Anatomy Survival

Ok, you can shut the fire hydrant off now! I've had enough to drink and my sippy straw is sorely damaged and my brain (likely supratentorial irritation). The instructor just announced that we would be getting new material until the day before the final lab exam. Just when I thought it was safe to think of anything other than anatomy. I know what I'll be doing this weekend and the rest of the week. But I'm sitting in a good position and while I think an A is out of the question, I'm ok with that. But how much can one brain hold...and worse...I'm kicking myself for forgetting all this since I last took the class, albeit 24 years ago. I get it. I'm a moron.

I think I will survive this and come next Thursday I'm sure I'll know (how profound). This was about constant, hard work, and dedication beyond my feeble memory. It is about hearsing and rehearsing, petition and repetition...until the brain says, oh yea, I get it. It was about immersing myself in the biohazard that is the lab, and rooting around to gain those amazing tactile memory cues I need and thrive on as I walk from station to testing station feeling my own body (the only cheat sheet you can bring to an exam). But even with all that, know deep in my epiploic foramen what was the key to my survival?

Altoids. Thank goodness for Altoids (cinnamon, my fave) and the hazardous gas neutralizing effect of sucking on those wonderful candies during lab. I don't think I could have done it without them....Thanks to an emergency shipment from my mother, I was saved and was able to spend the time I needed to make this happen. As those pungent flavors tantalized my olfactory nerve, and the anterior 2/3 of my tongue with both mandibular nerve (V3 branch of trigeminal) and facial nerve sensations, I was able to transition many, many facts from short to (hopefully) long term memory. Well at least as long as a week or so.