Mountains Out of Molehills

I've been out of touch with the real world lately, apologies, friends and family, because we had two weeks with back to back big tests in Biochem and Histology. Nasty buggers but we slogged through it! Certainly felt like we were making mountains out of tiny little molehills of information that we won't have to recall until boards and then never again after that. Minutiae, but currently it is important minutiae. So it goes. Cram it in your brain, regurgitate on the test, move on to cram more things into your brain. I found I am forgetting regular English words, phrases, points of grammar, things like that. Which is a little weird. So if I sound even more awkward talking with you, please forgive me.
I'm very much looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. A break from this marathon will be so much appreciated!
Things to note: if you know anyone in med school, they will love receiving homecooked goodies, anything, cookies, bread, leftovers! Just not having to cook is a super duper treat and having something tasty that you can't make yourself is even better! So thank you Mom, thank you Christy, and thank you Brad!

Undergrad Gratitude

These days, we're taking Biomolecular Cell Biology (BMCB) and Histology, with a dollop of Nutrition on top. And boy, am I ever glad that I decided to go the extra mile and take Biochemistry at St. Olaf. Seriously people, if you think you're going to be pre-med, take that class! It'll save you tons of grief on down the line. And if you aren't a biology major (okay, even if you are), you had better take Genetics and make sure you understand it. Life will be easier later on. Now and then I wish I had taken more in cell biology, or something of the sort. Or that Anatomy had included more histology in it. But I suppose medical school will be an avalanche of information no matter what. At least I had decent preparation for it.

Last Anatomy Test

I have been slacking a bit in the blog-posting department, and in the replying-to-emails department, and in the keeping-up-with-current-events department. Why? Because I have been studying the head and neck. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. Apologies. Maybe in the future I'll be better. At least I won't be trying to remember all the cranial nerves, the various openings in the skull they go through, their branches, and all the functions they have. The shortest distance between point A and point B is a straight line and I can guarantee that no nerve will actually take that route!

Don't Pop Those Pimples!

Today we learned that the advice your mother gave you is actually spot on! If you squeeze the pimples on your nose, you can develop an infection there. There are veins coursing by the nose that drain into the brain. If an infection from a popped pimple spreads and gets into one of these veins, then the infection can spread into your brain and you can develop meningitis or some other nastiness.
Don't pop those pimples!

It's Over!

Yup, my very first test of med school is now over with! It was harder than I had expected. The intense preparation and unsettling amount of guessing reminded me of organic chemistry at St. Olaf. At least the subject is WAY more interesting than that! The exam was done in two parts, the lecture exam and the practical exam (in the lab, identifying tags on cadavers, skeletons, and radiographs). I felt a lot more confident on the practical (but all bets are off until I see my real scores; that can wait until tomorrow). It was nice to sit around my apartment this afternoon and actually do nothing! Of course we get right back into in all tomorrow, but today, ignorance is bliss!
Tip: It is helpful to do lots of cooking on the weekends so you'll have food for the rest of the week. It's not fun to be stressed out and hungry when studying for a big test and trying to make something tasty and semi-nutritious in a short amount of time.
Tip Part Two: Make sure the food you make for the week will still be enjoyable come day 6 of it. I zoomed past my taco salad threshold for one week and probably won't be eating it again for quite some time. Maybe it'll seem delicious again in a couple months. In smaller doses.
Testing tip of the day: Learn to love multiple choice questions! It's the format of choice, so get used to it! Besides, it's really satisfying to forcefully cross out obviously wrong answers.

Another Day In The Lab

Today I wasn't in the anatomy labs quite as long as yesterday. Today I was only in there from 2:30 to about 5:45. Yesterday I was there from 11 to 5:45. Uhgg. I think all the chemicals got to my head because I was giddy and amused with most anything for the rest of the night yesterday. Today I am much better. Which is a good thing because I need to review the leg and foot. Hands are feet are incredibly complex! After doing a hand dissection, I really really wish I had gotten a video of my trigger finger surgery so I could figure out precisely what they did.
Lesson of the day: Don't spend 6 hours in the lab.
Funny thing: I am inclined to draw on myself to trace the tendons of different muscles groups, major veins and arteries, and delineate the different dermatones for which nerves are sensory in what areas. My roommate and I are wondering if it would be cheating to get a tattoo of all that stuff....

