Decompression

I'm in that funny post-finals place where I'm exhausted, but still too charged from finishing that last exam to try and start relaxing yet, so I thought I'd post a little summary of this semester's courses.

Pathology
Path was our biggest class of this semester, and of our vet school career thus far, at a whopping 7 credits. We had class every day, and lab twice a week. We experienced quite the range of odors (I think the cow hoof infected with necrotizing bacteria was the worst) and sights, and I can't say I'll miss that lab, but it was really amazing to see all the changes that the body can make to try and adapt to diseases, cancers, injuries, or aging. The lecture component felt a bit like a whirlwind tour, since we had a different professor nearly every week teaching a different section of the course. Next semester we start clinical pathology, where we'll learn less about what we'd find on necropsy and more about what we'd expect to see in a live animal. I hope I remember some of what we learned this semester...

Parasitology
Parasit was our second hardest class, ending at a final list of well over 200 parasites whose names we had to know, their lifecycles, how to diagnose them, how to kill them, and how to keep animals from getting sick with them. Bottom line? Don't poop in cow pastures or pig barns, and always cook your meat thoroughly.

Epidemiology
They warned us at the beginning of the course that the majority of vet students hate epi. They were right.

Bacteriology
Sort of like parasitology with the long list of names, but thankfully bacteria don't have different kinds of lifecycles. The best part was talking about antibiotic resistance and how vets play a role in the development of things like MRSA.

Pharmacology
Tying in with Parasit and Bact, this semester's Pharm course was about anti-microbial agents, with a little bit of anti-cancer chemotherapy thrown in. I always enjoy our pharm courses. Our last lecture ended with a slide that said this:

History of medicine:

2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D. - That antibiotic doesn't work anymore. Here, eat this root.

Heh.

Clinical Skills III
Clinical Skills this semester focused mainly on our mini-rotations, a series of 2-hour blocks where they lets us invade the hospital. It was nice to get to know where each specialty is located within the hospital, and makes our fourth-year rotations seem a little less scary. The best rotation was surgery, where we got to watch surgeons do some crazy procedures and make them look at easy as clipping toenails. Maybe someday...

Zoo Class
We finished our third and final semester of zoo class. I'm going to miss getting to talk about lemurs and cranes and tigers, and all the crazy challenges of working with wild animals. It was a good break from our usual courses.

It was a good semester- a little heavy on the lectures and light on clinical application, but next semester will be much more lecture-oriented, so I really can't complain.

Time for a break!