Diagnosing Tanzi

We're learning about neuroanatomy in my gross anatomy course now. It is a lot of fun and is very interesting. We had a quiz today for the first couple of weeks of neuro material, and it went well. Everyone seemed pretty relieved to have it done and over with. Now there are only 6 exams between me and the end of the term. The excitement is building...


Tanzi is our family's dog. And by my family's dog, I mean my Dad's dog. And my Mom's, and my brothers, and well, pretty much she loves everyone, but for slightly different reasons I'd like to think. I have this theory that her master plan is to have the entire family with her all the time. She loves the ear rubs and treats from my dad, the cuddling with my mom, the play time with my brother, the walks and new places with my sister, and with me... who knows, obedience? Memories of going to high school every day when she was a puppy? If only we could understand their brains...

Oh wait, I can! A little. Through neuroanatomy. But just a teeeeeenie itty bitty bit. We learned about the different parts of the brain, what they are responsible for (sight, movement, smell, etc) which led to me learning a little bit more about Tanzi and why she is the way she is.

If you don't know Tanzi already, she has issues, of the nervous kind. She is deathly afraid of sounds like motors/engines and film reels. We're not 100% sure where this fear came from, but we think it was from when she was attacked by another dog on a bus during her training YEARS ago. Anyway, now whenever she hears these noises she hides and trembles and becomes very subdued and submissive. We've tried to calm her, tried to help her through this, but we have learned that there really isn't anything we can do to help short of drugging her, which we don't want to do.

So, back to neuroanatomy. This is what I have diagnosed about Tanzi. (I use the term "diagnose" VERY loosely... as I am just a student).

She had a traumatic experience (being attacked by another dog) in which she tied a sound (engine of a bus) to a strong emotion (fear). The memory of this is very strong, this process occurs in the Amygdala, which is a portion of the brain responsible for such a connection. We were also taught that these memories which tie sound to an emotional response are nearly impossible to change. Awesome.

So there it is, Tanzi, you need to go into your brain, mess about with your Amygdala. But only remove the bad memories, because we still want you to remember that seeing your people and food make you happy.

A dog's brain looks a bit different, but you get the picture. (haha...)

6... more... exams...

Still no pictures

Sorry about that.


PJ has 2 new tires. And by "new", I mean used. Only $320 EC for both (about $120 US). Sigh.

My package came today with my new hard drive that my Dad sent me. Along with some awesome goodies. Or at least they're awesome when you live on a rock. Mashed potato flakes, gravy mix, taco seasoning AND salt and pepper grinders quite nicely nestled my hard drive in the box. Guess what we're having for dinner tonight...

The hard drive worked perfectly and my computer is now operational. Yay! I couldn't believe how easy it was to take one hard drive out and put another in. I had been meaning to reformat my hard drive anyway... plus this way I got a HUGE upgrade from 80g of storage to a whopping 320! I'm not quite sure what to do with all of that space. Take more pictures, perhaps?

Tomorrow I only have TWO hours of class. TWO. How awesome is that? Plus, they end at 10am. Who is up for a BBQ on the beach on a Friday followed by IM volleyball?? (I am!)

Now, time to study parasitology and neuroanatomy. I think I'll give immunology and physiology a break as those two tests kicked my hiney this week and I'd rather not think about them just yet.

Mmmmm chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh ground pepper. Delicious.

Rhipicephalus sanguineus

That is the species of tick living in and around our house.

They are very well adapted to living indoors, hence why they took up residence in our house.

Grossssss.

I was going to post a picture of them, but I'll spare you.

We learned about this particular parasite in my Parasitology course a few weeks back. Molly took a couple into our parasitology lab so we could identify the species. That part was sort of fun. They looked exactly like the pictures we had been shown, and we understood how our house became infected from what we learned in lecture a few weeks back.

Gooooo vet school!

P.S. On April 10th I will no longer have to live in a tick infested house. We're moving. Pretty excited about the new place, not going to lie.

Ewww

And I thought living with ants in the house was bad.

Ticks. Thousands of them. Living in our house. In the door jams, in the cracks of the wood doors, on the couches, under the couches, on the curtains.

Thousands. Not kidding, no exaggeration.

I'm a bit disgusted.

Thank god they are not in my bedroom. Yet. (Knock on wood).

AND it has been raining all week so Junie (house care-taker guy) can't spray outside the house. Please, will it stop raining so we can work on eradicating these damn bugs??

Pumcakes were a success. Yum.

Best. Week. Ever.

Sarcasm is in full force.

I was going to wait until tomorrow afternoon (after my anatomy midterm) to post my week in review, but it's just been so GREAT, I had to share today.

I've had a throbbing headache every day this week, actually every day since I got sick.

A classmate asked me if I was immunosuppressed, like not having a spleen or something, and that was why I get sick all the time. Nope, it's just my awesomeness.

The 2nd parasitology midterm was on Wednesday. It was SO MUCH FUN.

Wednesday morning I woke up to a blue screen on my computer, followed by a black one. It is now kaput.

It's been raining all week.

Today we got to know our tire iron and jack. And again later this morning, when a second tire went flat (before we were able to get the 1st fixed).

Because our anatomy midterm tomorrow runs later than class, we have to miss our beach volleyball game tomorrow afternoon.

Sigh.

Good news though. I fixed the windshield wiper today (yay! we can drive safely in the rain again), Points fixed both of our flats (but thinks we're silly for not checking the air in our tires more often), my Dad and brother came to the rescue and sent me a new hard drive which should arrive in uh... 2+ weeks, AND lastly, and nearly most importantly.... we're going to dinner tomorrow and I'm going to eat lots of yummy pizza.

Happy Thursday everybody.

Weekend Activities

Sleeping

Anatomy... skulls, dentition, a.v.n. etc.

Parasites. Oh, the horror.

Mango Salsa. Fresh Mangoes + procrastination + Laura is alive again

New flippy floppies. They leave animal paw/foot prints when you walk in the sand.

Eye globes. Not eye ball. Eye globes. We're professionals now. (psssssh)

Sleeping.

Random fact: The mango tree is in the cashew family. (Whaaaaaaa?!)

March? Wait, What?

At least that means the end of the term is getting closer.
Shoot, that also means finals are getting closer.

Mid-semester break was very relaxing and enjoyable, but very busy. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from my weekend adventures.

Blogger picture editor, I give up, you win. I will not spend any more time trying to center my pictures. 

 

Gong Beach - my new favorite

Puppy!

You can actually walk about a few hundred yards and the water will only be at your waist. It's pretty sweet.

Nevis, hanging out on a hammock

Happy to not be thinking about school

Our room, with an exhausted Matt

Fancy bathroom

Nisbet Plantation

Looking at the beach from the plantation grounds (I just turned around from the previous picture taken)

Our "room"/bungalo

SIDEWALK!!!!!! Whoa now. 

DELICIOUS dinner, but we felt like 3 yr olds sitting in the beach chairs they used for dinner chairs. 

Ocean as viewed from Nevis

That's St. Kitts in the background!

Not sure what this is about... it was in the middle of the entrance to Nisbet

Chillin like a villain

Lunnnnnnch

View from Pizza Beach where we ate lunch

The little shak we had amazing burgers at... not sure of the name

PJ wanted proof he made it to Nevis. 

Happy March everybody. I have an updated view on life here in St. Kitts to share soon, it'll be exciting!