Saturday, October 08, 2005
A Grease-Monkey With a Higher Degree
If you’ve known me less than ten years, you may not know that in high school, I really wanted to be a mechanic (specifically, an airplane mechanic for the Navy or something). I was trying to enroll in the school’s automotive maintenance class, but my parents insisted that their little girl wasn’t going to hang around with burn-outs and become a "grease monkey."
Being only seventeen, I either was foolish enough to think parents could dictate this, or I just wasn't willing to put up a fight--I don't remember which--so I went on to pursue other career paths.
But the automotive itch didn't go away—in 1997, while working as a technical writer and special ed teacher, I aced my first semester of Automotive Service at COD state (a.k.a. UCLA, the University Closest to the Lombard Area). I worked as a general service "grease monkey" part-time for over a year. I even got my own grease-monkey shirt with the shop name and my name embroidered on it and everything! (I should have stolen one as a memento.)
Anyway, the whole reason I bring this up is because the insides of cars still interest me. As I was listening to
Car Talk a few weekends ago (every Saturday morning on NPR!) they read a letter they received from a medical student. The student explained how one of his professors used a clip from Car Talk to demonstrate the diagnostic process.
So on a week that has left me exhausted, cranky and wondering "why the hell am I here," I am reminded I am just right back where I started. Going to diagnostic rounds and performing surgery--they're just like working on cars.
Both medicine and mechanics are all about understanding the inner workings of a body and its systems, from the big moving parts right down to the physics, fluid mechanics, chemistry and molecular processes. It’s all about being a presented with a problem, solving the mystery as to the cause of the problem and finding the solution that will fix the problem without causing other problems. It's about leaks, abnormal sounds from under the hood, misalignments, breaks, trauma, aging, wear and tear, contamination, accumulations, and big fat unsolved mysteries.
After two years of sitting on my ass, I get to go back to being a bit of a grease monkey--only this time using sterile saline and glycerin-based lube--to open up and fix things. I'm learning to understand the different systems and common problems to become a good diagnostician. So it seems to me, after only an additional 3 years of pre-med and 4 years of veterinary school (and the associated debt), I'll finally get to be a mechanic after all.
So, here's my working list of auto systems and their medical counterparts:
- Engine, combustion, battery, alternator: cardiopulmonary, energy (e transport chain?)
- Exhaust system: respiratory and excretory
- Transmission, brakes, belts: muscular
- Frame, axles, boots, shocks, steering: musculoskeletal and joint
- Gas tank/fuel line: digestive
- Body: skin, integument
- Radiator, cooling system: thermoregulatory
- Computer systems: homeostatis, autonomic nervous system
Well, time to go--
Car Talk starts soon!
Friday, October 07, 2005
Halfway through!
Yes, we're almost halfway through the semester, and the first half of the class is also halfway through Junior Surgery lab.
Of the five exams we've taken so far, we've only received results from two, so I'm not qute sure how the sesmester is going perfomance-wise. Surgery has been going well for our team so far, althogh I'm pretty disappointed that neither of the dogs we worked on were adopted.
I got to spay the puppy we had this week--she was a 13-lb coon-hound mix, black and smooth with velvetey floppy ears and brown on her eyebrows, nose, chin and paws. Very sweet and playful, I hope she gets adopted from the shelter soon. . .
I was so proud of myself after surgery--I had completed the procedure through a nice little 3.5 cm incision, and then when we were all done, we had to have a resident double-check everything inside. Of course, we got Dr. B, who has BIG hands.
"How can you see anything through this
keyhole incision?" he asked as he opened the dog up another two centimeters so he could stick his thick, shaved-ape fingers in. My cute tiny incision that I was so proud of was now made HUGE on this tiny little puppy.
Lesson? I've always hated being short and "small," but now I realize that having small hands can be a good thing.
"They're called fingers, but, yet, they don't fing. Noodle that one for a while."
--Franklin Sherman, The Critic
Sunday, October 02, 2005
. . .Like 7th Grade Girls. . .
It turns out I (as well as another colleague of mine) am the subject of gossip once again. Last year, the rumor was that I was failing second year--I guess I was too vocal about my exaggerated dismay at my one bad exam grade (that kind of thing doesn't embarass me) and some folks decided to jump to conclusions and spread rumors.
Those same folks are at it again, not getting their facts straight, jumping to conclusions, judging, and yapping their jaws. Why? I don't know. For attention? Maybe. Because they just like to talk? Probably. Drama is fun if you're a drama queen, I guess.
What to do. Get mad? No--as long as it stays harmless. Annoyed? Sure--who woudn't be? Amused? Why not--I guess I could revel in the fact that someone finds me worthy gossip fodder. . .
It's weird knowing that people who don't even know you are watching you, hanging onto every word you utter, using their creative energies to fill in the blanks, and talking about you over and over again.
So far it's been harmless, but we need to grow up here, guys. It's just not cool. Find another hobby.
The real kicker: the gossip queens are actually the most "blue-collar" guys in the school,
manly men, and they're once again acting like a bunch of (pardon the sexism) . . .
girls.
Vet school never ceases to amaze and entertain.
