Mood: Relaxed
Music: Young the Giant - "Cough Syrup"
Medicine: Respiratory Physiology
This entire week has been devoted to physiology. And rightly so, seeing as it was neglected for so long before Anatomy ended! Now, I'm usually a fan of physiology, but I just want to say that the minute nuances explored throughout respiratory physiology are PAINSTAKING. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But it's painful. Then again, once I get it down, I'm sure I'll feel like a master. This book learning is a very important foundation. I could go for the passing grade, since essentially that's all that will be seen by future residency programs when I apply after these four years (well, 3 and a half now). But you know what? No. I want to know this stuff so I can actually be a good doctor. I don't want to miss a diagnosis. Shuffle a patient off to another specialist. I'm going to be good at what I do. And it starts here.
This week was more interesting, as we were given a break from the purely lecture based learning to explore a respiratory simulation and ultrasound. The simulation was fantastic. Basically, the simulations comprise of several medical students surrounding a simulation dummy. Let's call him Jim Bob. No idea why. Anyhow, Jim Bob has a certain physical ailment that we need to diagnose based on his symptoms, his history, and examination findings. We ran through several different commonly seen scenarios that a patient might encounter when facing a respiratory crisis; such as asthma, fluid in the lungs, a collapsed lung, and a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). This last one was amazing. Though we don't know much about which drugs to push in certain situations, it was exciting to hear Jim Bob explain (yes, he talks to you) how he was feeling, the swelling he had in his legs, and how he was now having difficulty breathing. Immediately my mind jumped to the pulmonary embolism. A clot in his leg must have broken loose, and shuffled its way to his lungs. And, sure enough, as I predicted, once the embolus (clot) passed through his lungs and into his heart, and lodged in a coronary artery, he started to crash. Now, it wasn't particularly exciting to see that Jim Bob was going into ventricular fibrillations (heart attack), but it WAS exciting knowing that I had predicted the outcome with my extensive (okay, very limited) knowledge of physiology. Awesome! I'm definitely looking forward to interventional medicine!
As for the Ultrasound, that was quite amazing as well. Though it's hard to visualize the lungs, since they're full of air and ultrasound doesn't sense this very well, we learned what to look for to rule out a collapsed lung, blood in the lungs, fluid in the lungs, or pleurisy. Most of it was looking at artifacts to determine these potential problems. It's exciting to think we're starting on ultrasound so early. Many of the fourth years just started it, but with our new curriculum, they've introduced ultrasound to us in the first year. We're going to be experts by the time we graduate!
Alright, I have the physiology test on Tuesday that I really need to focus on. About 5 more lectures of material to cover, then I need to review like a madman. Do madmen review?
"If I could find a way to see this straight, I'd run away, to some fortune that I should have found by now"
Friday, February 18, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Something Better Left Unknown
Mood: Contemplative
Music: Metric - "Gimme Sympathy"
Medicine: Respiratory Physiology
I think it's time for another song interpretation!
----
"Gimme Sympathy" - Metric
Get hot, get too close to the flame
Wild open space
Talk like an open book, sign me up
Got no time to take a picture
I'll remember someday, all the chances we took
Chorus:
We're so close to something better left unknown
I can feel it in my bones
Gimme sympathy
After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be?
The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?
Oh, seriously, you're gonna make mistakes, you're young
Come on baby, play me something
Like, "Here comes the sun"
Don't go, stay with the all-unknown
Stay away from the hooks
All the chances we took
Chorus
----
It's a really simple message, to me. You can interpret it a couple different ways, in fact, I believe it was written to describe the upward direction the band took in going from an indie band with a small following, to a more successful band, that branched out to the more popular side of music.
But I like this interpretation...
The opening line is about that intense feeling you share with someone else. You pour your heart out, talk like an open book, and it leaves you wanting more.
Things move quickly, but there's no time to stop and think about it, about getting burnt. You give your all, put your heart on the line. You take the risk.
It's almost better to leave it be, to put your guard up, to avoid getting hurt. It's almost better to walk away, because you'll most likely just end up getting hurt. But you want it... you can feel it to your very core. You can feel it in your bones. Sympathy here could be used as if to say, "Sympathize with me." As in, I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and that you feel it too.
