Everyone poops ... and pees too

...unless they have some obstruction or neurogenic condition, but then I guess it'd be more of a dribble, constant flow or... uh.. too much info?

So, as you can sort of guess, these past few months have been our bodily function blocks, otherwise known as Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary. Intestines and kidneys! Diarrhea and constipation! Poop, pee, poop, pee... and more poop! Hurray!

Okay, so I know there's more to it than that. Obviously... it's part of the reason why we've been MIA for so long. Sorry! We're okay, we've been here, just stressed and overwhelmed with lectures and assignments and exams and research projects, and life... but surviving though. The courses have been intensely detail-oriented, and GU especially has been particularly cerebral. Take today's lecture on proteinuria, or protein in the pee, as an example: there are two types, micro and macro, which may be transient, orthostatic or persistent. Now, persistent proteinuria can have 4 different kinds of proteins excreted, one of which is glomerular proteinuria, which can have primary or secondary causes which in turn have their own bazillion possibilites, etc, etc... You get the point. And that was only HALF the lecture! We still had to go through hematuria (blood in your pee) which had its own long, convuluted flow chart... kinda like glomeruli and nephrons! (Oh gosh, I'm nerdy). I felt like I was in a real-life choose-your-own adventure story, except every story seemed to end in glomerulonephritis. I guess it is as the docs love to say, "Clear as mud, no?"

Along with all these brain-frying lectures have been our clinical skills sessions. They've mostly been really helpful and help us consoldidate what we've learned (or were supposed to have learned last year... *cough* MSK *cough* anatomy) thus far. And all the docs (specialists in whatever speciality we're learning that week) have been really good... at least when we've had them (let's just say our pediatric sessions were spent mostly playing with the cute babies, and when asked by the parents whether we wanted to examine anything, it was replied with a prompt 'Uh no, that's okay.')

One thing about the ever-prepared medical student in clinical skills is that I get asked a lot for supplies. Paper, gum, pens, highlighters, and hand-cream. Yeah, hand-cream, because all that hand-washing and MRSA prevention does make one's hand get kinda rough. I shouldn't be surprised, but I just didn't anticipate from my guy colleagues (boo...how sexist of me!). At today's cardio session:

S
Hey Stuff, do you have hand-cream I can borrow?
Stuff
Sure... uh, but it's scented. Is that okay?
S [hesitating slightly]
Scented?... like girly scented?
Stuff
Um... yes, yes it is
S
Uh..... it's some fancy pefumey stuff isn't it? Okay, well thanks anyway.
[30 seconds later]
S [looking at his hands]
Actually, can I get some of that?
Stuff [handing over the lotion]
Sure!
Dr. Cardio
Okay guys, let's go examine the patient
[S walks out first, a scent cloud of Vera Wang by Vera Wang trailing]
S
Oh man
Stuff
Hey at least you've got supple skin now

So if you ever smell a bunch of med students smelling like Vera Wang, well you know where they go it from.


P.S. New skill I have perfected this year.... sleeping in lecture... I am awesome at it... Truffles, what with your grunting yourself awake and dreaming about clapping in class, have some practicing to do. =P

Countdown to X-Mas Break: 3.5 weeks!