vet language

We finished our first full week of classes today, which included five days of pathology. Pathology is our major class this semester, taking up 7 credits (compared to the 5 credits of anatomy or physiology last year, classes that pretty much consumed the bulk of the year). We have path lecture every day of the week, and both lecture and lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The main challenge right now is learning the language of pathology. Example:

• fibrous
• fibrinous
• fibrosis
• fibrin
• fibrinogen
• fibroblasts
• fibrosing

Or

• hematoma
• hemangioma
• hemangiosarcoma

... all mean very different things! The ultimate goal of pathology is to be able to look at a lesion and describe it, then use the description to decide what might be the cause. In practice, it means looking at dead animals, or parts of dead animals, finding the thing that don't look right, and deciding what that thing could be. It's been pretty interesting so far. It feels like a step closer to working with actual animals, since unlike the creatures we dissected in anatomy lab, the pathology specimens have known histories, ages, and owners.

Winnie the Pooh went to her vet yesterday for her annual checkup, and passed with flying colors- except for her teeth. She'll need to go back in in a couple of weeks to be anaesthatized and have her teeth cleaned. She also gets to get two of her least favorite things done while she's under- get her shots and have her nails clipped. I'm sure she'll come home groggy, but at least she won't have any idea what happened while she was sleeping! I got to brag about Winnie's Boundary Waters adventure, and the vet complemented Winnie's 90-beats-per-minute heart rate (a low rate for small dogs, especially considering she gets so nervous at the vet's office!), and said Win must be in very good shape. Good girl!