I only know it has been 21 days, because it was 3 weeks ago today that I arrived on the island. I was pretty unproductive today. But I hope I have given my body, and especially mind, a rest. I think one of the difficulties here is readjusting my scheduele. I have always been a night person and now I need to go to bed at a decent time more regularly.
After the blocks, the week passed by in a blur. We covered the embryology material for this block; cardiovascular and respiratory system development. I officially find embryology incredibly difficult. The way the embryo looks and changes seems to have no rhyme or reason, and the method by which the material is taught in the book and the professor I find disjointed and complicated, without a flow. I wish they would just teach it chronologically, but instead it was taught in pieces, and then clinical correlations thrown in willy-nilly. Not so cool.
Anyhow, pretty good week ending in an initial arm dissection. I though the arms would be easy, but the forearms have more muscles than you can shake a stick at and the palm is even worse. Not looking forward to this week a whole lot. But last week, we learned the brachial plexus which is the combination of ventral rami, connecting, intertwining, intersecting, joining and branching off on their way down the arm. We need to know what “root”, that is, what original nerve each muscle is innervated by. Interesting stuff. Seeing the nerves dissected out from the spinal cord really give you an idea of the complexity of the system.
Today, I personally dissecting out several nerves! How exciting! We looked at the back of the shoulder and the forearm muscles and some other relevant structures/spaces. My favourite part was finding the suprascapular nerve which was in the suprascapular notch that went to innervate the supraspinatus muscle on the top of the back part of the scapula. I love how all the names are the same. It’s great. It’s funny how dissecting and finding things will help you to not forget, as Dr. A had originally told me days ago.
This blog has been a composite of a couple of days and I am finding a little harder to write. I have to find more and interesting things to write about. There have been a lot of basic things going on, but also a lot of rumours. Now I know that things go around really quickly, you really have to be careful what you say, the walls are thin, and you only fully understand when you are here.
An example of this is probably a little mess up I made the other day – a couple friends and I went out to Windwardside (a little town about 15 minutes away from the school by driving), to look for a place to live for second semester. Through word-of-mouth, a friend of mine had found a house that was about to become available for the next semester. We went to see it, I really liked it , and we told the current tenants and landlord we were planning on signing leasing papers a month before leaving.
Unfortunately, a couple days later, after re-evaluating and speaking to my parents, I decided against this place. The location was in general impeccable, near this cute little organic farm where they apparently sold cheap fresh vegetables, it was in a quiet neighbourhood too, outside the main town. The main issue for me was the transportation. You see, even though the island is very small, due to the topography and location of the towns, the distance that has to be traveled on roads along the hillsides to the towns. Anyhow, long story short, you need to get some sort of transport. There is a school bus, but rumours of unreliability, as well as the limited transportation times dissuaded me from considering it as a viable transportation option. The idea was that all of us would get a car. But it is more complicated than that, shared between four people, things get financially difficult potentially – as well, it costs 200 USD$ to get a license here in Saba. One of my current roommates and I have decided to stay in The Bottom, the city in which the school is located. I feel pretty guilty, because I know our ex-potential roommates are not incredibly happy with the fact that we both backed out on the deal. If you guys are reading this, sorry about the trouble we caused you! Transport continues to be the main issue, as well as money to buy and maintain a car over two years on the island with four different equal owners.
That’s pretty much my life over the past couple days! My roommate and I had a fantastically fun time at the anatomy lab last night, we have a grand old time thinking about hilarious acronyms to help us remember muscles. To use the same example as above, we think of the suprascapular as the “super muscle”. It is “super” because the nerve exits the superior trunk of the brachial plexus, and is called the superscapular nerve (C5,6), it is located superior to the spine of the scapula, but it is also super lazy, as its function is only to abduct the arm from 0 to 15 degrees away from the body!
Sorry I don’t have anything much more exciting to share.
I will include a list of interesting things another day I promise!
:)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Day After.
Wow. I can’t believe it is over: The infamous first block. It sort of conquered me rather than the other way around. I won’t let the next one be like that though. Now I know better what to expect. After having a run around the coast a little , I have cleared my head, and I am still unsatisfied with my grades but I am glad that I passed and I did “adequately” per se. I think that is the most I can say without telling you my actual grade. However, let it be known that 33 people failed histology, and more than that failed anatomy, at last check, 42. Mind you, I also know people who I did very well. Pretty incredible, but keep in mind that to pass you must have earned a grade above 75%. This is above the required passing average in the states, which I believe ranges from 60 to 70%, and I assume the figures would be similar for Canadian schools.
It is great here that the second semester students are sort of like big brothers and sisters. I have some great TA’s asking how I did, encouraging me, and cheering me up despite this minor setback. I feel really lucky in that way. They are understanding and cite their stories and others as people who have vastly improved from the first exam. It is one thing getting used to the questioning. It is helpful to study more how the questions are asked. Only in the last hour or so did I look at questions from BRS (Board Review Series) Anatomy books. These texts summarize all the key concepts in an easy and accessible way, as well as including some fantastic clinical application questions. The fact that I found these questions challenging as the exam quickly approached was a hint at the fact that I was unprepared.
We went out in the evening after spending a blissful afternoon stress free. I finally felt like I was living on an island for a moment. We chatted with friends and everyone was breathing a collective sigh of relief. There was a party at the Matthew Dorm, so we all went over there and had some drinks. There was lots of dancing and I did a bit of that, but retired relatively early. As it was I was exhausted the first day back!
Yesterday was quite a dull day. Full of new histology about the blood, anatomy was the embryological development of the lungs – quite a handful. Finally we had a bone lab in the afternoon, followed by evidence based medicine. I unfortunately mixed up my days in regards to when I had a meeting with my Faculty Advisor. I was convinced it was Wednesday, but after checking the scheduele I realized I was completely wrong. It’s crazy how your brain goes a little “awry” shall we say as you study for blocks. I just realized today that I know nothing about what is going on in the world. That is so sad! But, everyone makes time for certain things. For me, I knew I wanted to run, write this blog and talk to family. That takes up a good chunk of my time. If I have too much time left over, I pretty much know I am not studying enough!
What have I learned so far:
1. Caribbean Medical School is difficult and challenging. This is only the beginning of the journey. As my sister once told me, it’s a “marathon”. And she is right. You don’t want to burn out half way. Days feel long here, but in all essence it is a short time in my life, and I am living my dream.
2. For the human fetus to develop normally, it needs to ingest some ofthe amniotic fluid in which it lies and pees in. This helps develop the lungs. An interesting condition called oligohydramnios occurs when there is an accumulation of excess amnion, due to the fetus’ inability to ingest this fluid. This can be caused by a variety of issues. I find so many of these embryonic malformations fascinating. There is a ridiculous amount in our textbook about them. Clinical applications are the bomb.
3. I know all the bones in the hand: Hamate, Capitate, Trapezoid, Trapezium, Scaphoid, Lunate, Pisiform, Triquetum + (Metacarpals and Phalanges). I remembered them on the first try. I am getting so much better at this! Also thanks to the teaching of Dr. P.
4. The Brachial Plexus is the next thing to memorize.
5. The development of an embryo is a ridiculously complicated task. I thought that pictures would help me understand anything. But these pictures of the early embryo and folding seem like scribble to me at times.
6. I have been running almost every day. It is so wonderful to see the ocean. It reminds me of the beauty I am surrounded by.
Enjoy the summer! It is just beginning here, and it is already too hot to handle!
