Busy, Busy, Busy

This post is all about school....

Just remember this: Everything your eye doctor does to you, he or she has done to him or her (multiple times), by someone who had never done it before.

Earlier this semester in anterior segment lab (which deals with the front of the eye) we learned how to "properly" administer tests to determine if a patient has dry eye. This involves putting special little pieces of paper in between the eye ball and the eye lid, first without anesthetic and then with anesthetic. Then you compare the two strips. Jenny was my wonderful partner on this day and being her sweet self let me be doctor first. So I put the strips in and she started to complain and while describing how bad it felt one of the instructors came over. Jenny asked how any patient would sit for this and comply, and the instructor's response was along the lines of 'well we don't really do it the proper way, we just anesthetize them right away since it is such an uncomfortable feeling.' Good to know...

Jenny all smiles for the camera:

How she really felt:

I didn't really think it would be that bad, but I was mistaken:

Yay Schirmer's 1 test:

Then there is vision therapy lab where we learn all kinds of stuff, and goof off with the equipment a little. Here is Jenny again with some prism while we learn about how they can be used to help people who have had a stroke or traumatic brain injury that has affected their vision:

The big thing on all second years minds right now is pre-clinic checkouts. This is where we preform an entire eye exam on a fellow classmate while a staff doctor watches and grades us. This is the right of passage you could say for us to get the go ahead to give eye exams in the clinic next semester (no pressure). We have an hour to perform the various procedures required. While practicing with Jessie last week Sam stopped by after playing basketball and showed off his lid laceration he had just gotten. We took a peek at it using the slit lamp (a sort of microscope), and I took a picture through the oculars to show him:

The last couple weeks also included learning how to give injections in anterior segment lab and posterior segment lab. We learned how to do intramuscular (a shot into the muscle), sub cutaneous (a shot just under the skin), start an IV, intralesional (a shot into the eyelid) and subconjunctival (a shot just beneath the clear lining of the outer eye). I was rather nervous for the shots in the arm and the IV. But I managed to administer and receive all of them without passing out! The subconjunctival injection can cause a subconjunctival hemorrhage. This can look bad, but its really not. Most of us wanted to get one, what can I say it's kind of like a badge that says "look what I did!" Jessie and I both got hemes from the ordeal. We took pictures to show each other.

Jessie's was really impressive. She got a good reaction from the crowd:

Sadly mine wasn't as impressive:

I had my pre-clinic checkout today and it went pretty well. I won't get my grade back for 2 weeks or so when all 125 of us have completed them, but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted (even though I have 5 quizzes left this week, and 1 quiz, 2 exams and a practical next week.) Back to studying!

Birthdays!

Since coming back from winter break I've been busy with school, studying and practicing (what else is new). And in the little free time I have instead of blogging I've been helping my friends celebrate their birthdays. Jessie kicked off the year with her January birthday. It was a surprise wine and cheese party. This was a huge ordeal since Jessie is usually the planner of all events and likes to set everything up, so her room mates did a lot of sneaking around and planning to pull it off.

Jessie and Kaila

Lots of friends showed up to surprise her

The food spread

My attempt at being artsy photographing the wine bottles

"Do we have more than one cork screw?"

At the end of February was Jenny's birthday. We celebrated her birthday and kicked off spring break early by going out for dinner.

While we were at dinner a storm rolled through, well it was more like a tornado warning (sirens going and all...)

We pretend to be scared

A couple of the group check out the rain (which was going sideways at this point)

The rest of the group watches from afar

Next on the birthday calendar is ASHLEY! For her special day we went to dinner and then a paint your own pottery place. It was a great deal of crafty, creative, fun (oh and a surprise for her too)!

Ashley and Kaila just getting started on their projects

I decided to paint a pitcher. This is the before.

All painted and pre-firing (I'll get it back later this week)

Amanda's birthday is next and unfortunately I don't have any pictures :( She did join in with Anna for dinner the other day to celebrate their birthdays jointly.

Anna enjoying a drink for her birthday at El Toro Loco

Dancing with the bull outside the restaurant

Catching Up

This semester has mostly been spent catching up and re-catching up. After missing a week and a half at the start of the semester I returned to school with the intent of doing my best. I spent about a month catching up in my 8 classes. As the semester continued I caught up in one class but fell behind in another. This inevitably happens near the end of every semester I just started off that way this year. Now that the semester is over I can catch up on my blog. I will give you the high-lites of each month starting with July...

