Return of Finals Week

(There are twelve modules, this is finals week 3 of 12.)

Current standings:

Biomechanics:
Average first half's grade (87%) with second half's grade (95% so far, 40 of 102 points awarded for second half, 10 point practical and 52 point final to go). My calculations are that I need a 93% for the second half of the course to get an A- (90%) for the entire course.

Physiology: Currently at 89%, with a 65 point final (out of 140 total points) to go. That is going to be some final. By my calculations, I need to score a 91% to make 90% for the course.

Human Life Sequence: Currently at 96%, and I can score as low as 80% on the final and still get an A-. Not so bad.

PT Science: Currently at 89% with about 60% of the points yet to be awarded (one muscle test video, one practical, two small quizzes, one large final). I estimate I need to score 90% of the available points to make an A- here.

Anatomy: Current score 81%. I estimate I will bust tail and score 75% on the written exam and 90% on the practical (which is what I usually do), for a final grade of 83%.

Bear in mind: I need to keep a minimum GPA of 3.0. (80-83%). An A- is a 3.7. A B+ is 85-89%. Really, I don't need anything more than a B+. The rest is for my own entertainment and my own ethics-- the point is to learn as much as I can, so I am excellent at caring for people.

And the penultimate cadaver posting

We got to see the death certificates for our cadavers today.

I probably ought not to mention the name of our cadaver, but I can say that she was an 87-year-old former legal secretary from South Carolina. She died of pneumonia. She donated her body. (in some states, wards of the state get donated to labs like ours after death.)

Random thoughts, because I'm still trying to make sense of it:

1) So a former legal secretary from South Carolina, who I never met, taught me more about anatomy and the effects of aging than any textbook ever could... even though she never actually met me.

2) I saw and met that person, and I know her body, at a level she never got to see. (She never saw her own heart, her own sciatic nerve, her diaphragm, uterus, or great saphenous vein, and it's probably very good that she did not. I won't ever see mine either (at least I sincerely hope not) but now I can picture them.

3) If you believe, as I do, that life experiences and emotions are stored in the body as areas of tightness, restriction, and pain... and that the way we take care of ourselves and feel about ourselves is mirrored in the way we look, and act, and stand, and walk, and what we eat.... then I've had the opportunity to see the accumulated choices of an entire life, like a book available to read once you learn its language. I'm having a little trouble reconciling that wealth of information with the bare details: Legal secretary, age 87, South Carolina.

The bottom line: This woman donated her body to science hoping to do some good. She did. She may never know how many people she helped.

The ultimate cadaver posting (that would be the last one) will probably be all about the final practical, which will be comprehensive over both modules.