New Semester, New Beginnings

Six days left until my glorious Christmas break finally ends, and as much as I'm going to regret saying this I'm so ready to be back to school.  However, the two things I will miss most when school starts are 1) Sleeping in and 2) My daily routine filled of watching How I Met Your Mother -- of course it's no Big Bang Theory, but I still love it.

I have a whole new set of classes this semester and am looking forward to most of them.  We have four core classes this semester (last semester we only had three) - I'm also in two hours of electives.

Here's the rundown on my core classes:

Gross Anatomy II - basic anatomy of cattle, horses, pigs, chickens, and lab animals.  Also includes large animal dissection, which will be a whole new experience for me.

Physiology II - digging deeper into the functions of the cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, renal, digestive, reproductive and thermoregulatory systems.  This class will also focus on the criteria necessary for evaluating an animals health.  This class also has a lab period (something that Physio I didn't) so it will be interesting to see what exactly we do in this lab.

Immunology - learning and understanding the immune system and its role in fighting diseases.  Basically we'll hear the words "antigens" and "antibodies" about 50 times a class period - or so I'm guessing :)

Epidemiology - this is a new word for me.  After skimming over the class syllabus I've learned that we'll be learning about describing diseases, disease transmission, diagnostic methods and tests, and population health management.  I can't say it sounds like the most exciting class this semester, but hopefully I'll find some parts of it interesting.

Aaaaand here are my electives:

Comparative Embryology - learning about developmental anatomy and normal structure and function of the anatomy as it develops.  It also covers developmental diseases.

Bovine Theriogenology - this class is focused on cattle reproduction. 

So here's a little explanation for the electives... we basically had four options to choose from and I chose the lesser of the evils.  Neither of them are exactly what I would choose to learn more about, but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised and maybe I'll even develop a new love for cattle.  However, I wouldn't bet on it - I think baby cows are cute and I like steak, but that's as far as our love goes.

So that's what's in store for the next 5 months!  Hopefully they will go as well as the first 5 :)

Christmas Break

Surprise! I'm alive!

I know, I know.. it's been a while.  But after finishing up with finals sitting down at a computer and having to use my brain just didn't sound appealing. 

So what exactly have I been up to since school has ended?  Well, after reveling (that's a word, right?) in the fact that I GOT MY A in Gross Anatomy - I decided I deserved a little time off.  I have successfully been quite possibly the laziest person in the world over break.  It's been absolutely wonderful.  Here is a list of things I've checked off my "to-do" list:

1. Slept in
2. Snuggled with Little Bear
3. Snuggled with my favorite little boy, Eli
4. Sang Christmas music at church
5. Got an espresso maker from Cole and am becoming a barista (or trying to)
6. Read "The Help" -- and watched the movie, but the book is much better
7. Started reading "Water for Elephants" (a gift from Cole's parents) -- movie will follow :)
8. Spent some time in Topeka with the Grieves fam
9. Spent some time in Plainville with my Grandpa
10. Spent some time in KC with the Addison fam
11. Worn sweatpants almost every day

So as you can see, my days have been very busy and I've clearly had no time for blogging :)  Okay.. that might be a lie.

Just keep swimming...

SO CLOSE!

In 48 hours I will be completely done with my first semester of vet school.  Friday afternoon can not get here soon enough :)

So far I'm very, VERY happy with all of my grades...  A's in the electives and B's in the core classes (Physio and Micro) - Friday's final is in Gross Anatomy and could potentially be my only core class A, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

Little Bear has been a very supportive study buddy with me at my parents house, although he'd be even better if he could bring me some Starbucks.  Cole has been so supportive as well, but he'd be better if he brought me Starbucks too (hint hint!)

This past weekend my family and Cole's family got together to celebrate Cole graduating from KSU.  As of 4:00 today he was all done with finals and officially a college graduate! I couldn't be more proud :)  - aaaaactually... I could be more proud if I had some Starbucks :)

Bear helping write some notes...

Bear helping pack my bookbag...

Bear learning how to use a stethoscope...

College of Business Graduation :)

That's all for now - more updates to come after this ridiculous week is finally over!

Home Stretch

Good Morning, Mom!

Holy Cow - I just finished my 15th week of vet school.  Is this real life?  Only one more week of classes left, a week of finals, and I am 1/8th of the way toward being a doctor!

