smelly and pink body. Well, it actually ended up being 2..me and my dissecting partner Brendon. The other two couldnt stomach it. that made me feel like such a champ HAH. but i did have to walk out of the lab twice to stop myself from projective vommitting after getting several strong whiffs of poop and formaldehyde (we cut into the large intestine to look at structures....i wont describe this, it was pretty bad). Later in the week one of my lab partners brought in Vicks vapor rub to put underneath our nose to smell something over then body juices. i didnt think it worked very well but some other people liked it.
So after lab needless to say i was not hungry, but i ended up getting a sandwich for lunch and was able to eat just fine. I guess after going through all that and being able to eat means I am a good medical student :)
Thursday I got to sleep in a bit (8am...sweet!!) and then headed to school to study before class. In the afternoon I had my 3rd simulated patient encounter. A man around the age of 45. He was nice. It was nothing difficult, we just had to take a patient history and do a 'review of systems.' Then, i went to the lab to end my afternoon starring at dead bodies. Again, another regular Thursday afternoon.
Friday was an extremely overwhelming day. We had lab (digging through more fat to find small arteries that took forever to find) and then 3 lectures. Two new material powerpoints and a third 'review.' I left lecture in a nice panic and immediately drove home to get myself out of the school environment. I had a LOT to learn and review as our second exam was the upcoming Monday (yesterday!!)
Saturday and Sunday were spent responsively with my face in books and starring at powerpoint slides. I did take some time out to get lunch with dad on saturday and play some tennis. Boy was it nice to smash the hell out of those tennis balls and get out my stress and frustration!!
Then yesterday come around faster then i wanted it to! The exam was another combination of written clinical questions, image identifications, and then a lab practical in the afternoon. I thought the exam was pretty tough and the lab practical to be fair. Afterward, my classmates and I again celebrated by going to Characters Bar by school and then we went to a mexican restaurant for margaritas and dancing. It was a GREAT night...fun people, strong shots, and lots of dancing. Perfect way to end that pretty terrible monday.
Now it is back to the books. No rest for us, lab started up again at 9am today and lecture at 1. We also had OMM in the afternoon and learned some more manipulative techniques. Its a pretty relaxing class I must say.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Not a great day...
today was the most disgusting day of dissections so far. i walked out of the lab twice and was pretty sure i was gonna pass out/ vomit but i didnt. i put on a brave face. i would love to write about the details but will have to save it for another night as i have a ridiculous amount of material to cram into my already full brain. sweeeeeeet
Monday, September 7, 2009
Week 4: Holding a human heart, no big deal
Wednesday was my birthday and I was blessed with no anatomy lab. Instead, we were in the lecture hall for most of the day. What I thought would be a nice break from the lab turned into a very dull day that made me actually miss dissecting (well not so much the dissecting as more the finding and reviewing actual anatomy versus pictures on powerpoints). We finished up around 4 and some friends took me out to get Thai food. This was my first time eating Thia (everyone was shocked to hear this as I am apparently the last remaining person on earth to have eaten this type of cuisine) and after a great meal we all branched off to study. I went home and hung out with dad for a while and got about an hour of studying in before I feel asleep around 10:30. I tried to make up for this by waking up very early the next day and getting to school to review in the morning.
Thursday we dissected out the heart in the morning and in the afternoon we had ECM. This week we brought in our materials and got to ‘learn’ how to use them. I am pretty competent at taking blood pressures but everything else I am going to need a LOT of practice on. This coming week we have another patient encounter. We are perfecting the art of taking a comprehensive patient history and this time will be timed both seeing the patient and then after as we fill out their ‘chart.’
Looking back at my posts, I realized I haven’t really mentioned our Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) class yet. We have it every Tuesday from 1 to 5 and this is where we get to learn the special techniques osteopathic doctors use. We are still learning the basics of what is ‘normal’ and how we can determine it, so we haven’t really gotten into the cool stuff yet.
Friday was a shorter day which I filled by going to the anatomy lab and reviewing everything we had learned that week. I spent the night with my second family and started off a relaxing labor day weekend J
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Well, I passed!
After an agonizing afternoon of thinking I failed because I read my score as a percent rather then the total number of points I gained....i realized my mistake at about 2am that next morning while i was in a 'must get an A on my next exam' study session. I put myself through hell for nothing, but hey...now i know what it feels like to fail an exam, even though I actually did just fine. Dont get be wrong, I probably should/could have done waaay better but passing and getting minimally above the average is good for me for right now :) This whole med school thing is pretty damn tough i SWEAR! annnnd, that grade was only for the written portion, our lab practical hasnt been graded yet (insert nervous laughter here)
So monday group A dissected until 11am and then we only had one lecture from 1 to 2 so i found it to be the perfect 'at home study day' :) it was nice to spend time with alissa and kristin and give kk a big hug before she took of to switzerland to play volleyball like the champ she is. today (Tuesday), i came in to lab and took out our cadaver's lungs...just another tuesday in my life.
oh, did i mention that she has fake acrylic nails? Yeah, and they are painted bright pink. How the hell am I supposed to put it out of my mind that she is a actual person when I can see her nails like that? Also, while observing/learning about the lungs and thoracic cavity, we discovered many tumors all over her. They are calcified tumors which means they were actually boney tissue growing on her diaphragm and thoracic wall. Also, her lungs were so congested from heart failure...this poor lady suffered so much before she passed, its hard to learn about the pathology without thinking about that side of the science.
On a lighter note, my birthday is tomorrow. number 24 I think…
p.s. i hate my kitten at the moment because he is not my friend anymore and is a pretty wild beast, im thinking of letting him explore the great outdoors....just to see if he can come back alive or at least in one piece. just kidding.....not really....