Strange Joys

Through anatomy, I (and other med students I've talked with) have found strange joys and satisfaction. We love removing fascia and being able to see the beautiful striations of muscles below. Distinguishing the veins, arteries, and nerves stuck to each other in large bundles will make us ooooo and awwwww. We also love using tools! Learning the proper reverse scissoring technique was our first big skill (taking a closed scissor and then gently opening it to push things apart rather than cutting anything). We're getting much better with scalpels, dental picks, forceps, and as of today chisels (we needed them in order to remove parts of spinal vertebrae so we could see the spinal cord and dorsal and ventral roots coming off it, soooo cool!). I also really enjoy x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs and being able to see what all these anatomical structures look like inside out, the organization of all the muscles, nerves, bones, etc is really cool. Probably the jigsaw puzzle addict in me loving to think about spatial organization and putting all of this together in my head, and I really like being able to trace muscles and bones in different slices of CT scan moving down the leg or the arm.
Fact of the day: If someone tears their ACL in their knee, they are more likely to also tear their lateral meniscus than their medial meniscus, even though anatomically speaking, more strain should be placed on the medial meniscus. The "unhappy triad" of knee injuries actually isn't that common.
College course gratitude: Thank goodness Anatomy at Olaf taught me about bones because I would be so confused if I didn't have that as a solid base. It would have been nice to know about the carpals and tarsals, we have some fun mnemonics for those!
Also, I wish I could have better learned spatial orientation, and being to see a 2D image and be able to piece it together in my mind to a 3D reality. That would have been helpful. I'm decent at it, but I have room to improve.
This weekend is the big study weekend as we prepare for our first test on Wednesday! I'll be spending most of my days in the lab, wish me luck!

The Shoulder Is A Complicated Joint

Today we got to practice doing our very first physical exam! It was really fun and cool to find the different structures we've seen in our cadavers on each other. We learned how to test for rotator cuff tears and how to differentiate which muscles are affected (ones used to lift your arm above your head, ones to reach behind and scratch your back, etc).
Fun fact: Try moving one arm as if your are scratching your back. See how high up you can go. Now try the other arm. Your non-dominant hand can go higher than your dominant hand.
Now put up your arms like you're on a roller coaster, palms forward, elbows locked. See how far backwards you can go. Your dominant arm can go farther back than your non-dominant. Cool huh?
Also, I have found that residual formaldehyde smell on my hands after lab doesn't really bother me anymore. If I cut it to down to a manageable level, then eating, studying, leaning my head on hands, etc are fine. This is a good thing since the scent is really hard to get to rid of after 3 juicy hours of lab, but I'm starting to wonder if other non-med student people can pick up on this lingering perfume.

Beginning Med School: The Armpit Is More Important Than You Think

When I was told that medical school is like drinking from a firehose, I thought to myself, yeah sure. But I'm beginning to understand how true that is. We're starting Anatomy with the pectoral region and the axilla (better known as the armpit). It really surprised how many important things are located in that area between the armpit you can see on the outside and your collarbone! Nerves, arteries, and veins course through that small triangle weaving around and through a whole collection of muscles and bones. With how vital these things are to daily functioning and how relatively close to the surface these nerve fibers and blood vessels are, I'm surprised people don't damaged themselves permanently more often!
Fun fact of the day: the ulnar nerve (which comes out of the nerve network that is the brachial plexus) is the "real" funny bone, it runs right by your elbow and when it's whacked, it gives rise to that not-so-funny feeling.
Pre-med gratitude: thank goodness I know basic bone structure and names of muscles, otherwise this firehose would be cranked to full blast.

Interview!

Last night my mom and I got back from Nebraska (made it out of Omaha while the entire city was being shut down because of a snow storm). My interview at Creighton yesterday went pretty darn well! It was great to see the campus, meet the people, and compare this med school with U of MN Twin Cities and U of MN Duluth. The students at each place seem really similar: cooperative, friendly, happy. I could see myself at each school. In the end, it's up to where I get accepted! Best case scenario, I have choices, worst case scenario, I've got Duluth in the bag! I'm so happy I have that one letter in hand, takes the pressure off. And it also helps that my family has been so supportive (like driving me to the Twin Cities and to Omaha, nice to not have to stress over driving or be bored all the way south on I-35). I should hear from Twin Cities by the end of March and from Creighton within three weeks. Exciting!

Back in the U.S.A.!

So, I've been back for a few days now (being busy + recovering from a nasty voice-sapping cold = no time/energy to write) and it feels good to be home. Many small things are much appreciated following a stint abroad. American plumbing being one of them. It's fun to go through what I brought back, revisit the pictures I took (there are lots, I will put up the best of the best here at some point, it may take a bit to sort through them all since I took over 3000 pictures and videos). Mom and I went to an Asian grocery store in town and it was really fun to see things I recognized, had eaten in Japan and Thailand, and currently crave. We made a fun stir fry using some ingredients from there and the plain old Cash Wise. I now have a few culinary goals for recreating some of my favorites from Japan and Thailand, but since I'm going back to Olaf in few days, those plans will have to be put on hold. I bought a variety pack of spices and two medium sized bags of saffron and curry in Thailand; it'll be fun to play with everything. I'm still on the hunt for green tea powder though.
The next few days promise to be busy, a medical school interview at the Twin Cities, family get-together (the weather had better cooperate this time! :) ), and going back to Olaf for my last semester. It's weird being a senior. Beginnings and endings at the same time. But it's exciting!

