There is always something fun to do in and around the Tampa Bay area! Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have their spring training in Florida. The Pittsburg Pirates play in Sarasota (roughly 30 minutes south), the Philadelphia Phillies play in Clearwater (20 minutes north), and the New York Yankees play in Tampa (30 minutes east). Unfortunately, my favorite team, the New York Mets, play on the other side of Florida in Port St. Lucie. Thankfully with so many teams in the area, other MLB teams come around the Tampa Bay Area every so often.

This past week, the New York Mets came to Tampa to play the New York Yankees in an exhibition game. Tickets were only $25 so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see my favorite team. I finished class, picked up my girlfriend and we headed towards Tampa. The Mets lost 6-3 but the game was fun regardless. The starters played for seven innings before the backup players came in. It was a nice way to spend my Tuesday night.

The next day we practiced our orthopedic exams in Evaluation and Management. We learn how to test for abnormalities in the spinal cord tracts. We check if the patient can feel vibration, determine where their body is in space (proprioception), and if they can use tactile feedback to identify objects (stereognosis). These sensations travel up the dorsal column of the spinal cord, so we need to test them to ensure the patient’s nervous system is functioning properly. We test two-point discrimination and sharp vs. dull sensation to test the lateral spinothalamic tracts. We check coordinated motor movements and balance to test the cerebellum. We also test normal and pathologic reflexes to check for upper and lower neuron problems. Spinal tract and orthopedic tests aid us in our differential diagnosis, which is essential to help us treat our patients.

Friday was our second Systems Pathologies exam. It covered many topics that were of particular interest to me because my family members had or have the pathologies we were tested on. Grave’s disease, Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, diverticulitis, appendicitis, and Celiac’s disease were just a few of the topics we covered. I did very well on the exam thanks to plenty of studying with my colleagues. I can thankfully say all of our midterms are over and we only have finals to look forward to!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions about what student life is like at NUHS – Florida!