28 April 2006

Some of the Facial Nerves!


(Countdowns: Class Days - 2, Days until last exam - 14, Days to leave the island - 18).

To be quite honest, not too much has taken place since the last time I've written. Things have bogged down here at "Bob Marley State University" (as some have taken to calling SGU), and to illustrate the bogging down, I posted a picture of one of the many schematics on which I will be tested in the coming weeks. It was drawn on one of the chalkboards in the anatomy lab the other day by a woman who is now infamous around school as everyone I know has a copy of the schematic. (Don't tell her it's now on the internet!)

The good news, however, is that tomorrow is Saturday, meaning I (along with three friends) am going to have a home-cooked meal at one of our professor's homes. I'm reasonably excited about this, and it becomes all the more exciting when we found out that he is leaving after this semester to teach anatomy at a different medical school. Being one of our favorite teachers, had we known this prior to the auction (See previous post), there is no way we could have afforded the meal! Hopefully there will be some good pictures after the apple-pie, lobster bisque, steak and other good things that will be consumed.

I have also posted some pictures from golfing the other weekend, and they can be found in the "Golf Outing" under "My Pictures" to the right of the page. In the "three stooges" picture, you can see Andy (left) and Jeff (right), and the three of us will be roommates in the coming semester.

We went out to dinner for Easter (since we did not get an Easter Break, we though we should celebrate). So, we went to the Beach House, which is one of the nicer restaurants on the island. It was an excellent meal, and we happened to be seated next to the Dean of Students. He was having a great time with his wife, a number of students and some professors, and decided to buy our table a drink, too! So, of course we had to get a picture with the good doctor and his wife. (Interestingly enough, they have been at SGU since it was founded.) I have posted the pictures of that dinner as well.

Finally, after briefly watching some of the semi-annual "Four v. Four - Basketball Court Soccer Tournament", I have an observation (heavily researched) of life in Grenada. In order to have an event be official, there must be four things involved:
- First, there will be barbeque (chicken, pork, ribs, you name it).
- Second, there has to be a beet tent with "Carib" written all over it (and Carib must be offered along with Carlsberg and Smirnoff Ice - I have no explanation for the third choice).
- Third, there must be loud and obnoxiously angry reggae music playing.
- Fourth, and I'm convinced this step is crucial, there need to be Digicel (and oftentimes Cable and Wireless) banners all over the place. These are the two cell-phone services on the island and they are selling phones and plans at every opportunity!

Enjoy the pictures and make sure to avoid infections in the "danger areas" of the scalp and face (which can be found in the loose connective tissue of the scalp and the angle of the nose, respectively).

12 April 2006

Championship Weekend

(Countdowns: Class days - 12, Days until last exam - 29, Days to leave the island - 33)

In defense of the countdowns, it's not that I particularly do not like it here; it's more that I'm not home. It definitely begins to take a toll on one's abilities when one is missing the comforts of home, e.g., a couch, your own bed, home-cooked meals, the Masters on t.v., etc. Down here, the rut of daily living is just incredible.

The good news? That all changed on Friday night. For some reason, this weekend was a hyped weekend here at SGU. Perhaps the other terms were finishing up an exam, getting ready for the next topic, or whatever, I'm not quite sure, but there was some excitement to say the least.

Let me begin on Friday (7 April) evening. An evening like any other, until the beginning of the semi-annual "SGU Dodgeball Tournament". You heard correctly, dodgeball. Not only that, but this was billed as the "Biggest Tournament of the Semester!" I'm not so sure I can attest to that, having only been here for (almost) one semester, but it was mildly impressive to say the least. After receiving all the entries (at least 2o teams), it was go time on the basketball courts.

To briefly explain, our basketball courts are almost completely surrounded by a high fence in order to prevent the loss of basketballs to the ocean area. This makes the two side-by-side courts ideal for two separate dodgeball arenas. So, two matches take place at once and the crown goes wild and there is music and barbeque and intensity to rival any other. My team ('Ketone Bodies' - a new biochemistry term about which we all recently learned) was composed exclusively of 1st termers. It turns out, this is a distinct disadvantage!

We drew the popular, and "large", Team Vetch, composed exclusively of veterinary students who are finishing their 3rd year of classes on the island. This means that they are well-versed in the ways of the dodgeball craze currently sweeping the campus. We are about to be overpowered. The good news? We were told the rules appropriately. The bad news? We were told the rules appropriately after the match was over after we complained that we didn't know the rules.

Surprisingly enough, this would come back to haunt us in the end. We had one player left (not me) and they had two. Sadly, they caught one of his throws and it was all over from there. But, it was not without controversy as it turns out the refs (there were four of them - this is serious stuff, people!) were also vet-students. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do at this point. To add insult to injury, it was single-elimination. So, after a glorious, but short, effort, we were off to the dorms and more studying. But, now that we have experienced the phenomenon, we will be back with a vengeance like no other in our 2nd term. And we will probably have better head-bands next time (the store only had plain-old red/black, and, yes, we wore them with pride).

For our second championship of the weekend, I would like to congratulate the UW for now owning both the men's and women's NCAA hockey titles. How I could have possibly missed the party in Milwaukee is beyond me, but I suppose that is some punishment for something I've done in the past.

