Hey everyone! I know it's been a while. Things have been so crazy here, I haven't had time to write much (I'm writing this at 11 o'clock on a Saturday night). So much has happened this past month. The exams seem endless lately, but luckily we have had spring break to recover and collect ourselves, which was much needed.
The week before spring break our class was introduced to something very important to our profession: intra-operative consultations, also known as frozens. Groups of 3 would meet in the evening at the gross room to learn how to do this. We are expected to be able to freeze a tissue and make two slides out of it and get it stained within ten minutes. We can come in any time at night after hours to the gross room to practice on leftover tissue from earlier, or hot dogs, etc. It definitely takes some practice, but this is crucial to learn correctly.
Spring break finally arrived. Some of us went home for the week, and others chose to stay here. I went home to Michigan to visit my family and friends, take care of some non-school issues, and have a small vacation. I went to Kalihari indoor water park for a night. It's in Ohio, and I had such a good time! There's nothing like throwing your body down a giant toilet slide! I made the swim up hot tub bar my home. I also went to a Detroit Red Wings game, and saw a lot of my friends. I can't stress enough how important it is to take some time for yourself over spring break. What I didn't do though, is do enough class work over break. I think it's really important to enjoy spring break but it is also much needed to catch up on whatever you are behind in and to do your online educational methodologies class. Most of my classmates finished most of their project over the break, whereas I did not. And class hits hard and fast when you come back. My recommendation is to take about 3 days out of the break to focus on school. Things worked out in the end. I had to work my butt off the next couple of weeks but that never really ends anyways.
As I said before, class gets difficult after spring break. Here's a breakdown of what we have been learning about in each class:
Anatomical techniques: Along with the frozen sections, we have learned how to gross many things. We have learned skin, lung, prostate, kidney, intestines, and recently, uterus. This class continues to keep us on our toes and challenge us, but I can see how everything ties in together. Dictations are starting to become more natural and we frequently are assigned dictation homework.
Histology: We have been learning about special stains on slides. This class is pretty straight forward. Study the notes that are given to you, and you will be fine.
Mechanisms of Disease: This class has been really tough lately. There has been a lot of information to learn. I suggest studying some of this over spring break, especially the neoplasia chapter. We have gone over the aforementioned neoplasia, infectious diseases, environmental diseases, and nutritional diseases. It's really interesting information, but it is a lot of it thrown at you. Don't get behind.
Anatomy: This class also has a ton of information, so you have to stay on top of things and can't get behind. In cadaver lab, we have gone over the abdomen, GI, and the pelvis. We are finding a lot of interesting pathology in our cadavers and we are seeing how each one differs, particularly between the genders. The lecture has followed the same information, so that is nice that they go hand in hand. Learning the embryology of organs can be a little tough, so make sure you use other sources like youtube or other books to supplement.
This past week was pretty strenuous as we had four exams. It's also March Madness time and I am really into basketball so I've been studying while watching the basketball games. Our class all made brackets and the winner gets a 40 dollar Kroger card. I did my undergrad at Michigan State and at the time of this writing, they are in the elite 8 and are about to play Duke to see if they can reach the final four!** Last week, we also watched a presentation from a second year student. We got insight on what we are going to be doing next year. They invited us out for a drink later that evening, and they gave us a lot of good information on how to prepare for the rest of year and next year. I can't wait to do my rotations next year! This program continues to show us why it is so difficult to get into. The classes never cease to challenge you. But it so rewarding to be able to grow alongside your classmates. We have only one more month to go for our first semester!
**Update: Michigan State beat Duke!!! We are going to the Final Four!!!