No Avoiding Tissue Tests

Sadness...

My piece of mail at school was my health insurance card.

Got home and checked my email. I got lots of junk email again, but nothing from anyone I specifically expected to email me. I guess, such is life and back to studying rather than surfing the net to avoid more upcoming 'tissue tests.'

Tor-Tilla the Soup

(pronounced like ‘Atilla the Hun’)

… makes it more fun to eat, like alphabet soup.

I do not believe that I went into detail about the things my parents smuggled on island for me.

And a second note, I got an email on Friday from the mailroom that said I had a piece of MAIL!!! Who ever sent it, THANK YOU and I will try to pick it up tomorrow! (The mail room has been closed the past few times I stopped by. It’d be my luck that it’s junk mail from the states.)

So, what dad smuggled: everything. 14 boxes of Kraft mac’n cheese (minus the 2 I ate over the weekend). All of my spices from home (so glad they evaded customs). The tortilla soup I’m eating now. (Mom took me to the store and we found CILANTRO! But it took 2 grocery stores before we could find cheese, go fig.)

AND a beef roast. Like really a beef roast. Walked it right thru customs with it; they didn’t notice nor care. Didn’t put it on a customs declaration voucher, oh no. There are laws against this for a reason. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the Foot & Mouth virus spreads 40 miles a day and infects all two-toed critters (cows, sheep, goats, deer). It’s not zoonotic (transmissible to people) like Avian Influenza is, but it shuts trade borders just the same, with equal or greater economic losses. I will happily note, however, that I cooked it and I ate it and I thought it was yummy. No more smuggling meat, fruit, vegetables, or anything that will get me into trouble onto St. Kitts though! Kapeash?!

We finally got to the heart today in class. I have no idea what he was talking about and I don’t have any idea how the blood circulates thru anymore. What he said was so completely backwards and disorganized, I will try my best to strike it from my memory. I know how the heart works, I know the parts, I know the order, I know about the hole in fetal hearts, the shunts, etc. He really made it far more complicated than it should have ever been, and our notes were 18-point font, which is absolutely unreadable. One thing he did have in the notes wasn’t a complete waste, but I will have to find a different professor to show it to me on a live dog (Onion is too quite of a dog to be a good candidate).

And really weird- I’ve broken out in a rash; like within the past hour. Itch itch itch. Haven’t eaten anything or touched anything weird… well, nothing out of the ordinary for me. What’s weird to most isn’t usually so weird to me, so it’s a matter of context. (Good example of this is my pet bread, who creeped my roommate out and now lives in my room.) The rash is all over the backs and sides of my legs… wait I think I figured it out… on my entire abdomen, my elbows, my left thumb, my right palm, and right fingers. Never mind, back to square one. I was thinking it might be something in my comforter like the Island detergent, but I didn’t wash it so it wouldn’t be that… and it’s under my clothes so it really can be that. Beats me, I’ll just scrub off in another shower.

(Wed Morning) Back to normal again.

Goats

The moment we've all been waiting for: Goats on Cars!

Sadness, one of the 11 goats was hit by a car Sunday morning, so we're down to 10.

Down to 9 if the dog comes back and eats the scared baby goat that pooped all over my porch.

(Notice the dents on the roof of the dark car.)

It's a tough life being a stinky island goat!

Please keep Mrs. Clark in your thoughts

To all my blog fans, I have some bad news. Last week Mrs. Carolyn Clark went into cardiac arrest while speaking at a scholarship awards ceremony. Fortunately, two doctors in the audience resuscitated her and she was taken to the hospital. From my understanding, she underwent surgery to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) placed in her. After she was released from the hospital, she climbed the stars at her house and her new ICD sent a jolt of electricity thru her body! She is back in the hospital now.

For those of you who do not know Mrs. Clark, she is a wonderfully warm person who took it upon herself to graciously host the post funeral arrangements for my little brother last month. I am indebted to both the Prothro and Clark Families for their kindness and support over the past 30 years.

Please keep Mrs. Carolyn Clark in your thoughts.

