Patent Foramen Ovale & Fetal Circulation

When my mom was in the hospital for four months, after having an ischemic stroke that blocked blood flow to the right side of her brain, I kept hearing doctors say things about the reasons for my mom’s stroke—things like, “she has a PFO.” I had no idea what this term meant, but I later found out that PFO stands for “patent foramen ovale.” It’s a hole between the right and left atrium in the heart, which allows blood to bypass the lungs during fetal development. The foramen ovale is supposed to close on its own at birth, when the baby begins to breathe on her own, but in 20% of the population, the hole never closes, resulting in a patent foramen ovale, a hole between the atria of the heart. Since it can be hereditary, doctors recommended that my sisters and I be evaluated for a PFO. A transthoracic echocardiogram with a bubble study confirmed that I do have a PFO, and neither of my sisters do. There is no treatment and usually no symptoms, although doctors suspect that a PFO can allow blood to pool and form clots, and therefore increase the risk of stroke.

Our method of studying this in A&P involved text and a couple heart models in lab (our class is pretty much devoid of technology), but as I suspected, a search of “fetal circulation” on YouTube reveals many creative approaches to understanding fetal circulation and the changes that occur at birth. The foramen ovale is supposed to close at birth and be replaced by a flap of tissue called the fossa ovalis. And there are several other unique characteristics of fetal circulation similar to the foramen ovale, such as the ductus arteriosus, which allows blood to bypass the lungs by shunting blood from the pulmonary trunk to the aorta, and on to systemic circulation. When the ductus arteriosus closes at birth, it becomes the ligamentum arteriosum. These videos also discuss the umbilical vein, ductus venosus, and the umbilical arteries.

The following YouTube clips show fetal circulation in a creative and interesting way. I think it also says a lot for how audio and images can be paired with text to demonstrate a process or complex concepts in ways that are easy to understand. These are relatively simple projects that involve still images and audio, and no actual video footage. It’s exciting to see that some educators are taking advantage of technology-based assignments that students will enjoy much more than sitting idly in a lab and identifying numbers on plastic models. These projects would also help students learn about processes and how different parts of anatomy are related, rather than just focusing on identification and rote memorization. Do you think my A&P teacher would be offended if I sent her links to these YouTube videos?! Probably.

Avoiding Science & Other Thoughts

My decision to avoid science was pretty much solidified the first semester of my freshman year in college, during Chemistry 101. The professor was a callous, stern older woman who gave long lectures without betraying a trace of emotion, multiple choice tests that required rote memorization, and long, boring labs with titrations that I found tedious and uninspiring. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I’d known how titrations could be used to develop a medication for a sick child, or to find the cure for a disease. Although I got As and Bs in Chemistry, Precalculus, and several Computer Science courses, I assumed I wasn’t good at science. I’d always been an A student in high school, and when that didn’t come as easily in college, I took no more science courses than the minimum requirements for my B.A. It wasn’t until twelve years later, after my mother had a stroke that I began to rethink my decision to avoid science. Research on the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields includes many strategies for creating gender-inclusive STEM classrooms: smaller classes, increased percentage of female faculty, outreach programs as a bridge between high school and college, cooperative learning vs. competition, recognition of different communication styles, hands-on projects, group work, and content that is relevant to society. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I’d experienced a different type of science classroom.

There have been two times in my life when it seemed that the universe grabbed me and shook me out of my complacency. The first, when I was evacuated from the corporate headquarters of the company where I worked, from the Sears Tower, on September 11th, 2001 and was subsequently stranded in Chicago. After four years of feeling ambivalent about my place in the corporate world of software development, I quit my well paying job, sold my house, and went to graduate school.

The second time was in November of 2005, when my 60-year-old mother had a stroke that deprived the left side of her brain of oxygen, and left her with permanent left-side weakness. Ironically, this experience, the biggest test of strength and courage my family has ever known, has also been a blessing. I would never want my mom to suffer again, but she has led me to value every moment, to believe that I have the ability to change my direction if I’m not happy. And it is seeing my parents, happier together than they’ve ever been, which is my foundation.

My plan with the Master’s degree was to pursue teaching at the college level. That was before I learned that teaching English at the college level with only a Master’s degree essentially pays minimum wage, and offers no promise of any (let alone permanent) employment. And isn’t this surprising, given that our English dept. relies on almost as many instructional academic staff working in these tenuous circumstances, as they do tenure-track PhDs. This is just as bad, if not worse, as the abuse of limited term employees in higher education (but this is all another story).

Alas, I just met with my manager, and he made no mention of the agenda-less meeting drama! I am so surprised I expected that he would have a diagram about it, which he would narrate. He had another diagram, which he did narrate, but at least for now it sounds like I’m free to make my own decisions about meeting agendas.

I’m writing this all just as I found out about yet another tragedy with a friend’s struggle to have another child. My heart breaks for her, and yet I am without words. It makes all my complaints this week seem so trivial.