For the past two weeks, my life has been full of bacteria.  We are memorizing them for microbiology and culturing them in lab.  And…it is officially turning me into a “germaphobe.”

I’ve never really been that scared of germs, but now that I know how many bacteria there are out there, it really amazes me how rarely people get sick.  We cultured our own throats the other day, and I was able to see three bacteria!  And that probably isn’t even all of them!

I took a nap this afternoon, and I had a dream that I had a giant red swelling on my elbow. It is probably because I spend all day looking at bumps and rashes.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds!  Ulcers, bubos, petechia, rose spots, purpura, ecchymoses, impetigo, pyoderma, erysipelas…  But the worst are genital lesions.  I mean, I knew I would have to look at penises if I wanted to be a doctor…I just didn’t know I would have to look at so many.  This is my life now.  Looking at pictures of peoples’ rashes.  All day.  Every day.

The sad thing is, almost nothing fazes me anymore.  I’m just used to it at this point.  Genital warts?  No big.  Impetigo?  Been there…done that.  The only pictures that still seem to make me gag are of necrotizing fasciitis.  Necrotizing fasciitis is caused by “flesh-eating bacteria” that will basically just leave half of your body exposed.  It is nasty, nasty stuff.  I would post a picture, but I don’t want to give you nightmares.

So now I wash my hands like fifty times a day.  It’s not a bad thing, it’s just where my life is at right now.  I don’t want to get necrotizing fasciitis.  It scares me even more than uterine prolapse.  I’m learning that medical school is really good at scaring you.  Hopefully it all wears off before I have kids.  Otherwise, I am going to be a psycho mom who disinfects everything and doesn’t let her kids out of her sight.

I guess the moral of the story is wash your hands.  Bacteria are everywhere…literally.