Hi there; Birdie here!
After Wednesday, I will be DONE with anatomy! School will be so much easier then...I won't even have any afternoon classes until after spring break. I am stressing pretty hardcore about this (even as I type this instead of studying)--since I actually did really well on the last exam, I have a chance of keeping an A in this class, so I really want to. Plus it seems like there's a lot more stuff I don't know at this point for this exam. I spent a couple hours yesterday and pretty much all evening Saturday in the lab and am feeling a lot better about the limb and especially the bones. I started out knowing bones really well so that's always my confidence point, and since we get to pick which question we start on for the practical I like to start with a bone.
Actually, I just ran a grade calculator and if I get an 88 on everything left I'll (barely) keep my A. I think I've done better than that on all my previous anatomy stuff. This might actually be doable...I can't slow down, though, this is anatomy and it's a lot of information. I feel better about it now though.
I did a good amount of non-anatomy over the weekend, too. Saturday morning I went to a raptor workday and did my second ever blood draw--on Sydney, the turkey vulture. She has big veins, and I volunteered first. :) My draw wasn't actually very good--I only managed it with the clinician's help, and I took too long so the blood clotted in the tube. BUT I got blood, so I'm 2 for 2. After that we played Pathfinder, but it seemed really short, especially since we stopped in a place that wasn't really a stopping point in the story (we were chasing the Monk down a hall). It was still fun, but sometimes I really miss my previous DM.
Oh, speaking of tabletop games...there's a kickstarter for basically a Monster Manual of bacteria and antibiotics. It ends today so I doubt anyone will be able to donate from seeing it, but here's the link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nerdcoremedical/the-bacterionomicon
I backed it and will be getting the hardcover when it comes out. My study buddy and I are trying to convince her boyfriend (who DMs for a party online through Roll20) to DM a game for us using it.
On Sunday I helped out with Spay Day. There was an adorable dilute calico kitten (dilute calicos and tortiseshells are among my favorites) that I wanted to take home. It was a shelter cat, too. Unfortunately, my roommate says I can't have a cat, so that's not happening for another year at least, so I don't get that kitten. I worked prep again this time. There was one cat who looked like she might have had a spay scar, so we were going to run a blood test to check if she'd been spayed (it checks for...lutenizing hormone, IIRC. Some hormone from the ovaries). The test would take 30 minutes (including getting plasma/serum), so we just let the surgeon open her up rather than have her under anasthesia so long. I had heard of the test last time, but this is the first time I heard the details and one of my classmates was hearing it for the first time, so I thought maybe my readers would find it interesting.
Last week I also finally got my car fixed. It was actually minimal trouble--I dropped it off in the morning, got my friend to drive me to school, and we went to pick it up after just a little extra time in anatomy lab. It was a little anxiety-inducing at the end, since apparently they needed my permission to do one part replacement and I missed the call asking for said permission since I was in bacteriology lab and wearing gloves that it took some time to get out of. Luckily they were able to replace it and get me my car back right around closing. And then I got a snowball--it's definitely heading towards summertime, 'cause the snowball stands are opening up. If you're not a Louisianian, you probably don't understand the wonders of snowball. It's like a snow cone, but bigger--in an actual styrofoam cup (or Chinese takeout box, if you're at Plum Street), not a little cone. And there are cream flavors, which are my favorites (they're sweet, with condensed milk mixed into the syrup), and you can get toppings like condensed milk on top. Snowballs are an important part of my summers.
I also did something with Josh Project (for once)--I went to deliver the kits (stuffed dog + book) to children in the hospital, along with a couple of service dogs. We didn't spend much time at all with the kids, and a lot of time standing in hallways because the dogs went first and we came in when they left. It was pretty nice, though--I'm going again on April 22, right after spring break. I was really impressed with the hospital worker and how he talked to the kids.
Other than that, last week was mainly just classes. I got lunch from a club/presentation every single day. I learned about class IV laser therapy, anemia, and some surgery cases. I also sat through a webinar about how to pay off debt that pretty much only applied to federal loans, which mine aren't. At least they gave me pizza.
Well, wish me luck on anatomy...however it turns out, it will all be over soon.
Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014
Everything is Awesome
Hi there; Birdie here!
All in all, this has been a great week, and it's about to get better! In about an hour, I'm leaving for my flight to Colorado for skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break. I'm really excited about the snow (which I don't have to drive in :D) and about spending time with my family, especially my little brother. He's going to see snow for the first time, which will be super adorable, and we're going to start reading the Percy Jackson series together. ^-^ I will need to study a bit for neuro since that final will be Friday after break, but it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm looking forward to quite a bit of not-studying as well.
