Hey Med School! I thought that was you!

Thank god for clinical correlation lectures, teamwork in the anatomy lab, simulation centers, and observations of the patient interview! I'm writing this today... but it was actually yesterday that made me say, "YES! This is why I'm here!" Everything we had been learning about and dissecting in the thorax started to make sense and became relevant medically.

Dr. Yang, a top thoracic surgeon, did some show-and-tell about common, and crazy, surgeries of the lungs and heart. He gave the history of the surgery (they used to fill an empty lung sac with ping pong balls) and then gave us the run down of how the problems are fixed now. The amazingly cool part was that I followed what he was saying!!! I'm sure he didn't use every medical word he could have - but he did describe how the internal thoracic artery running just laterally to the sternum can be removed and used in coronary artery replacement surgery to repair the blood vessel that supplies blood to the heart muscle itself. Anyway... Dr. Yang's lecture made me feel like I was finally learning something :)

Working on any team is a challenge, and in anatomy lab, we are working on a team standing over a cadaver, dissecting tiny nerve in a rather small thorax. Sometimes there are too many cooks in the kitchen (yes, we wear white aprons!). Yesterday (and actually today also) we worked so well together! We found and cleaned off the aortic arch and the branches to the rest of the head and neck, we found both vagus nerves, the carotid arteries, and many other really cool structures! The excitement and cohesion were palpable (as were the arthritic vertebra).

The simulation center did not disappoint. First we were taught and practiced CPR on an adult, child and infant mannequins (compressions should be 100 times per minute, or to the song Stayin' Alive, demonstrated here in The Office). Then we saw how use a laryngoscope to insert a breathing tube into a patient along with the fiberoptic bronchoscope that's used to visualize a patient's trachea, bronchi and lungs. The last station introduced us to Sim Man, a breathing mannequin that has a medical problem and responds to your attempt to fix it. He had a collapsed lung and we practiced inserting a needle between the ribs (intercostal spaces) to allow the air to escape! As of today, I can't imagine doing that to an actual patient in distress, but Sim Man was good practice :)

Lastly, we observed a doctor interview a patient to learn proper communication techniques. This completely rounded out the day that made med school real. This was a 57 year old woman with bone marrow cancer. She told her story from beginning to end over 45 minutes. It was clear that she placed a lot of trust in Dr. Shochet, and that she respected him. I feel grateful to have these experiences to help me learn how to be a compassionate and competent doctor.

And after a long day, I even got some quality time with my husband! Of course, knowing that I hadn't yet showered after spending a good 4 hours in the anatomy lab, he did say, "Um, you smell a little bad..."