This is my favorite part of the song. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are obviously very influential bands. To me, however, the Rolling Stones represent a relationship that comes into your life, that you remember and cherish, but it doesn't last your entire life. The Beatles, of course, were bigger than the Rolling Stones. They represent the person you want to share your entire life with. Who would you rather be? Give it a shot, don't be afraid to take a chance. You're young, you're going to make mistakes. With the last line of the chorus, the singer's basically saying: "show me that you're that person." Metaphorically, play me a song by the Beatles.
This is the tipping point, where you're thinking about it. Do you stick around with all that's unknown about the future? Do you avoid getting hooked? Even with all the chances you've taken, it's hard to decide
I doubt that's as detailed as the song was intended to be, but I like lyrics that evoke feelings from within. Lyrics full of emotion and depth. In any case, hope you enjoyed my take on the song!
"Come on baby, play me something like, 'Here comes the sun'"
Music: Metric - "Gimme Sympathy"
Medicine: Respiratory Physiology
I think it's time for another song interpretation!
----
"Gimme Sympathy" - Metric
Get hot, get too close to the flame
Wild open space
Talk like an open book, sign me up
Got no time to take a picture
I'll remember someday, all the chances we took
Chorus:
We're so close to something better left unknown
I can feel it in my bones
Gimme sympathy
After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be?
The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?
Oh, seriously, you're gonna make mistakes, you're young
Come on baby, play me something
Like, "Here comes the sun"
Don't go, stay with the all-unknown
Stay away from the hooks
All the chances we took
Chorus
----
It's a really simple message, to me. You can interpret it a couple different ways, in fact, I believe it was written to describe the upward direction the band took in going from an indie band with a small following, to a more successful band, that branched out to the more popular side of music.
But I like this interpretation...
Get hot, get too close to the flame. Wild open space. Talk like an open book, sign me up.
The opening line is about that intense feeling you share with someone else. You pour your heart out, talk like an open book, and it leaves you wanting more.
Got no time to take a picture, I'll remember someday all the chances we took.
Things move quickly, but there's no time to stop and think about it, about getting burnt. You give your all, put your heart on the line. You take the risk.
We're so close to something better left unknown. I can feel it in my bones. Gimme sympathy.
It's almost better to leave it be, to put your guard up, to avoid getting hurt. It's almost better to walk away, because you'll most likely just end up getting hurt. But you want it... you can feel it to your very core. You can feel it in your bones. Sympathy here could be used as if to say, "Sympathize with me." As in, I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and that you feel it too.
After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be? The Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Oh, seriously, you're gonna make mistakes, you're young. Come on baby, play me something like, "Here comes the sun"
This is my favorite part of the song. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are obviously very influential bands. To me, however, the Rolling Stones represent a relationship that comes into your life, that you remember and cherish, but it doesn't last your entire life. The Beatles, of course, were bigger than the Rolling Stones. They represent the person you want to share your entire life with. Who would you rather be? Give it a shot, don't be afraid to take a chance. You're young, you're going to make mistakes. With the last line of the chorus, the singer's basically saying: "show me that you're that person." Metaphorically, play me a song by the Beatles.
Don't go, stay with the all-unknown, stay away from the hooks, all the chances we took.
This is the tipping point, where you're thinking about it. Do you stick around with all that's unknown about the future? Do you avoid getting hooked? Even with all the chances you've taken, it's hard to decide
I doubt that's as detailed as the song was intended to be, but I like lyrics that evoke feelings from within. Lyrics full of emotion and depth. In any case, hope you enjoyed my take on the song!
"Come on baby, play me something like, 'Here comes the sun'"
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Long Week
Mood: Relieved
Music: Cage the Elephant - "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"
Medicine: Anatomy: Pelvic Cavity
This last week (maybe about two weeks ago at this point?), I sawed off a leg. I bisected the pelvic cavity right down the middle, spliced through the center of the abdominal aorta and the sacrum/lumbar spine, and cut the abdomen transversely down the level of the 3rd lumbar spine. Out of all the other times I've dissected, this by far took the cake as being the most disturbingly disgusting cut ever.
