"Wabbit Stew", Anyone?

Thursday last week was fun. We had an experiment in pharma lab that required the use of adorable rabbits. No, we were not to dissect them. We were to drug them, anesthetize them, knock them out. The class was separated into five big groups and each big group was broken down into five sub-groups. Guess who was random-picked to be the over-all leader? Ugh. Me.

Anyway, the five subgroups would experiment with the different means of giving drugs: oral, intravenous (via veins), intramuscular (via butt), intraperitoneal (via abs), and subcutaneous (via skin). I was a member of the IV (intravenous) group. Mour (“Moore”) was the one who injected the really cute rabbit. We were supposed to stick the needle in the vein on the rabbit's ear – which was such a very thin thing that I had initially wondered what would happen if you stick the needle in and it went out the other side? The vein also looked very thin and I wondered what kind of a needle could fit it. But a needle did fit, it was an exact fit.

Anyway, Mour stuck the needle in the vein… but the rabbit jerked and we ended up with a bleeding ear which we immediately tried to stop. He tried again on the other ear and the rabbit moved again. There was again bleeding but not as much as the first ear. He tried again and this time, we really held down the rabbit. Unfortunately, as he was inserting the needle, he (Mour) must’ve moved coz some of the blood spurted. Which meant we hit an artery and not a vein. He pulled it out again and inserted it in a vein. Finally, we were able to drug the rabbit. Once we let go, though, the rabbit just stayed there. “Is it dead?” we all asked, but then noticed that the rabbit was still breathing and we all breathe sighs of relief. We waited until the effect wore off (35 minutes and 46 seconds) and recorded the necessary observations.



Btw, our rabbit pooped. It was kind of gross. It was all pellet poop. Apparently, as Mour was injecting the rabbit, he/she began to poop and then stopped after he/she was drugged. When I moved around and transferred seats, it was only then that I noticed that… well… there was a poop pellet stuck in the, um, anus. I guess his defecation got interrupted? And as the minutes ticked by and the rabbit slowly regained some consciousness… his/her pooping continued even though he/she wasn’t even fully conscious. It was kind of gross, really, to watch as one pellet fell out after another.

Anyway, it was a very interesting experiment. The IV group of group 1, though, had an unfortunate experience. They killed their rabbit. And it’s not even sure if they killed the rabbit coz of dose miscalculation (read: over dose) or because the rabbit got squished. See, about 3-4 big guys were holding down the rabbit. Like, pressing it down, really, so that it had no chances of moving. After injection, they all let go… the rabbit was breathing… and then it stopped.

I know that what happened was funny and we all laugh about it and stuff... pero kawawa din yung rabbit noh? Actually, kawawa lahat ng mga rabbits. They were starved for 12 hours and then a bunch of students would be poking and prodding for the sake of medicine.

My Expensive Bookcase

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See all those? Those are my medical books. I was sitting down at my table, not really studying but trying to prep myself to start studying, and as I was staring at my books, I realized… I’ve got quite a haul. If you converted them to cash, I’d be rich. Or, at least, richer than I am normally. And I’d be able to buy lots of pocketbooks, possibly go on vacations and stuff…

Here’s the breakdown:

W’s Obstetrics – php3795
Surgery – php4800
Patho – php4300
Pediatrics – php3700
Internal Med (2 volumes) – php5300
Psychiatry – php2180 (I actually bought this last year)
Pharma – php2600

The other three don’t count since I borrowed two from friends and one isn’t really a required text for this year (which I bought when I was in pre-med).

So the total is… php26, 675. Wow. That’s a lot of money.

And people complain when doctors charge a lot. Hmph. Try going through what we did and pay what we pay, yes? Mura pa nga binabayad niyo eh. Hmph. I just really understand why doctors charge a lot. And to think, when you’re an intern, you only get 500 a month. 500 a month! Yeesh. It takes a while to “get back” what we had spent for medical school.

So please, understand why doctors charge a lot. It takes a LOT of sacrifice to be a doctor. Our only consolation is monetary :p heheheh