On the first day of class, I was overwhelmed with how much we would have to cover in just a few short weeks. I was unsure if the course would even count for the anatomy and physiology prerequisite I needed for veterinary school, and I thought I would most likely drop the class due to this. However, after the first two lectures, I realized that I wanted to take the course whether it was able to count or not because of how interesting and engaging I found it. Luckily, after discussing the systems I needed to cover in order to fill my pre-requisite with Dr. Klepach, he was incredibly accommodating and was able to fit in an extra lecture in order to cover GI and reproductive systems. As well, through meeting with Dr. Klepach, I was able to find different methods of taking notes, reviewing, and studying that were most successful for me. I am now going into veterinary school with the confidence of knowing how to take notes and study anatomy and other similar classes that I will be taking in the future. I also know that the ways that Dr. Klepach taught us to remember the origins of different words will stick with me throughout my schooling, and I will definitely be keeping my notes to reference later!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a part of this course, we had to track our sleep, stress, nutrition, and more. I had never done this before and it was eye-opening for me. I knew I had a bad diet, but I have never tracked it before and this showed me patterns I had never realized. The simple act of creating that time each day to think back through the day helped to improve my mindfulness and left me making more intentional decisions about my sleep and diet. This was an aspect of this class that I was not expecting at all, but am so glad that it is included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this class, we had a three and a half hour blocks of lab and lecture from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm each day. Then, directly after class, I would drive to my job as a veterinary assistant. Each day at my job, I was able to apply numerous concepts from class. For example, one day a woman brought in her young cat who had unexpectedly and suddenly died that morning. It was a busy day at the clinic, so I was the one in charge of the necropsy. Doing a necropsy with a classroom anatomy background helped me incredibly. I was able to point out specific muscles and bones, which I would have normally had to ask the veterinarian about. As well, I knew the purpose of the structures and was able to pinpoint the problem with ease due to this course. Coincidentally, that same day we had gone over the heart. When I opened the cat up, I looked at the large heart and noticed a great amount of fluid in the pericardium. I realized the cat most likely had pericarditis, pericardial effusion, and an enlarged heart, which the veterinarian later confirmed. As well as the strain this had on the heart, it most likely also constricted the lungs, as I could tell that the lungs were not where they were meant to be due to the knowledge I gained from this class. This was an incredible moment that linked my classroom learning to my hands-on learning. I have included a video of this heart, but it does not even show the full extent of the fluid. Almost every single thing I learned in this class I have been able to apply in a similar way already, from the ears to the GI tract and everything in between. <\/p>\n\n\n\n