If you think about me in the next 2 1/2 week, pop-up a prayer for me and my classmates. Block exams are coming on the 30th and are going to be a bear.
Just a heads up if you don’t hear much from me.
What about school? (updated)
I just realized I’ve not mentioned much interesting stuff about what I’m doing at school. Well, this semester I’m taking 5 classes that alternate 5 weeks to 1 week. The 5 weeks is the tough classes (25 semester hours) and the 1 week is the lighter (not easier) classes (9 semester hours). There is a nice overview provided on the UT site. Right now I’m in Oct. of the first year.
Now for some cool stuff . . .
Last Wednesday during Gross Lab I was able to help remove the heart from our cadaver (Merrill). Wow, that was really cool. Next one of my dissection mates took the lungs out and that was really neat holding them. I never realized how much work it is to dissect someone. It is a lot of hard work. There is much more cools stuff from Gross Anatomy from this week, but it would probably gross most of you out so I’ll leave it out.
We are studying transcription in MBOD right now and we are studying the heart in Physiology. What an incredible design.
There are so many intricate dependancies in the heart that make it a marvelous creation. Just from the way the heart contracts. FIrst the atria contract and the part of the same muscle wait ~120ms before it contract from the bottom (apex) up and the inside out . What great care is shown in it’s design. Then last week we studied the heart’s development in a embryo (an unborn baby in the first 8 weeks of development). Just seeing the changes that are required in the circulatory system when a baby takes it’s first breath is dumbfounding but even more stunning the simplicity of the design.
Well, I don’t know if this has made any sense, but I gotta get back to studying. If you have any question just leave a comment and I’ll answer. Don’t be shy about asking, it will help me study to talk about what I’m studying and if I don’t know the answer then it will really help.
EM
Uh, Hi . . .
Ok, so I didn’t mean to take a month to post this, but time sorta got away from me. 🙂
This is gonna have to be short, but one block down and two to go till the end of the semester. Last Friday I followed around my preceptor (Doctor in the community that I apprentice under) and It was really cool seeing an EKG, looking at X-Rays and a urine analysis, listening to hearts and taking vital signs. This week is the beginning of my second block which ends with block exams the first week of Nov.
Right now my schedule is crazy. If you want to see it, just take a look at my calendar 🙂 (and that is just my school calendar). I might be able to update a little more regularly now that I have internet access at home. If you see me online, you can message me anytime, just might not receive a response right away.
Oh, almost forgot . . . tomorrow we get to dissect the heart out of our cadaver (we named him Merrill)
Two weeks down . . .
and only 206 weeks to go :).
Ok, so medical school isn’t really that bad. I just couldn’t think of anything else to title this post. It has been a busy two weeks at school. If I’m not studying, running around trying to get paperwork finished to get registered or in class, then I’m not me. That is all I’ve been doing for the last two weeks. It has be a little frustrating wanting to study when I have to spend several hours after class walking from office to office trying to get 2 simple forms completed so the Navy can pay for my medical school and I can finish getting registered. Oh, well. I will have to say I’ve met a bunch of new people and learned my way around campus with all the offices I’ve visited.
I’m starting to really enjoy my classes, especially now that I’m getting more used to medical school. If you haven’t heard this analogy of what medical school is like, it is like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant.
Another way to think about it is just imagine your at the beach and are standing where you get hit by the ways. Your job is to keep as much water on the beach from each wave and all you have is your little sand pail. As you work keeping the water on the beach you notice much more of it running off the beach then you are able to keep. That is what medical school is like. You are hit by wave after wave of information and all you can do is get an overview of the information. No time to do any depth of study in each topic. Quite a new approach to learning for me.
What’s coming
How I got into medical school.
What is required.
What will happen.
How it works.
Interesting tidbits.