:D
It is great here that the second semester students are sort of like big brothers and sisters. I have some great TA’s asking how I did, encouraging me, and cheering me up despite this minor setback. I feel really lucky in that way. They are understanding and cite their stories and others as people who have vastly improved from the first exam. It is one thing getting used to the questioning. It is helpful to study more how the questions are asked. Only in the last hour or so did I look at questions from BRS (Board Review Series) Anatomy books. These texts summarize all the key concepts in an easy and accessible way, as well as including some fantastic clinical application questions. The fact that I found these questions challenging as the exam quickly approached was a hint at the fact that I was unprepared.
We went out in the evening after spending a blissful afternoon stress free. I finally felt like I was living on an island for a moment. We chatted with friends and everyone was breathing a collective sigh of relief. There was a party at the Matthew Dorm, so we all went over there and had some drinks. There was lots of dancing and I did a bit of that, but retired relatively early. As it was I was exhausted the first day back!
Yesterday was quite a dull day. Full of new histology about the blood, anatomy was the embryological development of the lungs – quite a handful. Finally we had a bone lab in the afternoon, followed by evidence based medicine. I unfortunately mixed up my days in regards to when I had a meeting with my Faculty Advisor. I was convinced it was Wednesday, but after checking the scheduele I realized I was completely wrong. It’s crazy how your brain goes a little “awry” shall we say as you study for blocks. I just realized today that I know nothing about what is going on in the world. That is so sad! But, everyone makes time for certain things. For me, I knew I wanted to run, write this blog and talk to family. That takes up a good chunk of my time. If I have too much time left over, I pretty much know I am not studying enough!
What have I learned so far:
1. Caribbean Medical School is difficult and challenging. This is only the beginning of the journey. As my sister once told me, it’s a “marathon”. And she is right. You don’t want to burn out half way. Days feel long here, but in all essence it is a short time in my life, and I am living my dream.
2. For the human fetus to develop normally, it needs to ingest some ofthe amniotic fluid in which it lies and pees in. This helps develop the lungs. An interesting condition called oligohydramnios occurs when there is an accumulation of excess amnion, due to the fetus’ inability to ingest this fluid. This can be caused by a variety of issues. I find so many of these embryonic malformations fascinating. There is a ridiculous amount in our textbook about them. Clinical applications are the bomb.
3. I know all the bones in the hand: Hamate, Capitate, Trapezoid, Trapezium, Scaphoid, Lunate, Pisiform, Triquetum + (Metacarpals and Phalanges). I remembered them on the first try. I am getting so much better at this! Also thanks to the teaching of Dr. P.
4. The Brachial Plexus is the next thing to memorize.
5. The development of an embryo is a ridiculously complicated task. I thought that pictures would help me understand anything. But these pictures of the early embryo and folding seem like scribble to me at times.
6. I have been running almost every day. It is so wonderful to see the ocean. It reminds me of the beauty I am surrounded by.
Enjoy the summer! It is just beginning here, and it is already too hot to handle!
:D
Day 14
Day 14
I did not think I would have time to write this, but I am taking a break from my studying and I figure, this is a good way to get my stress out anyway. I am preparing for my “block exams” on Monday and Tuesday. Block exams are sort of like mid-term examinations, except for the fact that they are pretty much every two weeks. They are non-cumulative until the final block where we have a cumulative lab exam, shelf examination in anatomy and histology final. If you don’t know (as I had no idea until just before arrived here), the shelf examinations are exams taken by American Medical students. They are essentially standardized tests in a particular subject (sort of like taking an old published MCAT test and they have already standardized the scores), and are picked off “the shelf”, in a box where they have quite a few, and they are chosen at random for students to complete at the end of term.
Monday I will be completing an anatomy lab practical examination and on Tuesday I will write two practical examinations in Histology and Anatomy. The histology professor expressed disappointment when he told us in our introductory class that we did not have the capability to do a histology laboratory due to the lack of equipment, but I cannot imagine having to do more than one practical examination. Every second semester student I speak to tells me we have not covered much material. But I think for less than two weeks we have learned so much. Summarily, we have learned introductory anatomical information, embryology (basic, not system-specific), nervous system organization, back (spinal cord, muscles, blood supply, venous drain, innervations), thorax, including lungs and the mediastinum (with all the above subcategories). On top of this I have barely touched Histology, you would understand why if you ever took it. It is like a slow biology course, except less exciting, and focuses on the analysis of slides of various cells from all over their body and their characteristics. Oh. And it is at 8am. A lot of people sleep through at least part of it. The professor is fantastic though, and is very knowledgeable and helpful.
Apparently the stress and work will simply increase. I am slowly adjusting to this. But I am learning so much. I have never felt so mentally alive really. I feel like I am learning so much. Who knew my brain could hold all this information? Yet, I can still seem to remember the words to songs that I should have long forgotten. I always vaguely (and with no real scientific backing) believed that there would be some displacement of information, as if your brain has a some sort of limit. I guess I likened it to filling a cup up with water, and you can only fill it up so high before it spills over the brim. But, I think it is more like large Brita filter. You can only put so much water in it at a time, you need to let it filter through before you can add more to the top part to be filtered. Right now I feel like I don’t have enough time to filter. Being a perfectionist and competitive about school does not help.
I went for my second run on the island today. It was incredible. The beauty of the island continues to stagger me. I think it is because I spend most of my time in the library, class or anatomy lab on campus! My injury is much better now as well! I injured my Sartorius muscle before I left Toronto, and just before the marathon I was not able to complete. But that is not related to this point. The point is that the runs here are beautiful, not only that, they are so hilly! Thanks to the hill training at the running room (Thanks Ben!) I am taking them in stride. Some of them are steeper than even the Donwoods hill, but I love the challenge, and the thumbs up from motorist passing by indicate they are even impressed at my stamina!
I just wanted to write a little note to express my excitement, in these wee hours of the morning, about what I continue to learn. I think holding a human heart is a pretty fantastic thing, something I was recently able to do in anatomy lab. I know it is cliché, but I remember an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, where a surgeon was explaining why she wanted to be a surgeon and couldn’t do anything else. Her reasons included the opportunity to hold a beating heart. But, I am just excited, to be able to name all of its structures, its blood supply, venous drain, action and then some clinical applications. Every experience I have here is pretty incredible, they all tend to get lost in the shuffle, but anatomy is one of the things here that does not cease to amaze me. I love the Latin that is used to name a large number of the body parts and I really wish I knew more of it! It would make my life so much easier in terms of memorizing things like coronary sulcus, which I believe means depression of the crown, crown (because it is the heart) and sulcus which means depression or groove. This is a groove in which the right coronary artery lies. What a beautiful language.
The extensive knowledge of all my TA’s knocks my socks off. I do not know what I would do without such great teachers! I was lucky enough to get couple of great ones, who take a large amount of time out of their day to help me learn. I can’t thank them enough. They give me confidence in the knowledge I have, and give me the information they think is important to help me succeed.
I don’t think anything exciting has happened in the past couple days other than my recent run with minimal leg pain! I have been studying like crazy and we even had classes today, on a Saturday, for histology, and two tutorials – one in anatomy and the other in histology. Tomorrow is really crunch time, and countdown to the exam. I will write all about it sometime afterwards. At least I have Nutella and bananas to get me through it.
:)
I did not think I would have time to write this, but I am taking a break from my studying and I figure, this is a good way to get my stress out anyway. I am preparing for my “block exams” on Monday and Tuesday. Block exams are sort of like mid-term examinations, except for the fact that they are pretty much every two weeks. They are non-cumulative until the final block where we have a cumulative lab exam, shelf examination in anatomy and histology final. If you don’t know (as I had no idea until just before arrived here), the shelf examinations are exams taken by American Medical students. They are essentially standardized tests in a particular subject (sort of like taking an old published MCAT test and they have already standardized the scores), and are picked off “the shelf”, in a box where they have quite a few, and they are chosen at random for students to complete at the end of term.
