TRI-4, Wk15, Day 270, Thursday - TRI-4 COMPLETED

TRI-4 is in the books! Completed! Done! Finito!

The quote I remember from Winston Churchill is something about - hoping and praying for victory is fine but, it's better to deserve it. :)

Tri-5 will start on Tuesday, May 11th ...and so will Day 271 ;)

...just doing a quick edit here - i'm going to remove that Blu-Cigs ad from the upper right corner of my blog and thought I'd save the html here in case I ever need it again...

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TRI-4, Wk15, Day 269 - Wednesday - 1 Thing Left

It's about 2 a.m. Thursday morning. The NMS final I took yesterday went very well. I'd gone through our previous test so much that I ended up starting to understand the material at a slightly higher level and brought that grade up so much that it looks like I never had a problem with the class in the first place.

The fund dx final was a bit of a humbler. We're still waiting for the final grade to be posted for that class.

Thursday will be the last final in Nutrition. I remember I was rather excited last night about being so close to the end of this trimester. Right now, I'm just drowsily satisfied.

I better get moving. It's going to be 3 a.m. before I know it. :)

TRI-4, Wk15, Day 268 - Tuesday - 3 Things Left

Knocked out Physiology III and Pathology II final exams today! Hell Yes!
We had a huge cumulative final today in Physio which covered everything we learned in Physio I, Physio II & Physio III - a years worth of class covered in one 100 question exam.

The Path II final was a bit rough, I had thrown most of my focus towards Physio because I was coming off of two A's for my last two path exams so I knew my grade was strong in there but didn't know what to expect in physio.

hmmm - the key for our path final was posted ...well, let's just say I passed the exam and, as expected, I took a hit but, made it handily through physio.

Tomorrow is NMS & Fund Dx - both formidable classes - gotta get to bed - then gotta get up early.

Todays pic is of a real skull & cross bones - nothing like a little fun in the radiology department ;)

btw, the crossed bones are femurs.

oh - got my final diversified III grade today also ...ended up w/ a 92% which, at Logan is only a B+

good enough! ;)

TRI-4, Wk15, Day 267 - Monday - 5 Things Left

Monday was it for the easier finals (Diversified III & Basic II)
Tuesday and Wednesday are reserved for the bit more formidable Physio III, Pathology II, NMS and Fundamentals of Diagnostic Imaging.

It's 2:16 a.m. Tuesday - I've got some jeans drying and coffee brewing. I'll be looking over physiology until our Final later on this morning then focus on Pathology afterwards until that exam.

Memorizing some NMS facts will be next followed by Fund Dx study then Nutrition then I'm done and then will eagerly anticipate seeing my final grades upon which time I should be able to call myself a Tri-5! :)

TRI-4, Wk14, Day 266 - Friday - 7 Things Left

So far, so good. I got a couple points higher than I was looking for on my NMS test yesterday so I'll only need 17/35 to make it through that class. Physio should be alright also as long as I get a bit of studying in btw now and Tuesday's Exam. A score of 50% or better should get me through that class. My remaining 8 classes have been strong all trimester so I'm not very worried about them.

I'll be hitting four hours of tutoring tomorrow for physio - Physio I from 10-12 and Physio II from 1 to 3.

The weekend will be for studying NMS, Physio, Fund Dx & Pathology.

Monday a.m. and btw exams will be for my test that day - Basic II & Diversified III.

Monday evening will be for Physio & Path

Tuesday a.m. for Physio

Tuesday after physio final for Path II

Tuesday evening for NMS & Fund Dx

Wed a.m. for NMS

Wed after NMS for Fund Dx

Wednesday evening and Thursday morning will be for Nutrition.

That should do it. Stick to the schedule, get through the Tri & move on.

TRI-4, Wk14, Day 265 - Thursday - LAST DAY!

Last day of classes - today! Next, 5 days of written finals! :)

quarter after 5 now so it looks like i opted for getting to school at 6 a.m.

I was awake earlier, before my alarms went off but figured the extra sleep might be worth it.

Time to Kick some ButT!

TRI-4, Wk14, Day 264 - Wednesday - 11 Things

I think there's 11 things left - had my Diversified III practical today and scored in that "A" range again. In fact, I believe I've gotten A's in all six practicals this semester - three at midterm and three for finals.

NMS is tomorrow - Pass the test or don't move on to Tri-5, it's as simple as that. Looking back, I can see that I shouldn't have totally blown off that first test - even with the lowest grade dropped I think that may have been the easier of the first two exams. We'll see what happens tomorrow -

TONS of work over the next 8 days.

Assuming I pass tomorrow's NMS exam I then have to memorize the correct answers to 105 of the preceding exams to ensure I have 20 out of 35 correct on the Final. Physio is acceptable as is but you never know about the final - a years worth of material.

All my other grades are quite strong - but ....still need a lot of studying to keep them. I usually start studying about two weeks out for pathology and that's gotten me my last two A's. Fund dx should be fun also.

Oh well, one thing at a time -

9.5 hours from now I have an NMS test to take (and pass). I'd like to be up at 4 and at school by 5:30 ...although, I might accept getting to school at 6.

Got up at 3:30 this morning because I didn't want to totally blow off my Div III practical. That class is great - even w/o taking the final I've already got enough points for a C so any points I get on the final will simply raise my grade. A or B+ in that class for sure! :)

TRI-4, Wk14, Day 263 - Tuesday - 12 Things

I've got 8 out of 10 really strong classes this trimester which is the best I've ever done but, I'm going to have to reprioritize a bit now to hopefully salvage the weakest class which is NMS. Physio isn't exactly horrible but, it is my second lowest grade. The only reason I have any concerns about that class is the final which will be covering a years worth of material.

I have 12 things left. Tomorrow is my Diversified III practical then Thursday I'll have a presentation in philosophy along with another opportunity to improve my grade in NMS. It's actually kind of hard for me to understand things from previous test because the questions are asked in the same kind of language that the material is taught. I have to look for some basic fundamental truths with this material and hopefully get something figured out. I haven't looked at my Div III at all ....but, that class is very strong ...I hate to give up A's but if I don't at least pass NMS then I'll get held back - that's not the worst thing in the world but it's such a contrast to so many other really, really good grades.

Of my last four exams & practicals my grades have been A, A, A, C. The C was in physio and, like I said, it's my 2nd worst grade. Prior to those four test and, with the exception of NMS I've gotten nothing but A's and B's since February.

....

I need to take a quick nap. The NMS study guide provided by the teacher has page references but I'm not sure which book they go with because they don't go with the book required for the class. oh well - i'm just mentally spinning my wheels right now.

It's an interesting situation - for the firs three trimesters I was trying to bring all my grades up from midterm and now i'm really hoping to at least keep the grade level I had at midterm. :)

All I know right now is that I need a nap - just something quick to help reset my brain then I need to go back to the NMS. I have a one page study guide and I need to memorize AND understand what's on that study guide. Along w/ the guide are four pages of diagrams. I need to understand what's going on with those diagrams as well. I should be able to see our NMS teacher again tomorrow, if necessary, to help clarify some things.

TWO days left of Tri-4 classes - then - FIVE days of written finals. According to Dr. Bozark, I become a Tri-5 on the first day of finals.

TRI-4, Wk14, Day 262 - Monday - 14 Things

14 things left to do before completing Tri-4 -

got some really good study time in today and yesterday -

Sunday was from about 7:30 a.m. to a little after 8 p.m.

Today, I got in six hours after school.

Physiology Exam #3 tomorrow

Orthopedics Final Practical tomorrow -

Wednesday is my Diversified III practical

Thursday - Philosophy Presentation & NMS Exam #3

Friday -Written FINALS begin - Ortho at 9 a.m. and Philosophy at 2 p.m.

Today's Pic - I Know that Heart! I got this pic from a website by Frankie Scali who graduated from Logan last year and is now attending Med school. These look like hearts from our cadaver lab at Logan - the one on the right looks like the enormous one I held in my hands way back in Tri-2. The thing is the size of a cantalope!

