For my and your entertainment, you must sing the title like Mark Hoppus and if you don't know who that is, just google it and you'll figure it out real quick. That's just me trying to be clever with my blog titles.
Anyway, I just thought I'd give an update about my summer session since I'm now about 3 weeks in or so. We had our first test of the summer this past Monday in Systemic Pathology and it covered disease processes of the lung, pancreas, eye, and gastrointestinal tract. Needless to say, I put quite a bit of time in preparation for that test considering the amount of material it covered and it paid off. The test had a similar format to all the tests that we had the first semester, which consisted of multiple choice, true and false, and fill in the blank. To keep us refreshed, our professors also included normal histology images on the test for us to identify since we will be taking an Advanced Microanatomy class in the fall.
As for our other class, Clinical Pathology, we have had three lectures that covered Laboratory Testing, Immunology and Immunity, and Imaging Studies. We have quizzes every week on the material we covered the week before since we only have the class one day a week. We have our first actual test on Tuesday of next week. While the quizzes are a little nerve wrecking some weeks, I think it will overall make it a little easier when studying for the test since we have already been looking over the material and were quizzed on it.
I have also had three rotations so far. My first one was in autopsy and unfortunately, due to timing and some technical issues in the morgue, I wasn't able to see much. The only thing I was able to fully observe was the external examination process. However, I do have a second rotation in autopsy, so hopefully the cards will play in my favor next time. I also had an EM (Electron Microscopy) rotation where we were shown how certain specimens, more specifically kidney biopsies, are processed in preparation for EM. The specimens are received in a special fixative called glutaraldehyde that allows for the preservation ultrastructure in the specimens so they can be appreciated under the EM scope. Prior to the viewing the specimens under the scope, they must be processed, embedded in resin, and sections must be taken using a diotome. While in the EM lab, they allowed me to cut down a resin block to prepare for sectioning. I was also shown a variety of images that were taken using the EM scope and they explained the types of things they look for in each type of specimen that comes through. Finally, I also had another gross room rotation. It wasn't too crazy when I was in there, but I was able to gross a few specimens. As usual, I did several biopsies, mostly those that came from the GI tract. I was also able to gross several colon polyps, a temporal artery, and a set of tonsils.
As you can see, my summer has been quite the adventure so far and I'm not going to lie, I'm ready for a break. However, I must keep trucking on through. Until next time my friends!