July...

My parents came to visit, and brought along a fury, white, little bundle of joy (read terror). I named her Penny Laine, and she never fails to bring a smile to my face. I really am thankful for her everyday. Even when she eats blankets and woodwork.
August...

Penny and I took a road-trip to visit my parents before the semester started. I was determined to make a coffee table/bench that I had seen in the Anthropologie catalogue (certainly I could make one just as nice that didn't cost $1,000). So I bought all of the raw materials...

...And this is the result...

August was also my 21st, first day of school. True to Chad's tradition I laid out my clothes the night before...

Quick first day picture with Penny before heading off to Clinic Orientation at 8 am

September...

Friends and family joined to celebrate my mothers life. She was loved and will be missed.

October...

At the start of October I got a new beau named Ben. In the middle of the month a classmate hosted a pumpkin carving pot-luck. Here is Ben helping Alison with her polka-dot pumpkin...

I picked out an albino pumpkin to bring to the party. One of my classmates was kind enough to share their stencils from a carving kit. I thought the ghost seemed fitting. All of our pumpkins...

Perhaps a better shot...

At the end of the month Paul came to visit for his birthday. Penny and I were very excited to have him visit...

November...

As I packed up to head back to Iowa for Thanksgiving break Ben kept Penny's attention by playing a form of "fetch."

I think it is safe to say that I have finally graduated from the little kids table at age 25. A new crop has forced Ev and I to join the "big kids" at the adult table.

The spread on the main table(s)...

December...

The final stretch of the semester found me re-listening to lectures. Dr. Connor puts Penny to sleep too.

The Birds

After getting back from Orlando and discovering the bird's nest in my flowers I had the intentions of taking a picture a day and chronicling the event. Well I did take a picture nearly every day (I had to wait till Mama Bird was out, and she stayed home a lot). It turns out, not much changed from day to day so I'll spare you the details and post the highlights...

Day of discovery: 4 eggs

The next day: 5 eggs

The following days: 6 eggs

Baby Birds! 3 of them when this picture was taken

I don't know the conclusion of this little bird family. I went to visit my parents shortly after the three eggs had hatched. When I returned the pot had been knocked over. There was no evidence of broken eggs or bird carnage though so I hope that means they relocated after a storm took their nest.

P.S. I noticed the other day a pile of dirt under a different pot and yesterday a little bird was busy bringing in grass and moss and chirping away. Perhaps I'll get the chance to keep up on this one...

Summer!

The Sunday before our mini-term finals was Allison's birthday. We decided this would be the perfect time to have that tea party we had been wanting to have since last fall. (I just knew we would get along when I mentioned that I wanted to host a tea party and my new roomie was just as excited as me!) We had an assortment of cookies, little sandwiches (Aunt Kate's cheese spread, I was thrilled it actually turned out), and three types of iced tea. About a week before the party we started scoping out the flower selection around our apartment complex and plotting the best time to do a little "pruning." The night before the party we executed our plan. The result: 4 vases of beautiful flowers...

The party was a huge success. We had about 25 classmates join us in celebrating Allison's birthday. Here are a few of us:

Finals were over at 10 o'clock on Wednesday, and my adventure to Orlando occurred shortly after. Brace yourselves for this adventure...

About 3 months ago I was having a bad day. I overslept, my hair-dryer stopped working (actually both of them), and my car would not start. I had been thinking of going to Optometry's Meeting in Orlando, but once all of this occurred I had made my decision: I wasn't going to go, I couldn't afford it.

Optometry's Meeting is hosted by the American Optometric Association (AOA) and is a giant convention for optometrists to go to for continuing education courses and socializing and the like. There is also a student component to the convention put on by the AOSA (American Optometric Student Association). One of the events for students is the Student Bowl. This is a Jeopardy type game with one representative from each school.

It just so happened that the evening of this awful day three months ago was when we were having a mini student bowl at school to determine who would represent SCO at the meeting. I went to the mini student bowl to support two of my classmates and good friends who were competing, and for the pizza (free food = a little better day). At this event there was also a raffle for travel grants to attend Optometry's Meeting. I ended up winning a $300 travel grant to attend the meeting!

Fast forward to the last day of finals...

