Sunday, October 04, 2009

Almost Halfway Through the First Semester

Monday marks the beginning of the 9th week of this semester, approximately the halfway point. Honestly, things are all running together. Weeks seemingly fly by but, strangely, an hour can seem like an eternity to get something done. For example, a good fifteen minutes can be prime study time to review something in advance of a test or to get in a great, refreshing nap. That time seems to be moving on a couple of different scales is a little odd. It is what it is, I suppose.

Every Week Is Finals Week
Part of the struggle is that each week has a few exams. Seems like feedback from last year's class led to some changes which led to some unexpected consequences for my class: major tests almost every stinking week. A few days ago, someone remarked that they were trying to explain the stress to some friends. They approached it like this:
"Remember how we'd get all stressed out and study like crazy for finals? That's every week for us."
Personally, I think it's an accurate statement.

So Long, Frank the Farmer
For the "upper limb" section in anatomy, I'd worked with a new group on "Frank, the Farmer." A muscular older gentleman with a well-preserved body. Simply put, the shoulder, arm, forearm, wrist, and hand are amazingly complex but perfectly assembled. Seriously, the brachial plexus that sends nerves to everything in the region is amazing. The musculature is kick-ass. Obviously, you can feel how the tendons from your forearm make their way into your hand to control how your hand and fingers move. To see and tug on these things during dissection is another matter: ultimately cool. It really was like looking at a marionette or something.

That's me holding the paper and looking over might right shoulder at you.

My only problem during dissection was cutting into the hand. Specifically, removing the fingernails made me gag a little. My eyes started to water and, while talking, my voice did the funny "I'm about to throw up" sort of gurgle. Luckily, my team did a little distraction (obvious but effective) while they removed the nails so we could get down to the bones of the finger without the added insult of me vomiting on the cadaver.

The lab exam for this section was intense but so stinking cool. At one point, I walk up to a body and the only thing exposed from under the sheet was a dissected forearm and hand (positioned as if gripping an invisible tennis ball). Easily, it could've been a scene from a horror movie but, now, it's quite normal. As I walked up to it for my 60-second attempt to ID the tagged body part, I thought about how effing cool it is to be doing what I'm doing. Pretty awesome. Then, for my answer, I wrote "femur." I'm sure I passed.

Apples In Stereo
On Saturday, several of us went to a local apple orchard with our Medical Spanish group to visit with the migrant workers and get a better understanding of their daily jobs. We took hot coffee and pan dulce from one of the local shops. Holy smokes, these people work so hard. Offer a little thanks the next time you eat any fruit or vegetable, migrant labor got it onto your table.

Tree full of apples.

We weren't supposed to eat the ones off this tree.
I did and became embarrassed of my own nakedness.
(My classmates, however, were already weirded out by my nudity.)

In the orchards, everything is harvested by hand so as not to bruise the apples. These guys and women (some several months pregnant) wear bags that they fill with between 30 and 50 pounds of apples before carefully unloading them into a huge crate. It takes about 30 sacks full to fill a crate. In a day, a fast picker can fill 10 crates. Not only do they work quickly, they're expected to pick the apples without bruising them or breaking off the stems. If they do either one, they get a "demerit," three demerits gets you a "slip." If you receive a couple of slips, you're looking for another job. If I had no quality control levels to hit, I could probably fill three or four crates before falling onto my ass from exhaustion. Afterward, I'd likely be unable to move for days due to intense back and shoulder pain. It was amazing to witness. Be thankful for what you've got, you know.

Up This Week
Exams in Microbiology, BioChemistry, Epidemiology, and Physiology! Friday will be here before I know it.

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