Lab Instructor Awesomeness

Normally in lab we have organs to examine and case studies* to go through. We didn't have any organs today so we managed to power through the case studies for the next two weeks. Since we're going to have all this extra lab time our lab instructor asked us if there were any particular disease processes or specimen types that we wanted to see that we hadn't already seen. There were a variety of different requests made so it'll be neat to see what kind of stuff he will be bringing to share.

From wikipedia: An older mitral valve replacement option

Tuesday we got to see a heart that had a Starr-Edwards mitral valve replacement, which is the kind of thing that we still might see on autopsy but that will become progressively less common as replacements are more and more from animals or of cadaveric origins. Apparently it also sounds interesting if you listen to the heart sounds of someone with that style of replacement valve.

I had an open mouth insert foot kind of moment today. It was unexpected... have you ever have one of those instances where you realize that words are coming out of your mouth but at no point did they pass through the discretionary filters of your brain? That was sort of what happened to me... I was speaking without having made any conscious thought to speak. Completely mortifying. Surprisingly well received though.

*The format is usually a few lines with the symptoms they presented with and relevant history. Then we get a gross and microscopic description and have three to five multiple choice questions about their condition. So it might be something like an 83 year old woman, who immigrated from Malaysia five years ago, presents with low grade fever, cough and enlarged lymph nodes. An x-ray reveals multiple 1-5mm nodules disseminated through the liver, lungs, and spleen. What do you think is the primary cause of the disease? What type of co-infection would you most likely expect?