Space, School, and Swallow Tests

Whoa. It’s been a while, huh? I thought that I’d have more time to write over the summer, but I ended up playing video games and making a third trip back to the Kennedy Space Center. Remind me to start writing more about space. Maybe this blog will have a dual focus: anatomy AND cosmology!

School is currently underway, and it’s more intense than I anticipated, but that’s okay because I appreciate a good challenge. We’re only three weeks in and I feel like I’ve already learned a lot. I’ve even seen some really cool procedures during my clinical days—right now I spend three days in the classroom and two days in the radiology department.

On my first day of clinicals, I watched a swallow test. It was a fluoroscopy exam, which means that the x-ray was taken in real-time so I could see what the structures of the mouth and throat looked like in real-time. Not a bad way to start off the semester! I found this video of a swallow test on YouTube in case you’re curious.

Since then I’ve had the privilege of observing radiation therapy, CT, and a special procedures case in which a balloon was inserted into the vein of a patient’s arm. All of this is in addition to general radiography (x-rays). By mid-October I should be taking my first chest ray! Also, I’m really looking forward to checking out MRI and my eventual rotation through surgery.

As for classes, I’m really digging radiation protection because it’s very science based. It lightly touches on the physics behind it all, and I can’t wait until we dive in completely in our upcoming physics class. I wish that I were enjoying my anatomy class more. This semester, we’re devoting an entire class to the skeletal system and its anatomy/physiology. It’s off to a slow start, so hopefully I’ll reignite my interest in the coming weeks.

The only downside is that I’m having a difficult time managing my time. It’s hard to balance my school workload with that of my job. Sometimes I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water. I need a better system, but I’m working on it. Speaking of, I should probably get back to studying!

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