Breathing vs. Poop

Right off the bat I'm going to have to ask those of you who love poop and just can't get enough of it to stop reading now (Clodagh, that is your cue to close your browser).  Now then.  I don't like it.  I don't like anything about it.  I don't like the way it's made, the way it smells, the ingredients... nothin'.  The only part about poop that I actually enjoy is what it came from, i.e. food.  But our Nutrition block isn't until spring time, and taste is covered in Neuro, so until then it's just poop.  Poop, poop, and poop.

Now I have to contrast that to Respiratory, because GI is the block that followed.  Oh, the beautiful lungs!  So rhythmic and mechanical.  Expand and contract, expand and contract.  Now here is an organ that makes sense!  You don't have to memorize silly enzymes and liver panels, or gastric juices and pH balances, and most importantly: no fecal matter.  I tried to think of anything in the lungs that was even closely related to POOP, and the only thing I could think of is BOOP (bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia).  These two subjects are on opposite ends of the spectrum for me, and I will be glad when Thanksgiving break relieves me of this crap.  Pun intended.

All whining aside, pulmonary medicine is actually the one internal med specialty that I could see myself doing.  I even went to the "Careers in Pulmonary Medicine" lunch talk to ask questions (look at me the active medical student!).  I'm in love with the lungs for 2 reasons.  First, they just make sense.  The reason I chose to be a chemistry major in college was because most of chem isn't memorization.  It's application.  Once you learn how things are supposed to work, you can figure out what is going wrong and apply that knowledge to new systems and pathologies.  The concepts build upon themselves.  Now it's fair to note that in the past I have loved anything that required the least amount of work (I was a sprinter, remember).  But it's nice to be able to attack new problems with applied knowledge.  The lungs are a lot like that.  Once you learn the anatomy and physiology of the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, blood flow, etc. (fairly easy concepts), understanding disease processes is simple(r).  And pulm physiology has a lot to do with physics, forces pulling in different directions and such.  The lungs are a good gig; I could see myself doing EM, then critical care, and then into pulm at some point.

The second reason the lungs are so great is that they are the "A" and "B" of the ABCs.  In EMS (and the rest of medicine for that matter), everyone's gotta know their ABCs.  Airway, Breathing, and Circulation.  This is what you're worried about when keeping a patient alive.  And since "A" and "B" come first, there's nothing more important than the lungs.  I've heard a lot of paramedics say that traumas are the easiest cases.  Why?  Establish a patent airway.  Are they breathing?  If not, breath for them.  Do they have good circulation?  If not, ratchet up that heart a little bit with drugs or just pumped it yourself.  Stop any major bleeding.  Maybe give them some fluids.  Boom, get them to the hospital.  Easy, manage the lungs because that's the key to life.  Why???  That's right you said, the rent is too damn high!  Sorry, I mean "that's right, the LUNGS are the most important organ!"  (Sorry, I guess we all got a little Jimmy McMillan in us after that election).  Seriously though, I believe the course directors in Respiratory are the only ones that can say their block is the most applicable to life.  I'm also clearly very biased.

Until Thanksgiving break, however, I will suffer though feces.  I'm going to have to try to own it though.  "People like studying what they like.  It makes them feel good." (courtesy Dr. Dent).  This summer I tried to start owning some Biochemistry, since that was my least favorite course as an MS1.  If I can nail Biochem and GI together, it's going to be some good prep for the Boards.  That's my goal.  FTS.

But until then, I leave you with a respiratory Haiku.

Breath in, out, repeat.
Life, a new baby is born.
Death, a final gasp.