3D Printing

I want one of these.

Cranial Nerves

We recently had a lecture on the cranial nerves and the course they travel throughout the skull.  We needed to know what each of the 12 cranial nerves innervated and which foramina they traveled through, there are tons of different mnemonics for this.  The sympathetic nerves were fairly easy but drawing the parasympathetic axons traveling to the glands was more like creating a maze.  I found a pretty decent youtube video and followed his format to draw out the path the parasympathetic axons out of the cranial region to the glands they innervate.  One of the more interesting clinical symptoms was a syndrome known as "Crocodile Tears."  The axons that innervate the glands of the tongue and the eye initially travel within the same nerve bundle, cranial nerve VII.  If there is damage to that nerve before it leaves the cranial fossa then the action potential may travel along the wrong axon, going to the lacrimal gland (causes crying) instead of the sublingual and submandibular glands (cause salivation).  Therefore, the sweet aroma of a juicy bacon cheeseburger will cause a steady flow of tears, like an infant when it's time to eat those peas.  I might shed a tear or two myself when I get back to the smell of home-cooked food ( just a few more days!)

The Stress!

Today was my last anatomy lab practical!  It's a bittersweet feeling.  This semester I actually enjoyed being in lab and dissecting and really developed an appreciation for anatomy.  Before we took our exam, we had to be sequestered for 4 hours as the other groups took their exams.  During this time, another student noted that she just felt a lot of tension in the room, and I definitely agreed.  One of my classmates ran in exhausted and just sat on the floor in distress; I am not sure what happened.  Another student said she hadn't ate all day or on Sunday out of fear she would vomit from anxiety.  In lab yesterday a classmate yelled out, "I can't do this" and complained about there being too much material.  I told him he probably needed a break outside of lab, but he said that wouldn't help.  My friend went over some easier structures with him to build up his confidence.

This is a topic that we discussed at a Ross Adventist Fellowship Meeting on Friday.  One of the 4th semesters said now is a time when many people start to despair and lose hope.  He emphasized how in times of struggle he always has a sense of piece amidst adversity due to the comforter he has in the Holy Spirit.  I definitely feel the same way.  It definitely helps give peace of mind that my identity is not found in academic performance.  That is not to say that I don't have my share of doubts and stressful moments, but I realize that there are more important aspects of life than just medicine.

Sometimes we tend to get so caught up in our present situation and forget that a test result can never define us our measure our self worth.  Medical students as a generality tend to be very competitive and have high expectations.  This causes us to get frustrated when our goals don't align with our vision.  Every test result becomes an indicator of our future.  I must get a certain score to obtain this residency...  I must be in the top __ percentile.  It leaves little room for enjoyment of the present and embracement of spontaneity.

Studying on the Beach

Last week I finally took the opportunity to study right next to the beach.  It was very relaxing, and made me realize how blessed I am to be able to be studying at such a beautiful island.  I rarely take the time out to just sit and marvel at creation at its finest.  Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest joy.

Culture Show!

Last Friday was the culture show demonstrating talented students, spouses, children, and a couple of professors demonstrating how talented the Ross community is.  I honestly didn't expect much, especially considering how we students are stressed for time, but there were some really good performers.  My favorite was probably the Indian song at the end of the first performance, I wish I knew the name of it.  And Yes that is one of the professors doing the Thriller dance!  Here's a link. Sorry for the poor video quality. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VygL-SzMKYw

Mini 4/ One more week

The semester is almost over!  Mini 4 was a marathon of an exam compared to the others, it lasted 3 hours and 15 min.  This mini includes the most interesting material to me.  Instead of just general concepts in our "fundamental of medicine" block, this was the first block that included a system: heme/ lymph.  I find immunology really interesting, so I probably spent a little too much time focusing on that, but I felt pretty prepared overall.  Immunology was difficult because the literature changes so rapidly, as many of the interleukins, chemicals that can cause an immune response, have multiple functions which makes classification difficult.  I was specifically fascinated by the neutrophils, or suicide bombers.  They have receptors which allow it to engulf a foreign pathogen.  The neutrophil then releases toxic reactive oxygen species to degrade the pathogen such as hypochlorite (ingredient in bleach) and hydrogen peroxide.  The neutrophil has a short life span, partially due to the harmful ingredients it contains. http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67484 When it dies it goes out in a blaze of glory and releases a sticky net that traps pathogens.  It was a reasonable exam, and there were some questions that were basically gifts.  There were some questions that I should've known but just couldn't quite recall; it goes like that sometimes.  It's time to catch up on some sleep.  The past week was filled with late nights and late Chinese food orders, shout out to Golden Dragon.  

Now I have to prepare for the upcoming histology and anatomy lab practicals, which are both respectively worth 5% our our semester grade.  We have our final exam next monday, so it's going to be a busy few days, then I'm goin back to Cali!  I'm not a big fan of histology, it's just looking at pictures, pictures, more pictures of various organelles, cells, lymph nodes... the artistic students tend to enjoy it more.  The nurse cells are pretty dope tho.  In the thymus they produce thymic hormones that cause T-cells to proliferate.

Simplicity

"The mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality.  Our very shall be macadamized, as it were.... Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.  Conventionalities are at length as bad as impurities"  
- Henry David Thoreau "Life without Principle"
  
So many options in this vast age of technology.   On one hand we're gifted with nearly endless resources but we are also bombarded with trivial facts and quick sources of "entertainment".

As I browse youtube trying to look for a video to preview the upcoming lecture, there's always some video that catches your attention.  Every day there is an advertisement or suggestion that is fine tuned to your browsing history as collected by the various websites.

This does not merely apply to trivial celebrity updates or the newest music videos, but also more relevant videos such as TED talks.  Which at the time, may not feel like a waste of time, but may not be the most pertinent video to watch at the time.  

For the most part, I consider myself pretty discipline as to what i browse or how I spend time on the internet, but every once in a while one vine turns into 3 or 5 minutes of wasted time.

Entertainment has it's place, but it should serve as something that makes you feel more energized afterwards, and ready to attack the task at hand.  However, many times the trivial videos Facebook "friends" add about fights, women, conspiracy theories, TV show updates, memes, etc.  I will say that bane cat video was pretty funny tho.  Facebook can be a great way to connect with friends and family, but it takes small amounts of will power to ignore the "spam" that's being passed along the feed.  It has been said that we have limited amount of will-power as indicated in this study:
NY Times: limited will power

That's why I decided that my word for 2014 is simplicity.  I'm striving to make my daily schedule and routine more simple and orderly in order to save creative thoughts and decisions on things that truly matter.

IM Football

Our season ended today.  We lost in the semifinals unfortunately, but it was a fun season.  I had a great season and earned the nickname "Terrance Island" on defense at cornerback.  It was good to relieve some stress and enjoy good competition.  The good thing is that now I have an opportunity to be fully devoted to studies as it is now crunch time.  Our final is on April 21.  Until then it's full steam ahead!