Week 4

Well, week 4 of this quarter has already started, I cannot believe it!  This is a stressful week as we have our lab exam on the neck, back and chest of the dog, horse, and cow this Wednesday and then have the multiple choice part of our midterm on Friday.  I have spent about 9-10 hours in the anatomy lab between Friday and today and will be in there tomorrow as well!  Yippee!!  There is a literal sense of urgency in the lab these days as there seems to be a lot more information to know for this lab exam compared to the two last quarter.  We have to know the muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves of the neck, back, and chest/thoracic cavity of the dog, horse, and cow, and also have to know the bones of the vertebral column and their bony prominences, the ribs, the pig's lymph centers, the oddities of the fetal pig's blood circulation, the ligaments of the attachment of the head to the vertebral column, and the internal and external parts of the heart.  Talk about a ton of memorization! 

On a more relaxing note, yesterday I was in Eureka and went out to dinner for my uncle's birthday.  I was able to see my grandparents who I hadn't seen in awhile and got to spend some quality time with some of my family.  It was a nice break from schoolwork before this week! 

Gutter Sundaes

Last night after church, the young group was invited to a house to have a "gutter sundae."  I had never heard of that before so I had no idea what to expect.  What it ended up being was a gutter, yes a literal gutter, filled with ice cream and then toppings.  There were plenty of spoons for all and we went to town.  It was pretty neat, I thought it was a cool idea.  I do not have any pictures from it but I did find a picture online.  Here is the link if you want to see what a gutter sundae looks like:

Gutter Sundae

A Wonderful (but Slightly Stressful) Weekend

This past weekend was a very stressful, but yet refreshing weekend.  I headed out to Connecticut for my cousin Tom's baptism.  I was very glad I was able to make it out for it.  The only downside was that I had my first quiz of the quarter this morning.  So, at the airport and on the plane Friday night, most of the day Saturday, and at the airports and on the planes Sunday I was studying away.  I must say, that studying does not make for a restful weekend.  I got to Connecticut Saturday morning about 1AM and didn't get to bed until 230AM, got to bed at 1230AM Sunday morning after studying after the provings, and got to bed about 12AM this morning after driving from Indianapolis airport to my apartment.  Then my alarm went off at 5AM this morning so I could study pharmacology before the quiz.  To say that I am extremely tired would be an understatement!  My bed will look even better tonight!  However, despite all the studying, it was well worth going out to Connecticut to be there and support Tom!
My quiz went fine (I believe).  The pharmacology questions were easier than I was expecting so that was a relief.  There were definitely some questions I wasn't totally sure on but I still think I did okay. 

I am hoping this week will be less stressful than last week.  I am giving a vet school tour tomorrow at noon to a high school group.  I enjoy giving the tours!

Now, I will end this post with a joke told by my cardiovascular physiology professor.  (WARNING: this joke is extremely corny and vet med/medically inclined!)
It was the end of one of our lectures and he says: "Before we leave I have something very important to discuss with the class....does anyone know what the three birds of the chest are? They are the va-goose, the esopha-goose, and the thoracic duck (vagus nerve, esophagus, and thoracic duct which are three structures that run through the chest).
Most of the class laughed, partly because it was so corny, and partly because everyone I know loves him as a professor and the joke just fit him as something he would say!

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Today was a rather long day.  The day started off with two straight hours of cardiovascular physiology (8-10).  Then we had two straight hours of autonomic nervous system pharmacology (10-12).  Then from 12-1 I had a lunch lecture in which a speaker comes and whoever signs up gets free lunch, a pretty good deal if you ask me!  Then from 1-330 I was in my comparative anatomy elective.  Today we talked about reptile anatomy and then got to dissect a snake and an iguana.  It was pretty neat.  I studied until 445 or so and then had my reptile medicine and surgery elective from 5-6.  Then I got to go home, eat, and study some more!  But now, it is over.  I have fallen behind a little bit on my studying just since today's four hours of lecture require a lot of studying and I just couldn't fit it into the time I had.  Oh well, I will be playing catch-up this weekend. Tomorrow I have two more hours of physiology and another hour of pharmacology.  One thing I must say about the pharmacology class, it is extremely interesting.  We are only going to be covering the pharmacology of the autonomic nervous system this quarter so tomorrow is my last hour of that clas for this quarter.  It is very interesting, however it is very difficult to remember the different drugs and what they do, side effects, etc.  I have my first quiz Monday morning, 40 multiple choice questions.  I am ready for it to be over already!

Halfway Through Week 2!

Just a quick update: I am just over halfway through what has probably been one of the more intense weeks of my schooling.  I have had seven hours of cardiovascular physiology so far with four more to go and also have three hours of pharmacology yet to go through this week.  I have done better with keeping up with studying than I thought I was going to so I am glad for that.  My cardiovascular physiology professor is actually a veterinary cardiologist from Georgia.  He is really nice and makes us laugh a decent amount.  He told us he had two problems with himself right at the beginning of the first class.  1. He can't really hear out of his right ear and 2. He has been diagnosed with Dunlaps Disease, "My stomach Dunlaps over my belt!"  I forgot to mention, last week in my comparative anatomy class we got to dissect a large frog, a fish, and a shark.  It appears that tomorrow we will be dissecting a lizard, turtle, and snake.  It's kind of neat getting to dissect these different animals.  Last night I took a class called "Alive and 25" to keep my ticket from my accident off my record.  It was actually better than I thought but it did take up a whole evening in which I could have been studying.  Oh well, so be it!

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Today, my Uncle Dan, Heather, Andrea, and Jerry and Kathy came down and went to church with me.  After church we went singing at a nursing home, toured the vet school, ate dinner and played games and hung out.  It was a lot of fun!  It was a very nice break from schoolwork but tomorrow is the first day of what is probably going to be the most intense week of school of the quarter.  Physiology and pharmacology, here I come!  To end this short post, I will put a picture of my cousins and I:

First Week of Class

Well, the first week of class is over!  I can already tell that this quarter is going to be more challenging than last quarter.  We are working simultaneously on dog, horse, and cow cadavers in anatomy lab so that keeps us plenty busy!  We started some pharmacology classes now and that is an extremely interesting class, but it requires quite a bit of studying.  Just tonight I studied with a couple friends, we spent our Friday evening studying autonomic nervous system pharmacology. I am sure many of you just wish you could have been there!  Now I look forward to having some family come down Sunday and spend some time with me.  It will be a nice break from schoolwork.  This coming week I have 11 hours of cardiovascular physiology lecture plus three more hours of autonomic nervous system pharmacology lecture.  It's going to be an intense week!  Plus, Tuesday night I get to go take a class to keep my accident off my record.  What an exciting week it is shaping up to be!