High BP, Stress & The Power that Made the Body

High BP & Stress

The design of the human body is such that one could argue high blood pressure is more important than low blood pressure owning to the fact that, while there are multiple mechanisms to raise blood pressure there is only one regulatory hormone, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) to lower blood pressure. I wrote about this a bit more extensively in an email to a friend but never ended up blogging the rationale. If one were to consider a soaker brand type hose for watering your lawn and could increase the pressure enough, the hose would eventually break which could be similar to a ruptured aneurysm. But, while high blood pressure may kill a person through such mechanisms the process could take years. Contrasting the high blood pressure scenario with a type I hypersensitivity such as anaphylactic shock and we can see that the time of death for anaphylaxis can occur with such speed as to be measured with the second hand of a watch. Hence, the logic goes that low blood pressure is worse then high blood pressure because, even at the extremes, you'll still live longer w/ high blood pressure.

In the email to my friend, I waxed philosophically about extensions of the notion that things which most layman may consider "bad" are actually not as bad as the contra condition.

Based on further studies in neurology and physiology I am now also leaning towards the position that stress is more important than being relaxed. With this, we could also consider the extreme positions that those two diametrically opposed positions

The Power That Made the Body.... -

This position I'm about to present could be controversial but, I do so based mainly on the science of embryology. Many people seem to equate the phrase of "The Power That Made the Body" with God which, may or may not be the case. To get to the point, I would suggest that whatever power makes the body doesn't do a very good job because over 50% of all fertilized eggs never make it to full term. This is independent of any externally induced abortions but rather because of faulty development in the embryo - faulty enough to elicit a natural, spontaneous abortion of the fertilized egg. Additionally, up to 5% of babies actually born have birth defects (3-5% seem to be common figures reported in the literature, w/ a DACBAR at Logan citing 5%)

The full phrase is, "the power that made the body, heals the body" and, in a healthy born person, I'd generally agree.

The genetics a person has isn't just the hand they are dealt, it's more like the whole deck - The hand a person is playing at any given time seems to also be influences by epigenetics - recalling that the word "epi" is derived from the Greek meaning "above" so, epigenetics would be above genetics in helping to determine exactly how our genes are expressed.

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I realize neither of these topics are fully developed in this writing - maybe things like this could make for a good static page so I can add to the ideas as time allows - I still have about 15 things left to do before completing Trimester 4 at Logan. ;)

Better get back to studying.

Tri-4, Wk13, Day 261 - Friday

I'm starting to realize that sleep & exercise play a vital role in my ability to learn & recall information. I didn't make it through a single 20 minute burst of studying last night due to lack of focus and being extremely tired so, I simply went to bed. I did however, wake up around 12:30 a.m. this morning and finally got out of bed by 1:30 a.m. and have been reading over my physio and NMS for the past couple of hours.

The importance of sleep was enunciated to me when I was able to recall something that I couldn't think of last night. Saltatory conduction is the means by which action potentials are propagated via myelinated nerves but, for the life of me I couldn't recall that simple fact last night. This morning, that information was just there.

Saltatory conduction also made me think of another static page I might add called "Meanings" or "what it means" because Saltatory comes from the Latin saltare which means to hop or leap and once you know that then the concept of saltatory conduction sticks a little better in the brain. :)

Geniculate means bent, like a knee

genu means knee

The popliteal fossa is the area on the back of our knee and arteries that run through that region are known as geniculate arteries. We also have lateral and geniculate bodies in our brain which are used for vision and hearing respectively.

I'm not sure why I'm going back to anatomy but, like my Dad keeps telling me, it will eventually all come together ...he's probably right, I just hope an appreciable number of things all come together by the time I graduate. Graduation - won't that be cool! :)

it's pushing 4 a.m. now so I better get moving. It's kind of odd that I haven't studied one iota for my Basic practical today but I do feel like I know the material. I think, at most, I may have missed one day of Basic due to some traffic congestion.

I think that's another reason this tri has been so much better than previous trimesters and that's because the main highway to school is reopened so it's literally much easier and quicker to get to school than it was in my first three trimesters. I've missed very few classes and any stress associated with my commute has probably dropped by a good 70%. I think that fact was very nicely illustrated a couple weeks ago when I saw one of my physicians and he got a blood pressure reading from me of 120/80. :)

No pic today - gotta get moving! :)

Tri-4,Wk13, Day 260 - Thursday - 17 Things

It looks like I have 17 more things to do in the next 10 days of school to wrap up Tri-4. I started today around 3:30 a.m. to finish up my philosophy presentation and was wondering about my lack of preparedness but I did get a presentation completed and ready for show. However - the names were called at random and my name didn't get called. Plus, I did feel a little better about at least getting done since about 1/2 dozen of the names called had to pass and a couple people weren't even in class. The people who were called and not present will be able to make it up next week but lose half the points for the assignment.

