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I’ve always found medicine interesting. I’ve thought about the possibility of going to medical school to become a doctor, but I’ve never wanted to become a surgeon. It’s not that I don’t like blood and guts; I just never really found surgery that interesting. Plus, anyone who knows me will tell you that I lack any and all coordination. I also don’t think I’d like the pressure.

But after reading this: http://surgeonsblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/quick-to-cut.html , I wish I had the coordination. And the pressure would definitely be worth it. Take a look.

You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.

How’d I do? Does this describe you? It describes me too. Check out the Forer Effect:

http://www.skepdic.com/forer.html

http://phantom-limb.org/images/Phantom2.jpg

A phantom limb is just what it sounds like: a limb that is not really there, but appears to be. Some amputees, and even some people who were born without limbs, have the uncanny, and often unpleasant experience of feeling like their missing limb (usually arm or leg) is still there. I’m not in the mood to write paragraphs, so here are the interesting facts about phantom limbs, in bullet form. I’ve always preferred reading bullets to paragraphs anyway…

·         Roughly ninety percent of amputees will experience the phantom limb phenomenon at some point after the amputation, though in most people the feeling goes away over time.

·         Unfortunately, in approximately 95% of cases, the phantom limb is painful. This is a huge problem, as how can doctors go about treating a patient that’s experiencing pain in a body part that does not exist? Until recently, there was no way, until recent methods using neuorplasticity (check out this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_box ) have shown some success.

·         “Phantom limb” can also occur in internal organs. There have been cases where people that have had their bladder removed suffer the feeling of a chronic and painful need to urinate.

·         Phantom limbs sometimes feel like dead weight, while other times they can have lives of their own. Patients have reported feeling their phantom arm gesticulating, waving, and reaching for a ringing telephone.

·         Phantom limbs have a tendency to literally “shorten” over time. For instance, the patient may start out with a normal size phantom arm, only to have it begin to shrink to lengths as small as six inches.

·         People born without limbs can also experience the phantom limb phenomenon.

·         Phantom limbs can itch. In one case, a patient found he could scratch his itchy phantom arm by scratching a specific spot on his cheek. This is likely because the sensory maps in the brain that correspond to the face are close to those that correspond to the arm.

·         Researchers are just beginning to understand the cause of the phantom limb phenomenon, and there is still much debate. For the current theories, check out the sources below:

Sources:

·         http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/tchen.html

·         http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/4/384

·         http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119520633/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb

·         The Brain That Changes Itself Norman Doldge M.D.