The week didn't start out so great, though. Although I really, really appreciate my study group--both at a friend's house and in lab, I spent 8 or 9 hours studying both Sunday and Monday, and being with my classmates made it more productive and also more enjoyable. Then Tuesday was the practical. It started out fine, but about halfway through it got bad. There were about 3 things where I hadn't studied anything in that area, and it really didn't help that I started physically not feeling very good (not eating much lunch + formalin isn't really a great combination and I try to avoid it, but it was a catered lunch that I wound up not liking). I left that exam feeling awful about it. The written on Wednesday felt a little better, but not by much--there were a lot I wasn't really sure about. I pretty much kissed my chances of an A in that class goodbye. We have our grades now, though, and actually I did REALLY well! I got A's on both parts, and not just 91.5 barely-an-A-on-our-grading-scale. Actual, solid A's. The study group clearly helped a lot, and I have hopes of pulling off a 4.0 for the semester!
As for other classes, nothing super exciting. Finished the last of our neuro lectures, did well on my phys exam, started diagnostic imaging class. I actually had my lab yesterday, and it was a lot better than last semester's lab. Half of it was spent explaining DLPMO/DMPLO views of the equine carpus, which was necessary and a lot clearer than the lecture. The other half was much more fun, though. One of the radiologists went through a couple of cases with us, pointing out what area we should look at in the radiographs and showing some ultrasound images, and asking us about differentials. We didn't really know much, and it was at the end of a long day so we weren't as interactive as we could have been. But if all diagnostic imaging labs were like that, I wouldn't really mind having two or three extra lab sessions like the course coordinator is threatening to do for next year (she has problems with people switching lab times, which is a whole different issue).
Also on Wednesday, between classes ending and diagnostic imaging lab, I went and met with one of the clinicians. He went to the same (small, upstate NY) undergrad that I did, and I actually emailed him a bit before making my final decision to attend LSU. We chatted a bit, and he offered to help me find a research position for next summer, or for this summer if the things I applied to don't work out, which was really nice of him.
This week I also got to go to one of my potlucks. I made a cheesy garlic bread with a cauliflower base instead of a bread base, and (other than being slightly over-broiled and brown on top), it turned out wonderful. I love that I get to cook and try out new recipes for these things--I used to cook and bake all the time, but I don't have too much time for that now. And it's a lot better when I get to share it with friends. :) The guy who cooks made delicious pasta alfredo and pesto, and I got to talk with a bunch of third years about how their clinics are going.
Then after I got home from that, I got to talk to several of my undergrad friends for the first time since graduation! Definitely one of the best things to happen all week. We did it through google hangouts and basically had a massive video chat (I think there were 6 or 7 of us). We just talked for a while, and I did my nails (Mardi Gras colors: alternating purple and green with gold spots) just like old times. I haven't been anything like as social in vet school as I was in undergrad, so it felt really nice to be the way I am with my friends. Gosh, I've missed them. I'm sure we'll do it again sometime soonish, too, especially since one person who really wanted to set it up wasn't able to make that time.
Today at lunch I went to a Surgery Club meeting, which was great. A local practitioner came and talked to us--the same doctor who I work with at the Dream Clinic! He showed us some really interesting cases and even some video of a couple of the surgeries. Plus he showed some pictures from international trips he's done, and generally made me really excited to be a veterinarian. I'm signed up for the Dream Center next weekend, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and we've got 3 clin path multihead microscope wetlab dates set up, and Feline Club wants to work with us in Pathology Club for a cat necropsy wetlab, so that's awesome. I love that the club I'm part of running is going to actually be doing things!
All in all, this has been a great week, and it's about to get better! In about an hour, I'm leaving for my flight to Colorado for skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break. I'm really excited about the snow (which I don't have to drive in :D) and about spending time with my family, especially my little brother. He's going to see snow for the first time, which will be super adorable, and we're going to start reading the Percy Jackson series together. ^-^ I will need to study a bit for neuro since that final will be Friday after break, but it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm looking forward to quite a bit of not-studying as well.