Busy!

Hey gang! I don't have long before I have to return to the hotel for a class discussion so unfortunately this will be brief and may contain some typos.
Chiang Mai was amazing! We left there yesterday after a great roughly two weeks there. Yesterday we were on a train for 12 hours. Uggg.
Highlights of Chiang Mai:
Beautiful wats (Buddhist temples) such as the huge Buddha in an open air section of Wat Suan Dok. Wat Chedi Luang was also impressive with an old ruin in the middle and a new hall being built for a recently deceased very famous monk. Wat Doi Suthep on a mountain overlooking smoggy Chiang Mai was beautiful and very packed with worshippers and tourists. Quite beautiful actually, glittering with gold and bits of glass in mosaics everywhere.
The Golden Triangle was very cool. It is called golden because it was one of the biggest areas for growing opium in the world and the farmers only accepted gold in exchange for the opium. But Afghanistan is the biggest area now, more regulation here. We actually went to a village on the other side of the Mekong River in Laos for about 15 minutes, so this whole month will have included time in three countries! hahaha.
Buddhist meditation center. Cool to learn about Buddhism and try meditation, but I would need many more days to figure out meditation. The walking meditation was interesting, especially when you are going so slow and concentrating so hard on what your body is doing that you lose balance sometimes!
Food. Chiang Mai has lots of awesome cheap food. And no, not too spicy. Except for papaya salad which I will avoid for the rest of my life. One tiny tiny bite and I thought my mouth, gums, tongue, all of it was being aimed at directly by a blowtorch. I was sucking on ice cubes and gobbling rice for quite a while. Other food, awesome. Especially pad thai. Yum!
Markets! Woohoo inexpensive awesome stuff! I had to buy a large backpack to help contain everything. Mom, you will be pleased with my silk purchases. The markets in Bangkok seem interesting as well, but I will have to express restraint so I can bring everything home! I absolutely love the textiles here, amazing craftsmanship and I am shocked at the low prices.
We briefly visted Bo Sang, the umbrella making village, as part of a touristy day. I took many pictures of these beautiful paper umbrellas, it's almost appalling how little they charge for these workers of art. I did not get an umbrella, too hard to transport, but I got a very nice wall hanging.
Overnight visit to a Karen village. It was not as primitive as I had thought, but electricity was scant, old oversize satellite dishes not hooked up to a TV at any point in their life where used for drying chilies and herbs, and the buildings were wood slabs, concrete, on slilts, with corrugated steel roofs. A very difficult life farming in the mountains, working so hard for conservation, of both the land and their culture. A very interesting time. Some good stories out of that.
Transportation. We have had adventures. These are best told in person. See lohs, tuk tuks, buses, trains. Any and all, we have had adventures.

Okay, Bangkok. We got in late last night (aroun 10 or so to the hotel). This morning we did a sightseeing tour and saw Chinatown (crazy busy with people buying stuff for the Chinese New Year in a few days), a small Chinese style wat, the tallest building in Thailand, 309 meters tall if I remember correctly, drove by the palace where the king currently lives, saw another palace built by Rama V to prove that Thailand is a developed country (1800's).
Bangkok is busy. So much activity, so much traffic, so much smog, so many foreigners. Chiang Mai was calm by comparison! It's very warm here too, hot actually, and humid. The smog gave me a mild sore throat already, yay for cough drops. But it's not as bad as I had thought here actually, smog-wise. Our hotel is very nice, not the character and nooks that Suan Doi House had, this one is pretty Westernized, but it's nice. And it has a breakfast buffet! Methinks I have gained weight here in Thailand. So much good food, I have become eternally hungry, and I'm always snacking on some tasty morsel that someone in the group has purchased and shared. Our group is great!
Tomorrow we will visit Bangkok University.
Day after, free day, I plan to visit Jim Thompson's House perhaps the National Museum, river boat cruise, we'll see about other things.
We have a lot packed into our Bangkok days, so I do not know how often I can write. I'm safe, having fun, and learning lots! And I can't wait to breathe in fresh cold air again in Minnesota. Ahhhh, refreshing to just think about it!

