chair twist.

child pose.

hours ago, i was so excited for our cadaver session to end...because of yoga! haha. it's been a long time after our last session..and even though traeni and i made a vow to make it a routine every after evals, we realized that it's not that convenient for us. anyway, whenever we had chances, we grab it, like kanina! (though we still have a long biochem quiz tomorrow and another long anatomy quiz on friday) hehehe.. 

it's a little bit lonely, there were only three of us...(plus our instructor, doc simbulan). nevertheless, it's a pro...personally, i can relax better and be more comfortable if we are just few. it's been a tough week for us due to the major exams and it's really a great opportunity to loosen up all the tightness that we have, physically and mentally.

 we expected the usual viñasas (yoga routine) like what we did in our past two sessions but to our surprise, tonight's session was chair yoga! it was my first time to observe how it is done...and i find it incredibly simple (kids can do it, i promise). dr. taught us a lot of easy and practical asanas (postures) that we can do even if we are inside the classroom (there are several that is just fitting to be done at home, of course). some of my muscles including my hamstrings, biceps brachii and trapezius ached since some moves are extremely twisty and i'm not used to stretching..maybe my muscle fibers atrophied already coz i'm too lethargic to exercise. haha.

with Yoga master, Doc Simbulan.

my favorites for this night's session are chest, heart-knot asanas and neck rotation. paramaiana (relaxed breathing) while sitting in gissuts (not sure if i remembered it right) position is notably calming. after the two-hour recreation, we bid each other namaste! (may the best in me, be the best in you).

TARDINESS: the price I need to pay.

i do not know whether i'll be morose or if i'll just laugh at my foolishness. i can't negotiate with my emotions..but i decided to settle on remorse.

it's the second time that i missed an anatomy quiz. yes, ANA. the subject that has the majority of our grade's weight---39%. fail this and one is surely 99.9% close to repeating first year. the nastiest thing is, if one will not be able to reconcile another subject aside from it (as in any, though it has only 1% bearing) he/she should be ready to bid De La Salle-HSI goodbye.

the reason why i failed to take the quizzes: tardiness. yes. the most gibberish reason a student can put forward (especially if you are already in graduate school).

reason of negligence: i gave in to my morning weakness. again. i didn't wake up on time..hence, late attendance. since i entered med school, i don't usually go to school behind schedule since (unlike college, hehe) and for incidences i cannot fathom, i happened to be late on the two days where the doctors delegated a "surprise quiz". a dire twist of fate. grim.

the consequences of my ill-fate: for the first missed quiz, reporting on CNS embryology [clinical correlations on spinal cord] which is due three days ahead with no assurance if it will be credited as 75% quiz grade. for the second one, 0% quiz grade with no expressed intentions from the professors whatsoever for a chance of compensation. helpless misery.

what i even don't want to think of but must accept and expect: a great downward pull on my grades..and on the given 5% attitude. ouch.

a pledge i have to keep from now on: wake up early and be on time. by all means, i should be in the room at least 10 minutes before class time. that's the goal.

help me God. please do.   

verse of the day: Sleep a little. Doze a little. Fold your hands and twiddle your thumbs. Suddenly poverty hits you and everything is gone! -Proverbs 24:33-34

the brain on my brain

We are now in our neuroanatomy module and honestly, I’m anxious with our present and upcoming topics because apparently, the entire brain thing is not easy. Even Dr. Julius Caesar (the best dissector of his batch, an anatomist, and one of our highly-esteemed instructors) said that it’s the most difficult topic for him when he was in his first year. Huhu. 

Having taken the initial topics meninges, venous sinuses, CSF pathway, cerebrum, midbrain and diencephalon make me quite confident that I have fair chance of surviving neuro but when Dr. Ramos started with the complex, cranial hemorrhaging ascending and descending motor and sensory pathways (these explains how the messages from our receptors reaches the corresponding corteses in the brain and how it induce the appropriate reflexes/movements) hours ago, I realized that I was wrong to conclude early. Hehe. Pathways can be really quite confusing and demanding especially that there is no other option but to memorize (and memorize by heart) loads of ganglia, neurons, etc. because in the brain, all is connected, all has function and all is complementary to each other and essential even the smallest fiber of a neuron! 

