Micro Day & Organization

Gym Attendance: 100%

Today was mainly about organization and getting some Microbiology studied. I moved all my powerpoints to a new binder since everything wasn't fitting in the main binder I have for all my classes. For Micro, our second exam on Tuesday will cover six different handouts we've received in class since exam 1. Let's see if I can summarize one main topic from each handout to help familiarize myself with the material.

Handout # - Topic

8 - Staphylococcus

9 - Antimicrobial Agents

10 - Streptococcus Pyogenes

11 - Streptococcus Pneumoniae

12 - Enterobacteriaceae

13 - Haemophilus

opps - fell asleep last night before posting (or finishing) this blog -

Tri-3, Wk8, Day 168 - Friday

Weekly Class Attendance: 97%

TGIF? It's hard to tell because I feel so burnt out. It's the kind of thing you would think a good nights sleep would fix but I've had two ample nights sleep in a row and still feel exhausted. Oh yeah, weekly attendance, right up top....

btw - My Dad is absolutely amazing and I truly appreciate all the help and work he does for me. Mom too, I was just impressed by how quickly Dad helped out with a situation here at the house. :)

I skipped one class of diversified to study for my Basic midterm and got lucky because enough other people skipped the same class for the same reason and the class was canceled. Enough said.

Class Summaries for Friday

1. Pathology I - (2 hours)

• This is one class where you have to work hard just to get a D. This would be evident by the number of people from the trimester ahead of us that weren't able to get through and are taking the class again.
• We're studying Hemodynamic Disorders which basically consist of the follow...
• Edema - the accumulation of fluid in tissue or body cavities caused by mechanisms that involve the blood flow, composition of plasma, the vessel wall and the adjacent tissue.
• Hyperemia & Congestion - hyperemia is an active process involving dilation of the arterioles, whereas congestion refers to passive stagnation of blood in the veins.
  
• Hemorrhage - (bleeding), an escape of blood from blood vessels or the heart. Hemorrhages can be classified according to the site of origin, i.e., Cardiac, Arterial, Capillary or Venous
• Hemostasis & Trombosis - Both processes are based on the coagulation of blood. Hemostasis ("stopping of hemorrhage") is the physiologic process designed to stop the bleeding from ruptured blood vessels. Thrombosis is a pathologic form of coagulation of circulating blood inside intact vascular spaces.
• Infarct - Infarcts develop as a result of obstruction of the arterial and venous blood flow or hypoperfusion of tissues.
• Embolism - Emboli are particulate, fluid or gaseous material carried by the bloodstream from the site of their origin or entry into the circulation to other parts of the body. Emboli are classified according to the material from which they are formed.
• Shock - an important clinical conditoin caused by circulatory collapse that occurs under many conditions, always resulting from a hypoperfusion of tissues.

2. Public Health (1 hour)

I know we got another handout today. I think the teacher may have talked about Milk some more and maybe a few other things.

3. Physiology II (1 hour)

I'm not sure this teacher could go any faster. It's fast to me anyway. Basically, I've got to learn all the hormones in the body and a lot of detail about each one of them. I know there's an RAA system I need to get down which pertains to the kidneys ...I have a TON of work to do in this class ...so much that it's hard to know where to begin.

4. Microbiology II Lecture (1 hour)

More handouts and we have our second test this coming Tuesday. I printed out 14 type written pages of notes ...I got 13 pages of notes before my computer crashed. I already installed the new Windows 7 Ultimate operating system and don't seem to have any more luck than I had with Vista. I'll just have to do the best I can for now.

Like last semester, this is one of my weaker classes. It's much different than pathology even though my grade isn't much better in path .....

5. Microbiology II Dry Lab (1 hour).

Hardly anyone attends this class and I think it's because it doesn't (or can't) count for a grade. We're taking 32 hours for credit this semester and the two dry labs we have each week is what makes my total hours 34. It's a pretty easy class to sit through as we generally just watch movies and DVDs.

Today's DVD was on Alzheimer's Disease. I think science pretty well agrees that the genesis for the disease has to do with a buildup of Amyloid Plaque amongst the nerve cells in the brain which inhibit transmission of nerve impulses from one nerve cell to the next.

This dz is of particular interest to me because my grandma is taking medication for the dz even though she hasn't exactly been diagnosed as having the dz. Yet - when prescribing a prescription a doc has to put down a diagnosis in order to justify the script. According to relatives, my grandma's doctor said that she didn't think grandma had Alzheimer's but is at that age where she could ....

This is just downright annoying to me. Basically, My grandma's MD just doesn't have jack squat she's able to do except for the anemic little bag of tricks at her disposal which solely consist of medications. I think it's pathetic. If she doesn't have the dz then don't prescribe mediation for something she doesn't have. In the week I spent with her I didn't see any clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's. The only complaints she had were ones that corresponded with all the side effects of the medication she was taking - what a croc! Grrrrr.....

