You might get the idea from looking at these photos that examining the eye of a cow is not easy. Well, that's not true. I'm just a novice though. And direct ophthalmoscopy (which I am practicing here) is much harder at first than indirect ophthalmoscopy but apparently indirect ophthalmoscopy is not frequently used on cows.
I was able to see the blood vessels on my fundic exam but a little disappointed that despite several attempts I could not visualize the optic disc and white stringy thing coming up from it whose name I forget but which is an embryonic remnant of the vessel that fed the lens I think.
In other news, I finally got my midterm back and so have a feel for how I am doing in the course, which is just fine, and so am much relieved. Up until yesterday, professors kept asking me, 'So how do you feel you are doing?' and I would say, 'I honestly don't know. I'm lost in the abdomen' (which is what we are currently studying). What I really felt like saying was, 'Isn't it your job to tell me how I am doing?!' I mean, after all, for most of my academic career I got frequent evaluations. But Cornell does not believe in that. Exams are few and far between. There are lots of thought provoking questions in class and in the worksheets in the Modular Resource Center but never any answers. We are supposed to learn to decide for ourselves how we are doing and to evaluate for ourselves the level of detail to which we must delve in order to be good clinicians. Needless to say I find this quite challenging (euphemism for frustrating).
This afternoon I got my first chance at ultrasound, on a dog abdomen. I LOVED IT! After all these years of watching ultrasonography, I had a feel for what I was doing and was able to quickly find all the structures that the radiologist asked me to look for (quite rewarding) though I wanted to hunt for the pancreas, unfortunately others wanted a turn and I had to let that go.
Now it is back to the books. I have a short break this weekend and I will probably spend most of it studying as the weather has now really turned cold (New Yorkers of course laugh when they hear me say that as they consider this 'early fall' weather). I am going to look into finding a swimming pool I can use, that is my next project outside the classroom.
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As frustrating as it is, I think they are right not to specify exactly what you need to know about everything (reminds me of Prof. Williamson, and I remember you being frustrated with him, too). I imagine it is nervewracking, but it's much more realistic!
ReplyDeletekeep reminding yourself, 'I can do it, I am very smart, I can DO this'!!
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