Anyway, it was on the afternoon session, during our gross lab that I was suddenly shaken by the beauty of the man’s brain. Though it’s not my first time to see and touch one, it’s the first time that I appreciate it and pore over without pressure of an oral exam. Getting a grip of a real brain for hours is really captivating and to realize that it’s that mass of matter and vasculatures that controls and makes us humans is even more enthralling. 

That moment, all confusion and complications were changed into fascination. I’m just so mesmerized, that after getting familiarized with its sulci, gyri and other structures, I couldn't help but to keep on poking it while saying to myself “God, ang galing mo talaga!” I just can't imagine how He constituted all of those; component and functions in that mass of fibers, white and gray matter in such a way that it works in complete harmony so that we can feel, perceive, realize and act. He is definitely omnipotent and omniscient. I would like to keep the brains beside me during the rest of the session but the stimuli from the formalin elicited synapses and sent messages to my olfactory center, so I stopped poking it after almost three hours. Haha. Even though studying it triggers migraine, I wouldn't stop admiring one of God’s unparalleled masterpieces—the human brain. It’s a pity we weren't allowed to take one home.

the poor rabbit: a pharma experiment

For our class in Pharmacology, we had an experiment on the onset and duration of drugs administered on a subject, who are in this case, poor rabbits.  

The big group which I belong to was divided into five more subgroups, representing five different routes of administration, which are the Oral, Intravenous, Intramuscular, Intraperitoneal and Subcutaneous Routes.

Doctor assigned me to be part of the Subcutaneous group. 

Prep:

All groups may chose any of the rabbits caged in the laboratory, only one rabbit per group. Kat, my co-member and I agreed on a rabbit which has pearl-white fur and red eyes. It is an albino, and it sooo cute. I personally picked it and laid it on our basket...she was a female, and a fragile one. Though the rabbit seemed harmless, holding it was kind of scary, for the rabbits were fasted for 12 hours prior to the experiment (so that all the rabbits will be equal in terms of pharmacokinetics) so that pharmacodynamics will not be affected. We weighed our rabbit, and she weighs 337.3 grams.

Drug:

For the drug to be used, all of the groups were instructed to use 2.0% Thiopental Sodium Solution which is a barbiturate, a sedative. 

Calculation of drug dosage: 

weight of the rabbit   x     concentration of drug  =   dose of drug

337.3 g       x     2.0% or 0.02 mg/g    =    6.746 mg

6.74 mg  converted to ml is 0.3373 ml

Drug Administration:

The drug was injected on the back of the rabbit, in the interscapular area. The needle was inserted perpendicularly in relation to the surface of the skin fold, to such a depth that the point of the needle lied between the two opposing skin surfaces. However, while expelling the contents of the syringe, the point of the needle went through the opposing skin and a significant amount of drug was spilled outside of the rabbit's body. The rabbits' fur was so thick that the group didn't actually notice it until the liquid was felt by the member who was holding the rabbit. Due to this, we requested for another helping of the drug, but this time, we estimated the amount to give (the group's decision was not to report what happened. hahaha.) In addition to the first injection, we injected another 0.25ml to the rabbit. 

Observation:

Our poor albino fur ball, fighting hard not to doze off.




[my personal observation notes on that time were as follows]


1: 48 PM : drug administration
**scratches part of her body that was injected
1: 53: eyes are beginning to close
1: 58: Righting Reflex still intact
**RF- the ability of the animal to assume upright position when placed in supine position
2: 03: still awake but drowsy, LOST RF
**considered as onset of the drug

2: 08: getting more drowsy

2: 13: defecated, became a little active

2: 18: became more active, chewed on the Manila paper,

Definitely hungry. wawa naman.:(

2: 23: back to being active

 Results:

Drug Onset: 15 mins. after drug administration

          Duration of Effect: 10 mins.

herbalists.