Probably no big deal in the big scheme of things.

OK - now i have to get focused on what needs to be done to get through this trimester - I have my Basic Technique practical tomorrow but I'm not too concerned about it because I feel I know the stuff pretty well and will do fine to above average as is. Pro-D final is on Monday but I'm not worried about that one either since basically showing up and taking whatever test gets handed out will be enough.

Tuesday, April 13th - OK, this is a day to contend with. I have my third Physio exam and my Ortho practical - I need to put in a lot of work for both and I think it's a forgone conclusion that I'll need to skip our "End of Tri" party tomorrow night and spend the time studying. I'll be able to study & practice with a classmate of mine over the weekend and that was enough to get some pretty good grades before so, hopefully that will work again.

Wednesday, April 14th - Diversified III practical. This is another thing I'll practice over the weekend w/ my classmate.

Thursday, April 15th - Philosophy Assignment & class presentation - I'm thinking of pausing my blog and just knocking out that philosophy assignment now ...that would be ... one less thing hanging over my head - OK, it's after 7 p.m. now but that assignment is done :) - 16 things left. NMS Exam 3 is also this day -

Friday, April 16th - Final Exams start - Ortho II @ 9 a.m. & Philosophy at 2 p.m.

Monday, April 19th - Diversified III @ 7:30 & Basic II @ 11:30

Tuesday, April 20th - Physio III @ 9 a.m. & Pathology II @ 2 p.m.

Wednesday, April 21 - NMS @ 7:30 & Fund Dx @ 11:30

Thursday, April 22 - Nutrition @ 9 a.m.

For tonight I'm going to spend an hour on Physio and one hour on NMS - 20 minute focused chunks of time -

Today's picture deals with muscle spindles as well as the alpha & gamma nerves we talk so much about in NMS.

TRI-4, Wk13, Day 259 - Wednesday

It's about 1:20 a.m. and I haven't actually gone to bed yet from Tuesday but, have gotten done what needs to get done - only a couple weeks left - I can do this.

Figured I'd knock out the blog for Wednesday while I was still up to give myself a bit more time tomorrow.

Todays pic is of Big Ben which represent the late hour.

Focus - Focus - Focus - Focus - Focus - Focus

TRI-4, Wk13, Days 258 - Tue

I stopped by to see my NMS teacher today and he said our third test should be much easier, kind of a life saver and the final will have 20 questions taken verbatim from our first three test of course... we still have to get two of those test back - kind of cool - memorize answers to 105 questions to guarantee 20 correct on the final. works for me! :)

I know I'm not the only person w/ concerns in that class, in fact when I left the teacher's office there was another classmate there to talk w/ him about the same thing.

Over the break, i learned how to put up static pages in my blog. if you look at the top of this blog you'll notice links to three static pages labeled Pathognomoic, Most Common and NMS. The path & MC pages probably would have been more useful before boards but the NMS link is something I'm trying to make use of now. I got through about 25 of the 45 pages over the weekend - very slow reading for me. I timed myself one set of 7 pages took me over an hour to get through. I was trying to understand and take notes but ....well, i'll just keep w/ it.

NMS & Physio are my main concerns - physio because the final covers three semesters worth of material. tons of test coming up - too many to list right now - in addition to the big philosophy assignment on Thursday i also need to knock out a homework assignment - I think I'll take care of that now.

I can't wait for this Tri to be over & done with! :) It's been a decent semester - no complaints but, i could really use a break and get prepped to make Tri-5 my best yet.

Speaking of Tri-5, I picked up my medical bag today along w/ some remaining diagnostic eq that was required such as tunning forks, thermometer, swabs & stuff like that. I like the bag. :)

TRI-4, Wk12, Days 256, 257 - Wed & Thur

I'm a little shell-shocked right now. Last week I got A's in both Pathology II & Nutrition. I haven't gotten my grade back for our x-ray marking test but it's probably an A or very high B at the very worst. NMS seems to be my nemesis class this trimester - The NMS grade has been posted and, as it stands - well, let's just say it has to improve in order to get to Tri-5. We have 10 different classes along with 3 associated labs and every class has to be up to snuff in order to continue.

