The summer semester flew by. Classes went well and the course load felt lighter than the spring semester. I only made 1,848 flashcards which is significantly less than last semester and thus reviewing for finals was less disheartening.
You may recall from my March 2024 post that my first rotation in the gross room did not go well. I had a chance to redeem myself over the summer and I can safely say I left this rotation feeling competent. I am by no means a master grosser but I did not feel like an imbecile at any point either. We were given more complex specimens including some cases for cancer. My favorite specimen from this rotation was a thyroid submitted for tumor. It had a very cute, small mass that was easy to chunk out and submit. I especially like that thyroids are firm and easier to cut than some of the squishier specimens like fresh lung or breast. I also had a stomach remnant from a gastric sleeve that had a fun little surprise polyp inside. This rotation lifted my spirits instead of crushing them and I look forward to my rotation in the fall.
An aspect of this program that isn't advertised on the website is the requirement to volunteer 50 hours over the course of two years. With the light course load this summer I tried to knockout a good chunk of those hours. I find my volunteer opportunities on iServe which is WVU's volunteer needs website. My classmates also use this site which is how two thirds of us ended up volunteering at the Arthurdale Heritage Goat Gallop 5k. I am not a fan of livestock but there were very cute guard dogs watching the goats. It was a fun, easy and well organized event that I would recommend to future students. The only downside is that the goats do not get to run the 5k with the humans.
After that 5k, I convinced a few of my classmates to run at Rhett's Stomp out A-T (ataxia-telangiectasia) 5k. If I haven't formally apologized to those classmates I would like to offer that apology now. I did not know that it would be above 90 degrees that day or that we'd be running on hills so steep that running was hardly possible. I am sorry for the pain and suffering we all had to endure. The event organizers did have well-stocked coolers filled with refreshing water and fruits to eat post-run which helped. I already disliked running and after this experience I have decided to never run again. I would recommend volunteering at this event instead of running unless you're really into running outdoors in the summer.
Outside of volunteering and school, I took one more hiking trip in early June before it got too hot for me to be outdoors. This time I went to Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland. This was a nice little circuitous trail through a forest full of 300+ year old hemlock and white pine trees. It smelled wonderful, had great shade and a well-maintained trail. It also had more than one waterfall which was a surprise to me. Unlike Blackwater Falls, you could climb down to the bottom of these or stand at the top and look down on people. The river that fed the falls had many large rocks scattered throughout so I spent a lot of that day hopping from rock to rock following the river upstream. This park was less than 2 hours from Morgantown and the trail (not counting my off-trail rock hopping adventure) was only 1.25 miles so I would recommend adding it to your list of places to visit.
Lillian's End of Semester Course Review
Systemic Path: Way more interesting than its predecessor, Disease Mechs. I also liked the format of watching lectures at home. Amount of content covered was not soul crushing but still a little overwhelming. 4/5
Anatomy 2: It's like anatomy but worse. We spent half the summer on head and neck learning about nerves that I simply do not care about. And the AC broke. We spent a few weeks in 80+ degree rooms with donors that were getting a little ripe. 3/5
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