The week didn't start out so great, though. Although I really, really appreciate my study group--both at a friend's house and in lab, I spent 8 or 9 hours studying both Sunday and Monday, and being with my classmates made it more productive and also more enjoyable. Then Tuesday was the practical. It started out fine, but about halfway through it got bad. There were about 3 things where I hadn't studied anything in that area, and it really didn't help that I started physically not feeling very good (not eating much lunch + formalin isn't really a great combination and I try to avoid it, but it was a catered lunch that I wound up not liking). I left that exam feeling awful about it. The written on Wednesday felt a little better, but not by much--there were a lot I wasn't really sure about. I pretty much kissed my chances of an A in that class goodbye. We have our grades now, though, and actually I did REALLY well! I got A's on both parts, and not just 91.5 barely-an-A-on-our-grading-scale. Actual, solid A's. The study group clearly helped a lot, and I have hopes of pulling off a 4.0 for the semester!
As for other classes, nothing super exciting. Finished the last of our neuro lectures, did well on my phys exam, started diagnostic imaging class. I actually had my lab yesterday, and it was a lot better than last semester's lab. Half of it was spent explaining DLPMO/DMPLO views of the equine carpus, which was necessary and a lot clearer than the lecture. The other half was much more fun, though. One of the radiologists went through a couple of cases with us, pointing out what area we should look at in the radiographs and showing some ultrasound images, and asking us about differentials. We didn't really know much, and it was at the end of a long day so we weren't as interactive as we could have been. But if all diagnostic imaging labs were like that, I wouldn't really mind having two or three extra lab sessions like the course coordinator is threatening to do for next year (she has problems with people switching lab times, which is a whole different issue).
Also on Wednesday, between classes ending and diagnostic imaging lab, I went and met with one of the clinicians. He went to the same (small, upstate NY) undergrad that I did, and I actually emailed him a bit before making my final decision to attend LSU. We chatted a bit, and he offered to help me find a research position for next summer, or for this summer if the things I applied to don't work out, which was really nice of him.
This week I also got to go to one of my potlucks. I made a cheesy garlic bread with a cauliflower base instead of a bread base, and (other than being slightly over-broiled and brown on top), it turned out wonderful. I love that I get to cook and try out new recipes for these things--I used to cook and bake all the time, but I don't have too much time for that now. And it's a lot better when I get to share it with friends. :) The guy who cooks made delicious pasta alfredo and pesto, and I got to talk with a bunch of third years about how their clinics are going.
Then after I got home from that, I got to talk to several of my undergrad friends for the first time since graduation! Definitely one of the best things to happen all week. We did it through google hangouts and basically had a massive video chat (I think there were 6 or 7 of us). We just talked for a while, and I did my nails (Mardi Gras colors: alternating purple and green with gold spots) just like old times. I haven't been anything like as social in vet school as I was in undergrad, so it felt really nice to be the way I am with my friends. Gosh, I've missed them. I'm sure we'll do it again sometime soonish, too, especially since one person who really wanted to set it up wasn't able to make that time.
Today at lunch I went to a Surgery Club meeting, which was great. A local practitioner came and talked to us--the same doctor who I work with at the Dream Clinic! He showed us some really interesting cases and even some video of a couple of the surgeries. Plus he showed some pictures from international trips he's done, and generally made me really excited to be a veterinarian. I'm signed up for the Dream Center next weekend, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and we've got 3 clin path multihead microscope wetlab dates set up, and Feline Club wants to work with us in Pathology Club for a cat necropsy wetlab, so that's awesome. I love that the club I'm part of running is going to actually be doing things!
Monday, February 24, 2014
Sometimes bad decisions are good life choices
Hi there; Birdie here!
Sorry for the late update; I've been majorly busy studying for our first anatomy exam of the semester. It's on the head of the dog, cow, and horse (vessels and nerves more than muscles, but we also have the eye and ear stuff), plus the neck/thorax/thoracic limb of the cow, horse, and goat. Also there's some comparative stuff about the pig that will apparently be on the written? Anyway, it's a lot.
Despite that, I decided to go home for the weekend. I'm going skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break (for my non-Louisiana readers, yes, we get off for Mardi Gras. No school for me next Monday or Tuesday. I think my brother and sister actually get the whole week off. It's kind of a big deal), so this weekend we were shopping for our snow coats. I actually ordered some snow boots online, but they didn't have half sizes and I guess they run small (which is a terrible idea when you have to fit thick winter socks into them, but I digress) so when I finally got them I still can't use them. Luckily my sister is half a shoe size smaller than me, so she should be able to use them. I'll just have to use my snow boots from last year, even though they're a little worn. I did get a fleece and a down jacket shell or whatever they call them in a tealy-green sort of color that's one of my favorite colors lately. With the fleece, it has all the qualities I wanted: fleece at the cuffs, zippered pockets, an inside pocket, and no hood. Oh, and snow-resistant, of course. So I'm pretty excited about the ski trip coming up!