6. Microbiology II Lab -

Pretty simple lab today, we just played with some streptococcus (s.) specifically, we played with

• streptococcus pyogenes
• streptococcus agalactiae
• streptococcus faecalis
• streptococcus pneumoniae

and... all we had to do today was make a gram stain of one of the streptococci. I had a good gram stain of my bacteria but wasn't able to make it out on the microscope, nor was my teacher. I stayed late and tried again along w/ my teacher under a 2nd microscope but no luck so, we just called it a day and will try again next week.

That's it.

I have a philosophy handout scheduled to be worked on tomorrow at 10 a.m. I have to schedule more things. While it's important to get to all my classes, a real key is going to be to complete some focused study times. I know for certain, things can't be haphazard and just done on a whim but rather my efforts really need to be focused, well thought out and have a schedule adhered to.

Obviously, I'm just speaking for myself. Whatever I've been doing so far, whether it's my best or not, simply isn't good enough and has to improve.

Today's picture is of amyloid plaque and tangles in the brain neurons. The tangles are another part of the Alzheimer equation, I just forgot about them until I found this picture. The tangles are like little threads of protein inside the nerve cell body which, along w/ the amyloid interfere with normal cell impulse propagation.

Tri-3, Wk8, day 167 - Thursday

OK - I've been home for about an hour and a half and just screwed around and had a bite to eat & now it's time to hit the books. For organizational purposes, I'll go ahead and summarize any classes I had yesterday that are different than I had today.

Today's Class Summary

1. Philosophy (2 hrs) - as far as things I need to do, we did get a handout on comparative listings and there are two sheets we need to have filled out by class next Wednesday. I'll have to put this on my white-board or it's unlikely I'll remember to get it done... honestly, I already forgot we got the handout until I did this summary.

OK - got it scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m.

One thing I have learned is that if you have a choice of having your x-rays read by an MD or a DC then you'll probably be a lot better off going with the chiropractor. I think most DC's have about 10x the number of hours dealing with radiography than does an MD.

Really, that's a difference I wasn't aware of before going to school at Logan so it's a pretty safe bet that it's not very well known to the general public.

and, alternatively, if you have tuberculosis then I might know from Microbiology that isonicotinic acid & rifampin are treatment alternatives but, you'll be much better off going to an MD who really knows about that stuff.

2. Diversified Lab - Wednesday & Thursday

Well, here I have to be honest and admit that I made a judgement call and did not go to my diversified lab on Wednesday. However.... there were so many people who did NOT go that the teacher ended up cancelling the class. Still, I'll count this against my attendance grade for the week since I just happened to get lucky. Basically, we were all studying for our midterm in Basic which was the following hour.

3. Basic I - Wednesday

This was our midterm - I'll have to check and see if the grades are posted yet.

...nope - nothing is posted yet.

4. Physiology - Wednesday (2 hrs) & Thursday (1 hr)

Wow! have we covered a lot of material in the past two days. I've been getting a certain kind of feeling in that class this week that I wasn't able to quite place until today. I think it's that feeling you get just before you start crying. LOL

i forgot this blog was up here and just gave a little mock talk to a group of elderly people ....

I found a sheet of paper in my notes from a Professional Development class. We have to provide three hours of community service and I've already thought about talking to people at a nursing home and figured maybe that talking could be combined and qualify as a bit of community service...

yeah - there's a lot going on in physiology. On Wednesday, we completed the hypothalmus and pituitary then started (and finished) a presentation on the thyroid gland and then started a presentation on the Pineal Gland ...

The Pineal Gland is rather interesting. It's known as the "third eye" and in some animals where the pineal gland is located towards the top of their brains, the pineal gland is actually able to sense light and movement. It is this gland that is responsible for producing Melatonin which enhances sleep. This melatonin should not be confused with melanin which is for pigment production.

anyway, we have at least a half a dozen powerpoint presentations for our next test so I have GOT to spend time on physio everyday - I also have on my white board to make flashcards for pathology so I'll be sure to get to that as well.

5. Microbiology II - Lecture & Lab, (2 hrs)

Well, tuberculosis was on the agenda (that's how I knew about the treatment options) and Leprosy.

Remember that old song or rhyme,

"Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posey, ashes, ashes we all fall down"

That came from Small Pox.

The disease would leave a ring on it's victims and generally stunk so patients used to have poseys put in their pockets to keep from smelling so bad.

6. Orthopedics I Lab -

The teacher knew we had a big embryology test today so we got to leave after performing our orthopedics test with a fellow classmate.

7. Embryology -

Taken & I already have my grade! :)

I got a B on this test which isn't too shabby considering I didn't study the night before because of my long night's sleep. I had one or two bone headed mistakes but also got luck on one or two questions so I guess it evens out.

