Adventures in Anatomy

There it is. How I learned me some anatomy. There's actually a box of flashcards hanging around somewhere in my room and/or loft, but I only used them once so I don't count those. Having said that, I actually used all this stuff. From bottom to top: lecture notes, laboratory guide, anatomy atlas, previous lecture exams. Now the lecturer for the class was kinda cooky and out there - he definitely had his mannerisms that were mocked repeatedly. Hell, he even has his own facebook group. One might think that since I led in with the preceding, the following would go something like this "he was weird, but dammit - he knew how to teach anatomy." Not so much. The best things I got out of lecture were being mildly entertained and wondering how some of his anecdotes were even remotely related to anatomy. Why did I keep going? Well Curious George, I got points for attending lecture - ah the wonders of lame attendance incentives.

Lecture aside, I enjoyed lab quite a bit, save for the smell. Like I mentioned earlier, once in a cadaver lab and you'll never forget that smell. The TA for my section was damn cool. It didn't hurt that she was an undergrad in my neuroscience lab the year before. I definitely took advantage of said familiarity and proceeded to give her shit throughout the semester. It was a two-way street that made lab more entertaining. This type of banter happened throughout my lab section, not just between me and the TA, and good times were had by all. Not only were the two people in my small group chill, the entire lab section was pretty cool. We all got along really well and had fun...well, as good a time as can be had when there are a couple of cadavers in the room. The lab practicals were kind of interesting, minus having to study for them. Pretty much, you'll come to a station and two things will be tagged for you to identify. These tags can be on plastic models, joint preps, bones, arm preps (euphemism for severed arm on a tray), or cadavers depending on the unit being studied. You get 90 seconds to identify the structures, and then it's on to the next station.

So, a couple of things I've learned from anatomy (aside from these). Things never look like they do in the atlas. It can be surprisingly easy to confuse nerves, veins, and arteries. I use a lot of mnemonics when memorizing stuff. UOUVI - the top to bottom order of some arteries on the inside of the pelvis. PSLAiPi - the order of arteries from top to bottom as one moves down the brain stem. This one's not mine, but it still works - Oh Oh Oh To Touch and Feel Very Green Vegetables, Ah Heaven. Obviously, those are the cranial nerves. There is a lot going on in the skull, and even though I got an A in the class I question my knowledge of this structure. The more range of motion an area has, the more stuff is going on. There is a lot happening in the pelvis. As I've said previously - I did enjoy the class, even with all the work. Hopefully physiology next semester follows a similar pattern.