My endocrinology lab has turned out to be very interesting. The first day, we were supposed to castrate a rat. We had to grab a writhing rat and inject anesthetic into its thigh first, being sure not to inject too much and kill the rat. Then we watched as it slowed down and finally passed out. The surgery was relatively simple but still fun because it was the first surgery I've ever done. First, the scrotum was cut open to reveal the membrane beneath the skin that surrounds the organs. The most horrifying part of the procedure was the reflex squeaks and jerks of the rat while it was being cut. The professor assured us that the rat was unconscious, but it was still unnerving. After making an incision in the membrane, the first testicle was pushed out of the body. It looked like a light pink bean, with a thin maroon line zig-zagging on it. Before cutting it off, we had to make sure the animal didn't bleed to death after the cut. We used silk thread to tie up a blood vessel, feeling very professional as we used our forceps to tie the knots. After that, it was snip snip. There was very little blood. The same thing was done to the other testis, and the animal was sewn back up. It was pretty amazing to have opened up a living organism, make a drastic change, and still have it live through the surgery. Soon, we will find out about the effects. The next week, we went further, dissecting a dead rat. After cutting the skin away from the belly, there was that same translucent membrane holding all the organs. It was a very alien sight, to be able to see all the rat's organs. Cutting open the membrane brought all the organs into focus. The intestines curled around each other, the liver was dark maroon, and the stomach looked a strange and disgusting green. The muscles, on the other hand, just looked like uncooked chicken. I had to find the adrenal glands by digging behind the flaps of the liver to first find the kidneys. On top, the tiny adrenal glands, so important to our health, were so tiny that I wouldn't have found them without my professor's help. The pancreas was tiny too. A little flap coming off the stomach, it seems like it would be so much bigger, if you believed the drawings you see in most text books. I was expecting

It's been quite a while since I've updated. The last days of summer were spent scrambling to send off medical school applications, working, and socializing. Classes started pretty well. I am taking a history class about U.S. military interventions in Latin America and other parts of the world. There's a lot of reading, but I'm optimistic because the class is in seminar format (one day a week, for three hours), and we will hopefully learn about the movie-type CIA secret operations to take down dictatorships. If I don't learn who killed Kennedy, I'm dropping the course. I am also taking an endocrinology lab that should prove to be very interesting. More on this later, but we got to perform surgery on rats this week. Another interesting class I'm taking is the history of American Popular Music. Apparently, my teacher Bruce Conforth was the first curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pretty neat, I say. But so far, the class has been just a little too dry. Hopefully when we move on to rock and roll, things will get better. My last class was supposed to be endocrinology mechanisms and toxicology, a graduate class taken in the school of public health. I showed up, and the professor was very nice, and there was only one other student in the class. The professor seemed excited about the prospect of only having two students, and I was excited that I'd get a lot of personal attention from a professor. It's a far cry from my 200 person Pop music lecture. Unfortunately, the other girl decided to drop the class, and my professor decided to do the same. I got an email yesterday explaining that the class was cancelled. So now I'm enrolled in a class about health science research on same-sex relationships. I think it could be a very educating class. It's small so there's a lot of discussion. I am, however, the only male in the entire class. I would be lying if I said that wasn't at all intimidating. Anyhow, seems like it should be a good semester if I can balance all the reading and writing with work.

Outside of class, things have been going alright. The wolverines lost to Notre Dame, which stung a little bit, but the rest of the season should still be a blast. I start my 3-on-3 basketball IM games tonight, which are usually a lot of fun. I got an interview from Wayne State, today as well, so it's been a pretty good day. To top it off, Jess pointed me towards this news story today about a possible chupacabra finding. Click on images.