I passed the teacher in the hall and he asked what I got and I told him a B and he said that I would probably end up with an A in the class then.

THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!!!!!

I'd say Embryo is probably the third most failed class in our current semester, behind Physio and Pathology.

I'm not sure why but the classes with the highest failure rates seem to be the ones I do the best in.

8. Public Health -

I know we got another handout today - 2 sheets - one page, front and back dealing with Milk and another page dealing with China. It looks like back in 2007, China executed a director of food & drug safety after being convicted of corruption. Tough country.

That article is from USA Today, Wednesday, July 11, 2007, page 11A in case anyone is interested.

That's it. I've got a ton of work to do and a heck of a lot of cleaning up and organizing to do. It looks like an explosion of papers on my desk after all these test.

I do want to keep clear and focused on my task for tonight.

1. Make out Flashcards for Chapter 3 of pathology using my Pathological Secrets book as a reference &

2. Get my Physiology organized and reviewed a bit.

for a 3rd item, I want to make sure I'm ready to go for tomorrow and will review each upcoming class.

Today's picture is of Mr. Zheng. It's the same picture from our Microbiology handout which cited his execution. I would like to mention one part of the article which stated that Zheng "was sentenced to death for accepting bribes (but) ...was given a two-year reprieve which usually means he can get life in prison if deemed to have reformed."

I guess I'm hoping he got reformed & is still alive.

Tri-1, Wk8, Day 166 - Wednesday

I'm not sure exactly when I fell asleep yesterday but I know it was shortly after I got home from school. All I know is I just woke up a short time ago and it's after 5 a.m. so I have to hit the shower and take off for school.

The big thing for today is an exam in Embryology. The extra sleep kind of cut into my studying for that class but, it's one of my stronger classes so I'll just do the best I can.

gotta run!

Tri-3, Wk8, Day 165 - Tuesday

Tuesdays are pretty long days at school and with the extra slow traffic due to the rain I spent another 90 minutes driving home. I was running on around 40 minutes of sleep from the night before and fell asleep soon after I got home, around 6 p.m. It's about 12:42 a.m. now so, hopefully I'll get this blog knocked out by 1 a.m. then get to studying for my Basic midterm test which is at 10:10 a.m. tomorrow....er, later on today! ;)

Summary of Today's Classes

1. PATHOLOGY - We had our 2nd test today in pathology and the grades have already been posted - for now, it looks like I'll probably end up with a C in this class... Lot of darned work for a C. I did score one point higher than I did on the first test. I'm sure the next test will be even better. No big worries about not passing this class and it's one of the most failed classes in Tri-3 so I'm in pretty good shape.

2. ORTHOPEDICS - We went over some more ortho test today and were reminded to do our test more slowly and to fully stress the joints when practicing on each other. Here are the test we covered today;

• Well Leg Raise, Fajerstan's Test
• Laquerres Test
• Goldthwait Test
• Gaenslen Test
• Cox Test
• Laseque Differential Test
• Milgram's Test
• Linder's Test
• Soto Hall Test - This test is similar to Linder's test except we hold the pt's chest down. If we see an immediate reaction of the knees buckling up then it could be due to Spinal Meningitus and would need to follow up by taking the pt's temperature and sending them to ER if temp is elevated
• We are supposed to look up the Kering Test on our own and note it's similarities to Linder's and the Soto Test.

3. DIVERSIFIED - We learned a technique for correcting Lateral displacement of a vertebrae – usually happens at L3 or L4

• Patient is on their side and the lateral displacement of the spionous process is up – ie, a lateral discplacement to the left would mean the pt would be on their right side and the well adducted thumb would be superior to the midline and line of drive would be towards the floor.

4. EMBRYOLOGY - We went over Lecture 10 today...we have our 2nd test in this class tomorrow (Thursday). This will probably be my best grade of the week. Today we were learning more about the development of the embryo from around days 18 to 22. Of interest, we learned that pregnant mothers should not use any products containing Retin-A because it kills neural crest cells in developing embryos and also learned of a disease/anomaly called Di George Anomaly which is a deficit in chromosome 22 which can cause defects in the heart.

5. PHYSIOLOGY II - We finished up some work on Hormonal Interactions and then started our section on the Hypothalamus & Pituitary Gland. Rather interesting - I was already aware that the pituitary had anterior and posterior regions but didn't know where they came from. During embryological development, the posterior pituitary comes from the diencephalon which means it's actually part of the brain but the anterior portion comes from the roof of our mouth! wow - didn't see that one coming :) Here are the more scientific terms we have to use when refering to the pituitary.

• Pituitary gland = hypophysis
• Rathke's pouch = roof of the mouth (where anterior part comes from)
• Anterior pituitary = adenohypophysis
• Posterior pituitary = neurohypophysis
• ADH is made in the Supra-Optic Nucleus
• Oxytocin is made in the Paraventricular Nucleus

I need to spend some time with my physiology book this weekend...

