three things...

this afternoon, i performed a colonoscopy on a fresh cadaver a fancy sigmoid colonoscopes (though I guess they're largely getting replaced with new fangled ones that can actually access all of the colon, not just the descending colon--this is the large intestine, if you weren't aware)... anyway, thing looks like a remote control for a toy car that has an actual small wheel for the steering (except that it's far more complicated) with a long, narrow flexible arm that you basically guide up "where the sun don't shine" to look for abnormalities (polyps) to biopsy and obliterate... an uncomfortable procedure for everyone involved...

secondly, we just started taking immunology (nothing interesting there), but it's mixed with grad students, and, for the first time, they're broadcasting the class to the mayo campuses in jacksonville, fl and scottsdale, az... those people can watch our lecturer and her slides in real time via a video feed, and, to my great amusement, we actually see a broadcast of the audiences in those two lecture halls on separate tvs...

the sum total of people taking this course in these distant locales:

one...

and we can see her... sitting there in a lecture hall for maybe a hundred people...

I can't wait to watch her walk in late one day on "live tv"... i probably won't be able to contain my amusement...

and finally, yesterday, we went to observe an upper endoscopy, which is exaclty like what was described in the first paragraph of this post, but swallowed, down into the gut, and into the small intestine... anyway, what struck me about this whole experence is how strange, akward, unnerving, etc. for patients to have medical students around during these things... there were the three of us greenhorns all gawking at the screen, wildly curious about the procedure, what that is, how this works, what that might mean, all while the patient has this thing jammed down their throat... it's a pretty invasive procedure, and i just think that med students, in our excitement, often lose sight of the patient and the privileged access they allow...

i used to read those dedications by author/physicians where they say something like "to all of my patients," and I would be particular suspect of the sentiment, as if it were just something to say... now i'm not so sure i should be... anyway, just something to think about...

cheers,

nike pumps...

remember nike pump-action hightops? those space age bulky must-have basketball kicks of the mid-80s...

well, one of the groups discovered a similar device in the genitalia of their cadaver, and today it was fully utilized as a teaching point by a urologist visiting our anatomy lab... just a fascinating device, and nice to know it's in the stable should things in life not go as planned...

on a slightly sadder note, tonight one of our classmates noted (while we were watching house) that much of our social life has evolved into watching medical comedies and dramas that portray an idealized version of our future careers... it's a little bit much i think... even last night, i had the most fun i've had in weeks watching an indian movie about a gangster termed doctor... just hilarious...

anyway...

bobby weinberg was out here from tech giving a talk on cellular transformation in cancer, and the whole school was in a titter (though mostly over the free lunches, i think)... missed it, though--i had already committed myself to a tutoring engagement, but i guess i'd rather cash a check...

and, in what must be the most improbable turn of events in my recent life, apparently, i've agreed to go to the system of a down concert this friday night, and only today did i realize how ridiculous that's going to be... i hope i can take pictures for you all... i don't even know what to wear... this is probably going to turn out to be a huge mistake...

good news--becky finally has developoed the photos from our mystic aquarium visit, and in a couple weeks, you all may finally be clued into the reasoning for the blog title... keep your fingers crossed... i'm hoping the photo came out well...

cheers,

blog neglected...

not sure, but it might have been a week since i actually posted... something about a horribly disturbing dissection, I'm sure, and maybe i'll comment a bit on that...

anyway, why have i and, by association, my blog fallen off the map for a couple days. simply put:

a final exam

as of this afternoon, i have completed my microanatomy/histology course... none too shabbily, i might add--and that's the first of many completed... again i find myself sitting on one of those horizons far away from a serious evaluatio... i am, of course, giddy at the prospect of all of the non-academic ways my time might be spent (cleaning, sleeping, eating real food, etc.--no, i'm sure i'll do some other stuff)

as for the blog, just a bit of housekeeping, a bit of catching up...

i really wanted to impress upon all of you that of all of the dissections we've done, the testis have been, for me personally, the most disturbing... thankfully, our group didn't actually have to do the dissection (our cadaver is female), but just looking at it and going through all of it... ... it's a bit eerie... especially when one of the TAs is teasing out all of the nuanced structures and fibers while your stomach is churning...

another observation: the male cadavers smell quite different than the female cadavers, and not for the better, my friends... I wonder why that is? anyway...

we had a pretty cool clinical correlation where a radiologist came to speak about the clinical applications to radiology... of all of the presentations we had, this one captured the greatest widespread interest of all of them (and the surgeons never did badley)... there was a lot of gee-whiz bang technology and imagery, and i can understand the appeal of it... it's pretty cool... so, spencer MD, I see what you're saying--there's a lot of interesting stuff possible in radiology... lifestyle and current compensation isn't bad either... just gotta watch out for them shipping all the radiology jobs overseas...

I'm watching the saints pregame here, and there's this BushClintonKatrinaFund telethon thing going on in times square where a bunch of NFL legends are manning the phones to take donations, which is a nice idea... but right now, there's maybe only one of twenty on the phone... i'm watching John Elway twiddle his thumbs... i'm sure it'll pick up, but you have to wonder what's running through those guys heads right now...

and as a parting treat, i'm going to post a photo from a recent wedding that i attended in SanFran, which was a real treat... lovely chance to get the heck out of here and see friends... I swear to you that i'm the sober one in this photo... Morris really got the best of it...

and from the looks of it, i really, really need a hair cut...

cheers,

dissection...

dissecting the testis is just an uncomfortable experience...

