Brass tacks, revisited

(Warning: Obscure, self-obsessed technical rambling and rumination disguised as a planning session follows. Read at own risk.)

After thirty minutes of procrastinating, I've copped to the fact that it is time to obsessively plan the next 72 hours.

(I already planned what I am going to study today (Anatomy and PT science) and approximately how I am going to do that:

Lab: Two hours in the lab reviewing on my own, lunch break, official review session from 1-4, 2x2hr sessions in the lab tomorrow.

Anatomy book: Make flashcards of all the required muscles and review them, use Grant's Atlas of Anatomy to review bones, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. 8x1hr sessions. Maybe 10x1hr. Written test Tuesday.

PT Science: (Test is 75% post midterm, 25% pre midterm) Go over excel spreadsheets of muscle tests. Review notes. Review the book, because the professor likes to take questions from the sidebar boxes. Review the quizzes we took all term (because final questions frequently come from them). Finish my goniometry (joint range of motion) tests spreadsheet and review that. Review the notes I made before the last midterm. If I had more time, I'd try to answer the hand rehab questions I never got to. (Hand rehab. I swear I'd rather test software or scoop horse poop than do hand rehab. It is not my idea of a good time.) Uh... three hours today. Three hours tomorrow night. Three hours on Monday night.

Now for the obsessive anatomy planning part:

In anatomy, the practical will consist of 50% material from the last three weeks, and 50% things from BOTH MODULES. Anything that is currently tagged in the lab for review is fair game to ask us about. Fair enough--- all I need to do is look at it until I recognize it on sight, and that will take 4x2hr sessions.

Now, about that written test (60% post midterm, 40% pre midterm). New stuff we've never been tested on would reasonably be expected to comprise 50% of the 60%, and possibly more. It is:

Leg from the knee down (Sciatic, tibial, peroneal, deep peroneal, obturator nerve; arteries of the knee and below; popliteal fossa; baker's cysts; tarsal tunnel syndrome)

Knee (ligaments, patellofemoral mechanism, menisci, prepatellar bursitis, quadriceps, rotation of tibia on femur during knee flexion/extension, popliteus and plantaris muscles, hamstring injuries, Q angles, genu varum and genu valgum (bowlegs and knock knees respectively), pes anserine, total knee replacement).

Ankles and feet (bones, 4 layers of muscles, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels, medial and lateral plantar nerve, dermatomes, bunions, sprained ankles, hammer toes, mallet toes.)

Cranial nerves (they have renamed some of them, and the menmonic that begins "on old olympus' towering top..." does not work anymore). Muscles of the eyes. Muscles of mastication (chewing). Muscles of the tongue.

Head, Scalp, Neck (Triangles, muscles, thyroid gland, larynx, carotid) and eye (bones of the orbit, cavities of the eye, muscles of the eye), parotid gland, infratemporal fossa, facial nerve, TMJ.

Oral and nasal cavities and the pharynx. (Bones of the nasal cavity, muscles of the nasopharyngeal area, oral cavity, pharynx, nasopharynx, adenoids, oropharynx, soft palate, laryngopharynx. (This could be an adventure. I only have the barest clue what these things are.)

I can hear you all out there thinking, "WHY does she have to know THAT?" Well, if you are rehabilitating someone from a stroke, you need to know which cranial nerves are still functioning, so you test which eye movements and facial movements they have. If they can't talk or chew food, you need to know that too (and so does the speech therapist).

Stuff we'd already had one quiz on:

Uh.... I'm a little fuzzy on what is pre midterm and what is post midterm, because our schedule changed so much that the syllabus is not accurate. (is that a plausible excuse? I will label my notes "ON MIDTERM" after thais, so I know what's what at finals time!) Anyway, I'm guessing digestive system down is considered "post midterm":

Abdominal aorta
Viscera (liver, kidneys, intestines, pancreas, rectum)
Lumbar plexus
Ligaments of the pelvis and hip
Pelvic floor muscles ****
Sex organs for both genders
Ligaments of the uterus
Ischiorectal fossa ***
Femur and hip replacement
Buttock, thigh, patellar region
Hip flexors and posterior abdominal wall
Bladder and micturition reflex

Items with stars on them will prominently appear on the final, because they are medical problems the instructor personally has, and thus considers important, or sees lots of in practice.

So that means today looks like this:

Now: It is 8 AM.
Post-quiz anatomy (the first list) until 10 AM. (CRANIAL NERVES)
Grab a snack and go to the lab to review until 12:45.
come up for air briefly, then hit the official review session.
5 PM: Return, deal with the dinner issue, then back to post-quiz anatomy. (CRANIAL NERVES)
8 PM: Put in a couple of hours on PT science.
Review anatomy flashcards and CRANIAL NERVES before bed.

Tomorrow looks like this:

Pre-quiz anatomy and whole-module review until 10 AM (CRANIAL NERVES)
Lab session 10-12, then grab lunch
Lab again? or whatever's scariest and most confusing in the notes 1-3
Lab again 3-5 (taking a break if I've been in the lab since 1 PM)
Home and deal with the dinner issue, then PT science 6-9
Anatomy again after that, reviewing flashcards and CRANIAL NERVES before bed.

Monday: The instructor will likely close the lab on Monday morning so she can set up the practical. That means it's book-only after that.

Traffic irritation styles, and now I've seen everything

Alex, in traffic, to a recalcitrant driver:
"Hey, is there any PARTICULAR shade of green you're waiting for?"

Tim, in traffic, to the same driver:
"Look on the floor. You'll notice a silver pedal to the right of the one you're currently pressing. Push down on it. Thaaaat's right."

Gail, in traffic, to the same driver, a year ago:
"Go! Go! You know you want to! Do it! Accelerate! Take the risk!"

Gail, in traffic, after seven months of anatomy:
"Alright ma'am, I want you to dorsiflex your right foot, externally rotate your hip so your foot is positioned directly over the accelerator, extend your hip and knee, and plantarflex your foot so you press on the accelerator. Hold it! Hold! Don't let me push you!"

I know what you're thinking, and you're right: there are many ways in which I flow at right angles to the southern Zeitgeist, and probably always will: Door opening, southern dating, and the rules of engagement for traffic.

And from the department of now-I've-seen-everything: I saw a battered yellow station wagon rolling down the road, with one driver and two indeterminate large "somethings" in it.

Something #1, loose in the front seat, was a large yellow dog (perhaps a lab mix?)

Something #2, loose in the back seat, was a large black pig, complete with tusks. In a car, rolling down the street outside my house.