6. Microbiology II, Lab C - Staph Aureus, E. Coli and other such microbes just STINK! We just checked the results of our last lab then threw our stinky petri dishes & test tubes away.

7. Microbiology II, Lecture - We got two handouts today in Microbiology, one covering Diphtheria (corynebacterium diphtheriae) and another covering tuberculosis which I believe is mycobacteriaceae tuberculosis.

8. Professional Development - We heard presentations today from two groups of people who are acting as if they were presenting a business proposal to a bank in order to get a $200,000 loan. I present with my group either next Tuesday or the following Tuesday after that.

1:20 a.m. - I need some coffee and need to get to studying - I can improve these entries and this stuff may be useful academically.

_W_E_A_P_O_N_S - OF - W_A_R_

WEAPONS
OF
WAR

Staff Sergeant Skip Dee skillfully & stealthily closes in on the enemy stronghold – a lawless group of German soldiers held up in the basement of an old, dilapidated stone house built sometime in the early 1800’s. After carefully casing the old fortress, Skip notices a broken window pane and peering in through the window is a long, dank hallway with slatted wood flooring. About 30 feet away is an opening in the flooring, a crevice just large enough for a hand grenade to fall through and wipe out the enemy. Having been a star baseball picture in high school as well as a promising minor league baseball player before being drafted into the war, Sergeant Skip was reasonably confident that he could hit that mark w/ the grenade. Sgt Dee made his pitch and deftly threw the grenade through the opening, watched it hit the floor, roll along and almost come to a complete stop when it made one final rotation and fell into the crevice he was aiming for.

We’ve got stuff like that in going on in our own bodies on a regular basis. Instead of hallways, we’ve got blood vessels. Instead of hand grenades, we have leukocytes. Our munitions and manufacturing for many of these weapons is done safely and discretely in the depths of our bones, in the bone marrow. We may not always have holes in our blood vessels but we do have an arsenal of weaponry which can increase the permeability of our blood vessels at a moments notice.

Instead of Germans, let’s say we have uninvited bacteria in our system. That’s enough to get the ball rolling or, in this case, the leukocyte rolling …literally. A leukocyte is a white blood cell.

Oh, and Herr Bacteria, did you really think you could hide? Think again. You can’t go more than two cells in the human body with out running into a capillary and those blood vessels are the leukocytes conduit – the transportation system which will deliver your impending doom. Silly bacteria, the cells which make up the walls of the blood vessels are easily alerted to your presence.

Here comes the hand grenade in the form of a leukocyte – a big white sphere of destruction. The smaller, faster moving red blood cells tend to push the leukocyte towards the walls of the blood vessels and once it hits the wall it’s going to start to roll – literally. And then, the white blood cells is going to stop ….then it’s going to start to seep through the wall of the blood vessel – it knows you’re out there – that’s why it stopped where it did. It’s going to seep through the wall and then destroy you!

There’s so much of a story with the human body it’s hard to know where to begin but, let’s start with that rolling and seeping of the leukocyte. Yeah, the military has C4 but, we’ve got C4 too and that’s just the beginning.

The reason that white blood cell starts to roll along the blood vessel wall and begin it’s adhesion is due to a family of molecules known as Selectins.

Military: C4, X-15, F-16 hornet, ….yawn….

HUMAN BODY:
Selectin Family:
CD62E aka E-selectin, found on endothelium (that’s what vessel walls are made of)
CD62P aka P-selectin, found on endothelium & platelets
CD62L aka L-selectin, found on surface of most leukocytes

I know what you’re saying… CD62E, P & L aren’t ALWAYS there, are they – other wise our white blood cells would always be rolling and starting to stick all over the place. Well, of course not! We’re smart & in a brilliantly manufactured, supremely designed bod. Remember – The bacteria started it! Normally, P-selectin would be quietly held in inside the cells in nice little homes called Weibel-Palade bodies BUT, the bacteria provoked us – it started the fight! Histamine and thrombin has a tendency to wake up things like P-selectin. Similarly, E-selectin isn’t looking for any trouble either but, bacteria also up IL-1 (interlukin 1) and TNF (tumor necrosis factor) which, in turn, caused E-selecting to come out of hiding.

Now then, we said the leukocyte came to a stop ….yeah – that’s pretty cool also. How does it know where to stop? It now gives me great pride to introduce another family and, this isn’t just any family…it’s a SuperFamily! Ladies and gentlemen, straight from you’re very own intermolecular make up, allow me to introduce ….the IMMUNOGLOBULIN SUPERFAMILY!!!!