-6:30 AM Rise and shine

-8:00 Final

-9:30 Al and I treat ourselves to McD's iced coffee as a treat for being done

-10:30 Nap (this is important)

-11 Start packing/cleaning apt

-5:10 PM Load car for airport (starting to sprinkle)

-5:15 Pick up Janelle (starting to rain)

-5:20 Pick up Megan and Maria (pouring)

-5:30 Pull over on way to airport (raining so hard, we can't see the road)

-6:00 Get to airport (I receive lecture on how my plastic baggy of toiletries is too big)

-6:30 Flight is delayed (we are assured it won't affect our connection)

-6:40 Flight delayed more (looks like we'll be spending the night in Atlanta)

-9:30 Finally board the plane

-10:00 Take off

-12:30 AM Get to Atlanta and wait in line for hotel voucher, and flight to be re-booked

-1:00 Man waiting on me jokes I "must have pissed someone off in Memphis" since instead of booking me on 7 AM flight with the rest of my friends the system was putting me on the 10 PM flight (I think "Oh God, I am now on the terrorist list, because of earlier toiletries fiasco"). After three tries to get me on the proper flight, it worked.

-2:00 Get to hotel, and vouchers are not for a free night as we were led to believe, but a discount (we decide that $50 is not worth a hotel room for 3 hours)

-2:30 Go back to airport, complain to airtran, get food and wait around for the security gate to open

-4:00 Get through security, go to gate to wait for the flight

-6:15 Board plane

-8:50 Finally arrive in Orlando

-10:30 Get to our condo and take a half hour nap before getting ready to go to opening session of the meeting!

At the end of the first day of the meeting I had been up for about 28 hours with about an hour and a half of naps sprinkled in. Overall a good time was had, and I picked up a lot of free contact solution, eye drops, and other goodies.

Here is a picture of my travel companions as we were leaving the airport to go to the hotel. (We look happy because we think we are headed to a free hotel room with a bed)

A few friends and I at the student bowl on the first night:

Enjoying the free food after the student bowl:

The hotel where the meeting was held was HUGE! There were even alligators in the atrium:

After a pleasant and uneventful trip back home, I learned that the apartment was going to be power washed. So I went to bring in my plants. Now I knew they would look a little rough since they hadn't been watered in nearly a week, but one looked really rough. It had a lot of leaves and branch like pieces in it:

Then I realized that it had a bird's nest in it, WITH 4 EGGS!

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to lose my plant, but I couldn't kill the little birds. I couldn't leave it out to get power washed, and I couldn't bring it into my apartment. I wasn't sure if birds were like other animals that abandon young when the catch the scent of human. I ended up bringing it in for about a half hour while the building was sprayed down. I figured this was the best chance of survival. The next day I went out to water the plants and there were 5 eggs in the nest, and the following day there were 6.

For the past four days there has been 6 eggs. I have sort of turned this into my own kiddish ecology project. I have been trying to take pictures each day, but Mamma Bird has been in the nest almost all the time, and frankly I'm afraid to go out there when she is around. She has a long and sharp looking beak. More to come on this project later...

Better than Avatar

This semester, as with the previous two, I have Theory and Methods lab. This is where we learn the procedures that we will be doing everyday once we get out into the real world. This semester we are learning how to use the slit lamp aka the biomicroscope. Basically this is a microscope that is used to look at the outer part of the eye, and the inner eye with the help of some very high powered lenses.

Previously we had looked at pictures in class. Pictures are only 2D, but when looking at the back of the eye with the slit lamp you can see depth. Now this doesn't sound like a big deal, but you really don't know what you're missing out on till you actually see it in 3D. Here is what the back of the eye looks like in a healthy individual in 2D:


Normally one person can use the slit lamp and see the image, but slit lamps at schools have an extra part called a teaching tube that allows a second person to also view the image (but in 2D). This is how our professors help teach us and grade us. It also comes in handy when we are practicing on our own.

As I was getting my extra lens lined up and focused on the back of my partner's eye for the first time a professor had wandered up and was watching through the teaching tube. At my initial awe of the sight he said to me "Better than Avatar in'nit?" (in'nit= isn't it, with a southern drawl). It really was a sight. In the picture above, where all the red lines are coming out of the yellow circle you actually see them coming out at you when using the slit lamp. Granted it is subtle, but comparing it to 2D vs 3D movies is really the best comparison that I can offer.

Below are the lenses used for the slit lamp, well I only know how to use the two little ones. I'll learn how to use the big one later. At the start of each semester we pick up the equipment that was ordered for us and learn how to use it during the semester. In the past we've gotten some pretty fancy kits. I think we all felt a little gypped when we were charged $700 for 3 lenses.