some internal switch

has been flipped.

40 days. a month and 10 days. that's all i have left of my time at the university of blank - college of veterinary medicine. in 3 months, i will start my internship.

i have read and re-read notes and books on acid-base balance. i cannot understand it. it doesn't seem like it should be that hard. acids titrate bases. water and carbon dioxide and carbonic anhydrase gives you bicarbonate - which is an important buffer in the body. when the body has too much acid, bad things ensue. but your lungs are there to blow it out in the form of carbon dioxide. and your kidneys are there to buffer it with the increased reabsorption of bicarbonate. WHY is it so hard for me to wrap my mind around the chemical basis of this? why is the henderson-hasselbach equation the bane of every vet students' existence?? if i could thoroughly understand it, just grasp its principle...then i could really understand fluid therapy, electrolyte imbalances...

ACK!!!

HA --> <-- H+ + A-

(*ps: i've given up reading 'no country for old men' at the moment and switched over to atonement...)