Military: ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missle), NORAD

HUMAN BODY:
Immunoglobulin Superfamily:
ICAM-1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1
VCAM-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1

TNF & IL-1 induce the expression of both ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. The superfamily resides on the endothelial cells. Integrins are expressed on the leukocyte cell surface and the Superfamily and Integrins are going to hook up! This hook up is what causes the leukocyte to finally stop rolling and finally settle down, maybe meet a nice leukocyte of the opposite sex and see if it’s not too late for a little mitosis action – oh wait, that’s a different story.

What is an Integrin? Why they are transmembrane heterodimeric glycoproteins of course! Now, aren’t you sorry you asked? But really Sally, Integrins are just pieces on the wall of the leukocyte cell that are going to hook up with the superfamily, that’s all. Yeah, but I bet the Integrins have really cool names that go with them, don’t they? They sure do Bill! Just check out this list of binding integrins….

HUMAN BODY:
Binding Integrins for ICAM-1:
LFA-1 (CD11a/CD18)
Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18)

Binding Integrins for VCAM-1:
VLA-4

OK – keep things clear here. The ICAM and VCAM are members of the Superfamily which reside on the blood vessel walls - and the Integrins are what pokes out of the leukocyte cell walls. Maybe ICAM is a little fickle, I don’t know but he sure seems to like BOTH LFA-1 and Mac-1. VCAM is a little more reasonable and just goes for the VLA-4 ….maybe VCAM is a purist and only likes other entities which start with the letter V. who knows.

What we have here is a very small glimpse into the Pathology of Warfare as presented by the human body and concludes our hand grenade story but allow me to preview a glimpse of coming attractions…

In the military we have divisions commonly known as as Air Force, Army, Marines & Navy. Don’t think the leukocytes & human body is outdone because it has it’s own divisions of Leukocytes known as Lymphocytes, Granulocytes and Monocytes. These subdivisions also have their own unique brand of special forces just as the military has it’s Green Beret’s and Navy SEALS.

Lymphocyte Special Forces include
B cells,
T cells,
Natural Killers (NK’s)

Granulocytes Special Forces:
Neutrophils
Eosinophils
Basophils

Monocyte Special Forces:
Macrophages (several different types)

Tri-3, Wk8, Day 164 - Monday!

I really need to do all I can for my pathology test tomorrow but, I also think it's important to stick with the plan I had set which includes providing a summary of my classes for the day.

OK - so here goes...

Summary of Today's Classes

1. Public Health - ...amazing - I went to the class and I know I took notes but I can't find them right now. Maybe I misfiled them. Anyway - We got a handout from Chapter 26 of our Microbiology book which is a chapter on Applied Microbiology which has to do with Preventing Disease Transmission & Food Spoilage. It's probably not the most exciting stuff but probably a good class for me to pay attention to since I'm sort of like one of those guys that hasn't traditionally always adhered to the best food prep practices. So, in that respect, I rather appreciate classes like todays. :)
2. Pathology I - We went through the rest of our Inflammation powerpoint presentation today from slide 127 to slide 136. And our test is tomorrow - fun, fun, fun :) We started with Laboratory findings in inflammation and this is where you need to know the difference between your fire trucks, police cars, ambulances and tow trucks - each one may be an emergency type of vehicle but each also has specific responsibilities. In pathology these vehicles have slightly less familiar names. The Neutrophil shows up when dealing with a bacterial infection & they're usually the first on the scene. Lymphocytes show up for a viral infection. Leukopenia makes it's debute when there are many viruses ...I guess they are like the National Guard and Eosinophils like to party with parasites & allergies.
3. Diversified II - This is our adjusting class. Today seemed a bit like a review as we went like a machine gun through every adjusting technique we've learned since the beginning of the trimester. I need to do a lot more work in this class.
4. Logan Basic I - Good ol' Dr. Montgomery's Class - and the man really is a treat to have as a teacher. We always seem to learn something new & fascinating. ...now I just have to remember what that was today! Ah, I typed my notes out straight into my laptop. We covered some Hip Joint Disease, biomechanics of the pelvis and also learned a few things about Joe Montana and Bo Jackson. It seems one of Joe Montana's IVDs (intervetebral disc) was a bit undersized. Dr. Montgomery was a consultant for Montana which makes me wonder if there were any HIPPA violations from him telling us about Joe but, with Joe being such a celebrity I'm thinking much of what was said was probably public knowledge. Dr. Montgomery also told us about a patient he'd been working on for the past 6 - 8 months. A 40 year old female, slight build who's coccyx was injured when the girl was 6 years old. At that time the sacral area is in about 14 pieces and after the injury, since no chiropractic care was given that area of the lady's lower back ended up fusing together as a flat plate instead of having a nice curve. This has given the lady problems her whole life and the lady was on several tranquilizers to help subdue the extra neural stimulation from her spine being out of whack. With Dr. M's treatments, the lady's MD's were able to take her off two of the tranquilizers she's been using. However - chiropractic can only do so much with a body part that was fused together the wrong way - The option the lady is now facing is surgery to break the sacral/coccygeal bones and then have them set the way they should have been set & fused when she was younger. With this lady, I think I'd seriously consider having the surgery if I was her.
5. Physiology II - We finished up chapter 18 from the Tortora book on Hormone Regulation. I have a TON to do for this class. I have something interesting in my notes, it says "Open Your Eyes - Don't Be Such A Passenger!" I guess you can think of that as a title of a book or article. I was falling asleep pretty hard in that class today and, quite frankly, I'm surprised I haven't been to bed yet for a nap. But, I was thinking that concept of don't be such a passenger might be a good axiom for life in general.