Monday I will be completing an anatomy lab practical examination and on Tuesday I will write two practical examinations in Histology and Anatomy. The histology professor expressed disappointment when he told us in our introductory class that we did not have the capability to do a histology laboratory due to the lack of equipment, but I cannot imagine having to do more than one practical examination. Every second semester student I speak to tells me we have not covered much material. But I think for less than two weeks we have learned so much. Summarily, we have learned introductory anatomical information, embryology (basic, not system-specific), nervous system organization, back (spinal cord, muscles, blood supply, venous drain, innervations), thorax, including lungs and the mediastinum (with all the above subcategories). On top of this I have barely touched Histology, you would understand why if you ever took it. It is like a slow biology course, except less exciting, and focuses on the analysis of slides of various cells from all over their body and their characteristics. Oh. And it is at 8am. A lot of people sleep through at least part of it. The professor is fantastic though, and is very knowledgeable and helpful.
Apparently the stress and work will simply increase. I am slowly adjusting to this. But I am learning so much. I have never felt so mentally alive really. I feel like I am learning so much. Who knew my brain could hold all this information? Yet, I can still seem to remember the words to songs that I should have long forgotten. I always vaguely (and with no real scientific backing) believed that there would be some displacement of information, as if your brain has a some sort of limit. I guess I likened it to filling a cup up with water, and you can only fill it up so high before it spills over the brim. But, I think it is more like large Brita filter. You can only put so much water in it at a time, you need to let it filter through before you can add more to the top part to be filtered. Right now I feel like I don’t have enough time to filter. Being a perfectionist and competitive about school does not help.
I went for my second run on the island today. It was incredible. The beauty of the island continues to stagger me. I think it is because I spend most of my time in the library, class or anatomy lab on campus! My injury is much better now as well! I injured my Sartorius muscle before I left Toronto, and just before the marathon I was not able to complete. But that is not related to this point. The point is that the runs here are beautiful, not only that, they are so hilly! Thanks to the hill training at the running room (Thanks Ben!) I am taking them in stride. Some of them are steeper than even the Donwoods hill, but I love the challenge, and the thumbs up from motorist passing by indicate they are even impressed at my stamina!
I just wanted to write a little note to express my excitement, in these wee hours of the morning, about what I continue to learn. I think holding a human heart is a pretty fantastic thing, something I was recently able to do in anatomy lab. I know it is cliché, but I remember an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, where a surgeon was explaining why she wanted to be a surgeon and couldn’t do anything else. Her reasons included the opportunity to hold a beating heart. But, I am just excited, to be able to name all of its structures, its blood supply, venous drain, action and then some clinical applications. Every experience I have here is pretty incredible, they all tend to get lost in the shuffle, but anatomy is one of the things here that does not cease to amaze me. I love the Latin that is used to name a large number of the body parts and I really wish I knew more of it! It would make my life so much easier in terms of memorizing things like coronary sulcus, which I believe means depression of the crown, crown (because it is the heart) and sulcus which means depression or groove. This is a groove in which the right coronary artery lies. What a beautiful language.
The extensive knowledge of all my TA’s knocks my socks off. I do not know what I would do without such great teachers! I was lucky enough to get couple of great ones, who take a large amount of time out of their day to help me learn. I can’t thank them enough. They give me confidence in the knowledge I have, and give me the information they think is important to help me succeed.
I don’t think anything exciting has happened in the past couple days other than my recent run with minimal leg pain! I have been studying like crazy and we even had classes today, on a Saturday, for histology, and two tutorials – one in anatomy and the other in histology. Tomorrow is really crunch time, and countdown to the exam. I will write all about it sometime afterwards. At least I have Nutella and bananas to get me through it.
:)
Friday, May 15, 2009
Day 11+
Day 11 +
Before I left Toronto, several months ago, I used to spend time in the U of T library. I read and took brief notes on medical school books and documents that I could find. I came across a picture of a skeleton sitting down at a desk, analyzing a human skull. At the time, I found the image confusing and just plain weird. After speaking to a doctor, who was studying for his USMLE Step 2, I finally could at least understand the principle of the image – it alluded to the fact that we were humans studying ourselves. I think only now do I finally only superficially grasp what it means philosophically. The more time you spend in the anatomy lab, the more “normal” it appears to cut a dead human body. But, watching the anatomy professor perform a laminectomy (that is the removal of the laminae on the back of the spinal column to expose the spinal cord), with a hammer and chisel, was still a little nerve wracking, though incredibly interesting.
I feel so lucky to have the privilege to learn from the bodies, yet I notice the eeriness of doing so. Having the experience to palpate (that is, “touch”) the bodies, either in separating muscle, or removing layers of tissue/fascia (fat)/muscle, is an experience that I can’t easily explain. It is a combination of understanding that this is your opportunity to learn from a body, and secondly, momentarily forgetting that you are cutting a dead body.
We did our first real dissection on Monday. This was after spending essentially an entire weekend catching up on material. But before I knew it I was behind again. The experience of cutting up a human body for the first time was a new experience, as far as I knew, for the entire group. We had an older woman to dissect, the only woman in the bunch, and several students confidently began cutting her skin, dermis and superficial fascia (fat) off her back to expose the muscle. I was excited, because I was given the opportunity to do so myself, and participated in exposing some of the back muscle. I kept in tow with Dr. P who meandered around the bodies and pointed out structures and asked questions to unprepared students (like me!). But being beside him truly helps you learn the material, as he gives you information, and then later quizzes you.
Monday was overwhelming, and I spent the evening, partially in the lab studying bones and muscles of the back, memorizing origins, insertions and actions, but I stayed up far too late. As a result, Tuesday was a really hard day. I got next to no sleep (after having no sleep on Sunday night). I was sleeping in class before I knew it. I was upset and stressed out by lunch. A conversation with the lecturer was no more reassuring, so I dealt with my insecurity, and feelings of failure and inadequacy myself, which was appropriate.
Lab was an interesting day, we cut open the breast tissue, looking at the components that made up the glands of the breast, and then we opened the chest. We exposed the muscles of the thorax, pulled them back and then (gulp!) cut all the ribs and opened the rib cage to expose the upper portion of the diaphragm, lungs and mediastinum, that is the area between the lungs which contains the heart. This was our most exciting dissection yet. I followed Dr. P and he remembered my name, which was great! And though I knew none of the structures, he explained them to me and before I knew it I walked out of there with an understanding of the arterial and vein system. Dr. A helped us identify the holes in the side of the lung after the removal of the lung. Holding a lung has to be one of the coolest things in the world, it was so much bigger than I thought it would be! Pointing out this fact to my sister dashed most of my homesickness – where else could I do something so incredible!
Later I also had a realization about the contents of the anatomy notes and content. I won’t go into details here because I don’t have much time, but an old professor here wrote out the bible of Anatomy notes over a year ago. I have had this document for weeks, scratch that, at least a couple months. I had not been using them at all and finally discovered the pure genius of them on Tuesday. Studying from them and my Netter’s was never so productive! Forget this ridiculous cue-card making I have been doing all this time! I only wish I had realized this a week ago. I will hopefully have time to make up for lost time the rest of this week and weekend too. I went to bed earlier last night, so hopefully I will be primed for class today. I want to be 100% for the heart today!
I still miss you all but I think that I am happier to be at medical school than I have in the week previously. Accepting the fact that you will constantly be behind can be reassuring in some ways. You just keep trying!
However, I have given up on Hyperbaric Medicine. I don’t think I can manage another class on top of this one. Besides, I would be incredibly unhappy if I managed to not do well on a main class as a result of work in Hyperbaric.
