Gross Anatomy (read at your own risk!)

This semester, I am taking the much anticipated Gross Anatomy class. In case you aren't sure, yes, we do dissect a human (cadaver). This is probably the most interesting thing I have to blog about these days. If you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read all of this. If you enjoy guts and gross stories involving intestines, you'll love this post.

We started off just doing the muscles... pretty boring if you ask me. The only cool part was that it was our first exposure to the cadaver. People kept asking me if I was nervous or scared or freaked out, and my answer was "of course not!" It was a weird feeling knowing that I was about to see a real dead body and I wasn't exactly sure how I would react, but I didn't think it would bother me much and I was right.

So...here's how this works. We are in groups of 4 in the lab and each group has their own cadaver. There are 84 people in my class so that means that we are surrounded by 21 dead bodies during each lab. They are kept in these big metal tanks that are part bathtub part hospital bed. There are levers on each end of the tank that raise the body up out of the "juice" when we are ready to work on it. It takes a steady hand to raise and lower the body without splashing that stuff everywhere. Believe me, you don't want that stuff on you. It stinks and has floating pieces of fat and guts in it!

The most disgusting part of the dissection at first was the fat. Fat is gross! In some places it is kind of hard and "cheesy" and in other places it is really soft and greasy. Either way, it's gross and I find myself not craving much steak these days! We got very lucky with our cadaver because she was not overweight. However, there were some groups that were not so lucky. Some of the cadavers literally had 6 inches of fat or more covering their body and those groups had to cut through it all to do their dissection.

A little background on our cadaver... she was a 68 year old Caucasian female that died of multi-system organ failure. We lovingly refer to her as "Jay-Jay." We decided that "multi-system organ failure" just means that they didn't really know what she died from. When we cut in to her abdomen, it was very obvious why she died. There was a very large mass covering her entire abdominal cavity from side to side and was about 8 inches thick. The professor told us at first that this was her liver and it was very enlarged and just bad. Well, after that, we found her liver, so that mass had to be something else. We thought it might have been her spleen, but we were wrong on that too. It turns out that it was a giant tumor that had engulfed her stomach! We also found a lot of other smaller tumors throughout her abdomen. We had to remove all of the tumors and I swear our tissue bucket weighed 20 pounds when we were done. Because she was so torn up on the inside, all of her organs were sticking to themselves and to the abdominal wall (these are called adhesions and they're not a good thing to have). So, at this point we were supposed to take out the intestines to see the back wall of the abdominal cavity. Since there were so many adhesions, we couldn't take them out and we asked for help from one of our professors. **Gross content warning!** He came over to help us, lifted up part of the intestines, and ripped the adhesions between the intestines and abdominal wall. Poop went everywhere!!!!! It was baby-poopish... green, runny, and smelly! I have to admit, I gagged a little. It's a bad day when your cadaver craps on you...

We moved on to the chest cavity and had to open up her rib cage with a bone saw and some brute force to crack the ribs. We removed her lungs and we think she was a smoker. Lungs are supposed to be shiny and pink and hers were pink with black spots. It was pretty disturbing. After we took out her lungs, we took out her heart. I guess I really never realized how much fat is actually covering your heart. Even on this person that wasn't even overweight there was a significant amount of fat. This class has sort of been a wake up call to take care of my body!

That was really all of the "big" stuff that we did. Since we are dental students, we skip over the naughty bits and limbs and spend extra time on the head and neck. We dissected all of the veins, arteries, and nerves in the neck and that was pretty interesting to see what all is actually in there. It's no wonder you die almost instantly if your neck is sliced.

So this brings us up to the last week or so. On Friday, we just skinned her face and that was somewhat disturbing. We also identified the tiny little muscles in the face and learned that the more you use your face muscles, the more wrinkles you will have. So avoid all facial expressions and you will stay young forever!

