Run for your Sanity

This semester is by far a 100% improvement from the craziness from last semester.  With the bits of extra time, I decided to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) to keep myself a little more physically fit than I did last semester.  The fall grind was not conducive to anything but studying books and bodies.  Therefore I've been training with 5 of my class mates for a marathon in Nashville in mid-March.  We run about 4 days a week, 3 of those 4 days we typically run individually and then on Saturdays we do a long run together.  This Saturday we are going to try to run ~10.5 or 11 miles.  We ran 9.5 miles last week and it was great.  Mississippi winters are typically friendly for outdoor running.  Mississippi summers are little less friendly.  I tried running outdoors last summer in MS and found myself running through sprinklers systems in people's yards. I suspect I'll find a different form of stress relief for the summertime!

I find working out 3-5 days a week a fantastic mental stress reliever.  I sleep better at night and my nighttime study routine seems to be more productive as well if I have gone for a run that day. It seems that running is as good for my mental well-being as it is for my physical well-being.

As far as medical school studies are concerned-I spend most of my days and nights studying medical physiology.  We spent January studying cardiovascular physiology and we're spending most of February studying the kidneys and endocrine systems. I have to admit the most resounding life lesson I have taken away from the last 6-7 weeks of medical physiology is that if Americans were to lose weight and stop smoking--- A LOT of physicians would be out of work...my peers and I joke all the time about how they should rename medical physiology-"don't get fat/don't smoke 101"

Keep your heart + mind healthy and try to go for a run today! Tt helps you think clearly, relieves tension, and might help you look good for bikini season (if you do know me you know I won't be wearing a bikini I'm way too self-conscious for that LOL) but maybe you can.

Happy Running

Salt and Light,

Kelly

LOVE IS A DRUG

I've heard and I'm sure many of you have seen, read, or heard movies, news clips, films, and even songs saying "LOVE IS A DRUG" Some even say its like morphine or another potent pain killer.  But the funny thing is if love is like morphine, I don't think I want it...morphine makes you sleepy, drowsy, confused, and if given at high doses makes you itch because morphine causes the release of histamines which are the things that make you itch when you have an allergic reaction--- (p.s.love and itching its a totally different subject).  Nonetheless, we continue to describe love as a "drug" or pain killer.  Puzzling I think.

CNN posted the following article (see link) saying "love may be as good as morphine"

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/13/love-may-be-as-good-as-morphine/

I've seen some people on morphine and in my personal opinion, truly loving someone far surpasses any man made concoction that can be made in a laboratory.  True unconditional love from Christ will cure any heart, heal any wound, renew any brokeness, and can even give life eternally.

Love could never be a drug and thank goodness it's not.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours.

Salt and Light,

Kelly

HOLD A BEATING HEART IN YOUR HAND....CHECK!

Yesterday was one of the most interesting days we've had this semester by far!

In the medical physiology class we have a live animal lab in which a live anesthetized pig is used to demonstrate what happens when given certain hormones through a catheters.  We gave a variety of injectable hormones to see how hormones these effect the heart rate and blood pressure.  We monitored the arterial blood pressure using femoral artery catheters that we inserted ourselves.  To do this we had to cut open the thigh area, find the femoral arteries, and cut tiny holes in them to insert plastic catheter tubes.      We also exposed the carotid arteries in the neck to test what would happen to blood pressure when the carotids are occluded.

The hormones we gave were epinephrine (this is the same hormone that would be in an "epi" pen) and norepinephrine and acetylcholine. All these hormones have a variety of effects on heart rate and blood pressure and differ at varying dosages.  Some made the heart rate RACE up to almost 200 beats per minute while others didn't affect the heart rate much at all.  Some of the hormones made the blood pressure SPIKE.

The lab got super interesting when we opened the chest cavity.  I cut open the pig on its side in between the ribs bones and through  the rib muscle until you could get a tiny view of the lungs.  Then we used a metal retractor to spread the rib bones apart to get a better view inside.  You could see the bright pink lungs inhaling and exhaling and after removing the pericardium you could see the heart pumping away. It is amazing how much movement is going on inside your chest.  Believe me this heart was moving all over the place and pumping hard.  It is phenomenal to think this heart beats ~72 beats per min, 24 hours a day, 52 weeks a year, for ~74.6 years (on average). AMAZING.

As part of the lab exercise we caused the heart to go into fibrillation (this is when the heart is not pumping but just quivering and needs to be defibrillated AKA "shocked" with paddles).  So after the heart went into fibrillation we defibrillated the heart with internal paddles and tried to get the heart going again.  We didn't get the heart pumping with the defibrillator so we tried cardiac message which is using your hand to pump the heart and get blood moving around.  After cardiac message you try to defibrillate again to get the heart to beat on its on-- this didn't work either. So our pig's heart beat didn't come back which unfortunately happens a lot when trying to bring a heart back after it goes into fibrillation.  Our professor said the heart was probably more difficult to bring back because the pig had be under anesthesia for almost 5 hours at that time.