Instead of just letting myself fall asleep, I kept telling myself over and over to open up my eyes and stay awake and pay attention. I think sleep won in the end but not without a fight. I recall things my grandma has said to me about people not fighting enough. Fighting illness, sickness, rough luck or anything of that nature. I was thinking of another classmate who was held behind and seems to have relationships or problems thereof on her mind a lot. I can relate from similar times in my life. Anyway, I don't want to be a passenger and get blown around by circumstance. I guess that's part of the reason for the structure I'm engendering into this blog.

OK - on to Pathology - we have a TEST tomorrow - so much to learn. I'm figuring on 4 or 5 hours sleep - I think I'll study a bit, maybe an hour or two, then sleep maybe 4.5 hours (3 sleep cycles) then get back to it. For a class I like so much I should have better grades.

I know I need to get my flashcards done sooner. I'm thinking of planning for later on this week to get in the next set of flashcards for our third exam. I realized yesterday that I can go through my Pathology Secrets book and easily make flashcards out for each chapter. I just have to remember everything I come up with because it's good stuff and I'm willing to put it all in practice, I just have to remember it all.

OK - I've got that task up on my white board. Another thing that could help is to make sure I'm academically prepped for each upcoming day. I was missing some handouts & powerpoints for some of today's lectures. I need to look ahead the night before and make sure I'm in shape and ready to go for school the next day.

I'll keep getting better. I am grateful I'm in a situation which requires improvement. I think I've always tended to gravitate towards such things.

Today's picture is ...hmmm - how about a Neutrophil!

ya know what? My computer has already crashed once since i've gotten home and the pic i was trying to download was taking too long - I need to get to studying -

it was a cool pic and showed transmigration of a neutrophil across a blood vessel wall.

Tri-3, Wk7, Day 163 - Friday

Classroom Attendance for the week = 94%

I had a bit more to say yesterday but after pasting in those minimum required hours for MD vs DC the formatting was a bit screwy so I left it as is.

I'd like to increase my level of accountability and performance. A week or two ago I was having a hard time making it to all my classes. I'm not sure where my head was at or exactly why I missed some classes but I did. I mentioned this to my parents when I met with them last Sunday for breakfast and had an idea of sort of checking in with them each day to let them know whether or not I made it to all my classes or not. I don't know how it is for readers of this blog but, for me, I'd rather not do anything to disappoint my parents. The strategy actually helped and paid off the very next day when I was running late for my Monday 7:20 a.m. class. I was running a bit behind schedule, it was raining and I knew a lane was still closed down on the highway which all meant an extra long commute (over an hour) but, I still went and, in spite of having to stop to get gas I went to my first class. I was very late but they took attendance and after talking with my teacher after class I was able to get credit for showing up which is a good thing. :)

Looking at my schedule, I have 34 hours worth of classes each week (credit-wise I have 32 hours but, actual hours each week is 32 ....I wasn't aware of the discrepancy)

So, we have classroom attendance which, for this week was 32/34 or 94%

For each Friday's blog, I'm going to make note at the top of the blog what my attendance was for the week.

I've also thought of a couple other things I can do with regards to this blog which may help improve my performance as a student.

One a daily basis, I'd like to recap each one of my classes. This may help me to keep my notes organized as well as providing an extra exposure to class material.

And finally, I think I need to schedule study times and make myself as accountable to these study times as I am with attending classes.

Anyway, I'm going to plow ahead with these ideas.

hmmm... I guess I made a couple other positive changes this week which indirectly positively affect my school performance.

For one thing, I started hitting the gym on my way home from school on Monday and Thursday since those are days I get out of class a little bit early. I have a simple little routine which doesn't take much time at all. In fact, from the time I get out of my car to the time I get back in my car after my workout only took 31 minutes on Monday and on Thursday, the same routine only took 22 minutes! Very efficient! :)

Ideally now, I'd hit the gym today so I have a more normal 3 day per week workout schedule. I'm doing the same exercises and even keeping the same weights from workout to workout to help improve efficiency. Which isn't to say I'm totally slacking. For Bench, Pulldowns and Military, I'm using 225 pounds on each exercise for three sets. One warm up set of 10-15 reps and then 2 more sets of 10 reps each. I then round out the program with three sets of curls and three sets of triceps pressdowns. After another week of this program I'll probably add something in for the legs and should still have the entire program (including walking to and from my car) to under 30 minutes.