So monday group A dissected until 11am and then we only had one lecture from 1 to 2 so i found it to be the perfect 'at home study day' :) it was nice to spend time with alissa and kristin and give kk a big hug before she took of to switzerland to play volleyball like the champ she is. today (Tuesday), i came in to lab and took out our cadaver's lungs...just another tuesday in my life.
oh, did i mention that she has fake acrylic nails? Yeah, and they are painted bright pink. How the hell am I supposed to put it out of my mind that she is a actual person when I can see her nails like that? Also, while observing/learning about the lungs and thoracic cavity, we discovered many tumors all over her. They are calcified tumors which means they were actually boney tissue growing on her diaphragm and thoracic wall. Also, her lungs were so congested from heart failure...this poor lady suffered so much before she passed, its hard to learn about the pathology without thinking about that side of the science.
On a lighter note, my birthday is tomorrow. number 24 I think…
p.s. i hate my kitten at the moment because he is not my friend anymore and is a pretty wild beast, im thinking of letting him explore the great outdoors....just to see if he can come back alive or at least in one piece. just kidding.....not really....
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Class of 2013- 1, Gross Anatomy- 0 (debatable i guess...)
ITS OVER!!! The first exam of my medical school career is over :) And yes, it was very hard but i got through it! The best part was the the last couple days leading up to the exam we received a ridiculous amount of new material to learn (that was going to be on the exam) and it was the hardest information to learn yet. There are 19 muscles in the forearm ALONE, and don't get me starting on your hand...lets just say the human body is incredible but god does it suck having to memorize all of it!
The test was in two parts, Friday morning we all had assigned seats in the lecutre hall and had a written exam that was 50 questions. Also, during the exam there was a powerpoint being flashed (15 slides, 2 min per slide) and we had to identify landmarks on bones and some MRIs, CT scans and X rays. We were given from 9:30 to 12 to take it. Then in the afternoon the class was split into groups of 25 people and all of us had a certain time to take our lab practical. This was intense! Me and 24 other people went at 1:30 and our cadevers had been 'pinned' with structures to identify. We were given 1 minute per question with a timer and very strict order to walk around the room. To clarify, it wasnt just our own cadevers it was everyones so memorizing one is not efficient, plus, everyone has anamolies (2 nerves of something instead of one or no palmaris longus muscle, etc).
I know I mentioned my cadaver before but I have learned more details about her since the beginning. She died at 60, like i said earlier, from kidney cancer and she has a tattoo of someone's name on her butt (sorry for the technical term). Also, she has a pacemaker!! I am very excited because this week we are studying the heart so i am excited to see how the pacemaker was put in and where it is going. Also, last week we had to dissect the breasts and another groups cadaver had breast implants, that was cool too!
Back to the exam, I was done at 2 and from there my classmates and I had planned to all meet at Characters bar which is about 25 feet from the anatomy lab right off campus. It was a great afternoon even though many of us were drinking away our worries about the test!
Yesterday was another day of celebration at a friends house. It was a 'black tie event' and everyone was dressed up and looking classy. It was a LOT of fun. Now im just gonna sit because tomorrow is another day of anatomy which means a lot of info coming at me!
Oh, and another thing this week was another patient encounter day! I leanred how to take a patient history and practiced on one of our actors. I was given 20 minutes and had to fill out a paper as we spoke. Then, we had 10 minutes to get feedback from the actor. Mine told me I did excellent and that I was going to be a great doctor :) It was a good day!
The test was in two parts, Friday morning we all had assigned seats in the lecutre hall and had a written exam that was 50 questions. Also, during the exam there was a powerpoint being flashed (15 slides, 2 min per slide) and we had to identify landmarks on bones and some MRIs, CT scans and X rays. We were given from 9:30 to 12 to take it. Then in the afternoon the class was split into groups of 25 people and all of us had a certain time to take our lab practical. This was intense! Me and 24 other people went at 1:30 and our cadevers had been 'pinned' with structures to identify. We were given 1 minute per question with a timer and very strict order to walk around the room. To clarify, it wasnt just our own cadevers it was everyones so memorizing one is not efficient, plus, everyone has anamolies (2 nerves of something instead of one or no palmaris longus muscle, etc).
I know I mentioned my cadaver before but I have learned more details about her since the beginning. She died at 60, like i said earlier, from kidney cancer and she has a tattoo of someone's name on her butt (sorry for the technical term). Also, she has a pacemaker!! I am very excited because this week we are studying the heart so i am excited to see how the pacemaker was put in and where it is going. Also, last week we had to dissect the breasts and another groups cadaver had breast implants, that was cool too!
Back to the exam, I was done at 2 and from there my classmates and I had planned to all meet at Characters bar which is about 25 feet from the anatomy lab right off campus. It was a great afternoon even though many of us were drinking away our worries about the test!
Yesterday was another day of celebration at a friends house. It was a 'black tie event' and everyone was dressed up and looking classy. It was a LOT of fun. Now im just gonna sit because tomorrow is another day of anatomy which means a lot of info coming at me!
Oh, and another thing this week was another patient encounter day! I leanred how to take a patient history and practiced on one of our actors. I was given 20 minutes and had to fill out a paper as we spoke. Then, we had 10 minutes to get feedback from the actor. Mine told me I did excellent and that I was going to be a great doctor :) It was a good day!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
We're starting to crack...
A facebook status update from a classmate...
"...is starting to feel like hannibal lecter...if i have to skin my body anymore im gonna start telling people to put the lotion in the basket"
-AB
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