Tri-3, Wk14, Day 194, Wednesday

did pretty well on today's micro test. I went to the first half of philosophy this morning but wasn't able to study sufficiently so I left for the second half. I also opted out of my Basic class and was able to get in an extra 3 hours of studying that way. I'm close to an A in philosophy and close to not passing in Micro so I thought it was a good move and having seen my grade for the test today in micro it was the right decision.

For some reason we had our micro lab final during our lunch hour which left me about 10 minutes to eat. I stayed for the first hour of physio then had enough with everything and left ...there'a little more to it than that but I don't feel like bitching over what's done and over with.

Ortho is the big dog tomorrow. I have a solid grade in that class and, with another ungodly late night tonight and getting up at some insane hour of the morning tomorrow I should be able to maintain that solid grade ....I hope.

Friday is another big day - We've got Finals in Basic and Public Health. I'm counting on Basic to be memorization because that's what I'm going to be doing for that class. Public Health is a little more of a crap shoot. I'll be staying up all night tomorrow night to be ready for it - it's the last test we'll be taking for that class so it's totally going to be a pass or fail situation -

I'll have three hours between my first final and the public health final and I'm figuring studying with other people for 3 hours should be like studying for 6 hours alone, maybe another 8 hours tomorrow night and then use the balance of my time memorizing things for Basic.

Today's picture is something I found on the internet called "Hell on Earth"

Tri-3, Wk 14, Day 193, Tuesday

To be 20 years younger and live 45 miles closer to school...

It's 2:51 a.m. and I've got to get moving.

We've got our Microbiology Lab Final today at 11 o'clock which is usually our lunch hour. We voted the first time to take our exam during lunch to get it over with and get out of school a little early but that plan never worked to my advantage much - doesn't matter, that's when it is.

I'm getting destroyed physically. Only 3 days left this week and 4 next week - Hwy 40 opened back up this week so no more detour to school - I made it to school yesterday in 42 minutes!!! Even coming home yesterday with the rain I made it home in under an hour - I needed that.

My heart started racing at inappropriate times yesterday ...like, when I was walking - and nothing is going to get easier next trimester -

I'd already calculated that I'll be going to school 52 out of the first 56 days of school next semester due to all the weekend study for national boards via the Irene Gold reviews.

Yesterday I saw there are also NBR or National Board Reviews put on my Logan and some kind of Spinal Bootcamp that is going to eat up another weekend in February

If I do make it through all my classes this semester then I'll ......ugh

Need to get to my micro -

Orthopedics Final tomorrow -

Public Health and Basic Finals on Friday ...

Tri-3, Wk14, Day 192, Monday Rocked Path Exam!

Rocked out the path exam with an 85%! Yeehaw! That one test gave me enough of a cushion that I only need a 44% or better on the final to get through that class.

I stayed after school today and got some extra help with Diversified. I tend to think my learning curve could be about doubled with other people to work and study with. Let's see how things are stacking up...

Tue - Diversified, I still have more studying to do tonight but I did learn we're only going to be tested on Lumbar adjustments. For tonight, Diversified will be my focus. Tomorrows practical makes up 50% of our final grade. Well, I'll do everything I can. Except for some print outs I'm not sure I'll need my computer for anything regarding diversified unless I can find some YouTube videos on adjusting. I'll need to get 48 out of my next 70 points - 50 are available from the practical tomorrow and another 20 from our written final exam.

Wed - Microbiology II Lab FINAL - Basically, I'll need to learn everything for this class on Tuesday night as well as put together my lab book to be graded. We still have to do a 4 page typed write up for our unknown.

Thur - Orthopedics Lab Practical FINAL - I'm not sure what's up with this class - Like micro lab, I'll have to learn everything on Wednesday night.

Friday - Logan Basic FINAL - We aren't getting our review sheet until Wednesday and, like a lot of the other classes - we're still learning NEW MATERIAL which has to be learned along with everything else we've covered this trimester. Yikes!

Public Health FINAL - 2nd final for Friday. All I can say is I'll be drinking a lot of coffee on Thursday night and doing all I can to be ready for these two test.

That's all I want to look at for now. Next week, we'll have four more days of class and 7 more final exams. I'll need every second I can spare to do as much as possible to get through everything.

Let me look at those classes again ...