HOW THE HEART WORKS: Follow the diagram, double click image to enlarge, (MOM) you might need to Ctrl N to put it in a new window so you can follow along!!! The numbers in the diagram show the path of blood flow in order thru the heart. Blue areas are without oxygen; red areas are with oxygen; R= right; L= left. Hearts work like this: blood comes from body in veins to the heart, to the R atrium, to the R ventricle, to the lungs to get oxygen, from the lungs with oxygen, to the L atrium, to the L ventricle, and out to the head and body in arteries. Cardiac nodes are basically large groups of nerves that control the heart. The SA node is of paramount importance because it triggers the heart to contract (beat), while the AV node causes the electrical signal sent from the SA node to slow down. This is WHY the atria and ventricles do NOT beat in unison and WHY we hear the slightly staggered “lub-dub” of a heartbeat.

ICD’s are designed for people that have a heart that beats dangerously fast, has ventricular tachycardia, or is prone to ventricular fibrillation. The ICD is implanted under the skin of the left shoulder and has two leads (paddles/sensors) inside the heart: one on the AV node and the other in the bottom of the R ventricle. ICD’s work by stimulating the AV node to slow the electrical signal sent by the SA node, thereby slowing the heart . ICD’s also function to maintain that both ventricles beat simultaneously AND after the simultaneous beat of both atria.

Have I lost anyone yet? The ound we hear is really from the heart's valves opening and shutting, but I'm trying to be simple. I could really go into specific details about depolarization, voltage gated ion channels, calcium release, cardiac and smooth muscle receptors, carrier proteins, etc, if anyone needs me to, thanks to my Aggie education!

Other devices: pacemakers are designed to speed up slow heartbeats (SA node), while cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT’s) is aimed at treating heart failure. Also, cardiac arrest is slightly different from a heart attack. Usually a heart attack has warning signs like nausea, chest pain, numbness, and if all the symptoms are ignored, the patient goes into cardiac arrest, which is when the heart actually completely stops beating!

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor YET, nor am I familiar with Mrs. Clark’s specific circumstances. I am going off hearsay (from my mother).

Dumpster Diving in Gross Anatomy

This has been a long week and it's almost over. My dad and Linda left Saturday when I was in anatomy lab. My mom and Josh left today when I was in anatomy lab. The good news is that I have tons of stuff and you can ask me anything about the thoracic limb!

Our first exam (gross anatomy) was today. For those of you who don’t know what gross anatomy is, well it’s gross because it stinks, and since we’re vet students and not med students, we each get a dead dog, hence the anatomy part. (That’s not really an accurate description, but will suffice in lay terms for now.)

Everyone else got a dog from the states, except our group. She was fresh, as of… what day are we in school? She started to rot last week so we put her (and this is the technical part) in a trash can out back in the sun FILLED with formalin (puppy pickler). Well, the lab tech forgot to take her out 4-12 hours later, so when I went to look for her, around noon on Sunday, in the heat, she was still in the vile dark brown vat ~40 hrs later. So, I managed to pull most of her out, put her on a gurney, wheel her inside, then realize that I was missing a leg… not good since that’s what we’ve committed to studying these first few weeks of school.

I go back outside. I stare into the brown liquid almost 4 feet deep. It does not look good. I chicken out and go get a boy to help; it’s just too gross. So this poor guy and I are fishing for this leg WITH a tree trimmer IN a dumpster full of pickling around back in the midday heat breathing the fumes. He finally gave up too, dove half way in, and after what felt like many seconds, retrieved my pickled leg. The good news is that my dog will last all semester now! I named her Onion because she smells so bad that she makes everyone’s eyes water, and, like an ogre, she has many layers (since we will be taking her apart piece by piece). I can’t even imagine how terrible med school would be. We were talking about how grateful we were that we got (naked) dogs and how awkward it would be to chop up (naked) people. Ewww.

So, my gross test in anatomy: I have committed to memory every region, bone, vein, artery, nerve, lymph node, muscle and it’s origin, insertion, function, and innervation. I’m pretty proud of myself since it was a lot of work. Out of 30 questions (38 if you count the 8 questions with a part B) I missed one part A, possibly one part B, and #30: the ungual process (google it). That’s a 92 by my calculations! I’ll find out tomorrow, but it sure feels nice to be so well prepared. Ross is definitely the right choice because these professors really go out of their way to help each individual student and the facilities are actually quite nice. Everyone has such a wonderfully positive attitude too (except my roommate); I just love it here (and it’s an island in freakin’ paradise)!

