“Ten years? Thats alot..”
“Not really…its not like I’m skipping those ten years of my life or anything..”

Thats how the conversation with my parents started out a few nights ago, as I declared my final college choice and ‘career path’ to them, and yes it was medicine and yep so far it is to become a surgeon (69.8424% sure), which does take, I’m estimating a little over 10 years. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 year old I always told everyone I would be a doctor similar to what I see a lot of little kids doing right now, and like most parents mine would always agree with my statement. Well things began to change, around the age of 12 I met my cousin, a computer fanatic. He did everything from program to hack and soon enough he became a kind of role model to me. And since the day I met him to now I have expanded my knowledge in design, coding, and IT in general. From designing whole stationary systems for companies to coding simple scripts it all became part of my life, but what most people didn’t know was my inside fascination for a career in medicine. The fact that I can help people, change lives, and at the same time have an intense, exciting job always intrigued me.  Also another part little issue I have is that I always want to learn more about every field I can.  Personally I think (no offense to any computer science majors) that programming, SEO, business management, design, etc etc can be self taught to a certain extent, much like my cousin did, and careers in medicine I believe can certainly NOT be self taught.

Anyway getting a bit off topic.  The conversation with my parents a few nights ago was much different from many others we have had in the forgotten past.  This time they wanted to make sure I was ready for the long hours, and years it would take to accomplish my goal.  Another issue was how it would be financed, for which I have my own plans.  This summer I plan to shadow a few surgeons and find out how their lifestyle is like.

Ah this was a pretty random post, but yea, just wanted to say I’ve finalized Medicine as my career

Snow in March!?? Whats happening, global warming or climate changes or is it that theory from 10 years ago.. El Nino? Okay, so for some people this may not be the most amazing phenomenon but the region of the of the country I currently reside in has not seen snow for years and to see it in March is simply amazing. I remember back around Christmas time how news reporters were constantly blabbing on about a white Christmas which never happened, and then the 15 minutes of snow that hit about two months ago wasn’t much either but last night was good enough to keep my content. About 2:45 on Friday, as I stood outside school talking to a few friends, hail began to fail. Around 8 hours later snow began to fall. The first thing I did was grab a camera, call a few friends, and run outside. We sat around outside a while and then drove around the city…yea I know its a bit ‘lame’ but it was exciting! After about a hour or two I returned home with a snowball..hit my dad on the stomach with it, and must say had a pretty content day.

And oh yea, I never thought that ever individual flake of snow was actually shaped like a nice star snowflake. The above is a picture of my jacket..not so great but you can see the little star shaped snow.

About two weeks ago I decided I should update the theme on Medilogy and add a few more plugins.  I tried out a new FTP program and began to upload files to update Wordpress, and the transfer stopped in the middle, and thats when I knew I was in for a problem.  Half of the files were now from the older Wordpress and the other half from the latest version.  Well the FTP program kept disconnecting, and me being the impatient person I am, kept hitting the reconnect button faster than Bush wasting money in Iraq.  The end result was that my host banned me from all his servers and for the last two weeks I have not been able to access Medilogy.  The one article I was able to write was from what little free time I had at school.  Two days ago I switched to a new host, got the transfer done with the help of a friend, and YAY can finally access Medilogy again.  Sorry once again for updating slowly, but ah senior year, its pretty hectic.

Recently a team led by MIT Professor Robert Langer and Jeff Karp, created an adhesive tape that could become an important tool for surgeons in the near future.  The tape could serve as a replacement for staples or sutures in surgical processes as it is both biodegradable and can stick in wet environments without to much trouble.  Problems previous tapes had involved their ability to to expand and contract with the muscles or organs they were applied or their inability to stick in wet environments.  Another important aspect of this tape is that it does not produce dangerous toxins as it slowly dissolves while the wound or incisions heal.  The tape could be used to patch holes, or even wrap around intestines in gastric bypass procedures.

Now where do the geckos come in? Well the tape uses Gecko skin to…JK. Actually the team followed the princile behind those of the Gecko’s paws. The surface of the tape has microscale bumps that give the tape a few advantages, and over this is a layer of glue that allows it to stick in wet environments. The product has been tried on pig intestines and proved to work very efficiently. This product could be a great tool in the future for surgeons as it will allow them to insert this tape on small incisions where suture could be extremely difficult.

The youngest mother, how old could you expect her to be? Ten, Eleven, or Twelve? Those were the ages that first came across my head as I began to read about five-year-old Lina Medina, who gave birth to a 6 lb child at the Andean village of Ticrapo in 1939. It was a very phenomenal case and the likelihood of it was so rare that many individuals still believe it is not true. Most girls began to develop around the age of 12 when they hit puberty, however, doctors found that Medina had a regular cycle of periods since the age of 3. According to her doctor, Escomel, she had a hormonal disorder of the pituitary gland that became the cause for this early development. Around the age of 4 1/2 Medina’s mother began to believe she had some type of tumor in her stomach and after taking her to a local doctor was it found that the girl was pregnant. Much speculation has been made that the father of the child was Lina’s father. He was put in jail for a short period of time but later released because of a lack of evidence. After giving birth to Gerard (name of Medina’s doctor), Medina’s psychological behavior remained the same. She would prefer playing with dolls rather then her own child. Also her son Gerard believed his mother was just his sibling but around the age of 10 found out the truth as local boys teased him about it.  Both grew up to have healthy lives and Lina married at the age of 33 and had a second child.

I feel so releived to know that Lakshmi’s operation has gone successful. I posted about it just recently here. Lakshmi was suffering from a parasitic twin that was attached to her from birth, giving her four arms and four legs along with numerous other problems including spinal problems. Just a matter of minutes ago the operation ended and Lakshmi has come out successful. Thirty surgeons spent around 27 hours in gifting her with a normal life.

Once again it is stories like this that push me towards the medical field. I hope the best for Lakshmi’s future and hope her condition remains stable. To me this is just one of the many miracles that medicine has brought forth. The various doctors, surgeons, etc… that performed on the young girl are probably angels to the parents of Lakshmi now…it is truly a wonderful job.

Just today I was watching the news and across the bottom I read about a surgery taking place in India composed of a team of 30 doctors. The surgery will be approximately 40 hours long and the patient is and her condition is what left me with a feeling I can’t describe. It is taking place on a 2-year-old girl, Lakshmi, born with two extra arms and legs. Lakshmi was born with a parasitic twin that stopped developing while in the mothers womb. Her parents kept her hidden after a circus crew saw her as a money-making opportunity and offered to buy her…I regret we have people like that on this planet.

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“A team of 30 doctors was removing the extra limbs and organs, surgery that if successful would give her a good chance to live past adolescence. They have already separated the fused spines and the next step will be to remove the extra limbs and the rest of the “parasite,” said Dr. Sharan Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation.
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I really hope Lakshmi’s surgery goes well and the results bring her a pleasant future, and a life without any regret