TRI-4, Wk7, Day 232 - Friday

After this past Fridays National Board Reviews I ran into Dr. Yochum and he was kind enough to let me get my picture taken with him. Dr. Yochum is a chiropractor who has been teaching at the University of Colorado School of Medicine since 1991. His textbook, Essentials of Skeletal Radiology are the standard when it comes to radiology much in the same way the Guyton's book is for Physiology.

Three weeks left until National Boards ...

I need to keep w/ the studying - going over Pathology now - 2nd Path test this Thursday along w/ a philosophy test that day.

Today's pic is me w/ Dr. Yochum! :)

TRI-4, Wk7, Day 231 - Thursday

I'm enjoying this little break from classes and really like the National Boards Review - for whatever reason it seems like I learn more from the intense 8 hours straight reviewing than from the mundane, day to day plodding classes. These reviews seem to get to the meat of things and we get a lot of good ways to help us remember things. I guess everyone has their own style of learning but these reviews seem to work well for me. :)

TRI-4, Wk7, Day 230 - Wednesday

Yesterday's Orthopedics midterm practical went very well - got a 100%! :)

The physiology exam went well also and I ended up in the top half of the class w/ my grade.

The next four days of school will consist of board reviews from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In my mind I'm looking at this as a vacation. Given a choice, I'd prefer to make it through my trimester and get to Tri-5 over passing the boards. Ideally, of course, I'd do both. And...if I do go on to Tri-5 & pass my boards and maintain a high enough GPA then I can go about adding the Master's Program to my Agenda.

I still have much to learn before this trimester is over.

TRI-4, Wk7, Day 229 - Tuesday

- NASA, the Master's Program and Welch Allyn -

We had a couple pitches thrown our way yesterday involving the Master's program offered at Logan as well as a presentation by Welch Allyn. Welch Allyn manufactures medical equipment and has been doing so for about 100 years. The ophthalmoscope is used to peer into a patients eyes and there has been an improvement over the traditional instrument known as a PanOptic Ophthalmoscope which is what I would like to have. It provides a view of the inside of the eyeball about 5 times the size of the traditional instrument. We'll also need to get an Otoscope which is used to look into the ear. A stethescope and blood pressure unit are all that's needed to round out the required equipment needed for Tri-5. We need to order these intruments in advance so they're ready to go from day one of Tri-5. With the student discounts, it looks like $1,100.00 will cover the entire cost. Welch Allyn does carry some nice guarantees with their equipment and while a student, the guarantee is kind of like the Craftsman guarantee Sears has with their tools - if anything happens to any of the equipment while a student the instruments can be replaced, no questions asked for any reason under the sun. In fact, one instrument was literally crushed by an elephant via a veterinary student and replaced.

The other pitch we had was for the Master's program which I may be able to start in Tri-5. It's a Master's degree in Sports Science and Rehabilitation. The super interesting part about the program is the internship which would traditionally take place the semester after graduating from the DC program. The guy that runs the Master's program has placed two students with NASA for their internships and, while studying for today's orthopedics midterm practical, I found myself daydreaming about how cool it would be to somehow be involved with NASA.

I still remember while in grade school that I either wanted to be an astronaut, magician or doctor. I'm not sure what the magician thing was all about but I still have a keen interest in the astronaut and doctor aspect of those youthful dreams.

I guess I better get back to the studying if I want any of these things to actually come true.

I'm still kind of happy about my pre-test results for National Boards. Out of the 127 people who took the test, about half of those students are from Tri-5. As a Tri-4 we haven't even covered all of the material that we're going to be tested on so, I'm thinking my initial test results bode pretty well. I am hopeful about passing all six parts of Part I.

Today's picture is of the Saturn V rocket NASA first used to put a man on the moon. Good stuff :)

TRI-4, Wk7, Day 228 - Monday

I got my NBCE Practice test back today. We had 127 people taking this practice test. Along with my results are the average scores for each of the 7 test taken. After perusing through the results, it looks like I scored above average for every single subject matter except general anatomy. I'll double check and list the sections here...

1. Chemistry - Above the curve! :)
2. General Anatomy - Below the curve :(
3. Spinal Anatomy - Above the curve! :)
4. Microbiology - Above the curve! :)
5. Pathology - Above the curve! :)
6. Physiology - Above the curve! :)
7. Neuroanatomy - Above the curve! :)

not too darn bad :)

Maybe there was something to that Irene Gold :)

Ortho practical midterm & Physio Exam tomorrow :)

Optics

I just wanted to share this picture. What you're looking at here is the lens of a human eye, magnified about 800x. The lens is made of protein. Protein is kind of like the Lego's of the human body.