A couple years ago PETA through a fit when they heard about this lab and I can understand how they would not appreciate us using live animals to practice these surgical techniques.  However, I assure you it is far better for med student to practice on anesthetized animals than on someone's relative, friend, child, spouse, ect.  These animals provide a purposeful and meaningful experience and help us to be better physicians later on. Believe me all of us appreciated the experience and I can say for myself it was one of the highlights of the semester thus far. Every time you check your heart rate or feel your chest and feel the beating just know that heart is working hard for you!  And on a side note: this pig had MUCH prettier lungs than my cadaver had--this pig didn't smoke :) Keep your lungs pretty in pink!

Thanks for reading!

Salt and Light,

Kelly

Back to the Med School Grind

Thanks to everyone who kept up with my first medical school semester last fall.  The semester ended on December 21st.  We took the Gross Anatomy Board exam and the Biochemistry board exam.  Both of those are standarized exams that ranks you nationally on a percentile.  I usually am a little scared of standarized tests because the MCAT gave me such a fit and the ACT and SAT were not my strongest performances either.

Fortunately, the board exams went much better than my previous standarized test experiences. To any aspiring med student don't let the MCAT determine if you can go to med school or not...I had to take it 4 times and believe me--the MCAT doesn't determine if you will be a good medical student/doctor or not.  If you want to go to med school the MCAT is just another hoop to jump through, don't let it get you down.

Back to last semester, so we finished Gross Anatomy (hallejuia!) and Biochemistry (again...hallejuia!)  Both those classes went fine and I'm glad to say they are officially behind me.  I will continue to say that Gross Anatomy is the "Holy Grail" of medical school.  It is the worst, best, hardest, nastiest, most fun, most dreadful, so necessary, so stressful, amazingly rewarding, completely gratifying, and truely unique experience of my first semester.  I am not sure any other class will be able to top the emotions gross anatomy envokes.

Nonetheless, today is my first day of second semester or week 20 of medical school.  We started the semester with Histolgy (the study of tissues and body systems at the microscopic level).  Histology is most important to Patholgist.  The T.V. show "Dr. G: medical examiner" is a good example of histology.  When Dr. G takes tissues samples and looks at them under the microscope-that's what histology is.  We have a histology lab this afternoon, we are going to look at heart muscle, arteries, and veins under the microscope.  After lunch we pick up with Medical Physiology.  "Med Phys" will run all the way through Spring Break and will be the bulk of this second semester.

I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Again, thanks to each of you for reading and praying for me during this first year.  I appreciate it more than you know.

Salt and Light,

Kelly

Bisect the head

This week was a great week in Gross Anatomy lab mainly because it was my last dissection ever!  My group went in a day early to finish so we could focus on Biochemistry which is the most imminent danger- we have a Biochem test this Monday.

This week involved "Bisecting". Bisecting means we divided the head down the nose into a right and left half.  We cut the head with a good ole $3 hack saw that had a $1.50 blade on it.  It was a little barbaric but most things in Gross Anatomy are. We bisected the head so we could see the internal sinuses (the spaces that fill up with the "crud" and leaves you feeling lousy) We also needed to see the nerves that innervate your palate- your palate is the hard structure sometimes called "the roof" of your mouth.  The dissection wasn't too terrible except for the sawing part.  When we had to saw through the teeth it even made my own teeth hurt just holding this head while my lab partner did the grunt work.  My lab partner is fantastic- he's an excellent carpenter and somehow was a natural when it came to sawing a head in half.

Now that all my dissecting work is done I just have to make sure I know it all...Yikes!  So I'll still be up in the lab for the next couple of weeks but I can leave my scalpel at home-Hallelujah.

The infamous Gross anatomy has lived up to its reputation in my mind.  It has been a haul, a marathon, a beast, a monster, a frustration, a privilege, a success, and its finally coming to and end. I feel honored to have gotten the chance to do this, but I'm so glad its over.

The end of the gross anatomy experience is finalized by a "coat burning" party.  Which is where we burn all our lab gear: lab coats, lab shoes, manuals, atlas, EVERYTHING. Mainly because NO ONE wants to take any of that stuff home- once something has gone in the gross anatomy lab- it will indefinitely smell like lab-forever. So might as well have fun getting rid of all that stuff.

Thanks for reading

Salt & Light,

Kelly

Why we do what we do....

