Interesting facts

OK to kill 2 birds with one stone (that's kind of a gruesome expression isn't it?) I'm going to write some facts here that might be of interest. Keep in mind that I have an Anatomy and Physiology lecture midterm next week that's going to cover metabolism, the urinary system, and fluids and electrolytes. Woo hoo! After this test we get to get into the good stuff, the reproductive systems!

*Appetite is not just regulated by the stomach. Insulin secreted by the pancreas, ghrelin secreted by the stomach, PYY, CCK and leptin secreted by the small intestine, leptin secreted by adipose cells and PYY secreted by the large intestine all play a role in either increasing or decreasing appetite, depending on the situation. These secretions are hormones by the way.

*The kidneys have a LOT of functions besides just making pee. Please note that making pee is not a scientific expression! The kidneys filter our blood plasma, which is a way of getting the waste out that will eventually become urine. They also regulate the osmolarity of our body fluids, our blood volume and blood pressure, they secrete hormones (renin and erythropoietin), detoxify free radicals and drugs, and finally they stimulate making glucose from non-carbohydrate precursors. This process is called gluconeogenesis.

*My favorite new body part=juxtamedullary nephron!

*Total body water for a young, 150 pound male= 40 liters!

*Hypernatremia is when there is too much sodium in the blood. Hyponatremia is when there is too little sodium in the blood.

*Potassium is really important. Eat your Special K!

Am I ready for this test...ummmmm no. But now I'll remember all this stuff and you all just learned some new things too.

Slacking...or not

Well I've definitely been slacking in the blog writing department, but not so much in my regular life. In fact I just finished a stretch of almost 3 weeks with non-stop tests, quizzes and assignments to do. The good news is that I've done well on pretty much everything. So sorry if I haven't been writing. Although perhaps this is one of the reasons I've been slacking. Is anyone actually reading this blog?!

School-wise I am about 1/3 of my way through this term. A&P is turning out to still be super hard and interesting and nutrition is easy and interesting. OHSU has all my stuff and now I have to wait until early April to know if I'm in or not. I have to get my act together to register at Portland State University where I will take my statistics class spring term. Out of all the classes I have to take, statistics is the one that scares me the most. When I was in grad school, it was the one class that I took that I got a B in. I already have a tutor lined up though and hopefully that plus taking the class with my friend will help me to at least get a B.

Work is work. There are so many things about my job that are good for me and yet the nature of the work is wearing on me. I'm tired of hearing about everyone's problems. Or at least the ones that to me seem petty but to the callers seem life or death. My patience is thin and I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, but it's hard. I'll be glad to leave that chapter of my work life behind. I feel like I did when I quit my last restaurant job after grad school and said "I'll never work in a restaurant again". I can't wait until I can say the same thing about mental health.