I also got to go to a parade with my family! The floats were all themed like casinos, and they had a special throw that was a lightning bold made from layers of white foam with flashing blue lights in it. And I got one! My little brother and my dad helped. ^-^ We left pretty much right after that even though the parade wasn't over. It was kind of slow because the dirver of the first float had trouble navigating the turns. It was fun though.
Another thing I did instead of studying this past week was go to the dollar burgers night on Wednesday, and that was a GREAT idea! I got to hang out with half my pathfinder group (which we're just starting) and another one of my classmates, and we had a great time. Our conversation started with developing ideas for a useless Swiss army knife and only got better from there! I can't wait until we actually get to play pathfinder, but it won't be this weekend since that's when I'm going to Colorado.
Other than classes I've also gone to a few lunch talks. Friday's lunch meeting with VBMA actually led into a dinner presentation that was CE for practicing veterinarians. It seemed more like motivational speeches than actual helpful advice that would help us. Also the speaker (at lunch, when he had audience participation) asked questions like "who would like their animal patients to be able to talk to them?" Which most people raised their hands for, but then interpreted that as "all of you students don't want to deal with people" even though that's not what he asked. So most of what I got from that was that I like snickerdoodle cookies. At least it was credit towards my VBMA certificate. The lab animal presentation on Monday wasn't much more positive for me. The speaker was from a primate center like I'll hopefully be going to spend my summer (though not the same one), which is why I went. Her cynicism and pragmatism (with a negative connotation), especially in regard to people, turned me off.
Well, I guess I have a whole bunch more anatomy to study. Lab tomorrow, lecture Wednesday. Let's see how this goes.
Sorry for the late update; I've been majorly busy studying for our first anatomy exam of the semester. It's on the head of the dog, cow, and horse (vessels and nerves more than muscles, but we also have the eye and ear stuff), plus the neck/thorax/thoracic limb of the cow, horse, and goat. Also there's some comparative stuff about the pig that will apparently be on the written? Anyway, it's a lot.
Despite that, I decided to go home for the weekend. I'm going skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break (for my non-Louisiana readers, yes, we get off for Mardi Gras. No school for me next Monday or Tuesday. I think my brother and sister actually get the whole week off. It's kind of a big deal), so this weekend we were shopping for our snow coats. I actually ordered some snow boots online, but they didn't have half sizes and I guess they run small (which is a terrible idea when you have to fit thick winter socks into them, but I digress) so when I finally got them I still can't use them. Luckily my sister is half a shoe size smaller than me, so she should be able to use them. I'll just have to use my snow boots from last year, even though they're a little worn. I did get a fleece and a down jacket shell or whatever they call them in a tealy-green sort of color that's one of my favorite colors lately. With the fleece, it has all the qualities I wanted: fleece at the cuffs, zippered pockets, an inside pocket, and no hood. Oh, and snow-resistant, of course. So I'm pretty excited about the ski trip coming up!
I also got to go to a parade with my family! The floats were all themed like casinos, and they had a special throw that was a lightning bold made from layers of white foam with flashing blue lights in it. And I got one! My little brother and my dad helped. ^-^ We left pretty much right after that even though the parade wasn't over. It was kind of slow because the dirver of the first float had trouble navigating the turns. It was fun though.
Another thing I did instead of studying this past week was go to the dollar burgers night on Wednesday, and that was a GREAT idea! I got to hang out with half my pathfinder group (which we're just starting) and another one of my classmates, and we had a great time. Our conversation started with developing ideas for a useless Swiss army knife and only got better from there! I can't wait until we actually get to play pathfinder, but it won't be this weekend since that's when I'm going to Colorado.
Other than classes I've also gone to a few lunch talks. Friday's lunch meeting with VBMA actually led into a dinner presentation that was CE for practicing veterinarians. It seemed more like motivational speeches than actual helpful advice that would help us. Also the speaker (at lunch, when he had audience participation) asked questions like "who would like their animal patients to be able to talk to them?" Which most people raised their hands for, but then interpreted that as "all of you students don't want to deal with people" even though that's not what he asked. So most of what I got from that was that I like snickerdoodle cookies. At least it was credit towards my VBMA certificate. The lab animal presentation on Monday wasn't much more positive for me. The speaker was from a primate center like I'll hopefully be going to spend my summer (though not the same one), which is why I went. Her cynicism and pragmatism (with a negative connotation), especially in regard to people, turned me off.