Cardio-wise, I've combined brushing my teeth with walking on my treadmill. I have an one of those electronic toothbrushes which runs for two minutes before shutting off. I realized that if I were to walk at 3.0 mph that I would be able to cover 0.1 miles in those 2 minutes. While I'm still getting used to this habit, I've still done it enough this week to get in an extra mile plus and I've still got today left to add another tenth or two to my total. One bright point w/ the toothbrush treadmill idea is that two days this week, the first thing I did was hit the treadmill right after I woke up. Admittedly, a pace of 3.0 mph is a bit fast for me immediately after getting out of bed so I simply slowed the pace down a bit - I think it was 1.5 mph the first time I did it and 2.5 the second time.

OK - so here's the plan:

Monday through Friday - I'll post a summary of each day's classes

Friday - I'll post my Classroom Attendance grade

Saturday - I'll post my workout grade

Sunday - I'll post my Toothbrush Treadmill work for the week

So I don't have to think (or remember) these things I've got that schedule posted up on my wall.

I need to run to my parents now for breakfast but will probably edit this post later on to include a summary for Friday's classes (as well as today's workout since it is Saturday) :)

oh, today's pic ...let me see - how about Gold's Gym (that's where I workout)

Tri-3, Wk7, Day 162 - Thursday MD vs DC

The following data comes from a review of 18 chiropractic colleges and 22 medical schools. Here is the website I copied the data from http://www.drgrisanti.com/mddc.htm.

Minimum Required Hours

Chiropractic College		Medical School
456	Anatomy/Embryology.	215
243	Physiology	174
296	Pathology	507
161	Chemistry/Biochemistry	100
145	Microbiology	145
408	Diagnosis	113
149	Neurology	171
56	Psychology/Psychiatry	323
66	Obstetrics & Gynecology	284
271	X-ray	13
168	Orthopedics	2
2,419	Total Hours for Degree	2,047

Tri-3, Wk7, Day 161 - Wednesday

It's about 2 a.m. Wednesday morning and I've been doing my best to study for my Philosophy III midterm which takes place at 7:20 a.m. in spite of my computer crashing 4 times already.

I took a nap soon after I got home and after waking up I found that a browser had crashed. I clicked OK, then got the blue screen of death and the whole system crashed. My latest incident was in the middle of using my flashcard program.

The darned this is ...there's nothing wrong with the computer, my laptop, just the operating system and there wasn't as much wrong with it before the Vista service pack 2 update. I can get a refurbished MAC laptop, top of the line, for just under $2,500 and I am seriously considering doing just that. I just don't have time to screw around with Microsoft's ineptitudes.

Anyway, I better post this quickly before I crash again....

I did *very* well on my Orthopedics test today and it very well could be the first A I've gotten this trimester. There was only one problem I was unsure of and, after talking with some classmates, there was one other question that was a bit tricky and I don't recall if I caught it or not but, I pretty well knew my stuff.

philosophy midterm tomorrow - and I'm relying on my laptop to help me learn this stuff. FlashMyBrain.com software has proven invaluable to me and really helps this 43 year old brain memorize what needs to be known.

Today's pic is of the MacBook Pro!

Tri-3, Wk7, Day 160 - Tuesday

It's about 4 a.m. and, naturally, I haven't been to school yet but I was thinking of something I wanted to share and also figured I'd knock out a blog on time for a change.

In yesterday's blog, I had a picture of Dr. Montgomery and I remembered something he told us about in class. One patient he had was a 14 year old nationally ranked female gymnast who fell, straight down on her buttocks while on a balance beem. This pushed the pt's coccyx (most distal portion of the spine) forward. The pt went to two different MDs before finding Dr. Montgomery. The first MD told her, a 14 year old, that she would never be able to have kids. The second MD told her that they could cut the coccyx off! There is a part of the spinal cord called the filum terminale which happens to attach to the coccyx which was part of the reason I was stunned at the suggestion of cutting this piece out but, as I've said before, when the only tool you have is a hammer then everything starts looking like a nail and drugs & surgery are the MDs main hammers.

Anyway, Dr. Montgomery performed a Basic technique on the girl. The pain started to subside after the first adjustment and after a couple weeks the girl was fine - once again able to have children and with coccyx in tact.

I also learned, this particular aspect of Basic is only taught in four chiropractic schools across the country.

Today's picture illustrates the spine and filum terminale.

Tri-3, Wk6 & Wk7 - Days 157, 158, 159 - Thur, Fri, Mon

Wow - I didn't realize it had been so long since my last blog. I've been having some computer issues lately and getting the blue screen of death multiple times each day - not sure what's wrong. I might suggest a MAC to others and may end up with one myself before the DC program is out.