Today was probably the coolest day so far. We used the bone saw to cut off the top of her skull and took her brain out! It's really amazing to actually see all of that in person. The brain is a very complex thing and there are so many nerves and vessels. It's really fascinating! Taking off the skull cap (or calvaria for you scholars) was pretty cool too! The bones of your skull are very thick so it's not just me that's hard headed! Haha! Bad joke... Wednesday we are dissecting the eye and the eye socket of the skull and I think I may have to be absent that day. I HATE eyes! They freak me out so, I really do feel like I have a cold coming on. I better stay in bed on Wednesday! :)

I guess that's about it for my update on my most interesting class. If you want to know more gory details just let me know and I'll be happy to share!

By popular demand...

It has come to my attention recently that there are some people out there who care so much about me that they are very sad that I have not posted anything in, ummm..., a while. So here is my attempt at an update of my life.

Last semester is over, thank goodness! My grades were good and I'm so excited not to have to take biochemistry ever again! That was definitely my worst class. Christmas break was great! I got to spend a lot of time with my family and my "extended" family (aka my uncle Joey and aunt Michelle). It was so great to get to spend so much time with them! We had a lot of fun...we had our usual Christmas stuff (including Budweiser and Spam... haha!) and then we went to shoot guns in the boonies. I realize at times like that how different city living is from where I come from. I love both though.

This semester is the best semester of my life! I am doing WONDERFUL in my classes and have been told that my dental skills (hand skills) are "amazing!" I have a natural gift for using a dental drill! :) We are prepping teeth for cavity restorations and still taking basic science classes. The science classes aren't as rigorous as the ones from last semester so that's good. Everything is just going very well for me right now. I love my life!!!

I can't think of much else to talk about right now, but I intend to post more in the future. No promises though! :)

Ike Videos

I'm glad to see that Ike had a sense of humor!

This is what it looked like looking out of my window during the hurricane (except for the surge).

I Survived Ike

These past few days have really brought a new meaning to "Surviving Houston & Dental School." Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston on September 13 at 2:10am as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph (a high-end Category 2). I live in central Houston a little west of downtown. We lost power at about 1:00am and we lost water a little bit after that. The storm was in full-force here about 3:00ish. I peeked out of my window a few times just to look and it was like nothing I have ever seen. The best I can describe, it was like in the movies where a ship is on the ocean and the rain is blowing every way and there is absolutely no visibility. The trees that I could see were completely blowing sideways and the wind didn't let up for a second. I kept hearing sounds of things falling over and being blown around. Everyone has been asking me if I was scared and, honestly, I wasn't. I love storms and this one was just too cool. I know that it was dangerous, but I still thought it was one of the best storms I have ever seen. The aftermath was not so cool though.

The next day after the hurricane, people were already walking around looking at the damage. The pictures I took were directly after the storm. I was without power until about 3:45pm today (I got water back Saturday) so I haven't been able to look at all of the pictures from everywhere else around Houston. From what my mom has been telling me, some of the tall buildings downtown are in pretty bad shape. I drove around a little bit today to go find a restaurant with hot food and cold drinks and the biggest thing I saw was a lot of trees and debris on the ground. Of course there were a lot of buildings with wind damage and signs and traffic lights were torn up, but I think Houston will be able to recover.

The hardest thing about living in Houston with no power was, of course, the humidity. I took a shower Friday night before the storm, but by mid-day Saturday, I was already so sticky and so uncomfortable. I will never take electricity for granted again. I had to throw away everything in my refrigerator and I had to sit in my car for about an hour just to charge my cell phone and cool off. I've been living off of tuna, chips, crackers, and granola bars for 3 days, but I was able to treat myself to a steak at Saltgrass today. I felt like I deserved it! :) It will still be "Pringles and Milky Ways" for a few days until I can go get some groceries, but the worst is over. At least I can heat up a can of soup now.

I want to thank all of you who called or messaged to check on me. It made me feel better to know that I was in your prayers. It really means a lot to me to know that you care! :) Maybe when the next hurricane comes around, I'll be an evacuee. Until then, I'll be enjoying the luxuries of electricity and water!

I wish I were an....