Alive and well!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't written since I left, I have been very busy and haven't had much access. First things first: Japan was absolutely incredible!!! There were a good number of times when I could almost feel heart palpitations because I was so overwhelmed and in awe. The gardens, temples, shrines, onsens, markets, restaurants, everything was great. I could go on and on but here are the highlights:
Hakone: seeing Mount Fuji!! Plus, that evening the friends of Jack's I went with took me to an onsen (bath-house, think spa). Ahhhh.
Kamakura: Fun shopping (I got a cool looking kimono for VERY cheap) and an absolutely gorgeous temple. Also, a very cool garden where we saw the sun set over the ocean. Breathtaking.
Making pumpkin pies with cute kids! And meeting Jack's crazy fun friends.
New Year's Eve! Went to Kawasaki deishi for midnight. Hoards of people. As in thousands to hundreds of thousands. The cauldron of burning incense, the beating of a massive drum, and the throngs of people gathering to pray and to try the various foods was very impressive.
All day hike across Tokyo! (Or at least almost all the way across Tokyo). Ginza, Tokyo Station, the Imperial Palace (we saw the Emperor and the Imperial family!!!), more crazy shopping streets (especially crazy was the one for teens, stores called AC/DC with pink frilly things, methinks the band would not be pleased), and Meiji Shrine. Beautiful mysterious garden in the twilight filled with more New Year's revelers.
Sushi! All kinds of seafood. Crab brain, tuna, squid, etc. And it was good. Very very good. I promise to post pictures.
Shopping in Asakusa. Lots of people and lots of really cool stores to poke around in!
Hanging out in Kawasaki (Jack's neighborhood). Re-visited the shrine, still tons of people, explored the backstreets.
There were plenty of other awesome moments (including our many viewings of Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog) but there are too many to tell and my time is short. Story time when I get back home! :D

On to Thailand! This is a very interesting, complex, and fun country. Our class has given me a good amount of knowledge and depth into the culture of this country. So far, here are the highlights:
Not falling of out any "see loh" (red truck) taxis. We crammed all 18 of us into one a couple of times. Oh togetherness.
Seeing the markets and older parts of Chiang Mai. There are ruins of walls and temples everywhere. You can hardly go 5 minutes, or not even, down a street and not see some ruin.
Our guesthouse. Garden paradise. I LOVE the library. Open air, wood, floor cushions, with a view of the gardens. Spectacular.
Visiting high schools and Chiang Mai University. One high school was an international school and was like any American high school. The other was public and was very Thai. 30 or more students crammed into a classroom, desks squeezed in up to the blackboard. The teacher using a "chalk and talk" teaching style of writing on the board and going over it word by word, almost all rote memorization. Yikes. Very enthusiastic kids though, very eager to meet us, and say a few words of English. Many calling out "hello!" as we walked by. The university was very interesting (30,000 plus students) and our guides were very nice and helpful. We saw some dorms, the gym, and some commons areas. Everything is a bit rough around the edges, but still pretty. We have dubbed walking on the sometimes-existent, often-not sidewalks "street hiking" because you have to always watch where you are stepping so you don't fall off or end up in a hole.
Muay thai boxing! We went to a dingy gym one evening to see 5 fights. It was very interesting, fun, and not bloody whatsoever. A very different way of fight, lots of "clinches" and knees and elbows. I have pictures and video.
The Golden Triangle! We were there all day yesterday, seeing a bridge to the Burma border, visiting tribal vilages (a mix of very depressing, unsettling, and interesting). If you buy something from the sad old women in traditional dress, you feel like you are promoting their self-exploitation. If you don't buy, you feel like a guilty miser who is not supporting their way of life. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I even felt bad for taking pictures. We took a speedboat to see the spot of the Golden Triangle where Burma, Laos, and Thailand meet before going to the Lao side and buying some beautiful textiles at the tourist-oriented village there. I did not try the snake-in-the-bottle whisky. Too scary looking and it smelled really bad. I managed to take a picture before running away, I'll post that later. As we drove back on the bus, we saw the sun set over dry rice paddies and rough looking shacks. Somewhat picturesque but rather sad.
Today was our free day, so 7 of us went to an elephant camp! It was fantastic! I got ridiculously excited to see, feed, and ride on elephants. They are so dextrous with the trunks, it is remarkable. The ride was slow and relaxing as we went through forested hills, up a stream, and into the river. Elephants are amazing animals.
Tonight, I'll be going to the Sunday Walking Street Market. More genuine and cheaper than the touristy markets (especially the Night Bazaar). In the next week, we'll be spending more time in Chiang Mai and the surrounding area including spending a overnight in a tribal village, seeing an agricultural site, and spending an overnight in a Buddhist meditation center.
I hope to write when I can, but I have no idea how often that will be. I'm having a great time here, staying with a group at all times (but I feel pretty safe here generally), and really enjoying the food (except when it is so spicy that my nose runs and my mouth feels like a blowtorch is being aimed at the back of my throat (must avoid the payapa salad)). I hope you all are doing well, and I miss you! Feel free to write me notes here or email me: pladson@stolaf.edu. Sawadee ka!