Showing posts with label organ donation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organ donation. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

First Meeting...and other junk.

Today was the first meeting of our new organization, (XXX Univ) Students for Organ Donation. We had a small turn out, but I will take those few with their enthusiasm over a mob of "whatevers" any day. I am encouraged and excited by what we can accomplish with this group. We already have a work day scheduled...NEXT WEEK!

I got my grade from my Anatomy practical... an 80. I guess that isn't horrible considering I completely forgot about the ... the... see, I can't even remember it now!! Ugh. It is on the fourth ventricle...somewhere...and responsible for the production of CSF. Aggh! Why can't I remember it? Some sort of plexus....YES! THE CHOROID PLEXUS. Geez, that was painful. Anyhow, I wrote that it was the central aqueduct. I know, I know brilliant, but hey, it was a guess.

I am really fatigued this afternoon. Not sleepy, just fatigued. The weather is gorgeous, but I always have a bit of a time adjusting to the warmer temps.

A friend of mine, a pre-nursing student, had a major breakdown this morning. I am not convinced that she was not considering suicide, but seems to be doing much better now. It was really horrible. When I finally found out where she was, I practically busted down her door to find her crying in the kitchen. She cried for hours after that. There was so little I could do. She was upset about her grades and it never helps when I get a higher grade than she does on an Anatomy exam. Thankfully, on this exam, I didn't indicate how I thought I had done (frankly, because I didn't know) but she always gets upset when I say that I think I bombed it (which I legitimately think I have) and then end up with a higher grade than she does. She is convinced that it is some horrible thing I am doing to her. I am not trying to. I am answering a question. I scored 20 points higher than her on the lecture exam and 10 points higher on the practical. The sad part is that I think in many cases she is much more prepared for the test than am I. She really shouldn't be getting the grades she is..if you took into account the hours of prep she does. Either way, she had a major breakdown which was topped off by her finding out that she scored a 70. Thankfully (so sad that THIS is the good part) a friend of ours REALLY bombed it so she could concentrate on how much worse it could have been. Somehow, I got her to go to class and the meeting which, sadly, she managed to cry through intermittently. Those days are really rough. I hope she can soon begin to see the brightness ahead. Heck, we only have a month left!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

I am pleased to report that my university now has its first (at least those in the know told me there hadn't been one before) Students for Organ Donation advocacy organization. I registered us last night and everyone involved is really excited. I was greeted with one little (ok, big piece) of info that didn't sit well with me and required some changes...our secondary officer is (was) not a registered organ donor. She wondered why I came unglued (her words: "Why is it such a big deal?") when I found out. We had a little chat about 1. hypocrisy and 2. the reasons why she wasn't a donor. After all, SHE was the very kind of person that this organization was created to reach! So, I found out why...she didn't want to be "cut up" and "have scars". Um...are you SERIOUS!? But, here is the kicker...she said she guess it didn't matter since she was going to be cremated. UH...YA THINK??? She was surprised to find out that a single donor can save up to 7 lives and that 92,000 people are currently on the transplant list, then I gave her statistics regarding how many transplants have been performed in our state. By that point, I thought I was getting through to her. She then asked with a solemn look on her face, "How many people will die waiting for a transplant?" I said "most."

She is now an organ donor.

SWEET!

If you are not a donor, please become one today! No one is going to kill you for your organs, but someone could die if you don't give them.