I'm sure you're wondering why there is a picture of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on my blog. Well, I was lucky enough to spot it tonight while I was leaving SuperTarget at the intersection of Kirby and Main. It was about 8:15ish and it was dark. I saw a funny looking vehicle coming towards me and, as it passed, I saw the unmistakable square Oscar Mayer logo on the side. I was like "NO WAY!" I just saw the Wienermobile! I don't actually have a picture to prove it so you'll just have to take my word for it. But just think, this is way to random for me to just make up. I learned that there are only 6 or 7 (conflicting information) Wienermobiles in existence and they are driven by 2 "Hotdoggers." A person can only be a Hotdogger for 1 year and only seniors in college who are about to graduate are eligible to apply for the position. How cool would that be to graduate from college and drive around in the Wienermobile for a whole year? I wish I would have known this 3 years ago! Check out the Kraft Foods website for a virtual tour of the inside and the article from Wikipedia.

Other than the sighting, my week has been pretty fun. Analisa came to visit me from Lubbock this past weekend and we had so much fun! On Saturday we went to the Galleria and ate at the Cheescake Factory. It was amazing! I highly recommend the tiramisu cheesecake - my 2 favorite desserts in one! Analisa's uncle and aunt live here in Houston and her mom and dad came down from Austin to visit. We all hung out Saturday night and her uncle showed me around the city. I got to see all the cool places to hang out and shop and he took us to some really good restaurants. On Sunday morning, we went to Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen's church). It was AMAZING! The church is actually the building that the Houston Rockets used to play in. It is a massive arena made in to a church. The atmosphere is so wonderful, positive, and inviting. It is a non-denominational church and people from every nationality come to the service. The music rocks and Joel and his wife are the best! They are both very well spoken and just make you feel positive and full of life. I'm not a big singer during church usually, but I just couldn't help but get involved in the atmosphere of the place. It just sucks you in, but in a good way. I will definitely go back!

I have also survived my first set of tests in dental school. I had quizzes in histology and biochemistry (which sucked!) and an quiz/exam in dental anatomy (which I kicked butt on by the way!). Today I had my first REAL exam and it was in immunology. It was not fun, but I think I did okay. I have a physiology exam on Friday and then a tooth identification exam on Monday. I think from this point on, I will have at least 2 tests a week for the rest of the semester. It's craziness, but it makes school go by faster. I'm just living life test to test.

Hopefully Houston will survive the upcoming Hurricane Ike. The last time I checked it was heading straight for us. It is currently a category 2, but they say it will gain strength over the warm gulf waters and may get up to a category 4 before it hits us. A category 4 hurricane can have winds up to 155 mph! I went to Target tonight to get some more water and stuff and it was crazy there! People all over Houston are getting ready. I was worried about Gustav at first, but it never even hit us. I don't think Ike will do the same. I expect to see a lot of rain and a lot of wind. Hopefully my apartment will stand up to it. We'll see what happens. I may have to evacuate, but hopefully not. Everybody just hope for the best.

Article

Can you find me in the picture? (2nd row, 2nd seat)

This is just an article posted by my school about our ceremony. Just thought you might like to read it! http://www.db.uth.tmc.edu/UTDB_eflash/email/WhiteCoats2008.htm

2 Weeks Gone

I have so much to catch up on, I don't know where to start! I guess I need to go back to the second day of school. The rest of the first week wasn't all that eventful. We got out of a lot of our classes early so that was good, but we were kind of spoiled to that which made the second week harder. Tuesdays are our longest days. We go from 8am to 5pm. I know that doesn't seem long to people with full-time jobs, but it seems really long to us considering we get out at 11am on Wednesdays and usually before 3:00 every other day. I guess I'll have to get used to it before I become a dentist.

I'm really torn about how much information I should or should not post on my blog. I would like to tell you specifics on my professors like who is boring, monotone, psychotic, nice, etc., but I don't want this to fall upon the wrong eyes. My grade may depend on it! :) Since I won't go in to more detail about my profs and I'm sure you don't care about what we're learning in immunology, I'll skip to Friday of week 1. After school, me, Sunny, & Kasey were so happy to have survived that we decided to go find a "Happy Hour!" There is this place close to the dental school called the McGovern Commons and on the top floor (I think it is the 6th floor) is a restaurant called Trevisio. We knew that they had drinks and it was close so we went and celebrated the end of our first week (and by celebrated I mean we had 1 drink each, honestly).