TRI-4, Wk6, Day 227 - Friday

Our physio class was split into two groups so each could partake in some labs and, since mine was on Tuesday, I didn't have to be to class today until 8:15 a.m. I still got up at 4 a.m. and made it to my Spin class at 5:30 a.m. It was nice to have the extra time and get to school at a leisurely pace.

In Basic we started x-ray marking on the full spine x-rays we had taken earlier in the semester which was pretty cool. :)

I'm looking to get some extra Orthopedics studying in tonight then I'll be heading out to the school again tomorrow to get some group study in for our Physiology test next week. The great thing about physio is that after our next test we won't be learning anything new until after the National Boards - I wish all the classes could be like that. ;)

TRI-4, Wk6, Day 226 - Thursday

Zeus (aka Dr. Montgomery) recommended putting Vaseline on our hands and then put socks over them before we go to bed. It's supposed to increase the sensitivity of our hands. He also has a palpation challenge - if we can feel a piece of human hair under 5 pieces of copy paper then we get a bonus point for the class ....

under 25 sheets = 2 bonus points

50 sheets = 3 bonus points

75 sheets = 4

100 sheets = 5

i have no idea how in the world anyone could feel a piece of human hair under 100 sheets of paper but, I guess I'll play along and see what happens.

btw - Tuesday this week was pretty cool in Diversified because I was able to help out a fellow student by putting two of her ribs back in place. It's a really good feeling to instantly make someone else feel better and she was having problems breathing before the adjustment.

I've also been nailing the thoracic vertebrae pretty good lately. I've been trying to make sure the line between my hand contacts and episternal notch in my chest forms a right angle to an imaginary line tangent to the section of vertebrae I'm working on. So far, it's been pretty effective. Other than that I'm making sure to take out the slack in the pt skin and keeping everything tight before the final thrust.

NMS ....yeah... the grades are posted but I haven't bothered looking at the grades and don't really care - the lowest grade won't count and I've already counted on this first test grade as being my lowest. So far, the highest grade I've heard of is a 51%. I'm not sure if anybody legitimately passed this test but, I'm sure a few of our top notch students must have ...somebody must have, right?

Physio exam next Monday, Orthopedics practical on Tuesday, Orthopedics written midterm on Wednesday - Thursday & Friday no classes but instead - 8 or 10 hours of NBS each day then the same thing on Monday and Tuesday the following week. Then I think maybe a couple more test after that.

I'm doing what I can. I will be sticking with my lifting and spinning and all other exercises. I'll stick with all my classes but it's also pretty important for me to keep building up a higher horsepower internal engine to better handle all the stresses.

TRI-4, Wk6, Day 225 - Wednesday

I got a comment on yesterday's post asking about going with Irene Gold and NBS so I'll post an answer here as well as send Ann a copy via an email address she left me.

Hi Ann,

I am doing both, Irene Gold and NBS. NBS is something that is provided by the school so it isn't anything extra we have to pay for at Logan. During the last two days of this month (Thursday and Friday) as well as the first two days of next month (Monday and Tuesday) our regularly scheduled classes at Logan will be replaced with the NBS and we'll be reviewing those 4 days from about 7:30 a.m. to around 4:30 p.m. In addition to those four days of prep, we also had a Spinal Anatomy boot camp a few weeks ago on a Saturday and last Friday, NBS gave us a two hour practice exam which covered all 6 sections we'll be tested on for Part I of National Boards.

Keep in mind that part of the reason for signing up for the extra Irene Gold prep is 1, because I didn't know any better and 2, I figured I could use all the help I can get. The cost for Irene Gold, by signing up in advance, was $325.00. We met on three different weekends which included Friday night from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. then again on Sat and Sun from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The first two weekend meetings started with the first two weeks of school then we had a two week break then another full weekend. It can be kind of exhausting but we lucked out on two of the weekends due to holidays (MLK day & Presidents day)

Irene Gold does boast a 95-97% pass rate for Part I. We'll see. I'm figuring if I do pass everything then I'll probably try it again. I am pretty certain though that without Irene Gold on the weekends that I probably would not have spent so much time (if any) reviewing.

So far, it seems both have value. I haven't been through as much yet with NBS. Feel free to keep in touch - ...