Well, I guess I have a whole bunch more anatomy to study. Lab tomorrow, lecture Wednesday. Let's see how this goes.
Friday, November 1, 2013
This is probably a bad idea
Hi there; Birdie here!
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
Friday, October 25, 2013
This post sponsored by Hill's and donuts
Hi there; Birdie here!
I'm really glad I don't have any exams next week, but I still can't slow down. Anatomy and histology labs have both been pretty intimidating lately. I got really lucky on my anatomy quiz today and just had to identify the caudal lobe of the caudal lobe of the left lung (yes, the repetition is intentional). I mean, I did know most of the terms on the list of potential quiz questions, but there were a lot of external vessels and such that we couldn't even find...having a fat dog makes it more difficult. I'm still doing well, but I'm not as confident about it. I think I've managed to keep A's in the 4 classes we've finished (I'm not 100% sure where I fell around the border in Anatomy I), but we're just starting these new classes so I don't have any cushion built up. And apparently the next anatomy test (conveniently right after fall break in 2 weeks) is the worst one, according to one of the course instructors. I'm probably going to spend most of my weekend typing up notes...not really catching up from when I didn't have my laptop, since I've finished those classes, but preparing for the TWO tests the week after next. Sunday is another Spay Day, too, so at least I'll get to spend some of my weekend with live animals. :)
My roommate's dog has been a little better with me. Sometimes if the roommate is there she'll get close to me and be sweet. She is very dominant with the other roommate's dog, though, so that's another strike against her. I think she might end up with the roommate's parents if she can't get along with everyone in the house. I'm glad she has a home lined up either way...I just don't want her to growl at me anymore.
This week was Hill's Week at our school, which meant we got free pen/highlighters, baked goods, and (since our class had near-100% participation in wearing red/blue yesterday) a donut breakfast this morning. I'm kind of surprised there weren't any speakers or lunch-and-learn type things associated with it. Well, there is a nutritional speaker breakfast tomorrow morning, but I think I've missed the deadline to RSVP. Also, I'd really like to not have anywhere I have to be Saturday morning.
Yesterday my workout buddy and I went to the UREC, aka the LSU gym. We did a zumba class; she'd never done it before, so she wanted to try it out. It was really fun, and now that we have accounts on the reservation system we want to try some other stuff--probably kickboxing next. The gym here is really neat. There's an indoor track and a rock climbing wall and several group fitness classes in addition to the basketball courts and squash rooms and weight rooms that my undergrad had.
Oh, I did a really fun wetlab this week, too. It was for clinical pathology, on the multihead microscope, and there was a histopath component as well. We looked at cytology aspirates and tissue sections of the same cases, and the two clinicians asked a bunch of questions to get us to think about the case before giving us the answers. I obviously knew approximately nothing since I'm only a first year, so I didn't exactly feel like a real doctor, but I loved it anyway. The bowl of candy probably helped, too. ;) Everyone else there was a third year, but they made me feel really welcome when we were walking over together. That helped me not feel awkward when I had to ask what one of the terms they were using meant (histeocytes--I'm not sure how to spell it since I only heard it, but it's an umbrella term for macrophages and dendritic cells). I'm really glad I went ahead and joined path club. I also went ahead and paid dues for internal medicine club. Their wetlab was really cool, and my dad offered to pay for my dues (thanks, Dad!).
On a less fun note, I went to the first lunch talk that I straight-up walked out of before the speaker was done. It wasn't even a free lunch. The topic was equine nutrition, and I know we don't get an awful lot of nutrition in the curriculum, so I wanted to go find out more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that at all. He kept saying he didn't want to advertise his supplement or anything, but that was about all I got. That and one other thing he kept repeating: "water, forage, minerals" with grain as an afterthought. He didn't really seem to have anything to say, and kept trying to open up the floor to questions but no one really had any. I for one went because I have no background on the topic--what am I supposed to ask? Eventually it sort of devolved into a conversation about what this one student did for her horse who kept tying up in his muscles, and the speaker's main response to any questions about what he would recommend was, of course, "I'm not here to advertise my product." It was about that point that I left because I was seriously not getting anything out of it.