I had some wonderful pineapple this morning that I cut with my own two hands, but now I am feeling a little unwell. Uh oh, not so good. Oh and one more update, the bugs are next to gone, thanks so much to our landlord for helping us so much in that regard! What a nice lady.
I may not write until after the first “block”, that is the first set of exams on all the material we have studied thus far. I will try my best, but it will be a couple days full of studying and time with cadavers. Thank God for the library and twenty-four hour anatomy lab hours!
Interesting things:
1. The anterior and posterior intercostals spaces (spaces between the ribs) have different arterial supply and venous draining systems (blood supply systems) clearly making my life difficult.
2. The internal thoracic artery can be used to bypass a carotid artery that is obstructed. It is attached to the aorta and then past the blockage on the heart. We saw that a heart specimen that had bypass surgery and how the artery was attached.
3. I smell like formaldehyde all the time. It sucks.
4. Breast cancer occurs most often in the upper lateral quadrant (upper side closest to your armpit) and no-one knows why.
5. Strawberries cost 5 dollars here. I wish they put the prices on the food so I would know how expensive they were before I bought things.
6. We have fat everywhere. It even covers the heart.
7. I am scared of my anatomy professor. I have to go to his office at 7:15 am tomorrow and tell him the arterial and venous supply of the thoracic cavity and the heart itself.
:D
Before I left Toronto, several months ago, I used to spend time in the U of T library. I read and took brief notes on medical school books and documents that I could find. I came across a picture of a skeleton sitting down at a desk, analyzing a human skull. At the time, I found the image confusing and just plain weird. After speaking to a doctor, who was studying for his USMLE Step 2, I finally could at least understand the principle of the image – it alluded to the fact that we were humans studying ourselves. I think only now do I finally only superficially grasp what it means philosophically. The more time you spend in the anatomy lab, the more “normal” it appears to cut a dead human body. But, watching the anatomy professor perform a laminectomy (that is the removal of the laminae on the back of the spinal column to expose the spinal cord), with a hammer and chisel, was still a little nerve wracking, though incredibly interesting.
I feel so lucky to have the privilege to learn from the bodies, yet I notice the eeriness of doing so. Having the experience to palpate (that is, “touch”) the bodies, either in separating muscle, or removing layers of tissue/fascia (fat)/muscle, is an experience that I can’t easily explain. It is a combination of understanding that this is your opportunity to learn from a body, and secondly, momentarily forgetting that you are cutting a dead body.
We did our first real dissection on Monday. This was after spending essentially an entire weekend catching up on material. But before I knew it I was behind again. The experience of cutting up a human body for the first time was a new experience, as far as I knew, for the entire group. We had an older woman to dissect, the only woman in the bunch, and several students confidently began cutting her skin, dermis and superficial fascia (fat) off her back to expose the muscle. I was excited, because I was given the opportunity to do so myself, and participated in exposing some of the back muscle. I kept in tow with Dr. P who meandered around the bodies and pointed out structures and asked questions to unprepared students (like me!). But being beside him truly helps you learn the material, as he gives you information, and then later quizzes you.
Monday was overwhelming, and I spent the evening, partially in the lab studying bones and muscles of the back, memorizing origins, insertions and actions, but I stayed up far too late. As a result, Tuesday was a really hard day. I got next to no sleep (after having no sleep on Sunday night). I was sleeping in class before I knew it. I was upset and stressed out by lunch. A conversation with the lecturer was no more reassuring, so I dealt with my insecurity, and feelings of failure and inadequacy myself, which was appropriate.
Lab was an interesting day, we cut open the breast tissue, looking at the components that made up the glands of the breast, and then we opened the chest. We exposed the muscles of the thorax, pulled them back and then (gulp!) cut all the ribs and opened the rib cage to expose the upper portion of the diaphragm, lungs and mediastinum, that is the area between the lungs which contains the heart. This was our most exciting dissection yet. I followed Dr. P and he remembered my name, which was great! And though I knew none of the structures, he explained them to me and before I knew it I walked out of there with an understanding of the arterial and vein system. Dr. A helped us identify the holes in the side of the lung after the removal of the lung. Holding a lung has to be one of the coolest things in the world, it was so much bigger than I thought it would be! Pointing out this fact to my sister dashed most of my homesickness – where else could I do something so incredible!
Later I also had a realization about the contents of the anatomy notes and content. I won’t go into details here because I don’t have much time, but an old professor here wrote out the bible of Anatomy notes over a year ago. I have had this document for weeks, scratch that, at least a couple months. I had not been using them at all and finally discovered the pure genius of them on Tuesday. Studying from them and my Netter’s was never so productive! Forget this ridiculous cue-card making I have been doing all this time! I only wish I had realized this a week ago. I will hopefully have time to make up for lost time the rest of this week and weekend too. I went to bed earlier last night, so hopefully I will be primed for class today. I want to be 100% for the heart today!
I still miss you all but I think that I am happier to be at medical school than I have in the week previously. Accepting the fact that you will constantly be behind can be reassuring in some ways. You just keep trying!
However, I have given up on Hyperbaric Medicine. I don’t think I can manage another class on top of this one. Besides, I would be incredibly unhappy if I managed to not do well on a main class as a result of work in Hyperbaric.
I had some wonderful pineapple this morning that I cut with my own two hands, but now I am feeling a little unwell. Uh oh, not so good. Oh and one more update, the bugs are next to gone, thanks so much to our landlord for helping us so much in that regard! What a nice lady.
I may not write until after the first “block”, that is the first set of exams on all the material we have studied thus far. I will try my best, but it will be a couple days full of studying and time with cadavers. Thank God for the library and twenty-four hour anatomy lab hours!
Interesting things:
1. The anterior and posterior intercostals spaces (spaces between the ribs) have different arterial supply and venous draining systems (blood supply systems) clearly making my life difficult.
2. The internal thoracic artery can be used to bypass a carotid artery that is obstructed. It is attached to the aorta and then past the blockage on the heart. We saw that a heart specimen that had bypass surgery and how the artery was attached.
3. I smell like formaldehyde all the time. It sucks.
4. Breast cancer occurs most often in the upper lateral quadrant (upper side closest to your armpit) and no-one knows why.
5. Strawberries cost 5 dollars here. I wish they put the prices on the food so I would know how expensive they were before I bought things.
6. We have fat everywhere. It even covers the heart.
7. I am scared of my anatomy professor. I have to go to his office at 7:15 am tomorrow and tell him the arterial and venous supply of the thoracic cavity and the heart itself.
:D
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Day 4, 5, 6 ,7 .....
Day 4
Another day, another anatomical adventure. I reflect today upon my second day at school in light of some good and perhaps not so good things to come.
Up early again, and after killing bugs in our residence in the evening. I decided to write a letter to our landlord. She was very understanding, as I dropped it off to her in person in the morning and promised to address the problem as soon as possible. I trudged down to school to find the class already full at 7:45am. Luckily, my roommate had kindly saved me a seat and I sat down relieved as she informed me that she had arrived at 7:15 to find the first four rows filled, and that there had been a line at the front door of the class apparently at 7am. We certainly have a bunch of keeners in our class. I need to be more proactive perhaps. I figured staying up late and studying was good enough. But evidently enough it is not. This school continues to feel undeniably competitive though students are all friendly to each other.
Today’s histology class covered cell transportation, proteins/enzymes and vesicle formations. Most were topics I had already studied, so the first part of the morning was relatively relaxed. The second half of the morning and afternoon we covered embryology, just the beginning , starting with gametogenesis, fertilization, and the first several weeks of development.
