Ears? I've got a box of ears!

Is it strange that I now want my very own otoscope to add to my 'medical toys' collection???

"There is a box of ears for you to examine."

"Let's go check out the box of ears now."  Yet again, I heard myself utter another sentence that a year or two ago would have seemed completely unprobable for me to say, (unless I had become incoherent due to some bizarre as-yet-unknown and undiagnosed medical condition...) 

So there was this box full of ears for us to peer into.  Each ear had a number assigned to it, and a handy reference chart indicating what ear condition corresponded to it.  Wouldn't it be awesome if it worked that way in real life???  LOL!  ("Let me take a look at your child's ear...aha, it appears she has ear #3, which means she has acute otis media.")

Our simulation lab yesterday was about eyes, ears and the neurological system.  It was a fascinating lab, as usual.  We had to pick new lab partners, so had to part ways with my wonderful first lab partner, Z. 

Now, K and I are partnered up.  She is a sweet and fun wee "young thing".  I'm not sure what she thinks of being paired with a "sweet older thing", but nonetheless, we certainly had a good time in lab, had fun and learned lots.  Really, what more is there?  It's great. 

It's probably a good experience for both of us.  My kids are still very young, as are the kids of the vast majority of our friends, so we have a definite gap in our experiences and encounters with the young adult population.  Our kids' babysitters are adolescents, and at my former job, the youngest colleagues were in their late 20s.  So interraction with the 18-26 age group is one that is definitely lacking in my life.  This will be a very good remainder of simulation lab -- and there are only three labs left before we're allowed to try our new-found basic nursing skills on the unsuspecting public!

Back to yesterday's lab....what I learned....(I learned way more than this, but these were the highlights!)...

- I learned that looking into real (and fake!) eyes and ears is fascinating beyond description. 

- I learned that I really want my own otoscope to be able to check my kids' ears when they get sick.

- I learned that it is practically impossible for me to distinguish between a chronic ear infection and acute ear infection in the fake ear collection.  Thank goodness that is not part of the nursing diagnosis I'll be expected to do in the future...I need to know enough to realize that "this ear does not look healthy" and leave the medical diagnosis to the physicians...

- I learned that if I am examining a patient's right eye, I have to hold the opthalmoscope on MY right eye too (and vice-versa), to avoid an extremely awkward face-to-face position...think about it...

I'm lovin' this nursing school adventure!!!  I am so grateful to be exactly where I am.