Anatomy and Predator

I'm starting to study anatomy. I'm just getting familiar with the basics and exposing myself to the vocabulary - saving the memorization for later. A first year med student I know recommended the anatomy book I've started with.

The book has sidebars that relate anatomy topics to clinical issues. So far it's covered atherosclerosis, nerve damage, and lymphadenopathy. I find it hard to explain how rewarding I find these brief straightforward explanations. I spent a year scribing. For the entire year, I made loose conjectures about the why of what I was writing down. Some things should have been easy for me to figure out, but weren't. For instance, while scribing, I observed and even assisted with (held vials for) several lumbar punctures. I always wanted to know how the doctor knew where to stop the needle insertion. There's little opportunity to ask questions - particularly when someone needs a lumbar puncture because that's time-consuming to begin with. So the best answer I got was that the doctor could feel the right place.

Well, tonight I found out that one of the maters, the dura mater, is strong - presumably strong enough to provide the resistance that the physician "feels" as she inserts the needle. I can't wait to find out! Suddenly, I have a handful of answers. I'm just beginning to wrap my brain around the possibility of having a credible bundle of medical knowledge I can eventually use to help actual real live people.

I loved scribing most of the time. Sometimes quirks of the physicians' personalities made the job difficult...but that happens anywhere. The biggest frustration was what I described above: not yet fully understanding much of what I observed. I'd love to know exactly when physicians need to don gloves because sometimes they would feel a skin malady barehanded and sometimes they used gloves. I'd love to know how to execute the different types of suture stitch (that one can't be too hard). I'd love to know all the steps of running a code and why they all happen. I can't wait to read X-rays or CT scans and have an idea what I'm looking at. Right now the only abnormalities I can identify with certainty are: lung consolidation (these come in many varieties, the distinctions between which I'm ignorant of), kidney stone (this one's super easy), and a blowout fracture. I got a chance to ask a few questions, but not that many.

Anyway, I'm excited right now. And I'd better go to bed.

Quick Playfulness Update: The girls and I went outside to the grassy section outside our apartment and were delighted to find that most of the dogpoop that once dotted the grass had dissappeared! Yay! We played king and queen for fifteen minutes and "predator" for half an hour. Predator is basically like chase only the predator has to wear a Ukrop's bag. This particular bag has a giant friendly vampire face printed on it (for Halloween). The girls can fit the handles over their heads so when they run they look like giant vampire faces on legs. The other cool part of predator is that you get to name the type of predator you are. Red-tailed hawk? Tiger? Shark? It's all good. Then the prey animals get to announce what they are. We were mostly bunnies and mice.

Finally, Vivian is FAST.