Lunch was nice with my roommates, we ate together as usual and chatted about the class. Our landlord stopped by and left a note about cleaning and spraying our apartment for bugs. These critters are tough though! We still found them in the kitchen and the rooms throughout the rest of the day. It is going to need another spraying, though the problem has been marginally reduced.
Then we returned to school for out afternoon class, through which I almost fell asleep – rescued by a small cup of coffee. The coffee is served in the smallest coffee cup I have seen in a long time. It is smaller than a “short” cup at Starbucks (which is essentially the small coffee at Starbuck’s they don’t advertise). I ordered a coffee from the cafeteria, and the attendant noted that it was my second cup of the day and feigned worry or smugness at my tiredness on the second day of classes. I should have told him the cups of coffee are overpriced for 1.50 and also, I studied very late. Well the reason I am defensive is because he is right. I need to get more sleep. It’s really important. I am just continually behind. Luckily I will be meeting with my mentor and another upperclassman tomorrow. Maybe they have some tips for me, or perhaps they know how to bend time and give me an extra couple hours of the day!
After class we grabbed the SUSOM bus off to Windwardside to go pick up groceries because today is Wednesday, food shipment day. Luckily it was there right as we were contemplating on taking a cab. Apparently the town has four groceries stores, we went to JC’s I think. I need to double check the name. Anyhow, they had great fruit and went a little crazy. I hope they will last for a bit because I got a lot of food. Oh dear. Anyhow, we got driven home with our food because we bought so much and it was wonderful.
When we got back, I relished in my treat of Nutella and banana. Oh how I have missed you, made some Vanilla Rooibos tea and packed up my gear for the library. My roommate and I sat together until 11pm, I took a Skype break, and now I am here talking typing this out. Time flies when you have lots to study, or sometimes it ticks by so perceptibly you would think it was going backwards...
I just need more time. I didn’t even get to look at Histology tonight! Well, the material was review, BUT STILL! Oh embryology though, I love it! Time to do some clinical application questions! I love those, but I have to get through this memorization and understanding first to apply the knowledge.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I saw some locals walking a cow down the street today! It was HUGE cow. Wow. That was an interesting event. It is so funny that on my off time I feel like I am living on a different planet.
Thanks for reading!
Day 5, 6, 7..... I don’t even know anymore – May 10, 2009
I have to skip forward a couple days because I haven’t been keeping up with things. School has gotten a lot busier, and I have been sleep deprived as it is, so I am going to have to start just giving highlights and interesting things.
In the past couple days we have finished off our introductory anatomy work and begun studying the back: muscles, vertebrae, nerves etc. Everyone in the class has been at the library/studying pretty much day and night to catch up on things, or at least the people I know.
I also had a couple of interesting events in the past little while, that were different from the usual grind. I met my mentor a couple days ago, she is very nice and in third semester here. She and a friend of hers were very supportive and passed on a lot of helpful information about testing, professors, workload, study habits, living on the island – you name it. But I think the greatest thing to hear was that what we were experiencing they had already gone through and survived. As I listened and was struggling to comprehend with four hours of sleep the night before, I was comforted in that they had passed – it was possible.
But along with the positivity there have been lots of rumours. I heard about how small the island was and I finally have started to understand. The most prevalent is that of people dropping out, various rumours of attrition combined with people failing classes and the increasing stringent nature of administration with students who fail to pass classes with the required 75%. All in all, my only mandate is to do whatever I can to put in as much time as possible, combined with getting to know professors and giving myself the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
As Dr. C told us this week, our mandate at SUSOM and as doctors is to, “Know your stuff and do not harm.” I think I can handle the first task, and I will try my best to know and learn as much as I can and the latter will hopefully come with the knowledge!
Other interesting things included our first trip to the anatomy lab. I think the only dead body I saw before this was at an open casket funeral. So, all decked out in our scrubs we waited outside the lab to be ushered in. We complimented each other on our scrub colour and choices (The more unique the better!). I tied my hair up like a ballerina to soak up less of the formaldehyde and we were ushered inside.
After a brief introduction, students began lifting cadavers out of cardboard boxes and onto dissection tables. They were wrapped in plastic bags and all of sudden the room was in a bit of a confusion. We had been given the instructions to, “Divide ourselves in groups of 16,” and then the groups attempted to collect their own body. Did they really think people could organize themselves? People are clamouring to be with friends and to be in the best group. Not such a good idea. I wanted to be with the smartest people, but I really don’t know who is the smartest yet, so instead I got with the group that was the most organized and had already gotten a body.
Before I go ahead with writing this, if you are squeamish, stop reading here!
The plastic bag came off and I finally had a good look at the person and body. He was an average-sized gentleman with his eyes closed he had a large scar across his face under his eyes. I later found out the reason for this, his brain had been previously removed for use of the neuroscience students in later semesters. Almost like a horror movie type scar. I have a deep respect for the human body, and as such to take stock of looking at person who has chosen (or their family have chosen on their behalf) to have their body donated to help students learn is something I sincerely appreciate. I think I thought I would be more shocked at the cadaver’s general appearance, but he looked more alive than I though and I tried to picture him how he might have been and looked. As it happened I was transferred to another group, and we are in fact going to dissect a woman.
The experience is exciting, I do believe the only downside is the smell. Wow and formaldehyde can really stick to you too! I felt like I smelt it for hours on my books and clothing. And the fluid that the cadavers are preserved in is quite disgusting I must say. But there is really no better way to learn anatomy as they all say.. The first day we just turned over the bodies, into the prone position, for dissection of the back.
One other interesting experience to mention is the “Welcome Back” party last night. I want to make this short and sweet because I am SO tired. It was fun, and I was happy I went because I met a lot of people. But I learned a couple of interesting things. The way they prepare drinks here is insane. I think there was more vodka than cranberry juice in my Cape Cod (Apparently alcohol is cheaper than water). I think it took me a good hour to finish my drink. I also really like the group of students I am in classes with and the ones I met at the party, they are a lot of fun. Back to the interesting stuff. The party was held at a place called Lollipops. We literally walked half way out of the valley to someone’s house that was semi-converted into a bar. The washroom still had a shower in it and had not been modified in any way in the conversion. The owners were very friendly, and welcoming, and the music wasn’t bad either! They had some extremely strong punch as well, wow! A fun night for sure!
Today was super boring, I had a wicked headache and spent the day in the library with my roommate, at least I am almost caught up and I only have to do the back muscles now, histology and hyperbaric. Woo hoo!
Interesting things continued:
1. I saw a huge rabbit today! And he wasn’t even really scared of me! He looked so fluffy and I wanted to pet him really badly. ☹
2. I found out that there is a fracture called a “Hangman’s Fracture” that is the actual fracture get when you hang yourself. It is caused when the body of the second cervical vertebrae is displaced over the third vertebrae. This breaks the vertebrae in half essentially and as far as I know severely compresses the spinal cord causing the nerves to your brain to be cut off as well. As I was told, this was the best way to go, because apparently if this does not happen, you suffocate to death which is worse....
3. A student has already left the school, I don’t know who. I found this out from running into one of my anatomy professors, and I now know the official number of students in our semester, 100 even now.
4. I think I will never get a tan here because I spend all my time in the library.
Happy Mother’s Day to all Mother’s out there! But especially to my Mom! I love you and thank you for being the wonderful person you are!
Another day, another anatomical adventure. I reflect today upon my second day at school in light of some good and perhaps not so good things to come.