"Ok, I'm confused. Am I weirdo, lipstick, fruit punch, or vampire? You really need to pick an insulting nickname and stick to it."

that quote is courtesy of my new favorite miniseries, "Weeds" on showtime, which comes to my attention by the direction of my own personal pop culture advisor, Phil (who has also earned notability with his recommendation of Penn and Teller's series "Bullshit")... what's not funny, quirky, and interesting about a single, suburban mom dealing weed to get by... highly recommended...

and just a little something for blogman--who doesn't love a good pun? especially one delivered with crackerjack real-time wit...

I had lunch today at a fellow student's place with a couple of other classmates... and we were talking a about specialties and other shoptalk, which led to the following:

Someone: "Colorectal surgery is a lot of fun..."

Me: "Which end of it?"

Thank you, thank you... I do weddings and bar mitzvahs...

and a good night...

"come to my wine and cheese party... don't worry if you get smashed--you can sleep on my couch..."

that statement just seems strange, doesn't it?

for many, many weeks now, there has been a very large wine and cheese party being planned... it's finally upon us, and all i can think about is how far i can stretch the dress code... hip shirt, black sport coat, and designer genes (get it?) will probably get me in the door without too much trouble... after all, how formal can something like this be here...

should be fun... i don't plan to really drink, but i put the over/under on this thing turning into a college frat post-formal party at about two hours... should be fun to watch, even if i don't participate...

i've been accused of being long winded, so i'll stop at that... good weekends, everybody...

cheers,

kung POW!!!!

i started my tae kwan do class at the YMCA last night... a fourth year med student and her husband teach it for the Y Mentors and their Mentees (it's like big brothers big sisters)... apparently, having medical students in the class is a stabilizing influence...

so as I was weakly tossing punches at imaginary attackers, it was humbling to watch the four foot tall, blonde eight year old girl to my right do it with such mastery... well, not mastery, but she certainly knew what she was doing...

i felt a lot like kramer in his karate class... soon, I will be master of the dojo... watch out blondie!

i inserted a chest tube into a patient today... well, actually, it was one of our cadavers... and, unfortunately for her, it was a bit too late... but fun... I guess an ER doc out here will put about five to ten into patients in a given year...

who will tomorrow night's epic struggle? the patriots, or prepping for molecular biology... ? only time will tell...

cheers,

"Of course, some people might not want their DNA indexed. Hence, the robot army. It's crazy, it's brilliant—typical Google."

that's the quote that finally woke me up today...

i've been walking around, going to class, doing errands and whatnot today, but i've been in a total haze--until i read that quote... just something about it just shocked my brain awake, and I realized that i haven't posted to my blog in a couple days, and certainly nothing particularly substantial in about a week...

incidentally, the post that previously went up a few minutes before this one--I started writing that on Tuesday night, I think, and just to fill you in, I haven't taken advantage of my time to pick up my apartment or anything. In fact, my first loads of laundry just went into the washer a little while ago. I think i just need a couple days of sleep after the testing marathon that i just ran... the good news is that i overstudied for the most part, and if I even things out, it should be relatively reasonable to deal with future evaluations... but evalutions and doing well on them really isn't the point... it's much more about knowing the material and doing well on the one eval that counts--the boards...

so, what's going on with me?

well, despite there being no more tests this week, there's a heck of a lot more class... two days we have 7 hours of class, and the rest of the week we have four or five hours... which is a bit much for us...

in anatomy, we're dissecting the thorax... the lungs are amazing... I would never have imagined how substantial they are... I always picture them as crumpled won ton wrappers--very soft and fragile, but they look like rejected grey footballs... very interesting... as for friday's anatomy lab, we're doing the heart, which i'll have to miss much of in order to catch my flight to San Fran, but I'll hopefully be able to watch the TA's do the dissection in the morning, and I'll be able to go through our groups dissection later, and check it all out...

(on a sadder note, one of my partners cut herself yesterday in lab--she was trying to load the scalpel blade onto its mount, and she forced it, slipped, and superficially cut her palm... i think it was a bit embarrassing for her to be the first one cut in the class, and I felt for her... also, it's a pretty busy place in there, and cutting yourself is stressful, and for some people, seeing their own blood is a bit much to add on top of all of that, so she was quite the trooper... back at the dissection table before you knew it... although she unfortunately missed us using the bone saw to cut through the ribs, which is one of those precipitating anatomy experiences, if you ask me...)

on a totally different tangent, we have this all school celebration next week--it's one of the few times of the year that the whole school is together, and as the new class, we have to introduce ourselves creatively... our class has decided to do this saturdnight live sort of theme and put together a couple sketches... i'm in a group that's putting together a travel video about rochester, and I spent much of this morning putting the script together... it's pretty decent, if you ask me, but i'm curious what the rest of the group is going to think of it--we'll see how my right-coaster, liberal intellectual elitist out-of-towner sense of humer plays here... hopefully well, but I couldn't care less at this point... I had a lot of fun writing a script, and hopefully they don't change it too much... if they go with it, i think it'll be a pretty funny little film... all this writing and filming brings me back to the high school play writing and film making components of my education... those were some pretty ridiculous, but good, times...

anyway, I just realized I'm supposed to be somewhere right now, so I'm going to take off...

if you see a robot coming after you with a laser, just let him sequence you're dna... probably easier that way...

cheers,