PS: New cars came from Japan today too! On this huge weird-lookin’ tanker boat thing that I’ve never seen the likes of before! I took a pict, so when I have time I’ll post it.

PPS: One of my friends in 6th semester has to spay a real dog next Friday, so Onion has graciously volunteered to get spayed one night this next week too!

Shanty Town!

Now that my parents are safely on a plane here and can’t check this blog, this is my real back yard (btw, these picts don't due it justice):

There were THREE break-in’s the day we registered for classes, two of which were in my apartment-house-complex. When I arrived, I couldn’t lock my back door OR unlock my front door. AND we had an attempted break-in today on my roommate's back door (campus security is here now). I feel safe though; besides, everything is fixed and I have burglar bars. People here are poor (or crazy) so they steal clothes or computers, not precious vet books and supplies, and there is no violent crime.

This should be an amusing weekend as my parents find out where I live and my 5-minute trek to school. Let’s hope the goats stay off their rental car!

My New Pet...

I'm growing bread! I think anyway. I got the recipe here: http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm but I did cheat and add yeast. Wow it's great! It is very active and has bubbled up all the way to the top of the jar and attacked the tv! And it's only an hour old! I think I might eat half of it tonight for dinner. I haven't decided what to name it yet, but it's definitely a him. I can tell because he's quiet and smells like beer.

I pulled the ol' crock pot out. The guy in my Physiology class (with a PhD from Yale) took me to the store today. I bought some leafy green thing I've never seen before, called watercrest, and added that, fresh garlic cloves, the onions from the Vegetable Guy, and misc frying-chicken-parts (the thigh box) to the crock pot. It's taking a long time to cook.

Last night I went to the Chicken Lady who made conch soup. She's a really good cook, like really good. Some of you don't know, but I don't like fish or potatos. Conch is basically a giant ocean snail and if cooked incorrectly is quite rubbery. This soup was good and creamy, not at all fishy, and had lots of interesting vegetables in it. That was $8EC (<$3US).

The Perpetual Camp-Out

The neighborhood saw my unmentionables swaying on the balcony clothesline this afternoon. No biggie, none of us have dryers, and I’m lucky, I have a washer! I started the load right after school, so ~3:30 pm, done at 4pm and on the line. Aparently 100% cotton takes 100% longer to dry, because that’s all that’s out there now. Hopefully my T-shirts won’t get stolen in the middle of the night. I felt guilty putting my six Victoria’s Secret Body Collection bras out on the line. At $50 a pop seems like they deserved a little better.

The Vegetable Guy and the Meat Guy came to campus today-- Ross’s little ‘local farmers’ market.’ The Banana Guy didn’t come. I got 4 big island tomatoes, a huge cucumber, and 6 small onions for $10EC ($3.72 US). I thought the Vegetable Guy and the Meat Guy were the same until I got home and the neighbor excitedly asked if I gotten fresh meat from the Meat Guy. I finished my leftover chicken from the Chicken Lady today as well. See? Who needs a car when the food comes to you!

What’s even better-- my pizza story. Okay, so I get this recipe off the internet (and cross referenced it with a dozen other pizza recipes from the internet). I can’t find yeast at the store so I buy Pillsbury “Best” self-rising flour. Add 1 1/3 cups chilled water, add a splash of vegetable oil, then add the 2 cups flour the recipe calls for. I turn the oven on, start mixing the dough. It’s not doing the dough thing; I add more and more and more flour until I had almost 6 cups (not what recipe called for).

I check oven. Oven not on. Oven is gas; not good! I go to neighbor’s apartment. Oh wow was lighting that oven’s pilot light the scariest thing I’ve ever done! It was way in the back and not at all obvious, and I only had ONE match.

So back to the pizza: I cut the dough in half- better save some for later. Add more flour and flatten (smush) it to fit in a frying pan (remember I’m camping here and logic went out the window when I boarded the plane). I add my pizza sauce, cut up my block of cheese, put it in the oven for 45 minutes, and WA-LA-PRESTO! 3 hours since I started the whole endeavor, an english muffin with pizza sauce and cheese!!! I don’t know what I did to screw up the pizza crust; goes to show I am not domestic at all. I’ve been using the rest of the dough in the mornings as breakfast with homemade gooseberry jam I purchased from a cab driver.