I've got my ortho midterm tomorrow, Philosophy midterm on Wednesday and Physio Exam on Thursday - Physio is going to be tough, we're learning new material that we'll be tested on right up until the day before the exam.

We did catch one break though and our Pathology test has been moved to next Tuesday. I think we also have test in Basic and another exam in embryo next week as well.

I'm kind of redlining right now - sort of on the brink. I'm guessing massive amounts of studying might help to quell anxious feelings pertaining to school.

Today's pic of the day is Dr. Patrick Montgomery who teaches my Logan Basic class. I believe our Health Center is named after his father. He actually became a chiropractor a little later in life after being a musician in a band. He's probably one of the best chiropractors/adjusters around. I had a cervical adjustment done by him which was amazing. He's also an excellent teacher, as is the case with pretty much everyone at Logan.

OK - got a fresh pot of coffee brewing - on to Orthopedics! :)

Tri-3, Wk5 & Wk6, Days 154, 155, 156 - Fri, Mon, Tue

Today is field at Logan college of chiropractic which means no classes so that the different trimesters at the college may compete against each other in various sporting events. I, living an hour away from the college have opted not to take the journey however, perhaps one day before I graduate I'll check out Field Day.

Hopefully, a major highway which has been closed down and under construction for the past two years will be opening back up soon. I'm hoping by Thanksgiving. I'm estimating I'll save at least 15 minutes each way - 1/2 hour a day or over 10 HOURS a month less I'll have to sit in my car ...thank god.

Good news on my embryology test as I pulled out a solid B! I don't think I did quite enough work to get an A but I do know a better strategy for the next exam. We have a microbiology lab exam this Friday at 11 a.m. and a plethora of test the following week. I need to update my wall calender with the upcoming test, as well as the ones we've already had. I can update here as well

10/16, Fri - Microbiology Lab Midterm

10/19, Mon -

10/20, Tue - Ortho Midterm

10/21, Wed - Philosophy Midterm

10/22, Thur -

10/23, Fri - Pathology Exam

Well, if that doesn't keep me busy and out of trouble then nothing will. I'm pretty certain we have another Physiology test coming up soon, maybe next Friday. I have a lot of work to do and better get moving.

Today's picture is of the Trendelenbergs Test. It basically test for weak muscles on either side of the hip. I picked this for a couple of reasons. One, I have a picture from my first Gross Anatomy class of this particular test on my closet door in the hallway. I think I may have missed a bonus question on a test which bothered me so I was determined not to miss it ever again. Two, we're covering this test in Orthopedics and three, I heard Dr. House, MD mention this test during an episode of House but it didn't make any sense and I think they might have just been throwing terms out and figuring nobody would know the difference. Maybe there's Trendelenberg test I'm unaware of but, for a bed ridden patient with tubes sticking out of them and clinging to life then I'm not sure this particular test would be warranted.

Tri-3, Wk5, Day 153 - Thursday

just a quickie here - got a Public Health test tomorrow, third period so not much time to study before the test at school. I friend from school mentioned that the PH test were harder than the microbiology test. I sure hope not. I think I'm going to get to bed early and get some alarms set for 2 a.m.

pic of the day... let me think...

today's pic includes the symbol as well as a saying from WHO - the World Health Organization, founded in 1945. Brazil proposed the idea and the motion was seconded by the USA.

Tri-3, Wk5, Day 152 - Wednesday

Made it through my physio II exam today and only have a public health test left this Friday to finish out the week. We have off next Wednesday for "Field Day" which is a regular event and one I really need (at least for the time off)

So ...two more days of class, two days off, two days of class, one day off, two days of class then two days off ...I like that schedule :)

Embryo is the big test for next week. I really need to get some sleep - to many days in a row of getting up at 3 a.m.

Tri-3, Wk4 & Wk5, Days 148, 149, 150, 151...

accounting for last Thur & Fri and for Mon and Tue of this week, week 5.

'bout ready to crash for a bit - not sure how I'm still up because I only got about 2 hours sleep last night. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze by on a couple hours tonight, not sure how well that will work but maybe sleeping in 'till 3 a.m. will be good enough.

Today we had a physio lab due, our first microbiology test of the trimester and I had my diversified practical. I know I got through the micro test and think the diversified practical went pretty well.

no pic for today - Physio II test is tomorrow and Public Health test on Friday, Embryo got moved to next Tuesday. I just need to get through tomorrow, do well on Friday then study my butt off this weekend then everything should be AOK ;)

Tri-3, Wk4, Days 145, 146, 147 - Mon, Tue, Wed

Not my best week w/ the focus. Gotta get it together. Just wanted to update the blog.

Today's picture is what I got when I googled the word "concentration". :)