Medical school memories entry 01: the heart

Cornfields everywhere and waking up in the middle of summer to the smell of pollen was how I grew up. But

somehow I acclimated quickly to the big city. Hopping on the "el" somewhere from the University of Illinois Circle campus for the 14-minute ride to downtown Chicago to buy art supplies at Dick Blick's was something I did solo all the time. And I loved the screeching sharp turns the elevated made just inches from the high-rise apartments. Back in the mid-80's there were no internet, cell phones, computer screens. Can you imagine? It gave me the chance to take everything in, eyes wide open!

My 11 classmates and I were eager to hone our art and design skills, photograph surgery, develop our own film, and craft prosthetic body parts. At the time, the University of Illinois Chicago Medical School was just one of less than 10 accredited medical illustration programs. I didn't decide until already a senior in high school that I wanted to pursue medical illustration. As a senior in high school I took my first-ever art class. It was certainly a prerequisite to get into the undergrad portion of the program. Of course I had been drawing my whole life. I have a permanent callous/bump on the most distal joint of my right middle finger. Up until this point I had not had any formal drawing classes.

After a minimum of 63 credit hours at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an undergrad I could apply to the professional phase of the medical illustration program. Being accepted meant the world to me! Only 12 people were accepted each year.

One of my first memories of medical school was my illustration class. We were instructed that we would be taking a field trip to Little Italy to a butcher shop to pick out our organ of choice. Brains and intestines were off limits because we couldn't keep them preserved safely. On a warm Autumn day we headed east to the butcher shop that likely served medical illustration classes before us. Each of us held a piece of animal internal organ, wrapped in white butcher paper as we walked out of the shop back to our classroom on Taylor Street.

We would keep our animal organs submerged in preservatives for a few weeks in order to spend time drawing them. In honor of my registered nurse mother, who loved anything to do with the cardiovascular system, I chose a sheep heart. In the mid-80's carbon dust drawing was popular. So that's the medium I chose. Here's the finished drawing with a small sketch showing how the piece was built up --a layer of carbon dust at a time.

Next up........

what it was like growing up with a nurse mom.

And what does this have to do with being a doula?

Looking ahead..........

what it was like to be shoulder to shoulder in classrooms, labs, and surgical suites with first and second year medical students.