• Diversified - if i put in the effort tonight - good chance i can pull it out
• Micro - the lab paper is supposed to help our grade - maybe not much sleep tomorrow night while I prep for Micro lab final.
• Ortho - I'll have to learn a ton for this exam/practical. We have this class tomorrow so I'll learn more then.
• Public Health & Basic - these two are kind of easy, I'll just be up all night Thursday studying for them

The class with the least amount of margin for error is Micro - on the cusp with that one - There have been no curves to any of the test this trimester. OK, off to learn Diversified.

Sunday Evening Post...

9 days left of Tri-3. Our last day of finals will coincide with our 200th class day at Logan.

In my mind, I keep floating around the 50% chance of moving on to the next trimester which, essentially means, "I don't know". My prediction has nothing to do with confidence or anything like that, it's much more pragmatic and simply based on time. I know I can learn pretty much anything set before me but, I can only learn so much so fast. I was figuring today that say for physiology if I study 8 hours I can earn a D, 16 hours gives me a C and 24 hours studying gives me a B. For a class like pathology it might be 9 hours for a D and 18 hours for a C and I'm thinking I maybe got 20 or so hours in for our last exam so I think I can count on getting at least a C on our last test (we'll find out tomorrow)

I'm guessing those times would be less if I had other people to study with on a regular basis. It's a bit hard picking everything up on your own. I guess a main reason my diversified class grade is hurting so much is because the focus was on getting the time in for other classes. On our final grades webpage, labs and lectures are combined so I've got 10 classes to pass.

I'd really like to find out what happens to the $835 spent on upcoming prep and National Boards testing if I don't get through all of my classes. It's a tough hit to take financially when all you've got for income is student loans and a bit more stressful when it occurs just before Christmas and need to be buying gifts for the family.

I've used a dozen books to help prop up my coffee table in the living room to act as an adjusting table and have been practicing on my model spine.

...regarding physiology - My grade was on the cusp of a B before last test, then I took a hit and it dropped a bit. I could be taking another hit tomorrow and would need a solid showing on the final with at least a passing grade to get through that class. Anything less than a C though and that hurts the GPA and anything less than a C average would also prohibit me from taking boards. I think I'm well above 2.5, maybe 2.7 or so but it's still early in the curriculum and physio is a 6 hour class.

Diversified is on Tuesday - I thought of tutoring tomorrow during lunch but the physio test is right after lunch so I'll probably be cramming the last bit of info in my head for that ...I'll fit in what time I can.

Microbiology Lab Exam is on Wednesday - guess that's what I'll be studying on Tuesday night

Orthopedics Lab practical is on Thursday - I probably have as much to get down for that class as I do for diversified but, my grade is much stronger so I have a little bit of wiggle room

Friday is Basic and Public Health - Public Health is a bit of a problem for a lot of people. I kind of wish we could just get a booklet of fact and just memorize it. Things seem a bit random on that class but, I'll do what I can. I'll find out more this week what's up for Basic. Friday is the official start of our final exams so, we only have to attend our test. I think Fridays exams start at 7:30 and 11:30 so, I might make it home by 3 or 4 that day ....I'm quite certain I'll be looking forward to sleep when I get home :)

Monday is our Diversified written final along with our Pathology final. I really could use more time for both test...

Tuesday is Philosophy and Microbiology. I have a pretty strong grade in philosophy which means I'll probably put minimal effort into studying for that class and maximum effort studying for Microbiology which hasn't been such a strong class. For some reason, our teacher hasn't curved any of our test which is different than any other time we've had this teacher. I'm passing the class but not with any great cushion or leeway for any mistakes.

Wednesday is Physiology and Embryology - wow ....well, physio will probably be one of the most challenging exams I'll have and Embryo just takes the time to study to get a good grade.

Thursday wraps up tri 3 and our 200th day of class with our Orthopedics written exam.

I think it's going to be a series of naps throughout this week until I can get a good nights rest on Friday night.

Today's pic is of a coin being flipped! :)

I'll do my best. I know I can do better and improve some of my processes and habits for next time. I think I'm going to try a 90 min nap, then study from 12 to 2 then get another 3 hours sleep until 5 - heck, maybe until 5:30! then drink massive amounts of coffee and cram all the physio in my head that I can before our test at 1.

Tri-3, Wk13, Day 191, Friday, Little Blue Dots

Today was pretty fascinating overall. We started in on Chapter 6 in Pathology which covers Neoplasia which most people might refer to as cancer. A lot of words aren't meaning what they used to. Terms and phrases which used to be part of my everyday lexicon now seem vague and without meaning or don't make much sense anymore. Take the notion of a heart attack for instance. That doesn't really mean anything in a medical sense and I see more comfort in thinking of it in terms of infarction, ischemia and necrosis. I think terminology change first happened in gross anatomy when I started to wonder what an ankle was. I'm familiar with a lateral and medial malleolus but am no longer sure exactly what an ankle refers to, in particular, which side of the leg, medial or lateral?