TRI-4, Wk6, Day 224 - Tuesday

We were off school on Monday thanks to Presidents Day. :)

The best thing that happened yesterday was putting two ribs back in place on a pt in Diversified. A somewhat lower point was probably the NMS tutoring I stayed for after school. That's a bear of a class. I'll continue to look over material before our test today and we'll see what happens.

I need to take off by 4:30 a.m. today (Wednesday) to get to the gym for my Spin class. Waking up at 3 a.m. doesn't even seem to phase me anymore.

TRI-4, Wk5, Day 223 - Friday

I was only home for about 6 hours on Friday night and spent the night at a hotel out in the St. Louis area Saturday night due to the Irene Gold but, IG is all over now. Next round of prep for the National Boards will be with a company called NBS - National Boards Specialist. These rounds of prep will take place of our classes and occur during the week, most notably on the last Thursday & Friday of this month and the first Monday and Tuesday of next month.

There are only 5 weeks left until National Boards, Part I.

We have a neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) test this coming Wednesday so I'll need to focus on that today. I totally appreciate having today off because of Presidents Day. It's kind of tough to spend all weekend reviewing then have to go straight back to school.

Our philosophy teacher, Dr. Montgomery, DC was sharing some photos w/ the class last week. He did some work with Olympic athletes back in the late 80s or early 90s and we saw another example of where the classic (ie, MD route) recommendation for a swimmer w/ shoulder problems was surgery but Dr. Montgomery was able to fix the athlete up WITHOUT surgery and that athlete went on to win 7 gold medals.

I keep thinking of the "do no harm" axiom and wonder why MD's aren't more aware of treatments which are more conservative than surgery yet still provide good results.

OK - got my notes - The young ladies name was Janet Evans and she won 8 gold medals (according to my notes). Dr. Montgomery worked on her at the Olympic training center out in Colorado Springs. I'd say the treatment alternative to surgery provided some pretty good results.

Today's picture is of Janet Evans - her name was all I needed to punch in the Google search engine to get a plethora of info & pictures. :)

TRI-4, Wk5, Day 222 - Thursday

Dr. Guebert is our x-ray teacher at Logan and shared with us yesterday via an article he had found that we have the same digital x-ray equipment as the Dallas Cowboys football team. Dr. Guebert seems to know the world of radiography better than Jay Leno knows cars.

It's only about 3:30 a.m. but I feel like the day is already starting to slip away and I need to get moving. We have our last bout with Irene Gold this weekend. After classes today we have a two hour practice National Boards exam then many of us will have an additional 5 hours of classroom review time tonight back at the Double Tree hotel. Sat & Sun will be the standard 10 hour days, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. of more review at the Double Tree.

NMS exam next week. Lots to do - better get moving.

TRI-4, Wk5, Day 221 - Wednesday :)

Let's see...we had our nutrition test this morning and I probably could have studied a bit more for it but I didn't thing it would be too difficult. Still, I'm leaning a little more towards buying the book in spite of the cost.

Wednesdays have been pretty good exercise days and I got in a nice Spin class this morning at the Jewish Community Center and hit the weights after class today at Gold's gym back home. I just finished up some philosophy homework that's due tomorrow and the next exam we have would be for NMS - neuromuscularskeletal diagnosis.

NMS is probably the closest thing we have to House MD right now. Lately, we've been getting a list of chief complaints, symptoms and test results for various fictitious patients and then are to pick through a list of possible causes. Most everything now has to do with the various nervous pathways in the body, where they are in the spinal cord, where they decussate (cross over) in the spine and where they end up in the brain. It's a pretty cool system of wiring we've all got. Impressive indeed.

Spin class only meets on Mon, Wed & Friday but I've been getting half a mind to head up to the J maybe on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to get in additional workouts on my own. I just have to be able to get in enough sleep so I don't fall asleep in class.

We started adjusting ribs today in Diversified and are going over some additional x-ray marking like we did last Tri in Basic. So far so good with orthopedics and I'll have to buckle down a bit more in Pathology.

Tomorrow, in addition to NMS and Pathology we have 3 hours of x-ray class and 2 hours of philosophy. Our philosophy teacher is Dr. Montgomery. He's kind of like the Zues of chiropractic, so far ahead of me that he's beyond the horizon. He used to be with Palmer West out in California in the early 1980's. Last week when we had our pathology test on Thursday a lot of people, including myself, thought we'd be able to get in some last minute studying during our classes prior to pathology but, like so many other times, that just never happened. Especially with Dr. Montgomery because the classes are so interesting it's really hard not to pay attention.