A few have asked me why are you doing this?  Indeed, medical school is one of the notoriously tiring and grueling disciplines, many television shows ("ER", "Gray's Anatomy", "True stories of the ER", "House") feed off this reality.  But beyond these television shows there is a true passion in myself and my peers which drives us to do this.  I thought I might share a portion of my application "personal statement" to answer the question "why do you want to do this?"  The Lord has placed certain special people in my life and has created a path for me that has led me to this place.  Below you will find a small excerpt of my personal statement.  Many of you might recognize some names :)


"I became interested in the field of medicine when I was very young.  I was privileged to be exposed to medicine through high school shadowing programs and my uncle’s private family practice.  However, the most influential catalyst to my medical interest was Michael. Michael Henderson was a close school friend of mine who battled bone marrow cancer in junior high.  Michael’s testimony of how medicine and the physicians who cared for him influenced his life inclined my fascination, touched my heart, and increased my desire to study medicine.  I was able to see Michael take a medical journey from surgery to chemotherapy to a healthy young man again. Michael recovered completely and went on to graduate high school and earn a college degree.  I have always told Michael I do not think he realizes the impact his life made on mine. Michael's story caused me to ask myself, "Could I become a physician that could help people like Michael?"  High school shadowing programs, my uncle’s private practice, and Michael each sparked my initial interest in the medical field.  From there I took the inspiration and desire I had and decided to achieve the ultimate goal: become a physician. After graduating high school,  I decided to take the first step toward my goal; I enrolled at Mississippi State University in the fall of 2004 as a Biological Engineering major with a premedical emphasis.......

In the spring of my freshman year, I knew I wanted to experience medicine with my own hands.  I wanted to develop relationships and contacts that would give me greater exposure to medicine.  Therefore, I applied for an Emergency Room Technician position at Oktibbeha County Hospital in Starkville, MS......Indeed, I have personally seen the abundantly rewarding and deeply satisfying life of a physician.

In my fourth year, I was a part of a senior design group which, with the help of Hanger Prosthetics, designed a water-proof sleeveless shower prosthetic for Iraq war veteran and Mississippi State student Aaron Rice, a trans-tibial amputee....I was thrilled to be a part of this project because through innovation, design, and testing we were able to provide a way for Aaron to shower and wash his residual limb standing up.  I was excited to be involved in helping someone return to a sense of normality.  Through this project I learned about research, trial and error, working together as a team, and service. Having the opportunity to be involved in this research and design project helped solidify my belief that I am devoted to a life of service...


My parents have given me guidance and helped me develop into a positive and helpful human being which I will need to become a well rounded physician......There is no other satisfaction I can think of equal to helping someone else in their time of need as those physicians helped my friend Michael Henderson...."

Thanks For Reading

Salt and Light,

Kelly 

"The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated."

I found the quote above on a website and found it to be true not only in medical careers but most professions in life.  We may be salesmen, teachers, bankers, landscapers, pastors, or a stay at home parent but in reality we are all more than our career dictates-- the true meaning of our careers is not giving someone a perscription or teaching someone math or literature or making them breakfast but its the lasting mark we make on their hearts that  makes the difference.

We took our fifth biochemistry and second physiology exam yesterday.  The biochemitry exam was by far my biggest worry- it tested our knowledge of metabolism (metabolism is how our bodies break down the things we eat into usable energy for our cells)  The physiology exam covered the Gastro-Intestinal system which is not my favorite (like my gross anatomy anal and urogenital triangle dissection:  I'm glad both of these systems work but don't really want to know too many details)

After the tests yesterday morning my group had to start the next dissection in the gross anatomy lab.  This block of dissection is "head and neck".  Disclaimer to the following- the following might be a little much for the squemesh.

My group's dissection yesterday included removing the skin from the facial region.  There are LOTS of muscles that make you smile, frown, raise your eye brows, and even allow you to wiggle you ears. I actually liked this dissection as barbaric as that sounds, the face is so interesting and defines what we are visually to others.  Eventually during this block we will take the top of the cranium (skull) off and the neuroanatomy professors will come and help us take out the brain.  The day before thankgiving we "disarticulate the head". Yikes. If you would like to see a cartoon drawing of some of these facial muscles and see what muscle moves what part of your face click on these two links:

Cartoon of Facial Muscles

Muscles that Cause Facial movement

October and November have by far been the most rigorous part thus far of medical school.  They have ramped up the intensity as the year has gone adding more classes and stacking up more and more tests on one day and not much time between test blocks.  I've done  pretty well thus far thanks to my masters' degree background.


To future medical students: If you are thinking about going to medical school - TAKE GROSS ANATOMY AT A GRADUATE LEVEL FIRST! You have no idea how thankful I am I did this. Those in my class who have not had any anatomy wish they had taken a cadaver gross anatomy before they came to medical school.  If you are living in Mississippi or even if you don't- I recommend going to Mississippi College and doing thier medical masters' program- this was probably the best decision I made regarding medical school prep.


Thanks for reading.

9 days to Thanksgiving
34 days to Christmas!

Salt and Light,

Kelly