Anyway - Todays pic of the day is from my microbiology lab class and those are my fingers holding a petri dish I was using in class to help determine an unknown bacteria. Two classes ago, I did a gram staining of my unknown and found it to be a gram positive cocci. Gram positive kind of just means it was blue under the microscope and cocci refers to its shape or morphology which happens to be like little dots. I figured I had a staphylococcus type of bacterium and to help narrow down which type of staph we were dealing with I put some of my unknown in the middle of a blood agar petri dish to see if my unknown would eat the blood or not. :)

Well, it did. The bacterium is in the center of the dish and you can notice clear areas around the bacterium where the blood agar is being consumed. Technically, this is known as beta hemolytic and the great part about that is I could then conclude that I was working with staph aureus! :)

That means I don't have to go to lab next Tuesday because I've already figured out what I have! :)

Heck, i just remembered I have that volunteer thing tomorrow at the St. Louis Science Center. I've got a ton of studying to do. Physio exam on Monday along with my diversified practical.

It's make or break time in Diversified. Based on my midterm performance, I won't pass the class so I've really got to pull out something good on Monday or I won't move on to Tri-4. If any class is failed then you don't move forward ...at least not as fast as you otherwise could. We won't think about that possibility for now.

Tri-3, Wk13, Days 189 & 190, Wed & Thur

My attitude has been rather lackluster lately. For most of today I've just been thinking I want to get off this Merry-go-round. I want it to stop, I want this to be over. Normally, I don't think I'd blog such despair but I also realize that one reason I wanted to complete the program at Logan and become a DC was that such completion would necessarily force me to become a better person and I have learned throughout my life that it usually works best if I am in a situation where I'm forced to improve and that's certainly where I find myself now... forced to improve.

Metaphorically speaking, I feel like I'm clinging to a buoy out in the ocean and clinging for dear life, just waiting for the 17th of December to come save me and hope that I don't ingest too much sea water & drown before being rescued.

Anyway, blogging the truth about how I feel can serve as a baseline for where I'm at right now and, hopefully, (ideally?) I won't be downtrodden with so much despair in future trimesters.

I've got three classes which could sink me - Pathology, Diversified & Microbiology. Tomorrow I have an opportunity to gain some ground with Pathology and I feel like I should get no lower than a C on tomorrow's test which would be fantastic. Micro is kind of in the middle - it will sink me if I fail either of the remaining two test or don't pass the lab portion of the class. My Diversified final practical is on Monday so I still have time to mount some kind of defense and hopefully get my grade up a notch or two.

I could really use some people to practice on for Orthopedics this weekend.

OK, what's new with pathology? I'm still going over Immunity stuff here and I think I've got down some of the immune deficiency diseases

• XLA, Brunton's dz - the XLA stands for X-linked agammaglobulinemia which seems like a mouthful until you break it down a bit - recall the 'a' stands for "without" so, we're without gamma globulin in the blood - the emia part always seems to refer to blood. The disease makes a bit more sense w/ a picture (guess I'm a visual type learner) but, the B cells never quite make it out of the bone marrow with this disease which is why you don't find much of their consequences out in the blood.
• CVI - (or CVID) - Common Variable Immunodeficiency dz - with this dz the B cells make it out of the bone marrow but not much further. Instead of agammaglobulinemia we have hypogammaglobulinemia. which is to say instead of without that stuff, we have hypo or low gamma globulin in the blood.
• Isolated IgA Deficiency - this is the most common of the immunological deficiency diseases and occurs in about 1 out of 600 people and it's asymptomatic - ...there's that letter 'a' at the beginning of the word again so, it literally means "without symptoms".
• DiGeorge or Thymic hypoplasia - this is a defect in the thymus gland itself and that's where T cells grow up to become adult T cells.
• SCIDS - Severe Combined Immunodeficiency - This is really bad. Do you remember that show, the Boy in the Bubble? I think John Travolta may have played that little kid in the bubble. With this dz, the stem cells with the potential to be either B or T cells is thwarted at the very beginning.

....OK, I've got 1 week to get everything submitted for Part I of National Boards. I learned today that the $510 fee for those test has to be paid by a money order. I have no idea what the policy is if I don't pass all my classes in Tri-3.