In not too long, I'm about to head back to school for a "fall family picnic" thing. My family is heading to St. Louis to see the World Series game, so they won't be here, but I signed up for a shift selling bandannas for Josh Project. And hey, free food.
I'm really glad I don't have any exams next week, but I still can't slow down. Anatomy and histology labs have both been pretty intimidating lately. I got really lucky on my anatomy quiz today and just had to identify the caudal lobe of the caudal lobe of the left lung (yes, the repetition is intentional). I mean, I did know most of the terms on the list of potential quiz questions, but there were a lot of external vessels and such that we couldn't even find...having a fat dog makes it more difficult. I'm still doing well, but I'm not as confident about it. I think I've managed to keep A's in the 4 classes we've finished (I'm not 100% sure where I fell around the border in Anatomy I), but we're just starting these new classes so I don't have any cushion built up. And apparently the next anatomy test (conveniently right after fall break in 2 weeks) is the worst one, according to one of the course instructors. I'm probably going to spend most of my weekend typing up notes...not really catching up from when I didn't have my laptop, since I've finished those classes, but preparing for the TWO tests the week after next. Sunday is another Spay Day, too, so at least I'll get to spend some of my weekend with live animals. :)
My roommate's dog has been a little better with me. Sometimes if the roommate is there she'll get close to me and be sweet. She is very dominant with the other roommate's dog, though, so that's another strike against her. I think she might end up with the roommate's parents if she can't get along with everyone in the house. I'm glad she has a home lined up either way...I just don't want her to growl at me anymore.
This week was Hill's Week at our school, which meant we got free pen/highlighters, baked goods, and (since our class had near-100% participation in wearing red/blue yesterday) a donut breakfast this morning. I'm kind of surprised there weren't any speakers or lunch-and-learn type things associated with it. Well, there is a nutritional speaker breakfast tomorrow morning, but I think I've missed the deadline to RSVP. Also, I'd really like to not have anywhere I have to be Saturday morning.
Yesterday my workout buddy and I went to the UREC, aka the LSU gym. We did a zumba class; she'd never done it before, so she wanted to try it out. It was really fun, and now that we have accounts on the reservation system we want to try some other stuff--probably kickboxing next. The gym here is really neat. There's an indoor track and a rock climbing wall and several group fitness classes in addition to the basketball courts and squash rooms and weight rooms that my undergrad had.
Oh, I did a really fun wetlab this week, too. It was for clinical pathology, on the multihead microscope, and there was a histopath component as well. We looked at cytology aspirates and tissue sections of the same cases, and the two clinicians asked a bunch of questions to get us to think about the case before giving us the answers. I obviously knew approximately nothing since I'm only a first year, so I didn't exactly feel like a real doctor, but I loved it anyway. The bowl of candy probably helped, too. ;) Everyone else there was a third year, but they made me feel really welcome when we were walking over together. That helped me not feel awkward when I had to ask what one of the terms they were using meant (histeocytes--I'm not sure how to spell it since I only heard it, but it's an umbrella term for macrophages and dendritic cells). I'm really glad I went ahead and joined path club. I also went ahead and paid dues for internal medicine club. Their wetlab was really cool, and my dad offered to pay for my dues (thanks, Dad!).
On a less fun note, I went to the first lunch talk that I straight-up walked out of before the speaker was done. It wasn't even a free lunch. The topic was equine nutrition, and I know we don't get an awful lot of nutrition in the curriculum, so I wanted to go find out more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that at all. He kept saying he didn't want to advertise his supplement or anything, but that was about all I got. That and one other thing he kept repeating: "water, forage, minerals" with grain as an afterthought. He didn't really seem to have anything to say, and kept trying to open up the floor to questions but no one really had any. I for one went because I have no background on the topic--what am I supposed to ask? Eventually it sort of devolved into a conversation about what this one student did for her horse who kept tying up in his muscles, and the speaker's main response to any questions about what he would recommend was, of course, "I'm not here to advertise my product." It was about that point that I left because I was seriously not getting anything out of it.
In not too long, I'm about to head back to school for a "fall family picnic" thing. My family is heading to St. Louis to see the World Series game, so they won't be here, but I signed up for a shift selling bandannas for Josh Project. And hey, free food.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
I can see a light...
Hi there; Birdie here!
