the start of the crucible

Today I cut a heart out of a human body.  That might be one of the coolest things I have ever done!  This week began the "crucible" of medical school with the cardiopulmonary-renal module - heart, lungs and kidney.  Our anatomy professor described the lungs to us as being "capri-sun shaped" since the bottom surface is curved inwards.  As he continued to describe them, he said that they are also "boat shaped" since they are pointy on the front, like a ship's keel, and rounded on the back.  While I often find analogies a useful memory tool, this is what I was picturing:

We have had lectures this week by a number of renowned heart surgeons, including one today by Dr. William Devries, the first surgeon to implant an artificial heart.  He described that patient to us post-op, as the patient told his wife "even though I don't have a heart, I still love you."  That brought on a discussion of the emotional importance of the heart, which is documented as far back as Ancient Egypt where they believe that the heart would be weighed against a feather in order to determine their fate in the afterlife.

Dr. Devries also informed us that if he were to take a gunshot wound, he would prefer it to be in the right side of the chest.  This will simply result in a pneumothorax which is easily treated with a chest tube.  He argued that this would be better than being shot in the foot, as feet are quite necessary for ambulating and functioning in activities of daily life.  

Earlier in the week we had a number of lectures on arrhythmias.  This was introduced with the statement that, "you can also call these 'dysrrhythmias,' but that's just pretentious."  One type of arrhythmia is called second degree heart block, but it is also called Mobitz I or Wenkebach.  Our professor apologized that we had to learn 3 different names for the same thing, "Sorry about all this stupid terminology, there were a lot of Germans involved."  After learning about a number of arrhythmias, naturally we needed to learn the drugs used to treat them.   The drugs have a lot of complicated effects due to their mechanisms of action, and our professor explained that, "all anti-arrhythmic drugs cause arrhythmias."  Okay then...

Another fun fact from the week was that Vincent Van Gogh was believed to have suffered from digoxin toxicity.  Digoxin is used to treat atrial fibrillation and is derived from the foxglove plant, which Van Gogh depicted in many of his paintings.

Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Van Gogh's physician with a foxglove plant 

Additionally, an effect of digitoxicity is blurred vision with a characteristic symptom of seeing halos around bright lights.  Starry Night anyone?

my favorite painting might have more meaning than I previously knew

Anyone who has ever been in a lecture knows about "that guy" who always asks questions.  The question may or may not be relevant, it might be to show off his knowledge, or it might be something the professor has on his next slide, but regardless of the question, you know the guy I'm talking about.  We have a lot of question-askers in our class, and some of our new lecturers this week had some comments about them.  One professor said, "wow you guys have a lot of questions!  I've never had a class ask so many questions.  Questions are great."  Immediately a hand shot up, "I have a question!"  The professor chuckled and said, "I guess my reverse psychology didn't work."  Cue unanimous laughter.  Despite other professors' comments that "with all these questions I might not get through my lecture," or "I'm about to get to that on the next slide," the questions continue.