I do know, assuming I pass everything, that I'll be going to Logan for 19 days in a row to begin my fourth trimester because the Irene Gold study sessions are from 3-8 p.m. on Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sat & Sunday. Then, I'll have two days off then another 12 days in a row because of the third study session. I did work out the issue of getting my application filled out and printed properly so now I just need to get a photo taken in our Media department at school then get the money order so I can submit everything to the registrars office.

To be licensed, a chiropractor needs to pass a series of four national boards test along with physiotheraphy. The areas to be tested in Part I include General Anatomy, Embryology, Spinal Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Pathology, Microbiology and Public Health

Tri-3, Wk13, Day 188 - Tuesday

Our Pathology teacher is in the hospital so we didn't have that class this morning and after going back to bed I overslept a bit and started my day off with physiology at noon followed by microbiology lab, micro lecture and then our professional development class.

We're going to have a paper we have to write for micro lab that will be due sometime next week. I also got confirmation today on my volunteer hours for this Saturday, and I'm on for the 2 to 4:30 shift so I'll hit the physio tutoring review at noon (I think it's at noon) then head over to the Science Center to put in my time.

At this point, I'm kind of just holding on and riding out the storm.

I did get some one on one time with one of the Dr's from the Health Clinic today and she said they have an MD they work with who is close to school and will do office visits for $25. I've got some issues I'd like to get answered and resolved.

7 days of regular class before finals

5 days of finals

total of 13 more test & one paper

1 volunteer day

NBCE application submitted w/ photo

Tri-3, Wk13, Day 187 - Monday

Holy you know what ...

where to start.... Well, for whatever reason the test that had been scheduled for well over a week had some people wanting the test changed and at the last minute (ie today) our class voted to change the test to Friday. I don't agree with the last minute change. Not everyone was available to vote and many people had already made sacrifices to take the test tomorrow - it's kind of screwing me up but guess it's something to deal with. As a class officer, I might shoot out an email suggesting last minute changes not be made anymore - certainly not with less than 24 hours before a test. And, of course, we have another physio test coming up - also this Friday or perhaps the following Mon.

Irene Gold Prep payments were due today for National Boards and I got that taken care of. I've also been working on the actual application for National boards online but had some problems w/ the system and submitted an email to the NBCE for help. The application for National Boards is kind of like submitting for a passport, right down to the picture which must be submitted w/ the application.

We have a review for our physio final exam scheduled for this coming Saturday at noon or 1 ...dang it - I just submitted a volunteer request with Barnes Jewish Hospital and requested midday on Saturday ...guess I'll have to change that....

Also, on Monday is another review for the physio final to be held at the Double Tree hotel close to school from 3 to 5 p.m.

And, of course, much of my future plans are predicated on successful completion of Tri-3. Assuming I get through that, here's what's going on and when...

• 12/01 Tue - Irene Gold NBCE prep $ due
• 12/03 Thur - Pathology review @ 4
• 12/04 Fri - Pathology Exam 4
• 12/05 Sat - Physio Final review at Logan
• 12/06 Sun - Volunteer w/ BJC at St. Louis Science Center
• 12/07 Mon - Physio Exam 5 and Diversified Practical and physio final review at Double Tree
• 12/08 Tue -
• 12/09 Wed - Microbiology Lab Exam
• 12/10 Thur - Orthopedics Final Practical
• 12/11 Fri - Basic I Final & Public Health Final and NBCE application due
• 12/14 Mon - Diversified Final and Pathology Final
• 12/15 Tue - Philosophy Final and Microbiology Final
• 12/16 Wed - Physiology II Final & Embryo Final
• 12/17 Thur - Orthopedics Final

Tri-4 should start on Jan 12th, which is a Tuesday. That coming Fri, Sat & Sunday on Jan 15, 16 & 17 we'll have NBCE study reviews and we'll have more study reviews the following Fri, Sat & Sunday. Then again in February on the 12th, 13th & 14th we'll have NBCE reviews again then we'll have until the NBCE reviews at Logan to keep studying. During the week before we actually take the boards, our classes will be replaced with school sponsored review sessions every day leading up to our actual testing.

For anyone reading this that's starting at Logan this January, you'll be in the same boat I'm in and will need to have an extra $835 next December to cover the cost of prep & testing fees for Part I of the National Boards.

I guess I'll publish this post then stare at my blog and try to come up w/ a plan for tackling everything that's coming up.