The week so far
Monday it was all icy out. The whole way to school (2 miles, yo) the sidewalks were iced over, even in front of an elementary school. The crossing guard told me it was a sin, and the city should be ashamed, with all the little kids falling. I didn't fall, though, so I was proud of myself. You'd think Boston could handle ice better, though. I mean, that's the city's major product, right?
Tuesday I woke up to the sound of helicopters. This seemed odd, but it was early in the morning and I frankly didn't care. That evening I got home and found out that there was a huge fire just around the corner. 6 restaurants and a dry cleaning place are totally gone (they were empty so no one got hurt), including (imo) the best burrito place in the city.
Today we learned about the thyroid! They're good things go have. They are also hard to palpate, unless there's something wrong. Our professor told us that most general practitioners do not even try. This, in his opinion, is because the vast majority of the time a thyroid exam means shoving your fingers into someone's neck so they feel like you're choking them, finding nothing, and feeling silly. This is causes negative reinforcement. He encourages all of us to fight the negative reinforcement, and backed up his encouragement by telling us about several types of thyroid cancers.
We also learned about goiters! They're common in people who grew up in the developing world and did not get enough iodine. In the US, they're now mostly found in yuppies. Specifically, yuppies who feel that regular (iodized!) salt is not natural and wholesome enough to put in their body, so they buy sea salt or something like that, which is very pretty and natural but also contains no iodine. My feeling on natural foods is that it is usually a good thing, but there are limits. Natural does not always equal better or even good. For instance, hemlock is a completely natural product.
Oh, randomly, older cats are prone to hyperthyroid disease. So if your cat gets all jumpy and extra-energetic (you know...hyper), and loses weight despite eating much more than usual, that could be why. Just fyi.