Up early again, and after killing bugs in our residence in the evening. I decided to write a letter to our landlord. She was very understanding, as I dropped it off to her in person in the morning and promised to address the problem as soon as possible. I trudged down to school to find the class already full at 7:45am. Luckily, my roommate had kindly saved me a seat and I sat down relieved as she informed me that she had arrived at 7:15 to find the first four rows filled, and that there had been a line at the front door of the class apparently at 7am. We certainly have a bunch of keeners in our class. I need to be more proactive perhaps. I figured staying up late and studying was good enough. But evidently enough it is not. This school continues to feel undeniably competitive though students are all friendly to each other.
Today’s histology class covered cell transportation, proteins/enzymes and vesicle formations. Most were topics I had already studied, so the first part of the morning was relatively relaxed. The second half of the morning and afternoon we covered embryology, just the beginning , starting with gametogenesis, fertilization, and the first several weeks of development.
Lunch was nice with my roommates, we ate together as usual and chatted about the class. Our landlord stopped by and left a note about cleaning and spraying our apartment for bugs. These critters are tough though! We still found them in the kitchen and the rooms throughout the rest of the day. It is going to need another spraying, though the problem has been marginally reduced.
Then we returned to school for out afternoon class, through which I almost fell asleep – rescued by a small cup of coffee. The coffee is served in the smallest coffee cup I have seen in a long time. It is smaller than a “short” cup at Starbucks (which is essentially the small coffee at Starbuck’s they don’t advertise). I ordered a coffee from the cafeteria, and the attendant noted that it was my second cup of the day and feigned worry or smugness at my tiredness on the second day of classes. I should have told him the cups of coffee are overpriced for 1.50 and also, I studied very late. Well the reason I am defensive is because he is right. I need to get more sleep. It’s really important. I am just continually behind. Luckily I will be meeting with my mentor and another upperclassman tomorrow. Maybe they have some tips for me, or perhaps they know how to bend time and give me an extra couple hours of the day!
After class we grabbed the SUSOM bus off to Windwardside to go pick up groceries because today is Wednesday, food shipment day. Luckily it was there right as we were contemplating on taking a cab. Apparently the town has four groceries stores, we went to JC’s I think. I need to double check the name. Anyhow, they had great fruit and went a little crazy. I hope they will last for a bit because I got a lot of food. Oh dear. Anyhow, we got driven home with our food because we bought so much and it was wonderful.
When we got back, I relished in my treat of Nutella and banana. Oh how I have missed you, made some Vanilla Rooibos tea and packed up my gear for the library. My roommate and I sat together until 11pm, I took a Skype break, and now I am here talking typing this out. Time flies when you have lots to study, or sometimes it ticks by so perceptibly you would think it was going backwards...
I just need more time. I didn’t even get to look at Histology tonight! Well, the material was review, BUT STILL! Oh embryology though, I love it! Time to do some clinical application questions! I love those, but I have to get through this memorization and understanding first to apply the knowledge.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I saw some locals walking a cow down the street today! It was HUGE cow. Wow. That was an interesting event. It is so funny that on my off time I feel like I am living on a different planet.
Thanks for reading!
Day 5, 6, 7..... I don’t even know anymore – May 10, 2009
I have to skip forward a couple days because I haven’t been keeping up with things. School has gotten a lot busier, and I have been sleep deprived as it is, so I am going to have to start just giving highlights and interesting things.
In the past couple days we have finished off our introductory anatomy work and begun studying the back: muscles, vertebrae, nerves etc. Everyone in the class has been at the library/studying pretty much day and night to catch up on things, or at least the people I know.
I also had a couple of interesting events in the past little while, that were different from the usual grind. I met my mentor a couple days ago, she is very nice and in third semester here. She and a friend of hers were very supportive and passed on a lot of helpful information about testing, professors, workload, study habits, living on the island – you name it. But I think the greatest thing to hear was that what we were experiencing they had already gone through and survived. As I listened and was struggling to comprehend with four hours of sleep the night before, I was comforted in that they had passed – it was possible.
But along with the positivity there have been lots of rumours. I heard about how small the island was and I finally have started to understand. The most prevalent is that of people dropping out, various rumours of attrition combined with people failing classes and the increasing stringent nature of administration with students who fail to pass classes with the required 75%. All in all, my only mandate is to do whatever I can to put in as much time as possible, combined with getting to know professors and giving myself the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
As Dr. C told us this week, our mandate at SUSOM and as doctors is to, “Know your stuff and do not harm.” I think I can handle the first task, and I will try my best to know and learn as much as I can and the latter will hopefully come with the knowledge!
Other interesting things included our first trip to the anatomy lab. I think the only dead body I saw before this was at an open casket funeral. So, all decked out in our scrubs we waited outside the lab to be ushered in. We complimented each other on our scrub colour and choices (The more unique the better!). I tied my hair up like a ballerina to soak up less of the formaldehyde and we were ushered inside.
After a brief introduction, students began lifting cadavers out of cardboard boxes and onto dissection tables. They were wrapped in plastic bags and all of sudden the room was in a bit of a confusion. We had been given the instructions to, “Divide ourselves in groups of 16,” and then the groups attempted to collect their own body. Did they really think people could organize themselves? People are clamouring to be with friends and to be in the best group. Not such a good idea. I wanted to be with the smartest people, but I really don’t know who is the smartest yet, so instead I got with the group that was the most organized and had already gotten a body.
Before I go ahead with writing this, if you are squeamish, stop reading here!
The plastic bag came off and I finally had a good look at the person and body. He was an average-sized gentleman with his eyes closed he had a large scar across his face under his eyes. I later found out the reason for this, his brain had been previously removed for use of the neuroscience students in later semesters. Almost like a horror movie type scar. I have a deep respect for the human body, and as such to take stock of looking at person who has chosen (or their family have chosen on their behalf) to have their body donated to help students learn is something I sincerely appreciate. I think I thought I would be more shocked at the cadaver’s general appearance, but he looked more alive than I though and I tried to picture him how he might have been and looked. As it happened I was transferred to another group, and we are in fact going to dissect a woman.
The experience is exciting, I do believe the only downside is the smell. Wow and formaldehyde can really stick to you too! I felt like I smelt it for hours on my books and clothing. And the fluid that the cadavers are preserved in is quite disgusting I must say. But there is really no better way to learn anatomy as they all say.. The first day we just turned over the bodies, into the prone position, for dissection of the back.
One other interesting experience to mention is the “Welcome Back” party last night. I want to make this short and sweet because I am SO tired. It was fun, and I was happy I went because I met a lot of people. But I learned a couple of interesting things. The way they prepare drinks here is insane. I think there was more vodka than cranberry juice in my Cape Cod (Apparently alcohol is cheaper than water). I think it took me a good hour to finish my drink. I also really like the group of students I am in classes with and the ones I met at the party, they are a lot of fun. Back to the interesting stuff. The party was held at a place called Lollipops. We literally walked half way out of the valley to someone’s house that was semi-converted into a bar. The washroom still had a shower in it and had not been modified in any way in the conversion. The owners were very friendly, and welcoming, and the music wasn’t bad either! They had some extremely strong punch as well, wow! A fun night for sure!
Today was super boring, I had a wicked headache and spent the day in the library with my roommate, at least I am almost caught up and I only have to do the back muscles now, histology and hyperbaric. Woo hoo!
Interesting things continued:
1. I saw a huge rabbit today! And he wasn’t even really scared of me! He looked so fluffy and I wanted to pet him really badly. ☹
2. I found out that there is a fracture called a “Hangman’s Fracture” that is the actual fracture get when you hang yourself. It is caused when the body of the second cervical vertebrae is displaced over the third vertebrae. This breaks the vertebrae in half essentially and as far as I know severely compresses the spinal cord causing the nerves to your brain to be cut off as well. As I was told, this was the best way to go, because apparently if this does not happen, you suffocate to death which is worse....
