This is the last week of the program. It is very sad for this program to be coming to an end. Once the program finishes on Friday, I will be going straight home so that I can be at SLU by Saturday to start RA training on Monday. It is a lot and I hope that I will be ready.
This past week has been filled with so much fun. For starters, both Shae and Eli celebrated their 20th birthdays. Shae’s was on Thursday, so we all went to work, went home, and then went to Inis Grove Park to eat and have fun. Hands down, this park is one of the best parks that I have ever seen. As a kid, I would have LOVED this park. The playground equipment was super fun and innovative. There was lots of space to play, and it was a great playground to play Sandman/Woodchips/Lava Monster (these names are all the same game. Depending on where you grew up, people call them different names). We played soccer, frisbee, and Sandman as a group. It such a great time and the perfect way to celebrate Shae’s birthday.
Then, on Saturday, Shae, Eli, Emma, and I went to Adventure Land. This excursion has been in the works since June, and it was soo much fun! Turns out that all four of us have the same roller coaster tolerance, which is to say, not very much. We went on a few roller coasters and then went to the water park area. We spent a lot of time over there on the water rides. Some of the highlights of the park were the big water drop slide, the Typhoon, and the Pheonix. It was soooo much fun! After that, we came back and went to Macubana as a full group to celebrate Eli’s birthday. We then went back to the apartments, surprised Eli with a cake and gift, and hung out until very late. It was such a great day overall. There was a lot of joy and fun.
Last week, one of our Luncheon lectures was given by Dr. Lefferts from New Zealand. He came in with this really thick New Zealand accent, which made Meriem very excited. His research is on the Cardiovascular System. During his presentation, he gave us a run down of some of the basic concepts from his research as well as his journey to where he is today. He started off by listing some of his interests: detail-oriented tasks, mountains, and comedy. Then, he showed us his entirely non-linear journey showing that it is perfectly normal to feel like your own journey is not linear. He then encouraged us to follow our interests in whatever we pursue. He explained how he follows his interests in his life now. To fulfill his love for detail-oriented tasks, he will build model planes and drones. To fulfill his love for mountains, he did some research on the base camp of Mount Everest. To fulfill his love of comedy, he tells jokes during lectures or convinces an entire room of people that he is from New Zealand. Suddenly, his accent melts away and he is speaking in an American accent. WHAT?!?! I did not even hear the next few sentences because I was just processing what occurred. Dr. Lefferts went through the entire presentation speaking in a New Zealand accent. Honestly, highly impressive. Anyhow, I was SUPER interested in his research. It was honestly really cool. I think that the heart is super amazing (if that wasn’t already clear from my 3D printing project haha).
So, I emailed him to see if I could meet with him to see his lab. Fast forward to today! Eli and I went to his lab to play with some of the toys and see the lab. We used three different machines to look at data from my heart arteries and veins. We started with the ultrasound. With the ultrasound, we saw my carotid artery and jugular vein and got to play with making them vasodilate. Then, we played with the arteries in my arms by restricting blood flow to my hand and then letting it go. My artery vasodilated and worked so hard to restore blood flow to my hand. The ultrasound showed how much blood flowed through my artery at once, and it was sooo much! It was crazy. Then, the coolest part was that we got to see my heart!!! I got to see my left atrium, left ventricle, start of the aorta, and the valves inside (including the chordae tendineae!! Sooooo cool!!!). How many people can say that they have seen their heart as it pumping?? Amazing!! On a different machine, we used a pressure sensor to look at the different pressures in different arteries in my arm and neck. On the third machine, we looked at the different arteries that lead up into my brain. We identified them by doing a jugular wiggle to see if application of pressure changed the artery and having me close my eyes and see if the blood velocity decreased. This allowed us to differentiate between the two arteries. Overall, this was one of the coolest things I have seen. I really want to do something similar to this for my own research when I go to get a Master’s degree. So fun!!
