Winding down?

Ahhh! Totally crunch time!

This week, I FINALLY finished my experiment! Woohoo. As much as I enjoyed it, I was getting slightly bored/tired of moving 200+ baby crabs from one well to another EVERY DAY. We called an end to the experiments because I needed to analyze my data. I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday running statistical analyses with Dr. Sulkin. I now have lots of information about stage survival, mortality, and duration. I just have to organize it into tables, graphs, and figures to put into a presentation. The presentation is on Wednesday next week, but my advisor wants me to finish it by Friday so that I can work on writing my paper next week!

Oh yeah, did I mention that we are supposed to have a draft of a scientific paper ready by the time we leave Shannon Point?!

Sorry – that’s a little overdramatic, but it is a lot of work. On top of making and practicing the presentation, I’m not sure when I’m supposed to write this paper, especially since I also have to pack and clean my room and stuff. Dr. Sulkin said that most people don’t get the paper done by the time they leave, but it is better to try because it will be hard to be motivated to write it in the “real world.” We’ll see how it goes.

While, I will be sad to leave since I’ve had such a great time here, I’m excited to go home.  A lot has happened since I left – Dad got a job, Mum passed her Pharm. Tech. exam (yay!) – and I still need to get ready for school to start about a week after I get back! I can’t wait to see my family and friends, but I am also really excited to get my wound fixed. I’m scheduled for yet another CT scan pre-op exam on the Monday after I get back (8/19) with surgery on Tuesday morning. Unless they see something glaringly obvious on the CT scan (which they haven’t on any of the previous 3), they will essentially be “going in blind.” It will be an exploratory surgery and I’m under the impression that they will just keep cutting until they find whatever is causing the problem. This might seem scary, but I’m not worried. My surgeon is great and I trust God to help him find the problem.  There was talk of putting a wound vac (a device that creates negative pressure in the wound to promote faster healing) on after the surgery, but I don’t think that will be decided until we are in the OR. It should be a day surgery again, so I’ll be back home that same day. I’m praying that it will all be resolved within the first few weeks of school so that I no longer have to change my gauze twice a day like I have been for the last 5 months. It’s just really annoying.

Anyways, that was a bit rant-y. Oops. I’ll be back in MN on 8/17. See ya soon!