3. A student has already left the school, I don’t know who. I found this out from running into one of my anatomy professors, and I now know the official number of students in our semester, 100 even now.
4. I think I will never get a tan here because I spend all my time in the library.
Happy Mother’s Day to all Mother’s out there! But especially to my Mom! I love you and thank you for being the wonderful person you are!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Day 2 and 3
Day 2
A crow woke me up this morning. I was wide awake at 6am. This has to be a first in my books. I have never been a morning person, and I was convinced that in medical school my limits of getting up early would be tested. But maybe it was a fluke. Or it was the rooster that woke me up.
I made some Starbuck’s Coffee, reminding me off home and prepared for the day. We set out to campus, which was a short one minute walk down a relatively steep embankment. Upperclassman had set out their “wares” are we went down to purchase some books and hang out a little before orientation.
Orientation was a great experience, and we heard from the Dean, Dr. D, and several professors who were also administrators, Dr. S and Dr. S. We heard about the school, how it was run, how the student affairs were handled and about the Hyperbaric Medicine program. I started to feel like there was a lot to look forward to. We also heard from the President, who made a great impression on me, and to whom I later spoke with. He spoke well, was engaging and seemed truly passionate and caring about the students and school and wanted to keep improving what was currently being done. We had a great Q and A section where we discussed Saba’s eventual transfer to part of Netherlands (meaning the possibility of being a European Medical Graduate!) to the opportunity for clinical rotations in California to research at Saba.
Later, we did more administrative chores, got our pictures taken, signed up online and registered our laptops. It’s funny how as soon as you arrive on the campus everything is organized. But from afar, as an applicant, everything is a mystery and difficult and you have so many questions! Well, at least I have most of my administrative questions answered now! I also picked up a BRS Anatomy and a set of Netter’s flashcards too from upperclassman! Super exciting!
Finally, the highlight of the day, we took a free tour around the island. All I have to say is “Wow.” I think we were all excited and shocked by the spectacular views, the quaint feel of every hamlet on the island and the breathtaking heights and valleys that “The Road” took us through. We went to pretty much every corner of the island, saw the shortest commercial landing strip, went to Booby Hill, saw St. John’s, Windwardside and Hell’s Gate. I was really happy I waited around for a bit to catch a bus! I went with a couple of my roommates and we had a blast snapping pictures. We also took some necessary photo ops in front of the school.
We got back and went grocery shopping at My Store. To my disappointment, since it was Monday, there was little available in the way of fruit and veggies and I took what I could get to make a salad and food for the next couple days. I am still trying to get used to the island slowness, and trying not to run and bustle around everywhere like in Toronto is pretty tough! Waiting in line and being patient is a fact of life here and I am adjusting slowly and I think it is helping my stress level too. It is high enough as it is!
I bought a bottle of 4 dollar Vodka (Yes you read it right!) and my roommate and I went back and had a couple coolers of vodka and Kool-Aid. Yum! And with such a fantastic view from our balcony it was great to enjoy. We spent the evening Skyping and very briefly looking over a few stray pages in our anatomy texts.
Day 3
Rise and shine today at 6:30. It wasn’t so easy today. No rooster, just my alarm clock this time and hearing my roommate showering. I needed to get up. We all got ready pretty quick and got down to the Histology class early in the morning. From what I heard from Upperclassman it was important to arrive early for the first lecture to stake out your seat, if you will. We were there at about 7:30, and class did not begin ‘till 8. Dr. S started on time and took the roll call. We had a pretty relaxed lecture covering mostly and introduction and basic cell membrane details with some information of freeze fracture techniques. We also formed our own group for class presentations, and I will be presenting Histology of Alzheimer and Affected Neutrophils later in June with a couple buddies. Sounds like a good topic!
Then Anatomy came. At first it was OK. But the slides kept coming and coming. I didn’t even think it was ever going to end. I had no idea there was this much material. And this is just the introduction. Oh dear. On the break we all felt pretty stressed out at the prospect of studying all the material thrown at us we trudged back to dorm for a quick lunch. In the afternoon, we had a lecture introducing parts of the nervous system with a different professor, Dr. B. He was great, giving us time and asking questions during lecture helped me more clearly understand the material. But it was still a lot more information I did not know much about.
I completely forgot today was the first day of Hyperbaric I. I didn’t explain above, so I will now. Saba offers an MSc in Hyperbaric Medicine as well for MD students. It is one class a semester and a research project later, in semester 3. I thought I would check it out, as the price is right too, at only 1200 USD a semester, it adds up to less than 4 grand for a Master’s Degree. Not bad. The class was good, and Dr. S was a great lecturer. The subject matter was very interesting and clinically focused which was enjoyable for me. By 5 I was dead. Too bad I needed to review all the material learned in the day.
I ran up to residence for dinner, and then studied until late in the night. Now I am writing this entry.
Interesting things learned today:
1. Only bone connected to no other bone: the hyoid bone (it’s surrounded by muscle)
2. The human body has fat everywhere, especially superficial fasica or Camper’s fasia everywhere except the eyelids, scrotum and penis.
3. There is a ridiculous amount of different names for a part of a bone that appears to be a “/ridge for muscle attachment”: epicondyle, tubercle, crest, tuberosity, trochanter...
4. There are 13 conditions proved effective to treat with HBOT (Hyperbaric Medicine – pressurized oxygen treatment)
5. I think nerves are really interesting.
6. We are sharing one cadaver between 16 people in anatomy lab.
7. There is never enough time to study everything.
A crow woke me up this morning. I was wide awake at 6am. This has to be a first in my books. I have never been a morning person, and I was convinced that in medical school my limits of getting up early would be tested. But maybe it was a fluke. Or it was the rooster that woke me up.
I made some Starbuck’s Coffee, reminding me off home and prepared for the day. We set out to campus, which was a short one minute walk down a relatively steep embankment. Upperclassman had set out their “wares” are we went down to purchase some books and hang out a little before orientation.
Orientation was a great experience, and we heard from the Dean, Dr. D, and several professors who were also administrators, Dr. S and Dr. S. We heard about the school, how it was run, how the student affairs were handled and about the Hyperbaric Medicine program. I started to feel like there was a lot to look forward to. We also heard from the President, who made a great impression on me, and to whom I later spoke with. He spoke well, was engaging and seemed truly passionate and caring about the students and school and wanted to keep improving what was currently being done. We had a great Q and A section where we discussed Saba’s eventual transfer to part of Netherlands (meaning the possibility of being a European Medical Graduate!) to the opportunity for clinical rotations in California to research at Saba.
Later, we did more administrative chores, got our pictures taken, signed up online and registered our laptops. It’s funny how as soon as you arrive on the campus everything is organized. But from afar, as an applicant, everything is a mystery and difficult and you have so many questions! Well, at least I have most of my administrative questions answered now! I also picked up a BRS Anatomy and a set of Netter’s flashcards too from upperclassman! Super exciting!
Finally, the highlight of the day, we took a free tour around the island. All I have to say is “Wow.” I think we were all excited and shocked by the spectacular views, the quaint feel of every hamlet on the island and the breathtaking heights and valleys that “The Road” took us through. We went to pretty much every corner of the island, saw the shortest commercial landing strip, went to Booby Hill, saw St. John’s, Windwardside and Hell’s Gate. I was really happy I waited around for a bit to catch a bus! I went with a couple of my roommates and we had a blast snapping pictures. We also took some necessary photo ops in front of the school.
We got back and went grocery shopping at My Store. To my disappointment, since it was Monday, there was little available in the way of fruit and veggies and I took what I could get to make a salad and food for the next couple days. I am still trying to get used to the island slowness, and trying not to run and bustle around everywhere like in Toronto is pretty tough! Waiting in line and being patient is a fact of life here and I am adjusting slowly and I think it is helping my stress level too. It is high enough as it is!
