Evening everyone! Hope your week has been good:) things on the island have been just swell. Last week came and went way too fast. Lots of new info and not enough time to learn it all. This week the material has slipped away from me I feel. I'm not exactly where I want to be but I still have another week to get to a comfortable level of understanding before blocks. Anatomy lab has finally eased up a bit as we have moved away from the maze that is the abdomen and pelvis and onto the legs (so much better). On Thursday me and a friend from my lab group volunteered to be bell ringers for the day. Normally once before each set of block exams we take one day of the week to do a bell ringer. This essentially is a way for us to get extra practice and familiarization with all the other bodies in the lab. One or two people from each group volunteer to stay at their own cadavers and explain as much as they can in 3 minutes to circulating groups. There are 21 cadavers I believe, so you must explain your cadaver 21 different times. It is a great way to familiarize yourself with certain structures, but you miss out on seeing all the other bodies in depth. All the bell ringers get to rotate through the other bodies the day before the actual bell ringer, but it is not really as good as the real thing. In my opinion however, it is worth being the bell ringer. By the end of the day you are certainly an expert on whatever you decide you want to show the circulating groups. On the days I don't cut I normally circulate around to all the other bodies so I'm pretty familiar with a few of them anyways. It is important to do this because during the exam they don't just label your body. Each body is slightly different and it can be confusing if you only ever look at one cadaver. So when you have some time, make sure you familiarize yourself with the other cadavers. While the human body is more or less the same, there are always certain abnormalities and structural differences that you must look out for. On Friday we started dissecting the legs. There is something very oddly calming about cutting fascia and cleaning the surfaces to expose underlying structures. Something we haven't gotten to do in the last few weeks.. They say only doctors and psychopaths get to experience what we experience, so lets hope we are breeding a bunch of doctors here...
As for the other classes, things are pretty much the same. We are learning some very interesting things but nothing interesting enough to people who don't want to be doctors. In PD we finished respiratory exams and are starting cardiac exams soon! Lots of fun. I can actually use a stethoscope properly now. When you talk about patient exams as an EMT you only ever do inspection, palpation, and auscultation. I finally got to add a few more exciting things to thas list:)
The week ended on a high note. As you can see in the title, I got a visit from my parents! They flew in Friday night and are staying until Tuesday morning:) After class on Friday I headed home then got a ride to the airport to pick them up. It was quite excited to see them and I think they were pretty eager to check things out! It was also good for me because this weekend I got to stay at the Marriott with them! A nice change of scenery from my little house. Friday night they were pretty tired so we just went for a swim and had an early night. It was the first time I really have done anything at the Marriott aside from going to one of the bars. Over the past few months I've been meaning to use the pool there, but never managed to. Friday was the first time. It was upsettingly warm FYI. May be good for some of you, but colder pools are always better in my opinion:)
Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day but it soon turned ugly. I think my parents brought the Canadian weather with them because up until this point I have yet to be inconvenienced by the rain. I haven't even seen it rain for longer then 1 hour at a time! Saturday from about 3-10 it rained non stop! Great for the water shortage on the island but not so great for touring around.. Saturday morning we went on an island tour and it was fantastic. The weather started off great but we got some rain towards the end. Until this weekend I had only ever seen half the island but Saturday I got to see the whole thing! I learned lots about the island that I never knew. I suggest to everyone to do a full island tour when they first get to St. Kitts. The things you learn give you a whole new perspective on your suroundings. I arranged to have the tour end at my house and thankfully there was a 30 minute break or so from the rain. Just enough time to show my parents my house and make a quick dash to the school. Once we got to the campus the skies opened up.. I would show them one building and then we would have to wait 20 minutes for the torrential downpour to stop before going to another building. It was frustrating but we managed to get through:) Towards the end the rain stopped and we managed to grab local transit to downtown. It was cheaper to take an H-bus into town then grab a cab to the Marriott then it was to get a cab straight from school. Saturday night I showed my parents the strip and we headed back to the hotel. Saturday was my roommates birthday so I met up with him and a few other friends for dinner close to the Marriott. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYSON! We had a great dinner and some dessert. When we finished dinner I headed back to the Marriott. They decided to postpone the partying until after exams so they all had a fairly tame night, which is good because I didn't miss out on any of the action:P It was a long day and once again we were all pretty tired. If you've noticed thus far I never talked about having time to study... Saturday was the first day since starting school that I didn't study for at least 4 hours. It was a little unsettling at times, especially when I was showing my parents around the school and everyone else was studying. However Its not everyday that I have my parents down so I was glad to take the day off to show spend it with them. I mean one day can't hurt to bad:) It was a fun day and totally worth it.
I managed to get a few hours of study in on Sunday which was nice. Sunday mostly consisted of studying in the morning and joining my parents on the beach in the afternoon. There were a bunch of storm circling the island all day which made for some good sights and sounds. There was even a water spout that touched down just off the beach! It was one of the coolest things ever. As for the rest of the day we went for a quick dinner at the the Shiggidy Shack and I grabbed a cab back home! Class tomorrow at 8! My parents will hang out for the day tomorrow and I'll join them for dinner one last time tomorrow night before they leave. All in all the weekend was great and I had a wonderful visit with my parents. You forget how nice it is to have family close by. I look forwards to the next visit. Lets just hope the next time I get visitors they come closer to the start of blocks;) Little easier to take time off when you have a few weeks before exams:)
Anyways, thanks for reading! I'm off to bed. Have a long week ahead.
