Just a quick update, since I did say I would tell you how I did...yes, I passed Part I of the National Boards!!! I admit that it was a little nerve-wracking to check my score this morning. I was just lying in bed when I got a text from one of my friends that said "boards are up" then I jumped right up and powered on my computer. After the longest boot-up EVER (it seemed) I saw my score with a little "P" next to it. What a relief!!! So looks like the worst is over for me, thank goodness. Now it's all truly downhill from here!!!

Whenever a person gets a cataract that affects their vision severely, they usually get cataract surgery. The point of the procedure is to break up the lens, which lies inside a "bag" (the capsule) then suction the pieces out; afterwards, a lens implant is inserted to replace the old lens so that the patient can still see.

However, sometimes pieces of the lens is left over, and they tend to grow and form a layer that blurs up the patient's vision. This is called a "second cataract". The way to treat this is through YAG Capsulotomy. Basically, a laser is used to blast through the layer. Check out the video below - it's pretty interesting and it reminds me of playing a video game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_H-HLqsFcc

Happy Easter everyone! Of course, half of my Easter Sunday will be spent studying, unfortunately (blah).

I have an idea as to why eggs relate to Easter, but what does it have to do with bunnies???

Source

It's been a while since I've posted on things besides academics, so I'll talk about my weekend! This past Saturday I coordinated a vision screening at the Brea Community Center, where a health fair was being held. Myself, 5 other students, and a staff doctor conducted case histories, cover testing, ocular motilities, and visual acuities. Vision screenings around here are always fun for me since I get to practice my (lousy) optometric Spanish due to the large Hispanic population in the area. If you're an intern at SCCO you'll learn quickly that optometric Spanish helps a lot!!! I pretty much just went off of what I remember from high school, and after practicing it over and over it didn't take long for me to get the hang of it. Of course, this wasn't my first time brushing up on my Spanish during optometry school - during my VOSH trip (see past archives of the blog), Spanish was pretty much the only language I used in the vision screenings there.

Also yesterday my fiancee and I visited Balboa Island, which is in Newport Beach. It's definitely a sight to see here in Orange County - it reminds me very much of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco or Santa Monica Pier, except smaller and less busy. What was also nice was seeing the various houses on the island - they were easily valued in the millions despite their relatively smaller size compared to the surrounding area. It was a beautiful day to go out too, and it's been a while since I've escaped from the usual places I go to around here (Fullerton, Brea, Cerritos, Bellflower etc.). Below is a pic on the ferry as it is leaving from the peninsula off to the island:


Source