Breaking The Monotony (1/12-13/09)

(Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org)

 This week is abnormal in that instead of getting our afternoons off, we’re booked until 3 or 4 from Tuesday through Friday, in part because we have a major exam next Tuesday. Imagine learning about different types of cell necrosis (decay), and then immediately jumping into labs on what those necroses look like under the microscope and in anatomy specimens. Very fascinating, but after a bunch of “rushes”, it’s easy to get numbed to how wonderful what you’re learning really is. 

Thank goodness for Washington Winn. Wash, as he lets me call him, is a pathologist at UVM, and he has this habit of sitting back and being informative and practical, while taking time to tell you little stories and jokes. 

He led my lab this week. Fun time. In teaching us how to use Latin to determine what some of the words meant, for instance, he told us how he had a friend who likes to peruse the Oxford English Dictionary for words. One day, he noted that since “disgruntled” has the prefix “dis”, there must be a word “gruntle”. In fact, there is! He discovered it meant “to be in good humor”, i.e. to be happy. 

Wash then told us he’d get back on track in a minute, since he was almost done with his story. He then said his friend noted that the word had its origin from the word for “pigs snout”. His friend then hypothesized that the picture of complete contentment was a pig running around and dipping its snout in the mud.  

It’s things like having a lab with Wash that help make things a little out of the ordinary. 

*** 

No longer do I have to miss the days of looking at body parts in the anatomy lab. While we’re no longer going there to look at cadavers, we’re now going to the Gross Specimen lab to look at preserved body parts. So now if you want to see a cross-section of a heart with a thrombus in it, you can. 

The room is about the size of a bedroom. One side has glass, allowing you to look outside into the Med Ed hallway, so the lighting is good. And it’s well-ventilated, so you can walk in and not smell of formaldehyde. It’s really cool.   

*** 

We learn about thrombosis, which we’re told is (I am not making this up), “the process by which a thrombus is formed.” One student is overheard muttering, “That’s a terrible definition.” 

We also learn about coagulation disorders, cell necrosis, venous thrombosus, adaptive cell changes, eboli and infarcts. 

It’s a lot. Thankfully, I now have a study group, and we usually review the small group and lab sessions together. It helps you remember things when you have to reteach and rediscuss them with your peers. 

*** 

On Wednesday, Dr. Howe was in the middle of his pharmacology lecture. You know how these things are. 

Suddenly… 

“Can’t read my! Can’t read my! Can’t read my poker face!”  

One of our classmates unfortunately left his computer’s sound on, and for some reason it was now playing Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” as loudly as possible. 

Everyone, included Dr. Howe, pause and look in his direction. The student chuckles, obviously embarrassed. He tries to turn the volume down, but to no avail. After about thirty seconds, he grabs his laptop (still playing the song) and runs out of the lecture hall. It takes everyone about a minute to recover. 

Later the student walks back in, and even Dr. Howe pauses for a moment as the student retreats to his seat. We chuckle. 

*** 

In MSLG, we talk about doctors and money, which leads into a discusison about conflict of interests and health care costs in the US. I don’t have time to write anything too meaningful tonight, but we did read a fascinating article by Atul Gawande on the subject. 

I also go to a Palliative Care lunch panel, where they provide pizza and bring in several doctors to talk with us about what they’ve learned about breaking bad news to patients. Heading the panel is Dr. Bob Macauley. Always a pleasure to see him. 

Among what they tell us is to consciously be when delivering bad news. In other words, don’t remain emotionally detached. Let your patients sense that you’re there with them. They also tell us that you may be surprised by how people react. One doctor told us how he broke news of a fatal condition to a woman, and she grabbed his hand and thanked him. “I’ve had this back pain for so long,” she said, “and I couldn’t get anyone to believe me. They thought I was crazy. Now I know I’m not. I know why I  have it.” 

*** 

It’s official. I am now co-leading the Christian Medical and Dental Association, along with my friend Leslie. 

This turn of events is somewhat ironic. Faithful readers may remember I did not find the CMDA the friendliest of groups when I first joined. And right now, I am working through some personality flaws. So you’d think I wouldn’t be the best person to be part of the solution. 

But this is something I believe I’m called to do. Our group is fairly young. We’re still discovering how to connect Christian faculty to our group. (Yes, they exist.) And since I’m here for several years, perhaps God will use me to over the next few years to strengthen the group and make it useful for the Christians here.

We had an organizational meeting this week to talk about what we’d like to do this semester. The first-years decided to move from our fairly basic Bible study to practical, weekly conversations about how our faith relates to medicine and medical issues. It’ll be like MSLG conversations, but from a Christian perspective.  I’d secretly been hoping they’d do this, so I’m excited that they suggested it.

What excites me even more? One of the Christian doctors showed up to help guide our organizational meeting. He/she wisely sat in the background, and helped refine our ideas towards what might be most helpful for us. It’s good to know that Leslie and I are not in this alone.

Josh Pothen (UVM’s Meager Med Student)

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