Thursday, April 23, 2009

Renal Failure

Tomorrow is the first renal exam. To say I'm dreading it is the understatement of the era. For whatever reason, physiology exams make me physically ill. Nauseous even. My head starts pounding, my cheeks turn red, I feel light-headed. Its how I imagine I would feel if I were on my way to the electric chair. Or a good lynching.

I think its funny that when I take these exams, my hypochondria kicks in and I start experiencing signs of illnesses that are being described on the test itself. During cardio, I was definitely tachycardic. During respiratory, I felt pulmonary edema start to kick in. I'm psyching myself up to experience early signs of renal failure beginning somewhere around 9 am tomorrow. I'll just infuse myself with 60 some odd liters of a glucose and .45% NaCl solution. No? Damn, I should probably get back to studying.

On a happier note, we turned in our second biomechanics exam today. I'm almost positive that I will just about ace this class while learning absolutely nothing new. Aside from maybe my incredible showing in art history senior year, I'm not sure I've been able to claim this before. I'm strangely proud of this achievement.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Beginning

I feel like I spend most of my life in jail. By jail, I mean the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Basis Sciences Building. Basically, its a really long way of saying what every vet student is really thinking... JAIL. or PRISON, I supposed, because we are here for the long term. I make it sound worse than it is (slightly), but when the weather is 70 degrees and sunny, and you are enjoying it from your vantage point at a table next to the window, peering out between the blinds at the library... its a little depressing. Especially when you begin debating walking outside to throw a frisbee around versus memorizing the six injections you need for a nerve block in the hindlimb digit in a horse. Or can you do only four injections... whatever the answer, the end result doesn't change: Frisbee: 0, Horse Nerves: 1

Welcome to my world. I may be the worst person that I know at keeping in touch with my loving family and faithful friends, so I'm opening this window into my life. Maybe there are also some future vet students or even current vet students that will be able sympathize with me and maybe have a few laughs. I'm not sure this will be all that inspiring for any of you that may be planning a career in veterinary medicine, but if you want the realities, I think I'm good for that much. So... enjoy!