Path Pictionary

You can find these in reference to three things in pathology. Name them! Answers will be posted Sunday.

* Inspiration- The night before the path exam I was sent a file form a friend of a friend, original source unknown and it was Pathology Pictionary....  bascially buzzword images of a the appearance of something pathological.  It was so fun I decided to make my own. I'll try to share them here. Feel free to comment and guess.

My very non-exciting med school life update: exams came and went. Microbio is over and nutrition is one week down, one week to go. 

Five more weeks... the island is quiet. Only fourth termers remain which is great if you want to print or have grocery options at IGA.  But it is not all roses, I tried to study at Mocha Jumby the other night but they are enjoying summer hours which means closing at 6pm. So sad.... my study spaces are dwindling. First Rituals closed and now Mocha Jumby has useless hours.

On the bright side, today is the start of a three day weekend. And only 1 month, 1 week and 1 day until I'm  headed to California! 

Words/Terms/Diseases I don't know (todays version)

Studying for path miderm. Looking through my notes. Needed to wiki a few, including:

• coproporyphrins- as in heme metabolits, as in Dubin-Johnson syndrome as in I really need to figure out neonatal causes of jaundice once and for all (ugh biochem)
• Ewing Tumor- of course, its a sacrcoma! t(11;22)
• PNET- more tumors for the kiddos (I'm doing peds now if you can't tell)
• Anaridia, as in the A in WAGR Syndrome = absence of the iris (straight up embryo that I have forgotten, sigh)

That's it. Now I have to do some questions and see how much of that  I retained. Path midterm 4 is in just days then Micro final and CPD written with the practical somewhere in there.... Let the fun begin!

Why People Hate the Path Dept.

Just  a minute to rant. We have a schedule that says we have Path Lab in the same location an exam is scheduled for the 5th termers. These evens are both in the master schedule (or should be) and our known by the University and thus the Departments..... There is no excuse for the Path Dept. not checking the master schedule or once finding out about the exam, letting their students know. Before the day of incident preferably, if that is not TOO much to ask?

Only 15 minutes before lab is schedule to start (after 2 hours of Path lecture in which, maybe someone could have made an announcement) there is nothing on Angel.... I finally get through to the Dept. Secretary and she confirms that yes, Path Lab is canceled. When I mention the fact that maybe an announcement on Angel would be a good idea she says that there in an announcement up, I tell her (nicely) that I am looking at my Angel Home Page and there is NO announcement. Three minutes later I check again and it has appeared, miraculously..... Go Path Dept., this is why nobody likes you!

I am well connected, I found out the info before I walked down the hill and now I have the afternoon off to study. But if for instance I was off campus and had driven here or walked, taken a bus, etc. to just to find out that lab has been canceled I might be a little unhappy. Really, Path Dept. you can do better than that!

End of rant.....Time to study and then I'm going for a quick swim pre-IGA grocery shopping, thank you very much!

I heart Health Fairs

So.... Missed a day of studying to with Women in Medicine to the last health fair of the term. So glad I did. Health Fairs remind me 1) why I came to medical school 2) what life in Grenada looks like past the campus gates 3) how much I like patients -and maybe some other stuff too, though I can't recall at the moment.

Highlights of my day. 1) Patient education, explaining what lymph nodes were and why I was feeling under my patients collarbone and in her armpits. Truly, I love this part of medicine and it is so great to meet a patient who wants to know and have the time and opportunity to help her.
2) Talking to the clinical tutors and physicians that come and make the health fair possible. They teach and supervise and it is amazing. 3) Seeing something that I've only read about in textbooks, it makes it all so much more real and memorable. Today's list includes Pau D'Orange (non-pathological in this case), a total masectomy and a lipoma. I also saw some very painful arthritic nodules on a patients ankles that were making it difficult for her to walk, she also had arthritis in her shoulders making it hard for her to lift her hands above her head. This made me sad because there was nothing I could do for her and she was in a lot of pain.

That's all for now. Back to micro and the lovely infections of the urinary tract, yippee!

22 Degrees

Classic Rock knocked on my door, "come outside and bring your camera." I peak out and see students lying on the ground taking pictures of the sky, I grab my shoes and iPhone and out I go.... The eye in the sky (that's what I called it) is actually termed a 22 degree halo.  I guess these are not that rare yet I could not find anyone who had ever seen this before.

Anyhow, it was a random point in my day. I'm still here and it is still 4th term, busy as ever but good. I'm trying to catch up after being home for Easter and missing a few days last week. So glad I went, I feel re-energized and ready for the hardest test of med school, I say bring it, path is fun! But speaking of which I suppose I'd better get to it.

More CPD patient stories and other non-boring things to follow, eventually... don't give up on me. And enjoy the "Eye in the sky".