Week 6

This week has been extremely gratifying. On Monday I was supposed to go to the cath lab, but I was never told when to go. Needless to say this was disappointing, but I made up for it later in the week. Instead I finished drawing the hearts in my study, which was a huge relief. I still needed to calculate the mass, but none of the equations I was given worked.
Tuesday I continued to search for equations that would work. I finally found the one that was used in previous studies such as this one, but with one problem: I needed a variable that no one knew how to find (myocardial thickness). This was quite frustrating to say the least, as I had the equation I could use to finish my work, yet I didn’t have one of the needed parts. Tuesday was also the mock presentation, which went quite well.
Wednesday was extremely busy. In the morning I went to the heart catherization lab where I observed three patients. Two of them had little to no plaque buildup in their coronary arteries, so neither of them had to have bypass surgery or stints put in. However, the third patient was not so fortunate, and had extreme plaque buildup in three different areas. Because the heart was not getting enough oxygen and nutrients because of this, they requested that he have a triple bypass. After the cath lab, I went down to the echo lab & learned about the procedure. Dr. Hundley showed me around the lab & explained the pictures obtained through the ultrasounds to me. This helped me understand what they do more and why it is important. Patients go through the echo lab as a screening before they are sent to the cath lab, as heart catherization is an invasive procedure. I also figured out the missing variable in the mass calculations, and was able to complete my work.

Week 5

This week has let me experience a broad variety of activities. On Monday I took a tour of the cardiac MRI center, where I observed patients getting MRIs of their heart under normal conditions and under stress (dobutamine injections). By getting the MRIs, doctors are able to see any heart abnormalities, such as enlarged walls and abnormal valve functioning. Later in the day I obtained the dimensions of more hearts needed for my study.
On Tuesday I spent my day tracing more hearts and obtaining more measurements, which followed into Wednesday. However, on Wednesday I also had an interview with PBS. They asked me about CERTL and what research I have been doing here at Baptist. They also filmed me tracing hearts, to show what I am actually doing. I also saw more MRIs and took more measurements.
Thursday was extremely hectic. When I arrived, I was told immediately to go to Reynolds Tower, where I was with Dr. Walsh and a group of interns. We went into multiple patients rooms, questioned them on their conditions, and discussed what the problems likely were.

4th week

This week has been extremely hectic. I had a few questions about tracing and obtaining the dimensions of the left ventricle at the beginning of the week, so I tracked down Dr. Hundley and was able to get the answers I needed. After I got the information, I started tracing. I have traced approximately twenty hearts as of now. While this may sound like a lot, I still have quite a ways to go.
On Tuesday, not only did I trace hearts, but I also read through many studies done about left ventricular hypertrophy. This broadened my knowledge on this heart disease and also supplied me with further knowledge to aid my drawings. On Wednesday and today, I have drawn constantly and hope to complete at least thirty drawings.

3rd Week

This week, despite being short, was extremely productive. On Monday, I was able to practice tracing many of the hearts, as last week I finally figured out how to pull up the files containing the MRI images. However, I still did not know how to print the images as the program is on a special computer. When drawing the hearts, I obtained the left ventricular dimensions, such as the short axis cavity area, septal thickness, etc. After getting these dimensions, I compared them with previous dimensions.
On Wednesday I practiced tracing more hearts. I finally figured out how to print out the images drawn, so I printed the short axis tracing and the long axis tracing. I was supposed to show them to Dr. Hundley to see how accurate they were, but he was too busy at the moment and could not show me. Because of this, I practiced my technique further.

2nd Week

This week has been extremely busy. On Monday, I finished the excel worksheet I had been working on for three days straight. It was an extreme relief to finally fill in the last box, as I was ready to move on to the tracing program I would be using to get the left ventricular dimensions. However, this was also where the frustration began. On Tuesday, I was set up on the wrong drawing program and no MRI file would load. At the end of the day I was set up on the correct program and on Wednesday, I thought I would be able to start. When I got onto the correct program Wednesday, to my surprise the files would still not load. The whole day was spent trying to correct the problem. By Thursday, the problem was still not fixed. I asked Dr. Hamilton to try to convert the files, which he did. However, they still did not work. Needless to say this week has been extremely busy and frustrating, but next week I should be able to start my work.

First Week

This week has been extremely enjoyable for me. On Monday during orientation, I was first a bit intimidated by the safety precautions that we had to go through, but I realized that most of the hazards were relevant to my workplace. My mentors have been nothing but helpful. The experiment I am currently doing is a study that has been continuing on for about eight years, and I am helping with the final study group. The people in the study had MRI's of their heart in normal conditions and under stress. What I am doing is measuring and making calculations of the left ventricle, seeing if increased size results in heart problems or death in later years. I am also calling patients, along with Sokun, so we can get all needed data for them.