When I find a good pot, I will (attempt) grow the seeds from the tomatoes I just bought AND the Texas wildflowers a friend gave me to colonize the island. Should be another great big fun mess! Now, back to studying...

Pictures as Proof

Everyone is demanding picts, so I have been uploading (for many hours now) several picts. They aren't working on this blog for me though, so I also put them on my website http://groups.msn.com/karlamalie/pictures if anyone would like to see where I live, my room, my roommate's room, our bathroom, our kitchen/living area, and our view... oh yea, and there are two in there of me!

My First Day of School...

All I can think of is, woo-hoo I'm in vet school!!! So far so good. Retrieved 2 out of the 3 text books that I did not receive last week, one left to pick up maybe by Friday, but that's ok because they are HEAVY. Had Nutrition at 8am, and he gave us the wrong note set. At 9 am was Micro Anatomy (Histology) and we were given every note packet for this semester, except today’s! It's a holiday here in St. Kitts, but everything seems like it's smoother than not, and it is pretty here.

Wasn't really hungry for lunch at 11am, but thought I'd buy a can of coke, until it was $3.50EC ($1.30US). Yikes! Physiology at noon was very interesting and combined with the 2nd semester students. Gross anatomy was supposed to be at 1pm, but the room was double booked, and so we started at 2pm. For the next TWO hours I sat through what must have been one of the most boring, although important, lectures. Cranial, caudal, anterior, posterior, dorsal, ventral- I think I've got it. After class I started to check my email at the computer lab, then we were all kicked out (Kittitian holiday). And then, with my two new gigantic books and notes from every class for most of the semester (80lbs) began to trek up the mountain to my house. I had to stop three times before I even got to Ross's front gate. I must have looked like I was struggling because someone stopped and gave me a ride home.

And the good news, my roommate is out of her little spell (PMS) and being sociable again.

Paradise has an address, for $8,493.73!

Orientation week should really be called the week of partying. Through out the week we had a Ross student as an orientation leader and our personal taxi driver. Monday the cafeteria on campus fed us while we got ID's, bank accounts, and set up our cable and internet.

Tuesday we were again fed breakfast, had an introduction to living off campus, and were fed hotdogs and such. I was also able to pick up 4 of the 7 books I ordered, all quite heavy.

Wednesday one of the professors, Jane S., made muffins and a dozen other amazing breakfast delights. We filed off to the auditorium to listen to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs and a 7th semester student welcome us to Ross. Then a Kittitian businessman gave us the history of the island. Later we learned the four rules of the computer lab: don't give out your password, no porn, the bandwidth cannot support a small personal business, and something else important which I have forgotten. Our security talk included the proper pronunciation of Lynell (Lynn-nell) Nolan's name, head of security, and that Ross security is better than 911. Amusingly, this is something we have discovered this week! Wednesday's lunch was Chinese.

Thursday was the "day to tie up loose ends" and my roommate slept ‘til noon, making me miss the beach! She wanted to get the lease signed and get the electric switched over to our name, neither of which were accomplished. I did go on the island tour with my group, led by our knowledgeable taxi driver, Uncle Millie. The entire island is quite nice.

Friday we again had breakfast made by Dr. Jane S, then had our personalities examined and grouped by the school counselor. For lunch we hoped in out respective cabs and headed to Brimstone Hill (mountain!) for lunch at the fort.

Saturday was the catamaran trip, and it was great! Three catamarans for our class of 82 (8 of whom in vet prep) plus associated parents, spouses, and professors. While snorkeling we saw a turtle and tiny jellyfish. We had lunch on Nevis next to the Four Seasons Resort. They really spent a lot of money on each student this week getting us acquainted with the island.

Today we registered for classes. I owe $8,493.73 for this trimester… which excludes the $1000 I have already paid and the scholarship for 25% off tuition. The Kittitian businessman’s welcome from Tuesday still sticks in my mind, “Paradise has an address, it’s St. Kitts! Welcome!” –Denzil Crooke