Summer School

Just started my first semester at a new school. I gotta say it's hard but it's all good because I never studied so hard in my life; and I never learned so much in my life. I feel this school is challenging in a way that it's also encouraging me to go even further no matter how stressful it may be. I can't believe of how much my brain can retain in less than a month. I gotta say, dissecting cadavers really opened my eyes and mind to things I thought I never will have a chance of being exposed to. I mean, I can see the plaques in people arteries. Put my finger through the vavles in a human heart. Cracking and sawing bones. Well, just the sternum and ribs to get to the heart and lungs. Saw what's inside our belly. Rip up some guts and peeled off muscles with my hands! (gloves on of course) I learned how muscles work and I realized why it hurts so much when I do crunches, there's so many muscles running in different directions on your stomach! I learned all the branches of the lungs and removed the lung tissue from the branches, even the one with emphysema, it literally smells like cigarettes!! I saw a real ovary too with those finger like structures attaching to it called fimbriae. Just like you would see it in anatomy books. I can't believe I have those structures in my own body. And all the fat in your stomach!! Man, there's alot of fat!! And all the veins and arteries in your digestive system. It's like a whole new world. It's so interesting! Some had pacemakers in their heart. Some had bypass surgery, some more than once. It's amazing how each cadaver died of different reasons. I had a chance to look at different hearts. Some are the size of your fist! and some that suffered from congested heart failure are humongous! What's amazing is that most of the cadavers have clogged arteries in the heart. Especially the artery that supply blood to the heart itself. I actually can squeeze the fat like it's a hard elongated rock stuck inside the little tube! I know I have my share of atherosclerosis too. So, down that chicken from popeye's! Just kidding. I mean, you gotta try to be healthy! I've been going to the gym again! Well, now that I don't have to be in that lab anymore I have time for running and do crunches. I don't miss those days in the lab, it smelled awful. Breathing formaldehyde and looking at dead people for a long time isn't my cup of tea. But it's worth it though. I learned so much! The time I've spent in there is wisely spent. Heck, I even sacrificed a few weekends to be in there studying. I can't believe I dissected human hearts, brains, lungs, abdominal and pelvic cavities. Learned some arteries, veins, and nerves. Looked at half heads and whole brains and skulls. It's amazing how our body is organized! And NO, I did NOT faint or barfed, although I did have moments of gagging. Surprisingly, according the teacher, all of the medical students did good this semester. None of us fainted and did well sucking it up and just do our job. I know, I'm kinda weird because I'm not scared of dead people and putting my hands in them. I can do it because I really want to learn and study it! Maybe watching those medical shows on the health discovery channel helped me adapt to it more easily.I'm still continuing my studies until the first week of August, that's when this semester ends. I'm taking pharmacology next semester. Heard it was hard too. But I can't wait. And clinical too of course. Can't wait to go see patients. Update more later. Have a nice summer everyone! =)