Things I learned this week
-Everyone time I talk to someone on (Skype, FaceTime, messenger etc) and I am outside, they always comment on a particular sound they can hear in the background. It is a bird that constantly chirps and everyone thinks its annoying. I don't hear it anymore...
-When parents come to visit they brings lots of things from home:) yay Timbits!
-Somehow they are going to try to get 4 cruise ships at the same time into St. Kitts next week..
-I have yet to figure out which way to move to avoid head on collisions or awkward shuffles when approaching people walking the opposite direction. In Canada we tend to go to the right. Here they drive on the left so I figure they default to the left. Not the case 50%of the time. I always pick the wrong side..
-I swam in the Atlantic Ocean:) Just as warm as the Caribbean side
-I needed to do laundry today and I now remember that it didn't happen..
Below are a few pictures from the weekend
Cheers,
Mike
As for the other classes, things are pretty much the same. We are learning some very interesting things but nothing interesting enough to people who don't want to be doctors. In PD we finished respiratory exams and are starting cardiac exams soon! Lots of fun. I can actually use a stethoscope properly now. When you talk about patient exams as an EMT you only ever do inspection, palpation, and auscultation. I finally got to add a few more exciting things to thas list:)
The week ended on a high note. As you can see in the title, I got a visit from my parents! They flew in Friday night and are staying until Tuesday morning:) After class on Friday I headed home then got a ride to the airport to pick them up. It was quite excited to see them and I think they were pretty eager to check things out! It was also good for me because this weekend I got to stay at the Marriott with them! A nice change of scenery from my little house. Friday night they were pretty tired so we just went for a swim and had an early night. It was the first time I really have done anything at the Marriott aside from going to one of the bars. Over the past few months I've been meaning to use the pool there, but never managed to. Friday was the first time. It was upsettingly warm FYI. May be good for some of you, but colder pools are always better in my opinion:)
Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day but it soon turned ugly. I think my parents brought the Canadian weather with them because up until this point I have yet to be inconvenienced by the rain. I haven't even seen it rain for longer then 1 hour at a time! Saturday from about 3-10 it rained non stop! Great for the water shortage on the island but not so great for touring around.. Saturday morning we went on an island tour and it was fantastic. The weather started off great but we got some rain towards the end. Until this weekend I had only ever seen half the island but Saturday I got to see the whole thing! I learned lots about the island that I never knew. I suggest to everyone to do a full island tour when they first get to St. Kitts. The things you learn give you a whole new perspective on your suroundings. I arranged to have the tour end at my house and thankfully there was a 30 minute break or so from the rain. Just enough time to show my parents my house and make a quick dash to the school. Once we got to the campus the skies opened up.. I would show them one building and then we would have to wait 20 minutes for the torrential downpour to stop before going to another building. It was frustrating but we managed to get through:) Towards the end the rain stopped and we managed to grab local transit to downtown. It was cheaper to take an H-bus into town then grab a cab to the Marriott then it was to get a cab straight from school. Saturday night I showed my parents the strip and we headed back to the hotel. Saturday was my roommates birthday so I met up with him and a few other friends for dinner close to the Marriott. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYSON! We had a great dinner and some dessert. When we finished dinner I headed back to the Marriott. They decided to postpone the partying until after exams so they all had a fairly tame night, which is good because I didn't miss out on any of the action:P It was a long day and once again we were all pretty tired. If you've noticed thus far I never talked about having time to study... Saturday was the first day since starting school that I didn't study for at least 4 hours. It was a little unsettling at times, especially when I was showing my parents around the school and everyone else was studying. However Its not everyday that I have my parents down so I was glad to take the day off to show spend it with them. I mean one day can't hurt to bad:) It was a fun day and totally worth it.
I managed to get a few hours of study in on Sunday which was nice. Sunday mostly consisted of studying in the morning and joining my parents on the beach in the afternoon. There were a bunch of storm circling the island all day which made for some good sights and sounds. There was even a water spout that touched down just off the beach! It was one of the coolest things ever. As for the rest of the day we went for a quick dinner at the the Shiggidy Shack and I grabbed a cab back home! Class tomorrow at 8! My parents will hang out for the day tomorrow and I'll join them for dinner one last time tomorrow night before they leave. All in all the weekend was great and I had a wonderful visit with my parents. You forget how nice it is to have family close by. I look forwards to the next visit. Lets just hope the next time I get visitors they come closer to the start of blocks;) Little easier to take time off when you have a few weeks before exams:)
Anyways, thanks for reading! I'm off to bed. Have a long week ahead.
Things I learned this week
-Everyone time I talk to someone on (Skype, FaceTime, messenger etc) and I am outside, they always comment on a particular sound they can hear in the background. It is a bird that constantly chirps and everyone thinks its annoying. I don't hear it anymore...
-When parents come to visit they brings lots of things from home:) yay Timbits!
-Somehow they are going to try to get 4 cruise ships at the same time into St. Kitts next week..
-I have yet to figure out which way to move to avoid head on collisions or awkward shuffles when approaching people walking the opposite direction. In Canada we tend to go to the right. Here they drive on the left so I figure they default to the left. Not the case 50%of the time. I always pick the wrong side..
-I swam in the Atlantic Ocean:) Just as warm as the Caribbean side
-I needed to do laundry today and I now remember that it didn't happen..
Below are a few pictures from the weekend
Cheers,
Mike