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Moving or should I say Flowing forward

Currently we are working on setting up the mass flow controller (in one of the images) and calibrating it to establish the leak rate of 8 liters/minute. I am specifically focused on getting the tubing measured out while getting connectors to attach the tubing to the instruments, but I ave also helped quite a bit with the wiring (like on the breadboard you see in the picture). Soon we will finish getting the gps synced with all of the other instruments and we will be ready to run our preliminary tests in the field. These preliminary tests will be focused on safety and we will set up a few sensors and just measure for the average concentration. From there we will begin to actually use the cart a start getting an idea of the shape of the plume.

Did You Hear That? (Day 5)

Today I went to Carolina Ear and Hearing Clinic along with Lindsay. Since it was our first day we started off with a tour of the clinic. After the tour, both Lindsay and I learned how to do hearing tests on each other with the help of the doctor (which we both passed). Then, we separated and followed different doctors to their appointments. One of things I learned about is a biCROS hearing aid system. CROS stands for Contra Lateral Routing of Signal. Someone who wears a biCROS hearing aid can’t hear with one ear and has little hearing loss in his or her better ear. This system allows the sound that goes to the “bad” ear to be transmitted to the better ear. This way, the patient is able to hear sound from both the ears. At the end of the day, Lindsay and I tried on hearing aids with earplugs to see what it sounds like to people who use them. When I put the hearing aid on it seemed like my voice was much louder than those who were talking to me. All in all, it was a good day and I’m excited to go back tomorrow.

-Biruk

CEAH Sign

Special Guest (Day 8)

On the last day at Carolina Ear and Hearing Clinic I was able to continue following audiologists in their appointments. I was able to see hearing test being administered and learn how the audioligsts clean out and replace parts in the hearing aids. As we were getting ready to see another patient Ms. Allen surprised us. Finally, Dr. McElveen lectured on acoustic neuromas. Since I stayed at the office a little longer I was able to see how the audiologists make ear molds and even practice myself. I had never really considered audiology before this so I’m glad I was able to get the exposure.

-Biruk

Ear mold.JPG

Surgery Practice (Day 7)

The day started off with more appointments. I saw a patient with a cochlear implant. After the patient left an audiologist explained cochlear implants to us and how they work with patient models and pamphlets. Then, Dr. McElveen took us to a lab and we were able to work on temporal bones. It took a lot of practice to get used to using the microscope as my eyes while using various surgical instruments!

 -BirukPractice with temporal bone.JPG

Tympa…what? (Day 6)

Tympanoplasty is the name of the surgical procedure I was able to observe in the operating room today. Tympanoplasty is a surgery in which the eardrum is reconstructed. It was so fascinating to be in the operating room and see the procedure on a TV monitor. Most of the time it was pretty quiet in the OR because Dr. McElveen and the nurses needed to focus. However, Dr. McElveen did explain what he was doing when he thought it was important for us to know. We talked to the nurse anesthetist and hopefully we’ll be able to shadow her and continue to observe surgeries.

-BirukScrubs.JPG

Day 8: Final Step

Today was the day. We woke up ready to seize it. Ready to finally embrace our destiny. We slowly tied our boots and prepared for what was coming. We didn’t know what it would be but we knew it would be good; we knew we would be ready. We ate a breakfast of champions: pancakes and a banana. Now that I was fueled, I waited for Kirans arrival.

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Robert, who was with us yesterday, picked us up for our full day at his office. Upon arrival, Robert gave us pedometers, and our mission was to test how accurate they are. We conducted numerous experiments to test the accuracy, some of which were walking on a treadmill for 5 minutes while someone counted and testing to see how many steps the person and Fitbit recorded. We concluded that the Fitbit was fairly close, it missed the amount of steps by around 100 or 150 which was close in our opinion for a 50 dollar fit bit.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and I couldn’t be luckier to have been chosen.

Day 7: This is my Reality

Today a girl from Cardinal Gibbons interned with us. We were back in Building 7, where we had started, and it was somewhat of a relief to be in a familiar setting. We were with a man named Dr. John Holloway, who had specialized in virtual reality.

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Dr. Holloway loved his job, and was very enthusiastic to teach us all he knows. We spent the day in his office, listening to him explain the process of designing a virtual reality.
We ended up sitting in on a meeting with professors from the University of Northern Texas, some of the top scientists in his department. Dr. Holloway and his superior were very nervous to be speaking to them, because the boss of the professors actually founded a speciality in their department and he was apparently very famous.

Day 5: I Didn’t Do It

It was our first day in RTI and the campus was extraordinary. Kiran and I got lost driving to the building, because the way RTI is set up is like a college campus. There are designated buildings for different departments and the campus is enormous. Once we found where we were supposed to be, after going through many different security gates, we managed to find who we were shadowing.
We began by shadowing a doctor who specialized in locating drugs in bake and DNA. They had complicated machines to find the drugs and described the process of it all. A lot of it involves chemistry and the doctors there had all majored in it. It was a fairly short day, because we had left at 12, but we got to tour the labs and the campus and had a great time doing that.

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Day 6: Urine for a Treat

It was hard transitioning from the long weekend to another week of work, and it seemed to have taken a toll on the doctors too. The forensic doctors admitted to us that they were sluggish and moody and yearned for the weekend. But once everyone woke up they were enthusiastic about going back to work again, because everyone there loved their work.
Today we went down to a basement to discover even more labs. The lab that we worked on today, however, wasn’t exactly ideal. The doctors explained that sometimes you need to locate drugs in urine, and to do that they need a lab space to gather this urine. So Kiran and I spent the entire day pouring urine into a giant container to gather enough DNA to ship off to a different lab.

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Day 4: It’s not the End

It’s the last day and we’re sad to be leaving, we had an incredible time here and we’re so grateful that all the doctors let us shadow them all day and follow them around.

Today I spent the day following around Nicole, and Kiran was with me this time. We had spent most of the time separated and doing separate checkups but this time we did all the checkups together. All the doctors knew that it was our last day and they wanted to celebrate by ordering pizza for lunch, so they told us not to pack a lunch today. I didn’t really get upset until we were all eating lunch together and I realized it was our last day with them and I had really gotten to like the doctors.

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We worked more on patients in need of cochlear implants, and helped each patient regain their hearing and we saw how some of them had dealt with it. One woman, actually, hadn’t heard the chirp of a bird until she was 45 years old, which we found absolutely astonishing. She was 51 now and she heard so well and fluently.