L-R: Pahidaphil Oil Extract (Analgesic & Anti-pruritic
liniment), Sampaluka Salumansi (Extra strength
cough syrup) and Alizubo (cough syrup)

For our Pharma lab activity, we made our own herbal medicine preparations, and we packed them for commercial use. These were some

of those medicines, unpacked.

Cool, eh?;p

Akapulkati and St. Vincent Plum ointments
 for Tinea infection, insect bites, ringworms,
eczema, scabies and itch.

boo.

urgh.
This is one of those worst experiences ever.
I feel so DOWN.

We just took our pharma quiz minutes ago and now i feel like a total idiot,
DUMB-O. LOSER.
I still can't believe it.
I had a MENTAL BLOCK! on a 15-item identification quiz!!
I only answered about 5 items..yes, FIVE..
..and worst, I'm not even sure if those are all correct.
waaahhhh.
But I did study those topics!!
In fact, I don't usually review for quizzes but I did for this one.
I DID.
How come I didn't recall the answers to those questions?
I MEMORIZED those terms.

Why did my mind went blank when the paper was placed in front of me?
I thought hard but I can't recall anything..ANYTHING!
I WANT to blame myself.
All those hours of reviewing were wasted..
..and that is so STUPID of me.

But, I believe, it's NOT all me.
That proctor (who is also one of the Pharma lecturers) kept on walking in front of me and at my right side while I was answering..and it really bothered me.
He kept walking ALL THE TIME.
He did it the whole 10 minutes and I got distracted.
I wasn't able to FOCUS.

NO.
I'm not covering up for my fault, that really happened.={
And I CAN'T get over it.
NO.
I'm not listening to Dr. ---- ---- now, as she is discussing a new topic.
I have no intentions of doing so.
I'm too irritated to absorb what she's saying.

I am so UPSET.
I'm so disappointed to the point that I'm doing this childish thing now though I know that I AM the one that will suffer.
I'm currently missing the important part of the lecture.
But I don't CARE.
I'll just study her lecture at home.
The only thing I know now is that I DON'T want to listen.
My type A alter ego is taking over now.

PHARMA SUCKS.
But I SUCK MORE.

almost trypanophobic.

Had my second dose of DPT and MMR vaccines. It's been a day since I got them but still, my left arm (where the DPT vaccine has been injected) aches whenever I move it, similar to what happened when I had my first dose a month ago. It really hurts, especially on the first 10 minutes after it was injected..it's a knife-like pain and the muscle fiber/s where the needle's contents were released exhibited a pulsating feeling.

It's just too bad that needle-pricking seems to be part of our semestral routine from now on. Since we are now starting to have patients for our ward work, we are exposed to whatever diseases who knows there might be and thus, it's mandatory for us to have our immunity to the common diseases with greater encounter possibilities.

Taken when I was in first year med. My group mates forced me to volunteer
as the subject for our Physio Lab Experiment Prothrombin Time.

My blood.

As a child, I don't like medical needles.

My first encounter with a medical needle (as far as I can remember) was at a bakuna center/clinic. Me and my siblings were brought there by our parents who tricked us by saying that we'll go to a mall. It's a clever idea, for no child will be eager to come and get punctured..er, vaccinated. We were far more than disappointed when we learned what will really befall on us that day and at the very sight of syringe, we ran. We all ran...the four of us. We all ran away until we cannot run any longer. I didn't know where my sister and brothers hid at that time (and I still don't know up to this minute) but for me, it was a brief escape from peril. The 'torturers' dressed in white found me in the public comfort room..and with the waiting injection and upset parents, the rest of the story has been deleted in my memory via selective amnesia. Haha.

Today, I can tolerate medical needles, but I still don't like it.

If I do have a choice, I wouldn't let myself be pricked again..but then again, I don't.

*Trypanophobia-'needle phobia'

*DPT- combination vaccine against three infectious diseases in humans: Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough) and Tetanus

*MMR- immunization shot against measles, mumps and rubella (also called German measles)