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

 

OVERDUE UPDATE

So it's been a while......

I know its been quite some time since my last post, our schedule here has been out of control.  But I'll give a little description of what has been happening in the gross lab becuase usually that is the most interesting.

We finished up abdomen and thorax- we had cut the heart and lungs out and found our cadaver had lung cancer.  The next part of the dissection was "urogential and anal triangle" [med school is not glamorous].  I can tell you this was not my favorite dissection.  part of this dissection included "trisecting" the body.  Trisecting......well we first tied off the colon and then got a bone occilating saw and hack saw and cut the body in half around the 4th Lumbar.  After the body was in half we cut the legs into right and left halves the old fashion way-with a pair of $2 manual hand saw.  That's trisecting.

We took our gross anatomy lower extremity test Monday along with developmental anatomy exam and histology exam. Four test in a day are draining so I took the night off after the tests and played some volleyball with some class mates which was a great stress reliever.  I also watched a litle TV and caught up on sleep.  Tuesday we started back to the med school grind.....we have biochemistry test and medical physiology test this coming Monday and lecture just started back up so I better pay attention.

Thanks for reading

Salt and Light,

Kelly

An Update from The Gross Lab

Most folks are interested in gross anatomy stories...and who wouldn't be right? We dissect real people which is still crazy for me to think about.

Over the past couple weeks we have opened the chest (many times referred to as "cracking the chest").  All this means is that we used a bone saw and cut through the sternum and some ribs and removed them so we could get to the heart and lungs.  If you are a heart patient, do not fret, when you have surgery they don't removed your sternum and ribs and I'm sure cardiothoracic surgeons do a far better job than we did cutting the sternum.

We looked at the lungs and cut them out to get a view of them from all sides. Our cadaver had lung cancer and believe me it was obvious, we didn't even have to ask our supervisor because the lungs were black on the back side of them and were speckled with tar on the front side.  The cancerous tissues was tough and hard (normal lungs should be fleshy colored and soft).  Our cadaver only had a small amount of normal lung tissue to see.  If you had seen these lungs you'd never want to pick up a cigarette again! It was quite a site.

Next we looked at the heart which was clearly enlarged, it looked like a nerf ball in the chest (your heart should only be the size of your fist).  Her heart was much too big which could have been do to the cancer or coronary artery disease.  We examined all the vessels on the outside of the heart (these are the coronary arteries-the arteries that supply the heart muscle itself) and we opened each of the four chambers to see valves and a variety of other structures with strange latin names.

This past week we opened up the abdominal cavity and looked at several organs: stomach,liver,large intestine (colon), small intestine, and spleen.  There is a interesting structure called the greater omentum which is simply a large fat like structure that hands like an apron over the abdominal organs.  This structure's purpose is to wall off infection.  Our cadaver's greater omentum was VERY thick which meant our lady most likely had some kind of infection prior to her death.

Our teachers kept telling us to be careful not to puncture the bowl b/c if we did would certainly know it and would have to sew it up because we would have a big mess on our hands.  My group did indeed end up puncturing the bowl but fortunately it was a tiny hole and I sutured it up quickly before we had too much of a mess.

Thanks for reading :)

Kelly

I can't even remember my kids names....

One of the guys in my class had his 4th child at the beginning of this semester and I can't figure out how he's doing it.  Today he told me he can't remember their names anymore..lol (of course he was joking, sort of)

The 7th week of class eneded last week and we have a biochem and histology test (histology = the study of various tissues at the microscopic level) tomorrow at 8am. I'm so ready for Christmas :)

Part of the reason I like writing this blog is to try to feel like I'm still connected in some way to every day life, many of my classmates and I do feel like we've been sequestered away--- still realizing of course the priveldge to be here in the first place.

Many have asked me: Is medical school fun?

Well, "fun" is probably not the word I would use to describe the experience thus far.  "Worth the work" is a better phrase, I know this craziness and fatique is temporary (even though I find myself crying on the phone to my parents frequently about how tired I am) and the end result is still real enough to me to push through.

Thanks for reading and keeping me connected to the reason my classmates and I started all this in the first place-"to serve families and friends through medicine".

Kelly