Glossary

Well, it's not really a glossary, because that would imply some sort of order, and also a point.  It's more a randomised guide to things that become normal as a medical student at Cambridge.

Formaldehyde:  Smells horrid.  It gets used to embalm the cadavers we cut up, and it is just REVOLTING.  It burns my nose and throat and makes my eyes water (not everyone gets this), and it also makes my stomach churn.  On top of which - I was eating macaroni cheese last night, and I put a forkful in my mouth and suddenly I could TASTE formaldehyde.  I stopped eating...so we could add "macaroni cheese" to the list of "things dissection has ruined for me".

On top of which: when you cut into an embalmed body, embalming fluid comes out.  EW.  You have to drain it out of the body-bag.  Also EW.  And then, sometimes, like today, when you're happily reflecting the skin, the skinflap slips out of your forceps, because it's slippery and your hand aches from holding them closed.  And then you get splashed with embalming fluid.  That has been in a dead body.  EW.  Then you spend five minutes washing your face and generally freaking out.

Obesity:  using the BMI guide (something to do with height and weight squared, or the other way round, or something...I'll get back to you on this one), most of our textbooks are obese.  

Poverty:  textbooks are expensive; we need two or three per course; we do three courses.  And then you have anatomical atlases and medical dictionaries (it's a whole new language) and anatomy colouring books and revision guides and CDs of people talking about anatomy and...yeah.  It gets expensive.  Hurrah for grants from College!

Procrastination:  Yeah...guess what this is?  This is what you can file everything that's not WORK under...

Workaholism:  Alternatively, always being miles behind where you should be.  No two ways about it; choose your path, medics!

Wow, look at that - I achieved alphabetical order without meaning to.

Love, Felicity