I bought a bottle of 4 dollar Vodka (Yes you read it right!) and my roommate and I went back and had a couple coolers of vodka and Kool-Aid. Yum! And with such a fantastic view from our balcony it was great to enjoy. We spent the evening Skyping and very briefly looking over a few stray pages in our anatomy texts.
Day 3
Rise and shine today at 6:30. It wasn’t so easy today. No rooster, just my alarm clock this time and hearing my roommate showering. I needed to get up. We all got ready pretty quick and got down to the Histology class early in the morning. From what I heard from Upperclassman it was important to arrive early for the first lecture to stake out your seat, if you will. We were there at about 7:30, and class did not begin ‘till 8. Dr. S started on time and took the roll call. We had a pretty relaxed lecture covering mostly and introduction and basic cell membrane details with some information of freeze fracture techniques. We also formed our own group for class presentations, and I will be presenting Histology of Alzheimer and Affected Neutrophils later in June with a couple buddies. Sounds like a good topic!
Then Anatomy came. At first it was OK. But the slides kept coming and coming. I didn’t even think it was ever going to end. I had no idea there was this much material. And this is just the introduction. Oh dear. On the break we all felt pretty stressed out at the prospect of studying all the material thrown at us we trudged back to dorm for a quick lunch. In the afternoon, we had a lecture introducing parts of the nervous system with a different professor, Dr. B. He was great, giving us time and asking questions during lecture helped me more clearly understand the material. But it was still a lot more information I did not know much about.
I completely forgot today was the first day of Hyperbaric I. I didn’t explain above, so I will now. Saba offers an MSc in Hyperbaric Medicine as well for MD students. It is one class a semester and a research project later, in semester 3. I thought I would check it out, as the price is right too, at only 1200 USD a semester, it adds up to less than 4 grand for a Master’s Degree. Not bad. The class was good, and Dr. S was a great lecturer. The subject matter was very interesting and clinically focused which was enjoyable for me. By 5 I was dead. Too bad I needed to review all the material learned in the day.
I ran up to residence for dinner, and then studied until late in the night. Now I am writing this entry.
Interesting things learned today:
1. Only bone connected to no other bone: the hyoid bone (it’s surrounded by muscle)
2. The human body has fat everywhere, especially superficial fasica or Camper’s fasia everywhere except the eyelids, scrotum and penis.
3. There is a ridiculous amount of different names for a part of a bone that appears to be a “/ridge for muscle attachment”: epicondyle, tubercle, crest, tuberosity, trochanter...
4. There are 13 conditions proved effective to treat with HBOT (Hyperbaric Medicine – pressurized oxygen treatment)
5. I think nerves are really interesting.
6. We are sharing one cadaver between 16 people in anatomy lab.
7. There is never enough time to study everything.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Change. This is how I can describe my day of travel in one word.
Getting up at 4am, I trudged my way through last-minute packing and preparations, bid farewell to my parents and then my sister dutifully drove me to the airport.
I found that apparently, though I had gotten my suitcase to close, I was still 20 lbs over the weight limit for one of my bags. Coughing up $50 USD to pay for extra clothing I hope will be worth it. I think I over-packed slightly in retrospect! ( I swear I needed all those shorts, shoes etc.!)
The American Customs agent was quite brisk and unfriendly, but I like to think they train their agents to not respond to, “Hi. How are you?” Perhaps their seriousness is to reflect the danger of possibly smuggling a bunch of grapes or bananas into the United States. Heehee. That went by without a hitch, and I met up with my future roommate and we traipsed over to our gate. Wandering around the terminal, she attempted to bargain with the salesperson at an electronics retailer as she was purchasing an alarm clock. I needed to learn to bargain, I was told. But, the airport may be the wrong place for that sort of thing, perhaps?
The flight to Philadelphia was short and sweet, only an hour long. I was giddy with excitement and my roommate and I chatted about Saba, medical school and everything in-between on the way. We transferred at Philadelphia Airport to our St. Maarten flight and we began to eye some young students around us. We surmised many of them must be also going to Saba and we eavesdropped casually on their conversation about the Genetics course they were going to be taking. We also dubbed them “NP”’s, as they were sporting something that resembled a nicotine patch behind their ears. This turned out to be Dramamine patches for motion sickness. But we had a good laugh at the time about it.
The St. Maarten flight was long. Luckily, we had an empty third seat in our row and could spread out, but also could not lean back, as our chairs were in front of the washroom. I slept pretty fitfully and started to feel more and more anxious about medical school and Saba. Finally, we were coming in for a landing in Anguilla. The island looked beautiful from up above, but from below was a little dingier than I expected, and I felt nervous (Apparently the French side of the island is quainter from what I have heard). My least favourite part about travel is being a confused woman in a foreign airport. I stuck out like a sore thumb and the taxi dispatchers seemed to hone in on me immediately. “Where are you going? Let me take your suitcase to the cab.” Before I could barely utter my destination, while simultaneously wanting to stay and eat at the airport, I followed my bag as it was rolled away. But all’s well that ends well, and the cab driver dutifully drove us to Doc Maarten to await our 6pm ferry.
We had a good three hours to kill, and after checking in our bags we meandered over to the nearby seafood restaurant. I ordered shrimp, and my roommate, squid and we chatted with our Facebook Saba schoolmates in person. We ran into two of the most infamous of the group, and we got along famously for a while, laughing, chatting and having a couple drinks. We were given multitudes of advice from current students returning on the ferry as they gave their opinion on various aspects of the school. I decided I would take all of it into account, and later form my own opinion. Consensus was: Anatomy was hard, but you will do well if you put in the time. Seems pretty simple, but I doubt it is!
The ferry ride. Oh, before I get there, let’s talk about “Saba Immigration”. Apparently this consists of two women sitting in the ticket area of Saba C. Transport looking at our documents and stamping our passports. I realized we were going to a different country, and how different it was going to be with this first taste. We got aboard the boat, and dropped out bags inside the boat. We started slowly away from St. Maarten and the crew handed out beer and water to the travellers, this I was told was , “Part of the experience. “ Well. I did pay $80 for the ferry, so I think I can have a free bottle of water! Hah. Anyways, my roommate and I went up to the front of the boat, and enjoyed the view for a time. After being splashed numerous times by the starboard water spray, we retreated indoors. Later we went back outside after the sun set and waited out the rocky trip. I forgot to mention the best part. The boat rocks back and forth over the majority of the trip, making passengers inside feel like they are like a cork in a bottle. Most people take motion sickness medication, and I popped a Gravol before the trip. I was informed by the other students on the plane flight of the use of the Dramamine patch for the Dawn II Ferry trip. So we stuck it out on the boat, and arrived in one piece late in the evening at Saba Harbour.
Then, there was another portion of Saba Igmmigration conducted there. This consisted of two disjointed lines, where we were directed to the police officer, who checked out name off while leaning over the police cruiser. We then fumbled for our luggage which had been removed from the boat, and most could barely find theirs, as it was quite dark by this time.
A flatbed truck picked up our luggage, and all the 1st semester students, including me piled into a van to drive to their residential destinations. Going around steep hills and hairpin turns on the European country roads was very interesting, and made me slightly scared. But we put our faith in our skilled cabby and he dropped us off safely at Hillside 2, the purported “better residence” as we had been told by many.
My roommate and I were so happy to arrive, only to become quite sad when we realized we needed to carry our luggage by ourselves up three flights of stairs. We managed, however, and settled in.
Now I am contemplating the life I will live, not only for the next 105 days, but the next 20 months. This is only going to get more interesting.
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