It may seem strange to you (or maybe not, if you're into this stuff like I am), but I was initially excited by the task: really, it isn't every day you are allowed to chop off a leg from another human body!
But let me tell you something; it is not pretty when you have to chop the rectum, the bladder, and the vagina RIGHT down the center.
The dissection started out great; the abdominal contents (namely, the GI tract w/ liver, spleen, and pancreas) had already been cut free from vessels and connective tissue, so those were easy to move out away from the pelvis, to give us plenty of room to work. This revealed the floor of the pelvis: with a transverse slice of the rectum (this was done earlier to detach the GI tract) and the urinary bladder, along with a eclectic mix of blood vessels, tubes, and nerves (iliacs, ureters, obturators, yada yada). Our lady had had a hysterectomy, and thus no uterus. Immediately we knew our task: saw the pubic symphysis, the rectum, and the bladder right down the middle. This was expected, so when we opened up the bladder to see urine, I wasn't too surprised. The rectum was a little different, but I still wasn't extraordinarily surprised. It was gross, but expected nonetheless. Using a scalpel, I deftly bisected the rectum and the bladder. I might say, I did pretty damn good too ;) The urethra was completely preserved. The cut revealed the tube traversing down its entire length to the external urethral opening. I'm awesome. And as morbid as it may sound, sawing the pelvic symphysis down the center was extremely satisfying. By the way, I am not a mass murderer. Just saying. Don't you judge me!
Then came the part that caught me by surprise. Sorry, if you don't want to be grossed out, you should probably avoid reading this next paragraph. If you're bold enough, read on!
First off, it was no surprise that i would have to cut our female cadaver's vagina right down the center. That was a given. But let me paint you a slightly more vivid picture so you can imagine what I was dealing with: our cadaver is a 200+ lb woman who apparently wasn't very big on hygiene. At least on her lady parts. To avoid getting too graphic, we'll just say that the "juice"from her "juicebox" had remained in place after she had deceased. Initially, I was blissfully unaware of this fact. I was using my scalpel blade to cut through the tissue, you know, through the center, and I paused for a moment to take a breather. Inadvertently, I rested my scalpel blade on the labia majora... and it scraped the side. I glanced down at the scalpel to see some dry, white, sticky powder of some sort on the blade. I thought it may have been skin at first. "Why is it so white?" I said aloud. Oh. OH. It wasn't skin at ALL. She had a thin white filmy layer on the surface of her lady parts. Yeast? Excretions? I don't know. I'm trying not to think about it.
With that, I must say my hat goes off to all the nurses and doctors in OB/GYN.
After finishing with the "chopping the leg off" part, it was really cool dissecting out the vessels. It's frustrating EVERY time, because you have to clear the fat away, you have to go digging for the right path of the vessels without slicing them up, and it definitely isn't instant gratification. But with a little patience, all of your hard work pays off. And you forget how annoying it was in the first place.
---
So, I wrote the above last week, and have been meaning to complete it, but of course anatomy consumed all of my time up until this point. Took the test this morning, and I'm so. so. SO relieved to be done. And I am also oh so very tired from the experience. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open as I write this. But before I wrap up for the night, I wanted to describe this past week before the anatomy exam. Let's start with Tuesday, because honestly, that's when it gets nuts. As in seminiferous tubules.
Tuesday
This was one of the harshest days of the week, as far as scheduling goes. I may have gotten about 3 or 4 hours of studying done this day. But let me explain. I woke up at 8 am to head over to the lab, where I was to present my previously mentioned dissection to my classmates. This is an informal process, usually, as we walk through the list of things to identify, show everyone what we dissected, explain why our dissection is good, and mention other cadavers with other great dissections that should be visited. With each dissection, we must present to three different groups. It's good, because by the end of the day, we have the anatomy of our cadaver down to a tee.
A little aside, "Down to a tee" is an abridged version of an old English phrase, "down to a tittle," which means "to the smallest detail". Thought you might want to know. I just googled it since I was curious (oh my distracted mind)...
