First and foremost, Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone at
home! I hope everyone is having a jolly time and wearing green (because if I
were there and you weren’t wearing green, I would certainly pinch you). Here,
on the other hand, St. Patrick’s Day does not exist.
Another week. Another Mini grade returned and once again I
have not had to pack my bags yet to come home. Phew! You breathe a sigh of
relief every time you get one of those scores back and realize that the hard
work is really paying off.
Honestly, not much has gone on this week. Fun fact: today
marks the first day that it has rained since last Friday. Ten whole days. That
doesn’t sound too long for those of you in the U.S., but for here…it’s really
unheard of. I usually carry an umbrella in my backpack at all times. (You’re
thinking to yourselves, don’t people usually talk about the weather when they
really have nothing much to say…yep, yes they do). Today also begins my
one-month countdown till I return back to Florida (and if you have read some of
my previous posts, Florida IS IN the United States). I am ecstatic about going
home, seeing my parents, not having to study, and of course indulging in some
gourmet home-cooked meals (always followed by a few chocolate chip cookies, of
course).
So in my previous post I told you that this Block was all
about the Cardiovascular and Respiratory System. Thus far, we have only had
lectures concerning the Cardiovascular System and I actually find the information
quite amazing. First off, it’s some of the most practical information we have
learned so far, since cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of
death throughout the entire world. Besides its clinical significance, its’ also
one of the first things that we can see, hear, and feel, unlike all of the
microscopic stuff that we have learned so far.
Plus there are so many disorders, diseases, syndromes (whatever
descriptive word you want to use) that involve the thoracic cavity, that most of
us students can relate to either personally, through a friend, or a family
member. This week of lectures has made me, someone who has never broken a major
bone or had surgery of any type, realize that I have had some strange illnesses.
For example, pleuritis. I mean, who the heck gets pleuritis!?! Benjamin
Franklin, that’s who. He actually died from pleuritis. It looks like I’m in
good company. I had pleuritis during my
senior year in high school during basketball season. After about five minutes
into practice or games, I would experience a sharp pain in my back whenever I
took a deep breath. At the time, I only knew that pleuritis was caused by a
viral infection of the lung. But now I know that the inflammation of my lung,
caused my visceral pleura to rub against my parietal pleura (which is highly
sensitive to touch, pain and temperature) causing the stabbing pain in my back.
Yea, that’s more than you ever wanted to know about pleuritis. Nonetheless, it
is cool to learn about something you were inflicted with in the past and know
the pathology behind its symptoms/effects. The other odd infection that we
learned about this week was Herpes Zoster aka Shingles. And once again, I had
shingles during my sophomore year in college and had splotches of red blisters
on the left side of my forehead. Knowing what I know now, it makes sense that
the shingles only stayed in that quadrant of my face because shingles can only
infect a single dermatome (mine was the upper left quadrant of my forehead).
Wow, I feel like a doctor already…or does that make me the patient?
Anyway, now that I’m done nerding-it-up and boring you to
death, I’ll leave you with this picture. Have a great week everyone!
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| Remnants of an old distillery on campus |
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