It's almost a surreal situation because I have such strong grades in all the remaining 9 classes as well as all the practicals I've taken in my 3 labs.

Time to Attack.

Dr. Christy, our NMS teacher has 45 pages worth of notes he's posted for our class. I've read through parts & pieces of those notes before but now I'm thinking I should read ALL of those 45 pages every day from now until the final NMS exam.

Mathematically speaking - I only needed to get an additional 4 questions correct in order to have legitimately passed that last exam. So, if I were to score 8 more above on the next exam then the average between yesterdays test and our last test will be a passing score.

The final is 35 questions and 20 of those questions will come from the preceeding 3 test we've had. Therefore, simply memorizing the correct answers (all 105) from the first three test (of which we've only had 2 so far) will be giving me 57% of the test in hand.

As lost as I seem to be in that class I can't help thinking that I'd have to be a moron not to be able to get through his class - Still, it's going to take plenty of effort. I only have the test and answers to our first Exam and won't see Dr. Christy until next Wednesday, at which time I'll get Exam 2 back, along w/ the answers. I wonder if Dr. Christy is at school today - I might have to make a trip up there if he is in order to get this last exam sooner.

Let's see - I need a little better than a C on the next exam - 72% and then simply pass the final in order to pass his class.

AND - in addition to the focus for his class I need to maintain an already high amount of effort in my remaining 9 classes. I kind of need to review how I'll allocate my efforts for my classes in these remaining 21 days - 8 more classes - up to 5 days for Final Exams - 21 days total including weekends and spring break.....

1. Basic Nutrition - Currently sitting at an A - minimal effort needed to get through this class - maybe 15 minute daily reviews with an hour or two of studying just prior to our next test and the final
2. Physiology III - Generous amounts of time needed for this class. I need a very solid grade (B or better) on the next exam. The final is somewhat formidable since it is cummulative not only over this semester but also includes the last two semesters of physio - so, it's basically like taking boards again but only for Physio. ACTION - find all previous Review Sheets, fill in new reviews - study often.
3. Pathology - I *think* our next exam may also be our final exam - I'm not sure if we have one more test then the final or if our next test will count as the final. ...OK - according to our syllabus our next test over Ch's 20, 21 & 23 will be count as our Final Exam - this is one of my strongest classes. Two weeks of consistent review before the final (probably on Tue, April 20th) should get me another A and a pretty good shot at getting an A in the class.
4. Professional Development - no real effort needed and only one class left! Show up for class on Monday, April 12th, take the final and be done w/ it - just show up - this is a pass or fail class - piece of cake! (just show up) ;)
5. Philosophy IV - another considerable effort class. We have a final presentation as well as a quiz and more homework due on the 8th - Our presentation date is unknown, could be the 8th or the 15th (names are drawn at random). I have the laws for Missouri but need two chiropractors from MO to get E/M codes from. OK - already emailed my brother for contacts in MO and just emailed Dr. Martha up in Springfield, IL I'll. I can also get 1% added to my grade for taking that palpation challenge.
6. Orthopedics II - just need time to memorize and be able to perform all the ortho moves and study for the final. My practical should be on Tuesday, April 13 and final sometime btw 16th - 22nd.
7. Diversified III - We'll have an open book final and a lab practical in two weeks. The practical & final are cumulative - need to practice the adjusting moves.
8. Logan Basic Technique II - another practical - just have to get the moves down.
9. Neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) Diagnosis - my bug-a-boo class - amazingly interesting material - I'm not exactly sure why I'm not doing better. I know my focus for the material is a bit difficult. I'll keep at it - At this point, this is the only class that could hold me back.
10. Fundamentals of Diagnostic Imaging - I've got a solid B in this class and if that can be raised up to a B+ on my own then the extra 4% I'll get for perfect attendance could raise me up to an A. :) It looks like...whatever grade I get on the final (B, B+ or A) will end up being my final grade in the class due to those four extra percentage points.

I guess this is classic, plan your work then work your plan type of approach. - No problem - I only need the ultra discipline for the next three weeks - I can do this.

Today's pic - The End is Near... so true :)