At pisces school yesterday, our Ob/Gyn instructor told us that women have been known to conceive when they have one functional tube and one functional ovary on the other side. Meaning that the left ovary pops out an egg, it conceivably falls into the cul-de-sac behind the uterus, and the right tube sweeps down, like a Gumby salpinx, and picks it up. Amazing! I had no idea that tubes are so mobile. I have wondered why the fimbrae of the tube is not firmly attached to the ovary, why we would risk having the egg transverse any area open to outer pelvic space, but maybe this is why! I ran the idea past Papa at mom's birthday dinner, and he was nonplussed. He has totally heard of this and finds it totally plausible. Apparently there are chemotactic factors -- meaning chemicals that attract one thing to another -- that help the tube find the egg. I would really love to see that live, the tube craning over like one of those claw machines that picks up stuffed animal prizes at Chuck E. Cheese.
Speaking of gyn stuff, it was pretty inspiring to see my own uterus on ultrasound for the first time today. We were practicing on each other in the ER. The uterus is very tiny when one is not pregnant! (I was thinking of a potential short story or movie scene in which a medical student not unlike myself finds out she is pregnant in that situation.) I also saw my abdominal aorta, liver, and kidneys, though we couldn't find my gall bladder. Maybe I don't have one. It was surprisingly cool to see my insides. I mean, I know blood is pumping through my abdominal aorta, but seeing it on the screen, having it externalized, it's like a different kind of mirror. The PET/MRI scans I have seen make haunting portraits, too.
I have a 16-hour day tomorrow, so I'm off to sleep. Hugs to all!
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