Week 3

Just got home from our first day of week 3. We have a horse case this week. We're dealing with a yearling with muscle spasms and "Impressive" lineage (horse people or Fugly Horse of the Day readers will know exactly what we're dealing with here), a lame limb, worms and cryptorchidism.

I'm trying to get started researching everything I need to. I know what physiology I need to look up, the parasitology, the pharmacology, and everything else - but I don't know what I should read about in anatomy to prepare for anatomy lab tomorrow. Hock? Testicles? A certain muscle group? Aargh.

After I posted this, I just checked my email, and HECK YES!!!!

The study of diseases in ancient animals, like dinosaurs, is complicated by the lack of most clinical tools -- lab values, pathogen culturing, genetic analysis, symptomatology, even soft tissue. Neverless, some diseases are revealed in the fossil record. Their analysis is profoundly affected by modern animals used as comparitive reference models. This is an excelent opportunity to learn about cases of pathology in pelycosaurs and dinosaurs, and the techniques used to arrive at "diagnosis"