The weekend was pretty boring and uneventful. I laid around the house and caught up on some rest. Of course I found time for a little Guitar Hero! :) I worked around my apartment a little too. It's still not "home," but it's getting closer. I got my new bedspread and sheets which make my room so much cozier! My bedspread is big zebra stripes and my sheets are RED! I love it! I got some black and silver pillowcases for my extra pillows and my bed looks gorgeous! I'll have to post a picture when I get my room all done. I still don't have anything hung on the walls or any decorations out. I'm still trying to decide how I want my furniture placed. I'll get to it eventually.

Well week 2 was nothing new. (haha...that rhymes!) Classes were generally boring and getting up early still sucked. On Wednesday, I hung out with my friend Valerie after school because we were going to the Astros game together. We had planned to study and then maybe work out, but we decided that going to the Galleria would be much more exciting. We did stay after school a little bit and worked on our waxing. While we were waxing, the president of the entire Health Science Center in Houston was touring the dental school and he came through our waxing lab. The dean of the dental school stopped by me and Valerie and was telling him about what we were doing and what we will be doing in the future. I said, "Don't scare us yet. We're only in our second week!" She laughed and said to me, "Well your posture is perfect!" That's not a huge compliment but it made me feel pretty good coming from the dean of the school. To add to that, one of the dentists that was touring with them pointed at my hand and said, "You would be surprised just how long it takes to perfect this pinky rest, but this girl has it down." Yay! I'm doing things right! A pinky rest is when you put your pinky on the edge of the tooth or whatever you're working on to stabilize your hand while you're holding the instrument with the other fingers. It appears as if I'm on my way to being a great dentist and, the president of the whole HSC knows! It's not a big deal, like I said, but any boost of confidence right now is great! So anyway, after we were done waxing, me and Valerie went to the Galleria where I got to shop at Sephora, the Apple Store, Coach, and all kinds of other places. I love going there! I just wish I had tons and tons of money to spend! We left the Galleria, went home to change, and then headed to the Astros game. One of the fraternities here (Psi Omega) bought tickets for everyone that wanted to go because it was their rush week. The game was so cool! The stadium or whatever it is called was huge and really neat! We stayed until the end of the 7th inning, but I'm pretty sure the Astros won. We were ahead 3-1 when we left. I bought a t-shirt to remember the occasion and then I went home.

Now for my long weekend, Labor Day Weekend 2008. I did absolutely nothing! Not working and being able to relax is awesome! It leaves so much time for studying and catching up! So, most of the weekend I spent worrying about Hurricane Gustav which never hit us! I was supposed to stock up on water, batteries, and food, but it is Tuesday and I have yet to see a drop of rain from it. I was kind of nervous, but kind of excited at the same time. It would have been cool to experience hurricane weather (since I love storms and rain) but the consequences might not have been so cool. I also got my cable and internet hooked up this weekend which was a big mess. The cable is great, but the internet, well, it's not so great. The speed is fine and everything, but I can only use it on 1 computer. I hooked it up to my router so I could get internet for my TiVo, my Wii, and my laptop like I always have, but that didn't work. I even went and bought another router thinking that mine was busted. The problem is, I didn't PAY for a networking service frrom Comcast. I would have to pay them $150 for someone to come out and flip a switch or whatever allowing me to use my router. So instead of doing that, I switched my Comcast internet to Comcast telephone and got internet through someone else. It was a huge fiasco! I never heard of not being able to use your router with an internet connection. That's ridiculous! So, I do have internet for now, but when I get my phone activated on Saturday, my internet will be canceled until the other people get there to install it again. Hopefully, everything will work eventually!

So now it is Tuesday and the first day of the week that I have my first tests. I have a histology quiz and a biochemistry quiz both on Thursday and then I have a dental anatomy quiz/test on Friday. I have a lot of studying to do this week! Well my dental informatics class is about to start so I better get going. Have a great week!