Sometimes it can be a little intimidating because there's so many teachers that are like these hall of fame all stars and I'm just trying to break into the minor leagues. Guess we all have to start somewhere.

I did get some blood work results back today. I was pretty pleased with my cholesterol levels. About 7 months ago I was taking Crestor and got my levels down to 170. I've got refills for more stuff but never used them and today, after being off all medications for 6 months my cholesterol levels came in at 177.

TRI-4, Wk5, Day 221 -

TRI-4, Wk5, Day 219 & 220 - Mon & Tue

6 a.m. - Pretty much everyone was hoping for a snow day today but we ended up with a snow delay and classes starting at 9:15 a.m. This is probably OK for people that live a few miles from school but more like a worst case scenario for those of use who live very far away since the later start ensures hitting the heart of rush hour traffic and leaving early means heading out before streets & highways can be cleared. I'll probably head in by noon so I can still make it to Fund Dx to make sure I'll get my 4% grade bonus for not missing any classes.

With five weeks in to the trimester, this definitely could have been a very useful mental health day for most students.

6 p.m. - Still maintaining my 4% bonus in our x-ray class due to perfect attendance. We learned today that physical therapist in Maryland are lobbying to be able to take x-rays on their own w/0 a doctor's consent. Our teacher claimed they wanted to be able to do this after a 2 hour class which seems a little lean considering the first class on radiology (of many that we'll be taking) this trimester is 60 hours. This kind of reminds me of the weekend adjusting class they were trying to hold at Harvard med school. It's hard to believe one weekend could even begin to compare to the 3+ years of practice a chiropractor has with palpation and adjusting.

We've got a Nutrition test tomorrow morning and I'm hoping I'll do OK w/o the book. I don't think many people, if any, in our class bought the book and I've been debating over whether or not to get it for weeks now. The darn thing is $213.00 which is a heck of a lot of money. In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I only have so many opportunities to take these classes so maybe I should do what I can for each one. I should be alright on this first test because the material seems pretty easy but, I may end up breaking down and getting the darn thing since future material is bound to get more complex.

TRI-4, Wk4, Day 218 - Friday

Headed straight out to the Lake of the Ozarks after my 11 o'clock class arriving at the lake condo around 2:30 p.m. It was a good combination of relaxation and productivity. I managed to get through 6 out of 9 pages in my physio study guide and some Board review studying. I'm pretty sure I could get through Tri-4 or pass the National Boards - doing them both is a bit daunting.

TRI-4, Wk4, Day 217 - Thursday :)

Not sure where to start...

My neighbor has agreed to watch my dog this weekend and keep an eye on my place so I can jet out to the Lake of the Ozarks for a little R&R after my last class tomorrow. I'm kind of excited about that.

There is a weather advisory so there's a chance we won't have school. I've got my call list ready just in case but will need to leave here no later than 4:40 a.m. to catch the Spin class at the Jewish Community Center ...hmmm, I need to leave here in 8 hours and still need to get everything ready for my trip as well as for my classes tomorrow. I was hoping to pre study some physio before class tomorrow.

I did finally check the grade I got for the physio test we took this past Monday -

Not the prettiest grade in the world but I can definitely pull it out of the gutter w/ a few good grades. Our teacher told us not to worry if we end up flunking the next test as long as we get through boards and then just focus all our attention back on class.

We'll see what happens - for the most part, I kind of just don't care one way or the other. I'll do what I can and let the chips fall where they may.

There's a ton of cool stuff to chat about but I need to get ready for tomorrow and don't have a lot of time.

TRI-4, Wk4, Days 215, 216 - Tue & Wed

Got a pathology test on Thursday - will update asap.

TRI-4, Wk4, Day 214 - Monday

Not sure what to say about today. Around 2 a.m. I wasn't sure if I'd be making it to school and was thinking of emailing my teachers to let them know what was up, ie, that I was still sick but, after finally getting a couple hours sleep I felt good enough to make the trip to school.

We had our first physio test today and I'm pretty sure it's going to be the worst grade I've had in that class since there was virtually no studying that got done over the weekend. We'll just have to hope that it isn't so low that I can't pull myself out and pass the class.

I did have a pretty good set of adjustments I gave in diversified today - three adjustments in a row I got cavatation - crack, crack, crack! LOL :)