Here are the updates...

Physio -- Successfully got a B on the ridiculously long, 12-page, short-answer test right before Thanksgiving (despite my fever).  I was so proud of my grade - considering I felt like death the day before - but I kind of get the feeling I wouldn't have done any better even if I was as healthy as ever.  We also had another physio test this morning and I got an A.  This test was only 35 multiple choice questions - much more my style :)  After calculating my grade, I have to get a 100% on the final to get an 89.5% in the class - enough to hopefully round to an A.  Maybe I'm crazy - but I'm going for it :)

Microanatomy -- Meh.  Definitely ready to be done with this class.  We're currently learning about blood cells and hemopoeisis, which is essentially the formation of blood cells.  We are done with regular tests in here and just have the final left.  I'm at the point, where even if I get a 100% on the final I can't get an A, but I would pretty much have to bomb it to lose my B.  I guess that means I should be happy and not stress about the final? - yeah right.

Our perfect patient, Lark!

Gross Anatomy -- Still by far my absolute favorite class, and my highest grade.  Dissections of the head were kind of a disaster before Thanksgiving, and everyone is so behind in lab, but at least we're all at the same level right?  This week, we've done my favorite thing so far - Live Dog Labs.  Essentially its a room full of dogs, that the vet students can bring, and we work on palpating and identifying all of the structures we've dissected this semester on real dogs.  At the end of both lab periods we've had 50 point quizzes over what we've found.  And now I am going to brag about how I got 100% on BOTH.  Naturally I think I'm a genius now, because isn't working on live dogs what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life?  I probably don't even need to study for the final, I could be a vet right now-- kidding Mom, I'll study lots :)  Also - I had to look up how to spell genius, so maybe a few more years of school wouldn't hurt.

Is the flash too bright?... Sorry Cole, I had to :)

Life outside of vet school -- Spent Thanksgiving relaxing with the family.  I had high hopes of everything I was going to accomplish over break, and successfully accomplished absolutely nothing.  But it was an absolutely phenomenal break.  I spent some time with my sister and her husband, my dad's side of the family in Plainville, and Cole and his family.  I also spent all week snuggling with Little Bear and started season 3 of Big Bang Theory - does it get any better than that?  I think not.

So that is my life in a nutshell.  Next week is considered "dead" week, but let me tell you - it is alive and kicking.  I have 3 tests and a paper and presentation due, BUT all of my classes are wrapping up - some of them I don't even have next week.  A 5-week Christmas Break is the light at the end of the tunnel, so let's just pray I make it through these next two weeks :)

Thanksgiving is Here!

Welcome to Thanksgiving Break! What am I doing right now?  Relaxing on the couch and watching TV for the first time in a long time.  And it is absolutely magical :)

Dr. Bear

It's been a pretty interesting couple of days.  I woke up in the middle of the night Wednesday with a fever and all of the fun cough/congestion that goes along with that.  So, in the interest of my well-being (and to save everyone else from getting sick before the holidays) I stayed home all day Thursday.  It finally broke my perfect attendance record, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  After a day of recuperating (and attempted studying) I had to get up this morning and go take my 130 point Physiology test.  Let's just say, it could've gone worse (it also could've gone better).  Luckily though, I have a stable grade in that class that hopefully won't be too affected by one test.

Best Lab Group Ever :)

Other than that school is pretty boring.  We have been dissecting brains in Gross Anatomy lab and looking at the kidney in Microanatomy.  Now for the next few days, my goal is to not think a single thought involving school -- and then maybe start cramming for finals :)

Lucky Week 13

Today marks week 13 of vet school.  I can't believe this is our last week before Thanksgiving Break (I'm not complaining).  Here's a summary of last week/this week:

I'm excited to say I got an A on both Gross Anatomy lab and lecture test!  It quite possibly could be my greatest accomplishment of the semester, and finally brought my grade up to an A in the class overall.  It's a nice feeling - especially knowing our next test in the class is the final :)  Now that we're done with a majority of structures and systems in lab, we've moved on to just the head and the spinal column.  While the head is a small part of the body, it's one of the most complicated parts.  We've been working on muscles and nerves of the face and the eye this past week.  The week after Thanksgiving we have two "Live Dog" quizzes.  Students get to bring in their dogs, and we will practice palpating the dogs to identify organs and structures we've dissected in lab.