Our third championship took place on Sunday. Although many of you are thinking, The Masters, you would be mistaken. I am referring to the 'First Annual SGU Golf Tournament'. That is correct, there is a nine-hole course on the island and it’s crazy. At least five holes cross another hole, and some holes have greens in the woods that cannot be seen from anything less than 50 yards away. It was awesome. My future roommates for next term (I'll refer to them anonymously as Andy and Jeff) and I had tee-times for 7.00am. We thought that we were in for a win when everyone else on the bus was reeling from the 80's party the previous night (which we had sadly missed).

Boy were we wrong. On the first hole, we all lost a ball. In our defense, our caddy (a member of the group hosting the fund-raiser) did not even know where to find the tee or the green. In his defense, the tees aren't marked, and the greens aren't either. So, it was a challenge just to get to the tee-box. After the first few holes, we just had him play with us and paid a couple of local kids EC$20 to carry the only bag of clubs we had to share. Some words of advice from our new caddy:
- "You didn't hit it far enough. I told you it was a different club." (When the ball landed short of the green.)
- "I told you to hit it hard enough so it will get to the hole." (When the putts fell short.)
- "You hit it into the woods." (I think you can guess this one.)
- "You are in the sand-trap." (I think you get the point.)

Anyway, it was a great time; we played nine-holes, made some money for the Clinical Research Society and got free lunch. We are more than prepared to play in this outing again next year! And if it weren't for the first hole, we would have been leading the way!

Finally, although this occurred on Tuesday, it was a championship moment. They have an annual professor auction to benefit the local hospital and some professors offer up certain dinners and trips and whatnot to raise money. Four of us got together to buy one of our professor's offers: home-cooked meal by his wife, at their house, of our choice. Last year they had t-bones with lobster bisque, salads, apple pie and ice cream. Think we're excited about this prospect at all? His wife's cooking is apparently famous at the university and this meal usually is the best seller at the annual auction, we are feeling ready at any moment to go knocking on his door.

Anyway, make sure you are eating enough zinc and vitamin B6, otherwise you will never be able to digest your amino acids properly, and this could you some serious problems.

04 April 2006

To be a professor . . .

Today we had a surreal experience. I think it was an island experience, but one cannot be too sure. We have a master schedule detailing when and where all our classes, labs and small-groups (but not Clinical Skills classes!) will be held. Today we were scheduled for four hours of class: two hours of anatomy followed by two hours of embryology.

I know many of you are thinking privately, "Wow. Four hours of class! How exciting is that. Plus, he had anatomy lab this morning and was dissecting poor Newton's head for two additional hours of fun. And, he forgot to mention this, but I knew he was really excited to have gone to see a professor in his office hours before anatomy lab even started to answer at least ten questions that he had and some friends had come up with the night before regarding the COX-I and COX-II pathways in platelets and endothelial cells. I wish I could have a sweet day like that!"

Well, then one can imagine my surprise when after completing only one hour of lecture, our embryology professor decided that he would be "back tomorrow" for the second hour of the urogenital system. Any normal student would be upset just at the thought. Break up the urogenital system? Be still, my heart! I must know now!"

He must know something to which we were not privy. And so, while checking out a skull (we can check out human skulls . . . I know you're jealous!), we asked one of the other embryology professors, "Why the change?" To which he responds, "What change?"
- "On our schedule, we have two hours of embryo today, and none on Wednesday."
- "Not on the schedule on my desk. That's not what it says."
- "Well, when were you going to inform us of the change?"
- "C'mon guys, the schedule on my desk says, 'One Tuesday, one Wednesday and one Thursday.' You should know this!"

To which one of my friends was dying to respond, "But Professor B., when is my flight out of Grenada? I mean, the ticket is on my desk, don't you know? Why didn't you find out?" The thing is, the professor was serious. He genuinely did not understand why we were confused about the whole prospect. After further review, this was most definitely an island experience!

In other news, I was, in fact, a professor myself today. We had a teaching clinic on how to start IVs. I'm particularly proud of my occasional ability to find a vein while working at St. Mike's (and have caused the ordering of pizza and Taco Bell ... you know you did well when the reward was a Mexican Pizza ... on more than one instance from a certain doctor), and so was happy to have the opportunity to teach what I've learned to my fellow students.

It was an interesting experience. I am trying hard to remember how I ever learned how to do something so difficult. Or maybe it just looks difficult the first time. I volunteered myself in order to stick someone (I've been dying since I got here!) and, of course my luck, the guy with the least veins and, ahem....biggest, arms steps forward and volunteers. I found a vein to try, had the group feel it themselves and everyone says, "I don't know, isn't that a little small. I can't see it. Are you sure it's there?"

Oh great, what if I miss trying to demonstrate?? Well, thankfully I got it, but it was definitely a hard-stick. After everyone went through, one observation: Does everyone so timidly start their first IV? They barely got the needle into the skin and then stopped with the entire catheter still sticking out. Was I like that when I first started? All I can remember is not having to use the fake-arm (don't tell my boss) because of my willingness to work the night-shift. To all the arms I must have stuck while learning: "I'm sorry and thank you! I'm so glad to have learned it earlier and not have to learn by trying once a month while in Grenada!"