I just have to get through this physiology final on Monday and then the week after I'll have a whole week with no exams! I'm really excited about it. I've been finding it really hard to study for physio and for last week's anatomy exam. We haven't gotten the written exam grades yet, but I got an A on the practical, so I guess I managed to study enough anyway. I'm hoping to finish writing study guides for the physio notes today and then go over them tomorrow, and hopefully that will be enough. Then I can take at least a few days off studying...kind of like I did after the anatomy exam, actually, only this time I won't have to feel bad about it.
I still am aiming to update this on Fridays, btw, but I wanted to hold out so that I could write about the wetlab I went to this morning. It was put on by Internal Medicine Club, which I'm not actually a member of--apparently they got a grant of some sort, so they could open it to non-members. And I figured, why not? One of the club officers there was talking to me at one point during the wetlab and basically giving me a spiel promoting the club, and she seemed kind of impressed that I was going to this wetlab as a first year. Well, that's the kind of person I am--if I've got an opportunity to do stuff like that, I'll take it whenever I can, basically. It's not like I'm going to get less busy during the later, harder years. I still don't think I'll be joining this club, though...I'm already paying probably too much in dues.
We got to do a bunch of procedures on cadaver dogs: CSF taps (getting cerebrospinal fluid samples--a procedure that can be pretty scary, since if your needle goes in too deep you hit brainstem!), thoracocentesis (drawing out fluid from around the lungs), and bone marrow biopsies from a couple of different sites. We also had a few cadaver cats to practice placing esophageal tubes on, and I got to put in my first suture with it! Not that I was at all good at it--turns out, cat skin is really tough. The doctors make suturing look so easy, but it wasn't easy at all to get my needle through, much less in the right place. One of the dogs had a strange abdominal mass--it felt like ribs on palpation. Once everyone had gotten to try the procedures (and third years were getting ready to practice surgery on the dogs), they went in to see what it was...turns out, it was his stomach, FULL of dry dog food. It was absolutely bulging; we could see individual pellets distorting the surface of the stomach.
I'm glad I managed to do well on the wetlab procedures...it makes me feel a little better about how bad I messed up in anatomy lab. Between my partner not having looked at the dissection guide for what we were about to start, neither of us having looked at the demo dog yet, and misinterpreting part of the instructions, we managed to (rather messily) cut into our abdominal cavity when we're supposed to be working on the thorax. Not that we managed to cut the thorax very well, either, apparently, since we can't really see anything in there...it worked rather better on the big demo dog. Luckily by the time of the exam we'll have gotten to the abdomen anyway, and dissection skills aren't a part of our grade unless they interfere with us being able to answer our quiz questions. Apparently we did something right on our last dissection, though; I didn't notice as we were going through the practical, but judging by the fact that the left pelvic limb was removed when we went to get him out yesterday, our dog was one of the stations.
I've been having a little trouble with live dogs, too. Well, one live dog in particular--my second roommate (the other first year) is fostering/potentially adopting a dog from the local shelter. She's really cute, but she's super scared of me and starts growling and barking at me every time I go downstairs. I don't think she understands where I come from since she can't get up the twisty metal staircase herself. She does that somewhat to our other roommate as well, but she gets over it or at least doesn't do it as much. It's kind of frustrating...I like to study downstairs sometimes, but now if I try she'll just want to bark at me the whole time. And it's really not convenient that I have to go through that roommate's bedroom to do my laundry...
One last thing: on Tuesday I went with my friend to the weekly 5k downtown, as we often do. We usually meet up with a bunch of our classmates, but no one else was there (most likely because that was between the anatomy practical and written exam). We did the run anyway, in about 30 minutes (which, with the way we were running, makes me think that wasn't really 5k, but eh). When we finished, we saw a bunch of runners trailing off somewhere, so we joined the trail. It turns out, they were shooting a commercial for a catastrophe-themed "run for your life" 5k in the spring--and we got to be in it! We had to run up a hill (but not too fast) and look scared, with "military" waving us on and an "ambulance" in the background. It was really fun! If you happen to be in the Baton Rouge area and see a commercial like that, I'm in it. :) We all got free entries to the race for participating in the commercial, and I might actually do it; if I do, it'll be my first 5k since I really started running! And after that part, there was a horror scream contest, and my friend won the girls' part. She won a $50 gift card to a sports & outdoors store, though she hasn't gotten it yet. So if you see that commercial and there's a close-up on a girl screaming--I know her.
