Phil & Gabe say hi!

Hi!!  This is Philip.  Lacey has been wanting me to write on this blog about med school for a little while now, so here it is. 

Six days a week, I spend pretty much all day down at the school.  I really like how they have med school set up.  Every quarter is split up into four 3-week blocks, and we focus on a certain part of the body.  For example, during this last block, we studied the GI tract (the stomach, esophagus, & intestines) and their associated organs (liver, kidneys, spleen, gallbladder, and appendix).  In class, we studied the GI tract through different disciplines, including Gross Anatomy (identifying all the different parts of these organs, their arteries and veins, nerves, and some associated diseases), Histology (microscopic views of these body parts & associated cells), Physiology (how the body moves food along the GI tract and what it releases in response to food), and Biochemistry (how the body breaks down the food on a chemical basis).  As the year moves on, I'll start taking additional classes like pharmacology, microbiology, pathology, and others.  It is a really cool way to approach medicine.

                                                                        (wikipedia)

I'm in class between 2-4 hours a day, and then I spend the rest of the day doing other things.  Three times a week, I go to the Anatomy lab with two other students.  At the beginning of the year, the three of us were given a body.  He/she had donated his/her body to the med school.  Since mid-August, we have dissected out the back, arms and shoulders, chest and belly, and organs.  The smell takes some getting used to, but it is such a helpful and necessary way for a future doctor to learn about the body.  Twice a week, we'll go to the Histology lab and look at tissues under slides.  Also twice a week, we go and practice Manipulative Medicine.  So far, we have learned how to treat many dysfunctions and disorders of the spine and their associated muscles (like what you have, Dad). Throughout the weeks, we'll do additional things such as physician shadowing, practicing taking histories and treating actors from the community, getting CPR-certified, learning injection techniques, etc.  I'll spend the rest of the day studying, except for lunch and dinner with Lacey and sleeping.  Though it is difficult and very time-intensive, medical school has been an amazing experience!

                                                         (verydemotivational.com)

Now, I do know the main reason anyone goes to this blog:  to see and hear about Gabe.  :)  No problem, here it is:

Lacey is an amazing mother.  She is so good with Gabe, and they are so funny together.  Every once in a while, I am home for story time.  In particular, Gabe likes this Sesame street book.  If you push the buttons on the side, you can sing along with the provided lyrics.  The songs are commons ones, like Ring around the Rosie, but the lyrics are totally different.  They are usually about Elmo playing with someone. So, I'll be sitting at my desk in the living room studying, and I'll hear them with this book.  Lacey, being the awesome mother that she is, starts singing in a cowboy voice with Gabe in her lap.  She'll belt out this song, often times missing a lot of notes, but Gabe is loving it.  Sometimes he is as quiet as a mouse, other times he is slapping the book, trying to turn the pages, or cooing.  Gabe loves it when his mother reads to him, and if you get the chance when we are back in Utah, see if you can listen to Gabe & Lacey singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bug.

That's all, thanks for reading the blog, and love ya'll.