Anyhow, around 11:30 am I had to extricate myself to change out of my scrubs, run over to my car, change into a suit IN my car, and then run over to a meeting at 12:00 pm with the Flying Sams. Why a suit, you may ask? Well, every Tuesday we have a class called "Clinical Foundations," in which we learn how to examine and interact with patients. It's quite fun, actually. It makes me feel like I'm actually training to become a real doctor. Who'd have thought. So, shortly before the meeting at noon ended (around 12:40), I had to excuse myself yet again, scarf down a sandwich, and run to the main medical educations building to prepare for Clinical Foundations (CF). It was the week for my group to present the physical examination. This is actually kind of a big deal: there are 9 different groups, and each time we learn some new examination, a groups explains to the rest of the class how to perform the physical examination. In other words, we have to know our stuff and not mess up. On a sort of teleconference, we were streamed live to our classmates showing how to perform observation, auscultation, palpation, and percussion of the thoracic wall to appreciate lung sounds. It sounds all fancy and stuff, but really you're just listening to a person breath, feeling for an abnormal masses in the chest and back, tapping their chest, and comparing different sounds of the lungs. But still, it was unnerving to perform live in front of our class on the techniques of the physical examination. I was pretty nervous, but from what Jim told me, it sounds like I did okay. I think I blacked out, because I don't remember much of my explanation.
Alright, so that brings us to about 2:00 pm. From then until 4:00 pm, we saw patients and practiced eliciting information effectively (the art of medicine). After CF, I had a little time to organize my thoughts and study, but then darted off to the gym for a rowing class at 5:30 pm. That definitely revitalized me. After the class ended, I grabbed a quick bite to eat, devoured it tenaciously, and embarked on my journey to the anatomy lab once again. From 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm I was tutored by second years. During this time, they run through a list of things we need to identify using different cadavers. They have mnemonics, tips, and tricks, so it's definitely helpful to attend!
Finally, from 9 until about 12, I studied. Whew. What a day. Onto the next.
Wednesday- Friday
Altogether, I think I clocked in an entire 40 hours work week of studying. Easily. Nearly 8am-1am every day (with a couple breaks to run errands, off course). Let's just say I lived off coffee. But I only spent about 7 hours in lab over the span of three days, surprisingly. Saturday makes up for that.
Saturday
Spent the morning in the lab. It was actually surprisingly fun. The other med students are absolutely amazing; everyone is witty, smart, and gracious. They are willing to help, make hilarious wisecracks that keep you sane, and are extremely good at explaining and understanding all the information we've had to cram into our heads. Several times throughout the day, I heard a couple people say that they love medical school. And I echo their fondness. As difficult as the days get, this is the most amazing experience I have ever had in my life. I count my blessings that I have been so lucky to be in this position.
Anyhow, we listened to music (from alternative rock to house beats) while identifying anatomical parts from 8 to noon. Then, Jim and I went out to grab some lunch, and promptly jetted back to the lab for another 3 more hours. After that, it was cram/study time. After spending that time in the lab, I was able to cram in another 6-7 hours before my brain shut down.
Sunday
Woke up around 9:30, had a nice leisurely morning, then back to campus. Though I had been studying with my usual group over the past week, we all seemed to study on our own this last day. Mostly because we all knew exactly what we needed to study, and when you're getting down to the grindstone, you're studying specifics that others don't need to focus on. So, we focused on our own stuff. I bailed out early (around 7 pm) to exercise, make myself a good dinner, then focus for another 3-4 hours before I called it a night.
And that brings us to the test, and then to right now. The test went well. 8:30-10 was the written, 10:15-11:45 was the practical in lab. After the test, I took care of some errands, took a nap, played some racquetball, and took it easy. It was well deserved after such a long week.
Welp, now it's off to sleep, so I can wake up tomorrow morning and start cramming for all the Physiology that I've neglected due to Anatomy.
"Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good"
Music: Cage the Elephant - "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"
Medicine: Anatomy: Pelvic Cavity
This last week (maybe about two weeks ago at this point?), I sawed off a leg. I bisected the pelvic cavity right down the middle, spliced through the center of the abdominal aorta and the sacrum/lumbar spine, and cut the abdomen transversely down the level of the 3rd lumbar spine. Out of all the other times I've dissected, this by far took the cake as being the most disturbingly disgusting cut ever.
It may seem strange to you (or maybe not, if you're into this stuff like I am), but I was initially excited by the task: really, it isn't every day you are allowed to chop off a leg from another human body!
But let me tell you something; it is not pretty when you have to chop the rectum, the bladder, and the vagina RIGHT down the center.
The dissection started out great; the abdominal contents (namely, the GI tract w/ liver, spleen, and pancreas) had already been cut free from vessels and connective tissue, so those were easy to move out away from the pelvis, to give us plenty of room to work. This revealed the floor of the pelvis: with a transverse slice of the rectum (this was done earlier to detach the GI tract) and the urinary bladder, along with a eclectic mix of blood vessels, tubes, and nerves (iliacs, ureters, obturators, yada yada). Our lady had had a hysterectomy, and thus no uterus. Immediately we knew our task: saw the pubic symphysis, the rectum, and the bladder right down the middle. This was expected, so when we opened up the bladder to see urine, I wasn't too surprised. The rectum was a little different, but I still wasn't extraordinarily surprised. It was gross, but expected nonetheless. Using a scalpel, I deftly bisected the rectum and the bladder. I might say, I did pretty damn good too ;) The urethra was completely preserved. The cut revealed the tube traversing down its entire length to the external urethral opening. I'm awesome. And as morbid as it may sound, sawing the pelvic symphysis down the center was extremely satisfying. By the way, I am not a mass murderer. Just saying. Don't you judge me!
Then came the part that caught me by surprise. Sorry, if you don't want to be grossed out, you should probably avoid reading this next paragraph. If you're bold enough, read on!
First off, it was no surprise that i would have to cut our female cadaver's vagina right down the center. That was a given. But let me paint you a slightly more vivid picture so you can imagine what I was dealing with: our cadaver is a 200+ lb woman who apparently wasn't very big on hygiene. At least on her lady parts. To avoid getting too graphic, we'll just say that the "juice"from her "juicebox" had remained in place after she had deceased. Initially, I was blissfully unaware of this fact. I was using my scalpel blade to cut through the tissue, you know, through the center, and I paused for a moment to take a breather. Inadvertently, I rested my scalpel blade on the labia majora... and it scraped the side. I glanced down at the scalpel to see some dry, white, sticky powder of some sort on the blade. I thought it may have been skin at first. "Why is it so white?" I said aloud. Oh. OH. It wasn't skin at ALL. She had a thin white filmy layer on the surface of her lady parts. Yeast? Excretions? I don't know. I'm trying not to think about it.
With that, I must say my hat goes off to all the nurses and doctors in OB/GYN.
After finishing with the "chopping the leg off" part, it was really cool dissecting out the vessels. It's frustrating EVERY time, because you have to clear the fat away, you have to go digging for the right path of the vessels without slicing them up, and it definitely isn't instant gratification. But with a little patience, all of your hard work pays off. And you forget how annoying it was in the first place.
---
So, I wrote the above last week, and have been meaning to complete it, but of course anatomy consumed all of my time up until this point. Took the test this morning, and I'm so. so. SO relieved to be done. And I am also oh so very tired from the experience. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open as I write this. But before I wrap up for the night, I wanted to describe this past week before the anatomy exam. Let's start with Tuesday, because honestly, that's when it gets nuts. As in seminiferous tubules.
Tuesday
This was one of the harshest days of the week, as far as scheduling goes. I may have gotten about 3 or 4 hours of studying done this day. But let me explain. I woke up at 8 am to head over to the lab, where I was to present my previously mentioned dissection to my classmates. This is an informal process, usually, as we walk through the list of things to identify, show everyone what we dissected, explain why our dissection is good, and mention other cadavers with other great dissections that should be visited. With each dissection, we must present to three different groups. It's good, because by the end of the day, we have the anatomy of our cadaver down to a tee.
