The last few times I've tried to write a blog, it's been awfully difficult. I've just been way too happy and not nearly stressed enough to write. This is probably related to mid year exams comforting me that med is not quite as impossible as I first believed.
I've been trying to feel more down, but it's just not working. Somehow I'd got it into my head that med is really difficult and that studying constantly should feel like wading through a swamp (an amazingly interesting one, but nonetheless a swamp). This semester studying has felt more like running through a forrest or darting in and out of the treetops. Sleeping is difficult, not due to stress, but simply because I'm so full of joy and excitement. This has made me feel like I am not studying properly. Yet on reflection I am getting so much more done- and understanding everything better too.
We learnt how stress makes it difficult to transfer short term memories into long term memories. So that partially explains why this semester is easier. Also last semester I was learning everything for the first time. Most of the prefixes and suffixes were new. Now I know things such as 'salpingo' means tube and that's why the ligament near the fallopian tube is called the mesosalpinx and the salpingopharyngeus is a muscle near the eustachian tube (between the middle ear and the pharynx) that helps open up the tube when we swallow. You make like to know that testes means to testify and that one of the key cranial nerves, the vagus, means vagrant simple because it seems to wonder everywhere through the body. The body's organ systems are all interconnected and that means that it was impossible to understand all of one system without studying the others. Now that I've studied a few organ systems everything can be understood in context.
Since I last wrote we have studied mental health and the ear. I've always just presumed that serotonin only affected our mood. Yet this neurotransmitter also affects sleep, appetite, nausea, bowel movements, obsessions, headaches, anxiety and phobias. This is because it is released in multiple parts of the brain. To be honest though I probably enjoyed studying mental health the least out of everything so far. The ear was a refreshing break from chemistry and tiny details that can't be visualised. The ear is a beautiful tool that seems to primarily use physics. I love physics. The ear drum is a thin membrane that divides the outer ear from the middle ear. It's literally like the skin pulled over a drum. It amplifies sound when sound vibrations make it move. Remember the vagus (wandering) nerve I mentioned above? Well the ear drum (tympanic membrane) is innervated by this nerve. This nerve also does a lot of innervation for our gut. This explains a bit why when our ears feel pressure/pain we may feel nauseous.
I really should have checked what I wrote about last time. I don't think I mentioned the med ball. I'm so glad I went. Everyone looked so dressed up and wonderful and there was a massive jazz band with a few jazz singers. I don't think that I'll ever be able to say that I can dance well, but dancing to jazz music is 1000 times easier than other types of music and lots of fun. The med ball was so much bigger and more flashy than my OT grad dinner. Perhaps this is because one of the WA mining companies sponsored it. Med always seems to do things well- (with med insurance companies always throwing money at all the events).
This is a photo from the ball.
This week I have been lucky enough to see two movies. Plant of the Apes and The Green Lantern. I love it how med seems to attract a few nerds (though perhaps they wouldn't like to be referred to as this!) who like science fiction too. The week before I saw Red Dog- an Australian movie set in WA. It was so quirky and reminded me of the type of movies that I watch with my family. Three movies and a ball in two weeks- I really must get back to study!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment