My fourth semester (of five) began this past Thursday. The next few months I will be learning about craniofacial disorders (cleft lip and palate), autism, and language development. Also, I have been assigned to Inpatient Acute Care Neurosurgery and Head/Neck Cancer at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The first meeting of the craniofacial class was canceled (due to illness of the professor). The reputation of this professor leads me to believe that this is only the first of many "walks" for this semester (which has its pros and cons).
For the class discussing autism spectrum disorders there are two professors. The primary professor was unable to attend the first class (due to a family emergency, I think), so we were taught by her colleague who had a laryngectomy. A laryngectomy is a removal of the larynx; a hole is surgically created to provide a "safe" air passageway for respiration... and speaking. Laryngectomies, tracheotomies, and the-like have been frequently alluded to in my coursework; however, I had not yet witnessed a quarter-size, unveiled, stoma in a man's neck. Nor had I yet observed the unintentional projection of body fluids via a quarter-size, unveiled stoma in a man's neck... until my class on Friday. Despite my tremendous effort to not allow the projected booger-like substance to bother me, I did indeed get a little queezy. I just hope that this uneasiness in my stomach does not return tomorrow morning during my first shift in the hospital setting when more gruesome body fluids come flying my direction.
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