inadequate

parasitology lab is HARD. i have no idea how i'm going to well. we spent 2 hours looking at slides for parasites. and i'd find things, but i couldn't distinguish which species it was. i knew i found something. our prof said, "too bad you can't just say 'yup, there's something there' on the exam... you need to tell me what species it is."

that SUCKS.
they're so freaking tiny. i found one that i estimated to be 5 to 10 micrometers across.
so it's tiny. so i can't tell how many nuclei there are, or what the karyosomes look like, or if there are peripheral chromatin, or vacoules containing digested bacteria or red blood cells.
all i can do, at this point, is tell that there is SOMETHING there among the rest of the slide filled with 'junk' (what we call everything that we're not looking for).
i can find the refractile membrane, at least one nucleus, most of the time. but that's it.

i'm pretty sure i found entameoba hartmanni and endolimax nana in our patient's sample today. and i think i found cysts of both, and one troph form of the hartmanni.
but that's a complete guess.

i hope i never have to work in the parasit lab at work.


my parents are in DC for the March For Life. I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to go to one. I hope and pray that FOCA doesn't pass.
i'm scared for this country.



i have a hematology quiz tomorrow. i haven't had much motivation to study tonight. Nathan was supposed to come over- and that would have helped me to focus- but stuff came up and plans changed and he ended up not being able to come over afterall. im pretty bummed.

i managed to study a good chunk of it. then i needed a break, so now i'm facing the challenge of getting back into it. i dont' have much left to go. and im studying with Jamye in the morning before class. it shouldn't be too hard, i don't think. but i've heard nothing but horror stories about her quizzes and exams, so i have no idea what to expect.


i don't feel up to the challenge of being a med tech today.
after parasitology lab today, and after immunology lecture (whoa! all of a sudden it got hard), and now my lack of motivation to study hematology.

i dont like that i'm having such a hard time in parasit.
microbiology was so much easier- we streaked plates, and two days later we looked at colonies of bacteria.
in parasit- we make O&P slides of patient stool samples, stain them, and then look for tiny tiny tiny ameobas that i can hardly see.
i had a hard time with the control slides- so i know it isn't my slide prep technique.

i just feel inadequate today.