Freaking In Is Permitted

Mood: Content
Music: Motion City Soundtrack, "Commit This to Memory"
Medicine: Posterior/Superior Mediastinum (internal chest) and Embryology

This week has been incredibly long. I don't mean long in the sense that it took forever to conclude, but long because I haven't really had time to take a break... this week has definitely been one long study session. Of course, I did take breaks to laugh and joke around, play ping pong, go for a couple runs, exercise, and eat... but in between it's been all studying for Anatomy! The good news is that I really enjoy the material :)

"Freaking out is not allowed. Freaking in... is permitted." Dr. Leonard, our extraordinary Anatomy professor, expressed these words of wisdom at the start of the week. He has an odd personality, but he is amazing. He is a great teacher, and extremely willing to help, with the added benefit of actually being helpful.

The book that we are basing our entire anatomical knowledge on was written by Dr. Leonard. A common expression between us: "Is it in the bible? Then you need to know it." His book is our bible. Which, according to the MS2 class, we will be able to recite by memory at the end of the year. All 450 pages of it. No pictures. All words. In 7 months. I can see it happening. We've been studying anatomy for 2 weeks now, and already I know an intense amount of information. I have literally had to study all day every single day. This week, I've woken up at 8 (at latest) every morning, and finally went to bed at 1 am (at the earliest). I think I'm averaging 6 hours of sleep per day. Not too shabby.

I did have a mini "freak out" earlier this week, in fact yesterday. I was thinking about all the information I still hadn't mastered, the text I haven't even looked at, and how little time I have to accomplish my studying. But true, freaking out is not permitted by Dr. Leonard, and for good reason. You start losing your ability to function, you read the same sentence twenty times, freak out even more when you realize you don't remember what you covered not even 20 minutes ago. Studying for anatomy can be a mess. But when you have a moment of clarity and understanding (freaking in), it's well worth it. I just have to keep freaking in.

I'll talk a little bit about my dissection I guess. My partner and I this week worked on the superior and posterior mediastinum. Most of my time was spent dissecting out the different branches of the bronchi in the lungs on Tuesday, and Wednesday my partner and I worked on cleaning and dissecting out the vessels, nerves, and tracts. Everything is stuffed into the thoracic cavity in a very organized manner. I think the hardest part was trying to visualize the vessels as they crossed over each other anteriorly, posteriorly, medially, laterally, or whatever. Winding around each other in what seems like complete disorder. In fact, one nerve, the recurrent laryngeal nerve, has the most unnecessary pathway in reaching the larynx: it extends from the brain, travels down the side of the vagus nerve to the heart, realizes it missed the larynx entirely (duh, it's in the throat), curves back around the aortic arch, and moves superiorly back to its destination. There is no reason for the nerve to take this path all the way to the heart. In fact, giraffes have this same nerve, and it must travel the length of the neck, flip around the aorta, then traverse the long journey back up the neck to the larynx. What the hell. Yet, every human body seems to share the commonalities of these branched pathways. Amazing.

At this point, cadavers have no effect whatsoever on me. I waltz right into the lab, grab my tools, walk over to the body, open it up, and start dissecting. No problem. I spent about a half hour in lab on Tuesday night finishing up my lung dissection, without anyone else. It wasn't strange at all. Just so commonplace now...

Okay, so I have to continue studying Embryology (4 more lectures to go). But before I go, let me mention that Motion City Soundtrack is awesome. I haven't listened to them in a while. I picked up their album, "Commit This To Memory" and now I can't stop listening. Great lyrics. Great rhythm. The drummer has really catchy beats. The guitars harmonize perfectly. The synthesizer amplifies the tone of each song. And the vocals bring everything full circle. His voice is an instrument within itself. Every single song on the CD is golden! So addicting. You need some synth/pop punk every now and then.

Alright, back to Anatomy. Keepin' it real.

"I choose to abuse for the time being, maybe I'll win but for now I've decided to die"