Field Visit One

December 19, 2008

Date: 12/17/2008

Visit Location: VA Medical Hospital in Durham

Vist Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Who Did You Meet With:

Purpose of Visit:

Did You Take Any Pictures or Video: No

Explain What You Did in Your Visit: Looked at x-ray videos of dye going into the pulmonary arteries

What was the Most Intriguing Part of Your Visit to You? Sitting in while a patient who had open heart surgery 8 weeks ago talked about the after effects/how he was feeling.

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Preferred Clinical Placements

December 1, 2008

The following clinical placements are available:

Dr. Duncan Phillips, UNC Children Hospital, Thoracic Surgery on Children (need to be able to drive oneself)

Dr. Keith Mankin, Orthopedics, Raleigh Orthopedic Hospital, Childrens Orthopedics

Dr. Zane Atkins, Durham VA, Cardiology, Adults (2)

3.  Rank each of these placements 1-highest to 3-lowest.

Explain why you would enjoy each of these placements and why.

My first choice would be Dr.Zane Atkins for Cardiology because I love learning about the heart and I am thinking on becoming a heart surgeon so I think this would give me a good feel for what I would be doing.

My second choice would be Dr.Duncan Phillips at the UNC Children’s Hospital for thoratic surgery because I also find the whole process very interesting.

My third choice would be Dr. Zeith Mankin at the Raleigh Orthopedic Hospital because though it would still be interesting, it isn’t exactly what I am looking to have experience in.

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Assignment X

August 14, 2008

Ever since I was little I wanted to go to college for business but three years ago something very touching happened to me and my family. My cousin Gabriela got married to a doctor and my other cousin Robert got cancer in his stomach. There has never been a doctor in our family and my brother always wanted to be one. When my cousin was diagnosed and told he had to get surgery to remove his stomach I was shocked and questions fluttered my mind. How can someone survive without a stomach? How are they going to manage to take out someone’s whole stomach? Lucky for me, the doctor was Gabriela’s husband’s father. Before Robert got the surgery, my new family member, Flavio, explained to me how they would manage to take out his stomach and how this would affect his body. A switch turned on inside of me and I had a sudden urge to become a doctor. He started explaining to me where they would cut through his skin and I even got to see the cancer once the operation was over. Flavio drew out the operation and showed me the process step by step. Ever since, I always seem to wander around youtube looking for videos of surgeries being performed and researching different areas of medicine. I am taking this elective for the same reason I enrolled in Anatomy/ Physiology last year which is because I am very interested in the human body and how it works is amazing. When I read the description for this course and how there will be lab time with professionals I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me. It was a tough choice to pick between AP Biology and this course but I feel that this course will help me decide exactly what I want to do in college.

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