DUN!

First semester of med school is over. That´s an eigth of it, and I´d like to say of tests too but you have to count the countless tests I will have to take once I am a physician (they never end, apparently).
Classes turned hard, I had to focus on memorizing a zillion facts, shapes, clinical correlates, nerve endings, nerve beginnings, arteries, veins, lymph nodes, muscles, brain compartments, brain injuries, highlights of brain development. And then liver (origin/anatomy/arteries/function/compartments/clinical correlates/how to drink wisely...). And then kidneys. And lungs, and heart, and gut, and that whole pelvic area, including a day in which the spotlight in lecture was turned to the G-spot and its erectile muscle (we have awesome teachers!).

Anatomy had the funniest days but it was the hardest to endure. When we took the eyeball out and cut it in half, I thought that the worst was over and it was going to all be downhill from there. But then, there was this day when we cut the pelvis in half. With a saw. And then the day that we had to cut the rectum in half. And no, it was not magically empty (nor were the seminal vesicles!!). I think it´s great we get to dissect a body, now I even know what side of the body the liver is at (what!). But that smell, that smell I am not going to miss at all. Yay for being done with Anatomy forever.

I did not get to say goodbye to my cadaver though. I saw her last in the Anatomy final, where her pudendal nerve had been tagged with a yellow pin. I´ll get to say goodbye to her spirit, if it will travel from the nasty-smelling room of the fifth floor to the chapel, where we will hold a memorial for all 26 cadavers. Those talented classmates of mine that sing will sing, those that play an instrument will play, and I will probably just bake a shitton of cookies.

We haven´t just been cutting body parts though. We also spent some time at the Histo lab (Histology is a newly discovered phobia for me), where we have supposedly learned to differentiate the esophagus from the vagina (some of us might have had extra trouble with the distinction...). We´ve also learned the basics of doing a physical. I can now listen to your heart in the places where murmurs should be heard, I can listen to your lungs in places where fluid should be detected, and I know where to check for a pulse in your foot. Can I actually detect a murmur? Can I actually find those distant pulses? Can I tell that there is fluid in your lung? Probably not. I am just a toddler with medicine now...I don´t think I even know enough to be dangerous. But it is exhilarating to me that I am learning about all this. So, like a toddler, I am very very excited about my new set of toys. I just wish I could stay excited forever...

I´ve also started working in a migrant health clinic. We went out in the fields and gave flu shots, checked blood pressure, and offered HIV tests. The migrant workers are Mexicans who come to pick apples near Rochester, who live in humble mobile homes for weeks at a time, and who obviously have no health insurance. This year, raids were being conducted to send them back home. Because, you know, all of us Americans really want to pick apples in those conditions. But I digress...this is the field I think I want to get into when "I grow up," so it was really pretty cool to be able to help somewhat while I am still a toddler.

Sooo overall a pretty hard beginning. Lots of work. But I do love medicine, I love how useful all I learn is, I love learning about the beautiful human body and all the things that go wrong with it. And no, I don´t just study and cut body parts all day. I also have made a bunch of friends, have given a fair chance to East Coast beers (but nothing has come close to Ninkasi!), have run for a bit, have traveled for a bit. And I´ve even gone to a reggae concert by a Hasidic jew from Brooklin, down from my house (and got a little high by second-hand dope).

I miss the best state there is, and my friends, and my students (who were on average older than my average classmate!). But I am telling myself that it is all worth it, because honestly, learning about the G-spot´s erectile muscle is a lot more interesting than that Schröedinger equation and all of its variations. And it makes better dinner conversation :)

So long. More later. Have to help cook now...
E