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[arimidex]

i love picking things. i love the dirty and grotesque.

i love popping pimples. i love picking scabs. i love cleaning ear wax. i love smoothing out ingrown hairs, and plucking stray ones. i love scritching off dry skin and dandruff; and not just from myself.

i love the inner workings of the human body. i love the ooey-gooey sticky bits. i love tendons

Comments

[justjesi]

Hahah I love all the things you love! Patthology was one of my third year annual subjects and I quite liked it though in humans is probably more fun. I had to do a necropsy of a cow, sometimes two, per week and it was very exhausting not to mention the smell. Doing necropsies on dogs was more interesting but I felt sorry for them, still what I hated the most was doing necropsies on chickens because I had to kill them with my own hands snif.

If I were you and had the possibility to study what I want I'd do it, you never know where it might lead you, pathology is a very wide subject there might be things that you won't like but I'm sure you'll find some that you will. I had the same problem with veterinary, I hated production (cows, pigs, sheep and chickens) and was forced to learn it because a vet needs to have an idea of everything but now that I'm almost done I will focus more on exotic and small animals, that's what I like :)

[arimidex]

ugh that would kill me. i could never hurt anything else for my own personal gain. i would love to be a zoologist/entologist, but i know i'd have to harm and dissect animals that were just killed for that purpose. it must have broken your heart. at least with anatomy based pathology, the cadavers were donated specifically for that purpose.

ps: you specialize in exotics? my hedgehog has weird white bumps on her side; she had it when i adopted her. she's like 3 and obese, i just got her a few months ago, put her on diet food, and give her baths/lotion her up every week. do you have any idea what could cause it and might it be lethal?

School

[neonlotus1]

May I suggest a PA program? In the US, it's about 5 yrs with all the extra sciences, many PAs are making about 60=75% of what physicians make, and get to have a kife physicians are sacrificing. Opportunities abound in every specialty. When I worked nursing in a prison Medical Unit several years ago, a psychiatrist offered me $75/hr just to do his med clinics if I went to PA school. You'd be able to pick up a BS along the way at something (Microbiology, Biochemistry, etc.) that would interface with a longer-term goal. PAs typically hold a MPH degree in the US. Just a thought. btw, plz take a peek at gmail.

Re: School

[arimidex]

There's no PA (which is my ideal job) programs here in Canada. pathologist's assistants aren't even a regulated career here. they're considered "medical lab technologists" here, but to get hired as a PA you have to have at least a year preforming autopsies (I think the minimum number is 50 to be fully qualified?) If I go to school for as a med tech certificate/degree (3 years), it's a 3 year program, and I have to work my way up in the field, and have a good possibility of actually never getting any experience in autopsies. if I get a bachelors in life sciences (4 years, then requires finishing school - 8 month lab training), I'll still need to get a masters to be considered a MLT/PA, because i would need to specialize in anatomy. If I get the masters, my starting salary is 72k/per annum, with at least 50k in debt. for the certificate route, it's 20k in debt, starting with 55k/per annum. IF i'm accepted to the masters program, i'm guaranteed a certified PA. If i don't, i'm pretty well fucked.

[icedguardian]

Pathology is such an interesting field. It sucks that the schooling is so long and the it being so expensive.

I'm sorry about your friend. That's a terrible situation to be in.

You should to talk to one of the college counselors about what might be the best path to take. They should know if you need to start at a community college or not. I just don't know how honest they'll be.

As for what's more important... I don't know. I guess I'd go with happiness, followed by money earned post college, money saved and then speed and ease of degree. Because if you're not happy then everything is a struggle.

[arimidex]

I talked to a counsellor and, as supportive as she was, she on;y really said "go with what you feel will make you most successful". I talked to the deans of the certain program halls, and they all said the same "oh, obviously MY path is better." I may try again at a different school.

[bluelipgreeneye]

I like all of those things too. I'm actually a bit compulsive about plucking ingrown hairs, which I get on my legs sometimes because my skin is so sensitive. I'm also a bit compulsive about scabs, I have a bad habit of scratching at my scalp until scabs form, then scratching the scabs, and then scratching THOSE scabs, and so on. But I think that's remnants of self injuring, and most definitely tied to stress.

OH, I sympathize for him, poor guy, that must be a completely terrible feeling.

I myself am having the same sort of college trouble. Everyone expects me to go because they think that I'm smart, but college is just not for me. I'm hoping to get a job and then try to publish my stuff.

[arimidex]

ingrown hairs are the beeeeeest. uh I could pick them all day. have you ever gotten one that's come out really long? its so satisfying.

you can for sure, 1005 publish your stuff. even your journal is entertaining.

[bluelipgreeneye]

oh. my. god. It's so disgusting but yeah, when that happens I am way too satisfied. There's just something instinctual in me that loves that sort of stuff.

thanks. :)

[daisy1028]

I personally am against spending all that money on college. I went to college, got a degree in business, became $32,000 in student loan debt. Once I finished college, I couldn't get a real job for the life of me and was stuck working retail jobs. Finally, I spent another $1500 to get a certificate in medical Billing and Coding, which I got a job right away with. I have a good job now, but the pay still sucks. I can barely live on my own and get by with how little I get paid at my job. The economy here sucks and I can't even get another job. My friend who never went to college, only got a certificate and is working at a job making about $5.00 more an hour than I do and I have 2 degrees. So long story short, I am not in favor of wasting thousands of dollars on college, and if I have kids, I will not push it on them to go to college. If they wanna go thats great, if they don't thats great too

[arimidex]

thank you for sharing that with me. university isn't for everyone, and I think i might also be one of those people. i'm so sorry the economy is so shitty. i know so many people that are just getting destroyed, even at (usually really good) paying jobs. i hope you get promoted and make a mint this year.