Less than 24 hours until sushi...!

My life revolves around exams.

It has for so many years. We have become a "teach to the test" kind of society--as a side note, I really hate the "No Child Left Behind" type of teaching style. "I have (blank) number of days until this huge exam and this is how I'm going to spend my time to prepare for it." Exams simply are no fun. 

But now, my life revolves around exams because it means that my friends and I are going to sushi! I really love the few hours we spend together on the night before the exam. It's time to decompress and not worry about school or studying. Some of my favorite moments of this past year are from those sushi dinners. 

In other news, Spring Break begins on Friday afternoon. Oh and this blog was featured on my favorite podcast, Things That Matter, in Lisa's God sighting. I haven't had much (or any) time to listen to the show this year because of school, but I do have all of the episodes downloaded on my phone and plan to listen to them on my next drive back to Hastings so I can catch up. I've actually been invited back to Things That Matter Land as a guest, so I'm thinking of starting a competition with Erin (Coleman) Branchaud to become the "Most Interesting Woman Alive." I'm currently 3 episodes behind her, so I have plenty of catch-up yet to do. 

Finally, this skit from SNL last weekend just makes me laugh. Nothing funnier than JT dancing in a tofu costume. 

Suture Clinic

Today we had a skills practice day and learned how to tie square knots as well as put in simple interrupted stitches into a wound. Our wounds were provided by the generous donation from several pigs (their feet in particular). It was a pretty fun time!

I suppose all those years learning how to sew paid off...let's be real, I never sew anything. My mother is  FAR too good of a seamstress for me to actually do any sewing of any consequence

Here are some of my stitches. With pig skin, it's hard to get a consistent depth, but I tried.
Not bad for the first time trying! I may not have a (successful) career in plastics ahead of me though. 

Tonight is two nights before our exam so Megan and I are carbo-loading. Sushi tomorrow!

Pre-exam preparations

I'm sure that you're all dying to know about what I do to prepare for my exams. Well beyond the obvious answer of study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study and study more, we've actually started a few pre-exam traditions! Whether they truthfully are all that helpful or not is probably debatable, but there is at least a grain or two of physiologic support for these rituals.

On Thursday nights we eat pasta. Carbo-loading is something that is quite common in athletes so they have enough of a store of energy for a big meet/match/game, so why not do it for our very own logic workout?! This week I added a bit of pesto, Alfredo sauce and sauteed vegetables (red pepper, mushroom and Swiss chard) to my pasta. It was absolutely delicious! 

Pre-exam Friday nights are sushi nights. We're trying out the local sushi restaurants to decide which is our favorite, but so far we've had good experiences at the two places we've frequented. The fish gives us some Omega fatty acids to help us think too. Tonight I actually ordered a Bento box. I had miso soup, teriyaki salmon, a California roll and several tempura-ed things (shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, etc). It was DELICIOUS! 

Truthfully, these two rituals are the most exciting part of the week leading up to the test--arguably the most exciting thing that happens throughout the entire 2-3 weeks we are studying a particular unit. 

Friday nights we also spend reviewing living anatomy (it's exactly what it sounds like...finding the anatomy of living people). This unit is all about head and neck, so the living portion of the exam will include: cranial nerve testing; muscle testing for the extraoccular muscles, muscles of mastication, muscles of facial expression, supra- and infrahyoid muscles, and other muscles of the neck (including intrinsic laryngeal and pharyngeal muscles); cervical plexus and brachial plexus nerve testing; and looking in ears, eyes, noses, and mouths. It should be pretty sweet. I also review slides from embryology on Friday nights. We get questions about different embryological derivates of tissue, times at which different structures emerge and what could go wrong if the genetic programs don't function properly. Embryology is a really sad class because we spend so much time learning about everything that can go wrong and never hear about the things that go right. This class has made me absolutely terrified of becoming pregnant and having children (the fourth week of pregnancy is a seriously big deal....holy goodness!). But that decision will be made much further down on the road of life. Creating and growing a human is an absolute miracle!! 

The great news for tonight is that I FINALLY understand the arteries of the face and neck. Truthfully they aren't too difficult, but I could not wrap my mind around them for the past two weeks. Luckily, it all 'clicked' tonight and I'm hoping that it stays that way for the exam too! The trouble with the arterial system (the venous system is the worst offender at this though...far worse than the arteries!) is that they are variable. The body we are dissecting has his arteries branching in a non-traditional manner, yet they aren't so non-traditional that they are an anomaly (something that happens in less than 15% of people is considered an anomaly for our intents and purposes). But then if I go to another body, they'll branch differently as well. So confusing and frustrating for me...until now! Here's a (fairly) simply diagram of the arteries of the head and neck, just so you can get a visual picture of it.

One of the craziest things is that arteries anastomose (reconnect/join other arteries) with arteries that are from the same major trunks and from different major trunks. And then they also anastomose across the face and neck--don't forget you do have two of almost everything! They do all of this so that no area of the face, neck, brain is ever without a blood supply even if one artery gets clogged or something. 

Isn't the body just so cool? Well anyway, my pre-exam preparations always conclude with a full night's sleep, so I'm off for now!