Night Four

Sorry I was le'tired the other night so I didn't post this one.

After a ridiculous amount of difficulty during the day, I showed up to class. We went over stuff like how the heart works (er...something about... well I know the left side pumps blood to the whole body and the right pumps blood to the lungs... that's all I remember - this is bad, we're being tested on that) and the respiratory system. And covered some stuff about nerves and the endocrine system (we spent a grand total of ONE PARAGRAPH on that. Thankfully we'll be covering that again in later chapters).

Then we got to play with blood pressure cuffs!

Er. I mean. We got to...very seriously be instructed on how to use them.

What'cha do is find the pulse-point above the elbow and apply the cuff, keeping it level with the heart. There's even a neat little label on the cuff that says "ARTERY" with an arrow. It makes me laugh.

Then, you tighten the little dial on the top of the black...er...perfume-squirter thing. And then you pump that sucker up to 160 (higher with older patients since they tend to have higher blood pressures). Then you turn the dial sliiiiiiightly to the left and let the air slowly ninja out. And listen closely on the stethoscope. Suddenly you'll hear the heartbeat SUPER LOUD. That's when you check to see where it started. Then you listen intently and let the air keep whispering out. Suddenly the beat will stop being so loud and you check again. My BP is around 90/60, which isn't worrisome because I'm so tiny. It WAS worrisome a few months ago when it was like 140/90 or something insane like that. Methinks I was having a panic attack when they checked that. O_O;

Then they let us out two hours early. It was righteous. We're going to be doing our CPR certification tonight (Night Five) and Monday (Night Six). That will be very exciting. Whoo-hoo. -waves hands-

Also. Here's the Skeleton stuff I learned. Let's see how many I can get, yes?

1. Cranium
2. Mandible (the top jaw is the Maxilla by the way)
3. Clavical
4. Sternum (which ends in the Xyphoid process)
5. Humorous
6. Ribs
7. Spine
8. I believe this is either the pelvis or the pubis. Not sure there.
9. Radius
10. Ulna
11. Carpals
12. Metacarpals
13. Uh...fingertips? WTF is this doing here?
14. Femur
15. Er. Knee? Crap I can't remember.
16. Fibula
17. Tibia or Tibula or whatever
18. Tarsals
19. Metatarsals
20. ...toe...tip...bones? WTF?

Okay so the things I need to know for the test that I don't - 8 and 15. The other two, 13 and 20, won't be on the test so I don't give a darn lol.

So there you have it. Things I know! I can't believe I remember this. But I tend to sit there and poke my bones when I get bored muttering the names. ...ohmigod, am I studying!? LIES. I must stop this immediately! Someone call for help!

Alriiiight. Four days of class and I can take a mean pulse, watch people breathe, and check blood-pressure. I also know where your bones are, unless you need help with your knees in which case you're screwed 'cause I don't know the fancy name for that. (-looks it up- Patella! That's it. Oh and 13 and 20 are "Phalanges." Whatever. -huff- And they say it's Pelvis...cool, then I'm rockin' - I think the pubis is the thing underneath the coccyx (tailbone) perhaps).

Bam. Recognize (yes I am such a boring person that I will LOOK this stuff UP for accuracy) -->









I'm excited for the CPR certification tonight and Monday. Pleasepleasepleaseplease be hands-on. I love hands-on. I am a very hands-on learner. In fact I tend to fail lecture classes and ace the labs, go figure.

...please?

(Thanks for the comments by the way, it's fun to know one or two people are actually reading this and I'm not just lecturing on medical nonsense to myself! ... although this may be good for studying for the State test...hmm...)