Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The New Job: Or Why I Haven't Posted Lately

I haven’t posted for a bit. Someone told me February 3. Long time. Well, I got a job after a long period without one. I’m liking it but jobs take up time! But I’m going to try to get back to a regular posting.

I work for my friend Dick in his Ocular Pathology lab at the Vet School on the UW Campus. Our work involves diagnosing the diseases, the pathology, of eyes from animals all over the world. These eyes aren’t working too well, or are painful to the animal, so veterinarians remove them, send them to the lab, where we process them and Dick or his Fellow, Carol, “read out” the cases. That is, they diagnose the disease and report it back to the submitting clinician. The eyes of the world are on us…..or at least, come to us! When the eyeballs come in via US mail, FedEx, UPS, etc, one of my jobs is to “cut in” which means cut the eyeball into pieces which can then be run through the tissue processor and ultimately cut into 5 micron “sections” which are then stained and viewed under the microscope. I like this cutting in process. I always try to determine the disease in the eye from the description before I cut it open. It’s like having a Whitman Sampler of eyeballs. To quote Forrest Gump, “You never know what you’re gonna get”. The eye is an incredible organ. I have a new respect for it. Science often shows me the wonders of the world. The eye is one of those wonders.

7 comments:

TwistedEarth said...

what happens if an eye squirts you in the face? do you get an eye infection on your cheek?

poodledoc said...

No, the formaldehyde kills all the "bugs" except prions......if it went into my eye, that would really sting.....of course, the eyes that are filled with tumor don't have any fluid left to squirt, but they are "disgustinly cool"......

Suzy said...

A Whitman's Sampler of eyeballs??? Eeeeuuuwww!

OK, time for the poem, as promised:

I'll eat my eyes for breakfast
I might like the way they taste
I'll pluck them from their sockets
And beat them to a paste
I'll mix them up with mayonnaise
Some excrement and hollandaise
And serve them up as canapés
I might give you the recipe
We ought to make a deal
I'm sure that you would like it --
It's a visionary meal

(I think that appeared in some underground comic that my older brother read back in the late sixties. Can you believe that I committed it to memory ... along with the text of Dr. Goat and A Visit from Saint Nicholas!)

Suzy said...

And if you're really nice to me, I'll recite "The Dogs They Gave A Party" for you sometime!

poodledoc said...

I love the eyeball poem. Can I publish it on my blog? Any person who can memorize the eyeball poem, Dr Goat and a Visit from St Nicholas should be on Jeopardy! NO, JUST KIDDING!

Suzy said...

Too bad they don't have Esoteric Knowledge Bees. Oh, I guess they do. It's called Jeopardy.

Medical Professionals for $1000: This ungulate put on his coat and went out to make some calls ...

Buzzzzz!

I have it, Alex! Who is Dr. Goat?

poodledoc said...

Actually, I've often thought you'd be great on Jeopardy. I think they should combine the Newlywed Game and Jeopardy or the Oldlywed Game and Jeopardy. I think you and Ed could team up! Cool. Corgis for $500.....