A little aside, "Down to a tee" is an abridged version of an old English phrase, "down to a tittle," which means "to the smallest detail". Thought you might want to know. I just googled it since I was curious (oh my distracted mind)...
Anyhow, around 11:30 am I had to extricate myself to change out of my scrubs, run over to my car, change into a suit IN my car, and then run over to a meeting at 12:00 pm with the Flying Sams. Why a suit, you may ask? Well, every Tuesday we have a class called "Clinical Foundations," in which we learn how to examine and interact with patients. It's quite fun, actually. It makes me feel like I'm actually training to become a real doctor. Who'd have thought. So, shortly before the meeting at noon ended (around 12:40), I had to excuse myself yet again, scarf down a sandwich, and run to the main medical educations building to prepare for Clinical Foundations (CF). It was the week for my group to present the physical examination. This is actually kind of a big deal: there are 9 different groups, and each time we learn some new examination, a groups explains to the rest of the class how to perform the physical examination. In other words, we have to know our stuff and not mess up. On a sort of teleconference, we were streamed live to our classmates showing how to perform observation, auscultation, palpation, and percussion of the thoracic wall to appreciate lung sounds. It sounds all fancy and stuff, but really you're just listening to a person breath, feeling for an abnormal masses in the chest and back, tapping their chest, and comparing different sounds of the lungs. But still, it was unnerving to perform live in front of our class on the techniques of the physical examination. I was pretty nervous, but from what Jim told me, it sounds like I did okay. I think I blacked out, because I don't remember much of my explanation.
Alright, so that brings us to about 2:00 pm. From then until 4:00 pm, we saw patients and practiced eliciting information effectively (the art of medicine). After CF, I had a little time to organize my thoughts and study, but then darted off to the gym for a rowing class at 5:30 pm. That definitely revitalized me. After the class ended, I grabbed a quick bite to eat, devoured it tenaciously, and embarked on my journey to the anatomy lab once again. From 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm I was tutored by second years. During this time, they run through a list of things we need to identify using different cadavers. They have mnemonics, tips, and tricks, so it's definitely helpful to attend!
Finally, from 9 until about 12, I studied. Whew. What a day. Onto the next.
Wednesday- Friday
Altogether, I think I clocked in an entire 40 hours work week of studying. Easily. Nearly 8am-1am every day (with a couple breaks to run errands, off course). Let's just say I lived off coffee. But I only spent about 7 hours in lab over the span of three days, surprisingly. Saturday makes up for that.
Saturday
Spent the morning in the lab. It was actually surprisingly fun. The other med students are absolutely amazing; everyone is witty, smart, and gracious. They are willing to help, make hilarious wisecracks that keep you sane, and are extremely good at explaining and understanding all the information we've had to cram into our heads. Several times throughout the day, I heard a couple people say that they love medical school. And I echo their fondness. As difficult as the days get, this is the most amazing experience I have ever had in my life. I count my blessings that I have been so lucky to be in this position.
Anyhow, we listened to music (from alternative rock to house beats) while identifying anatomical parts from 8 to noon. Then, Jim and I went out to grab some lunch, and promptly jetted back to the lab for another 3 more hours. After that, it was cram/study time. After spending that time in the lab, I was able to cram in another 6-7 hours before my brain shut down.
Sunday
Woke up around 9:30, had a nice leisurely morning, then back to campus. Though I had been studying with my usual group over the past week, we all seemed to study on our own this last day. Mostly because we all knew exactly what we needed to study, and when you're getting down to the grindstone, you're studying specifics that others don't need to focus on. So, we focused on our own stuff. I bailed out early (around 7 pm) to exercise, make myself a good dinner, then focus for another 3-4 hours before I called it a night.
And that brings us to the test, and then to right now. The test went well. 8:30-10 was the written, 10:15-11:45 was the practical in lab. After the test, I took care of some errands, took a nap, played some racquetball, and took it easy. It was well deserved after such a long week.
Welp, now it's off to sleep, so I can wake up tomorrow morning and start cramming for all the Physiology that I've neglected due to Anatomy.
"Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good"
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