First, (well second) post

Well, I guess I have to be the first to post so here goes...

The pathology rotation with Dr. Andrew (not AndrewS, there is no "s") and Dr. Duvall is pretty tit. As I said in my email to everyone, I start at a reasonable time and get done with autposies by 2pm, which leaves the rest of the day for paperwork (aka, I can pretty much leave, but I stay to make it feel like I accomplish something!)

To date, I have seen 5 autopsies and participated in 3 of them:

First day, was a known alcoholic and dropped to the ground after buying a 6-pack. Duvall agreed with me when I suggested dilalated cardiomyopathy due to EtOH, but once we removed the organs, there were large bilateral PE's that came from the left distal leg. The second was a gunshot to the chest just to the right of the right nipple. It entered at rib 4/5 and lodged in the spine at about 6/7, passing through the lung. COD was exsanguination, as there was about 2L of blood in the chest, but the manner of death Duvall said probably wont be able to be determined as there are too many factors to consider whether it was done on accident, purpose, or someone shot them...

Second day, we had an obese person who was suspected to have died of a methadone overdose. COD in OD cases takes 4-6 weeks as toxicology results take this long. The second was an elderly person who came in with bruises on the right shoulder, eye, and head, almost in a linear pattern. When we opened the skull, there was a big subdural hematoma where the injury to the head was. On both of these patients I got to practice drawing fluids from various areas: eyes, femoral vein, IVC, gallbladder, bladder, which is pretty cool for only the second day.

Today, another suspected OD, Duvall says more than 50% of the cases they see are drug related, making them pretty mundane unless there is incidental pathology, which there was in this case! I was attempting to draw bile from the gallbladder, which looked really different from the other ones I had seen. The only thing that made me positive that it was the gallbladder was the 1 inch round stone I felt while putting the syringe in.

Tomorrow we have a 20 something y/o who dropped dead. More to come on that after tomorrow morning.

Hopefully this will inspire people to follow suit and post something of your own.

Peace!