Give 'er!

The title is a shout-out to Canada. Oh, and to Vijay from my anatomy lab group.

So, some quick news: lots of studying in the weeks leading up to my first exam paid off. I ended up with A's in all subjects! Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to celebrate - we have two lab practical exams in the two-week period following the first written exam. However, I did celebrate a little bit. I joined a bunch of schoolmates at a local "club" on the beach in Portsmouth called The Purple Turtle. At one point, I needed a walk to clear my head, so I walked along the beach, and was offered marijuana by at least two locals (a third local was unintelligible). I declined, and got the hell out of there. It was time for bed.

I took the Histology practical exam Friday morning, which didn't go as well. I nailed the cell biology part of the exam, but a lot of the light microscopy slides were difficult to distinguish. I'm pretty sure that I'll be taking a small hit in the grade because of the practical, but not too much.

This weekend is almost completely devoted to anatomy lab. We have a practical exam coming up on Thursday, so all of the first and second semester students have flooded the lab to go over the cadavers. The practical exam will make use of nearly every body in the lab, so it doesn't help just to know the details of your table's specimen. Students are going from table to table, looking them over from head to toe to make sure they are familiar with the anatomy of the bodies in general, rather than the specific anatomy of their own body. Unfortunately, this flood is preventing me and my group from finishing up our dissection of the hand.

Speaking of which, I really need to vent. I'm so frustrated with gross lab. I'm not good at this. In fact, I would go so far as to say I'm bad at this. I know the theoretical anatomy cold, and if you handed me a copy of Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy without any labels, I'd be able to label everything there. When I try to dig around and find structures in the real thing, though, I end up cutting through things I shouldn't, horribly dismantling structures that need to be left intact. This even happens when we're being extra-cautious, because it will take us forever to do something, and then when we get tired of making zero progress, we'll try to move a little more aggressively, and BOOM! goes the dynamite - the patient's axillary artery has been severed, and he's dead on the table (again). Thursday, I was trying to get underneath the palmar fascia and aponeurosis - the stuff covering the muscles, vessels, and bones of the palm/hand. And as soon as I make a small incision, I see that I've cut an important vessel: the superficial palmar arch, something we were supposed to find, clean up, and keep intact.

Surgery may be off the table, which is a shame, because I really enjoy anatomy and I thought that surgery would be a great way to pursue it. But not if I do to patients what I've done to the cadaver.

I promise that I'll post a little more about the island stuff soon. I have a three-day weekend next week, and I'm planning on going out to the Cabrits, taking a bunch of pictures. That'll be more fun for everyone, blogger and reader alike. Until then, take care, and Happy Valentines' Day!