Time Flies

Since my lasp post I have taken 5 tests and had 2 lab practicals. The exams never seem to end! A good week is one where we have 2 "easier" exams. We were warned by one of our professors about the "first year funk" where students get a little overwhelmed and just want to go home. He has been at the college for 36 years or so and is not only a professor but also the Director of Academic Support Services (fondly referred to as D'ASS, needless to say he has a good sense of humor). He is a great teacher and reminds us that its not about the exams, but that some day we will be in clinic and there is going to be a body in the chair with eyes staring back at us. It is refreshing to go to his clas because he really knows his stuff and what concepts students struggle with, so he goes slow and lets us know that it will get worse but that it will eventually "click" and get better. The start of the "funk" was around the beginning of October, which was also when us first years received our white coats at the Convocation ceremony. Just before the ceremony started he came up to me and a few friends and told us "Even if you failed your neuroanatomy exam this morning you can still keep your white coat!"
I have managed to have a little fun besides all the studying lately. On Halloween I went to the party hosted by the social fraternity at school (I was the "Devil with a blue dress on" and my roommate was Audrey Hepburn.) I also was Will's date to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. It was a welcome break from studying and all the stress in my life. Here are a few pictures from the mentioned events (In the class picture I am front and center itching my face). Enjoy!

The Big Question

Optometry school reminds me of elementary school in a way. We don't choose our classes, we have 1 classroom (the teachers rotate through), we have a 10 minute break between classes (recess anyone?), and we have a lunch room. For the most part we have class everyday from 8ish-12ish. There are concrete starting and ending times but some days we start a little later and or get out a little earlier. The exception to this is the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month...we don't have class. The afternoon is lab time. The class is divided up into 5 different lab groups this semester it was based on geographic region...I'm in the Midwest group. Each group has 1 lab a day with 1 afternoon free. The Midwest group has Wednesday afternoon off which means every other Wednesday I have completely off. One reason my group rocks. Another reason is "treat days." One afternoon we decided that we should all make treats for the rest of the lab group. So we passed around a sign up sheet and everyone put their name under a date to bring 1 doz treats for the rest of the class...one more reason optometry school is like elementary school. Most of the teachers love us because we share and the other lab groups are jealous.

Two days a week we have Optometric Theory and Methods lab. This is the lab where we learn how to do doctor things. So far we've learned how to do retinoscopy (shining a light in someones eyes to determine their prescription), visual fields (testing central and peripheral vision), EOMs (can the patient follow a target with his/her eyes), color vision, stereopsis (do both of the eyes work together), keratometry (measuring the curvature of the front of the eye) and this week we started MANIFEST REFRACTION! This is the test where the optometrist asks "Which is better 1 or 2?" and spins the dials on the phoropter. It was exciting and kind of confusing. Needless to say I have a lot of practicing to do.

Well off to studying for test 3 of 3 this week!

Flow Charts and Frozen Heads

This past week has been spent studying for my second anatomy test today. Pictured are some flow charts I made to help me visualize the arteries of the head and neck. I taped them to the wall in the living room for easy reference (Sorry Mom I do know better than to tape things to walls, but drastic amounts of information to be learned calls for drastic measures). Not only do I need to know the branching pattern of all of the major arteries but where they start, and end along with what they mainly feed and any other random fact the professor adds. All of this is just about the arteries! The test is also going to include veins and everything known to man about the 12 cranial nerves!

At my interview here last fall they recommended taking an anatomy course prior to coming to school claiming it would be very helpful. So I took anatomy this past summer. While it has been somewhat helpful nothing could have prepared me for the depth of this anatomy course. Another thing about anatomy that came up during my interview was cadavers. During the tour the guide (a second year) mentioned that the school may be getting cadavers for the first years, a relatively new thing I guess since his class did not get to work with one.

Well turned out last year the students did get a cadaver, but the funds were not there this year for our class. About a month ago we found out that we would get a limited cadaver lab, just the head and neck (which works out fine since that is the part of the body that is most relevant to optometrists). So Saturday was the big day; 1 head for all 124 of us students to look at. Each lab group was assigned a slot to come to school to observe. The cadaver was not in formaldehyde but was actually frozen. The benefit of this is that the coloring is preserved since formaldehyde turns everything a grey color. Plus it smells a little better at first anyways.

It was a very interesting experience to say the least. I was fine at first looking at the tagged parts, but once our professor started tugging on things and moving parts out of the way I started to feel a little light-headed. After removing myself from the room, sitting and sipping on water and chatting with a fellow light-headed classmate I felt better and was able to go back in the lab. Along with the frozen cadaver there were other heads that had been sectioned (cut in different ways to see different structures) and preserved in formaldehyde. Overall it was a pretty cool thing to observe, but I'm glad I don't have to do it again anytime soon!

Farmers Market

On Saturday my roommate, her boyfriend and I all went to the farmer's market. It takes place every Saturday morning from April through October I think. The main reason my roommate and I wanted to go was to pick out pumpkins. The market was smaller than I had expected, but that might just be because the Cedar Rapids farmer's market is HUGE and is one of the largest in the Midwest. The Memphis farmer's market was pretty standard, lots of apples this time of the season, with some mums, a few vendors with pumpkins. The weather was beautiful for once. Lately it seems like everyday is overcast and drizzly, but Saturday it was sunny. A little cold and windy, but the sun was a refreshing change. The picture is of my roommate and I with our pumpkins.

Here It Goes

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while since I enjoy reading others blogs, but never felt that I would have anything interesting to say. Especially now that I am back in school again. Go to class, come home from class, study, go to bed and repeat; this seems to be my life. My family members write about the funny/cute things their children do and my friends write about the going ons in their own lives. But after coming down here I've realized that maybe my life is interesting. I've moved farther away from my friends and family than I ever have, and am going to school in a field that is foreign to most of the people closest to me. So here it goes, the adventures in the newest chapter of my life: my Memphis blog.