Sorry, I lied, one more thing: I finally got my laptop back. :D
I just have to get through this physiology final on Monday and then the week after I'll have a whole week with no exams! I'm really excited about it. I've been finding it really hard to study for physio and for last week's anatomy exam. We haven't gotten the written exam grades yet, but I got an A on the practical, so I guess I managed to study enough anyway. I'm hoping to finish writing study guides for the physio notes today and then go over them tomorrow, and hopefully that will be enough. Then I can take at least a few days off studying...kind of like I did after the anatomy exam, actually, only this time I won't have to feel bad about it.
I still am aiming to update this on Fridays, btw, but I wanted to hold out so that I could write about the wetlab I went to this morning. It was put on by Internal Medicine Club, which I'm not actually a member of--apparently they got a grant of some sort, so they could open it to non-members. And I figured, why not? One of the club officers there was talking to me at one point during the wetlab and basically giving me a spiel promoting the club, and she seemed kind of impressed that I was going to this wetlab as a first year. Well, that's the kind of person I am--if I've got an opportunity to do stuff like that, I'll take it whenever I can, basically. It's not like I'm going to get less busy during the later, harder years. I still don't think I'll be joining this club, though...I'm already paying probably too much in dues.
We got to do a bunch of procedures on cadaver dogs: CSF taps (getting cerebrospinal fluid samples--a procedure that can be pretty scary, since if your needle goes in too deep you hit brainstem!), thoracocentesis (drawing out fluid from around the lungs), and bone marrow biopsies from a couple of different sites. We also had a few cadaver cats to practice placing esophageal tubes on, and I got to put in my first suture with it! Not that I was at all good at it--turns out, cat skin is really tough. The doctors make suturing look so easy, but it wasn't easy at all to get my needle through, much less in the right place. One of the dogs had a strange abdominal mass--it felt like ribs on palpation. Once everyone had gotten to try the procedures (and third years were getting ready to practice surgery on the dogs), they went in to see what it was...turns out, it was his stomach, FULL of dry dog food. It was absolutely bulging; we could see individual pellets distorting the surface of the stomach.
I'm glad I managed to do well on the wetlab procedures...it makes me feel a little better about how bad I messed up in anatomy lab. Between my partner not having looked at the dissection guide for what we were about to start, neither of us having looked at the demo dog yet, and misinterpreting part of the instructions, we managed to (rather messily) cut into our abdominal cavity when we're supposed to be working on the thorax. Not that we managed to cut the thorax very well, either, apparently, since we can't really see anything in there...it worked rather better on the big demo dog. Luckily by the time of the exam we'll have gotten to the abdomen anyway, and dissection skills aren't a part of our grade unless they interfere with us being able to answer our quiz questions. Apparently we did something right on our last dissection, though; I didn't notice as we were going through the practical, but judging by the fact that the left pelvic limb was removed when we went to get him out yesterday, our dog was one of the stations.
I've been having a little trouble with live dogs, too. Well, one live dog in particular--my second roommate (the other first year) is fostering/potentially adopting a dog from the local shelter. She's really cute, but she's super scared of me and starts growling and barking at me every time I go downstairs. I don't think she understands where I come from since she can't get up the twisty metal staircase herself. She does that somewhat to our other roommate as well, but she gets over it or at least doesn't do it as much. It's kind of frustrating...I like to study downstairs sometimes, but now if I try she'll just want to bark at me the whole time. And it's really not convenient that I have to go through that roommate's bedroom to do my laundry...
One last thing: on Tuesday I went with my friend to the weekly 5k downtown, as we often do. We usually meet up with a bunch of our classmates, but no one else was there (most likely because that was between the anatomy practical and written exam). We did the run anyway, in about 30 minutes (which, with the way we were running, makes me think that wasn't really 5k, but eh). When we finished, we saw a bunch of runners trailing off somewhere, so we joined the trail. It turns out, they were shooting a commercial for a catastrophe-themed "run for your life" 5k in the spring--and we got to be in it! We had to run up a hill (but not too fast) and look scared, with "military" waving us on and an "ambulance" in the background. It was really fun! If you happen to be in the Baton Rouge area and see a commercial like that, I'm in it. :) We all got free entries to the race for participating in the commercial, and I might actually do it; if I do, it'll be my first 5k since I really started running! And after that part, there was a horror scream contest, and my friend won the girls' part. She won a $50 gift card to a sports & outdoors store, though she hasn't gotten it yet. So if you see that commercial and there's a close-up on a girl screaming--I know her.
Sorry, I lied, one more thing: I finally got my laptop back. :D
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