Neurons in Nervous Tissue

Microanatomy is the class we had our test in this past Friday.  This test was over Female Reproduction, Nervous System, Integument (Skin), and Arteries, Veins, and Lymphatic Vessels.  I'm still waiting on lab test results, but got an A on the lecture part!

Physiology is the test this Friday :(  We've been learning about different types of channels involved in action potentials of the nervous system.  It's about as exciting as it sounds.  I tend to go back and forth between Physiology and Microanatomy over which is my least favorite class - this week, it's Physiology.  Luckily, studying hasn't been so bad (yet).

Outside of school, it's been a busy few weeks/weekends.  Cole and I went to Kappa's "America" themed date party.  Naturally we went as "spirited Republicans."  This involved me wearing a red tutu - because honestly, when else do you get the chance to do this.

Don't worry, Mom - I couldn't see the TV

After voting last week, I also got to spend election night babysitting my favorite little boy.  We read stories and played with our feet.  He even wore his "I love my auntie" onesie just for me :)

This weekend Cole and I went with my parents to see K-State's production of The Music Man - I love musicals.  We also went to a wedding with his parents. The time off was much needed after a crazy two weeks, and I even got in quite a bit of studying on Sunday.  It was quite possibly a perfect weekend :)

I'm baaaaack :)

After a 4 week hiatus - I have returned.  School has been a little crazy and the blog had to be put on the back burner for a while.  Here are a few updates on what has been going on in the past month...

Let's start at the beginning.  I first had a week off from having a test and it was the most magical and chaotic week ever.  It was so nice getting to sleep in Friday morning and not be working my butt off all week for a test; however, I am becoming very used to my routine and anything that deviates from my weekly schedule throws me completely out of whack -- it was a pretty unproductive week.

The week after that I had a Microanatomy Lab and Lecture test.  I have definitely improved in that class since the first test.  This test was over bone, cartilage, respiratory system, liver, pancreas, and male reproduction.  I was so so so close to an A on the lab test (89%) which is almost 20% better than I did on the first one - so I'm definitely headed in the right direction :)

Following that came Physiology.  I've decided physiology isn't so bad because our final in that class is not comprehensive.  Basically, even if I am not 100% confident on a topic, I really just need to know it well enough to make it through that test (is this a bad philosophy to have?)  The test that we most recently had in that class was over cell receptors, radioactive oxygen species and free radicals, oncogens (what causes cancer) and eicosanoids (I still can't explain to you what this is).  That test went phenomenal - I couldn't have been happier!

That brings us to this week.  This quite possibly has been the busiest week I'll have this semester (except for maybe finals week).  We had a gross anatomy lab and lecture test.  Where do I begin?  Lecture was over the thorax, abdomen, arteries, nerves, and veins, as well as the entire nervous system and it's function.  That doesn't seem soooo bad; however that brings me to lab.  Every structure that was not a muscle, bone, or part of the head was on this lab test.  Let me just explain to you what that means.  I had to know every nerve, artery, vein, lymph node... AND all parts of the heart, lung, thymus, diaphragm, liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, large and small intestine and their subdivisions, kidneys, both male and female reproduction, and all parts of the rectum and anal canal.

Did I even list them all?  I can't remember.  This week has been an absolute blur.  The lab test also included questions from the radiology lectures that we've had.  The newest trick I've mastered is to look at a radiograph of the chest or abdomen and determine whether the x-ray was taken on the left or right side of the dog or from the back or stomach - it's not as easy as you'd think!  Give it a try?  -- Answers will be at the bottom :)

A.

B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That brings me to right now - this very second.  I'm sitting in my newest elective "3-D Imaging of the Dog."  In this elective we look at radiographs, CT scans, and ultrasounds.  It took the place of my medical vocabulary elective, which ended a few weeks ago - giving me my first A in a class in vet school.  Not as impressive as it sounds, considering it was a piece of cake class and only worth 1 hour of credit, but I'll take it :)

That's all for now - sorry for the overload of information.  I promise to make a better attempt at keeping up with this weekly again, now that my life has settled down a little.  Tonight, Cole and I are going to a Kappa date party - my one and only of the semester..  The theme is America, so we really couldn't skip it.. and naturally we're going as Republicans :)

Have a happy weekend :)

Answers to the quiz?
A) Left
B) Right