Oh man

It's been a while since I've last put something up here. The thing that happens with each test, is that the week / week and a half before, my life "falls apart." It's not that it actually falls apart, but that I neglect almost everything but studying for the test.

In medical school, I've found that with each new disease process / illness we learn about, I think I have it, or I think I know someone that has it. After just finishing the cardiology block, I thought I had a big left ventricle in my heart. One morning, I woke up, thought my heart felt funny (I was probably just hungry), so I put on my stethoscope and had a listen. Stepping back, it was a weird thing. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth after just getting out of bed, looking in the mirror to make sure my stethoscope was in the right place, listening to my heart. As I listened more, I thought I heard an extra beat. Thinking back to what I had studied and learned a few days earlier, I knew that sometimes you can hear an extra beat. Normally, everyone knows of the "lub dub" sound. But sometimes there can be a "lub dub-dub" sound. It the "dub-dub" part gets longer when you breathe in due to pressure changes in the chest increasing blood flow, thus changing the amount of blood that's in your heart, changing the timing of closure for two of the valves. Anyways, that's normal. What's "not normal" in people over 40 is when you hear "lub-lub dub," which is what I thought I heard. That sound, the "lub-lub dub" is indicative of a bigger left ventricle (the workhorse of the heart). Now, I swear, cardiologists say they can hear the difference, and so can I when I listen to the heart beats on a CD or online with the diagrams or EKG playing along with the sounds. Listening to the real thing is different though. It's quite a bit harder. So after freaking out a bit, listening to my heart, convincing myself I had a big left ventricle due to biking across the country (I felt like an awesome athlete), I then thought I heard a murmur (telling me I had a leaky valve). AHHH!!

There's only one thing to do when confronted with a situation like this: go to the doctor... a real one. Well, thank God I'm surrounded by tons of real doctors. I had my cardio small group leader, a cardio fellow @ RIH take a listen. The results: no murmur, and normal "splitting of S2 (when you breathe in, the "dub" turns into "dub-dub")." Relieved I was able to concentrate again.

Cardiology was great. I liked it a lot. The test? Not sure. I normally don't finish quickly, and this time I finished super fast, checked my answers a few times and then still with lots of time left and the normal speedsters still in the room, I couldn't take it anymore and left. So does that mean I don't know my stuff, that I studied a lot and did well, or that I totally missed the boat on a bunch of questions? We'll find out in a week or so.

Off to a dentist appointment and then the ER to shadow.

Till next time.
-Ed