My Super-Duper AHA Moment :))

On our field tip to King Fahad Specialist Hospital, there were many "AHA" moments I had experienced where suddenly all the human biology I have studied over the years had connected and started to make sense. For example, when Dr. Hani Al-Kaldi explained to us the structure of a neuron and how neurotransmission occurs, I recalled the information that I had stored a long time ago when I learned about the nervous system, and it had all pieced itself together, since I forgot about how signals are transmitted. Also, adding to the information I already knew, Dr. Hani went more into depth about how the bundles of axons are white matter and the cell bodies are gray matter, and their functions and structures. Another AHA moment I had was when we were explained to that neuroplasticity occurs in the nervous system when a neuron(s) dies or is damaged, and since the body is not able to physically produce more neurons, the body signals to the neurons to redirect themselves in order to help the areas with lost neurons. An example of how neuroplasticity occurs is through therapy, which is what Dr. Lina explained to us, and during physical therapy sessions, therapists move the affected area over a series of visits trying to get the brain to remap the neurons for the damaged area to move again. An example of how therapy helps is with Dr. DeClerk's young patient, whose left arm was unable to move until she had tried physical therapy which helped her arm start moving but sadly after a period of time it lost its movement again. The presentation given by Dr. Hani and Dr. Lina had cleared up the general concept of the structure of the human brain, how neurotransmission occurs, and what neuroplasticity is, and special thanks to the doctors, including Dr. DeClerk, and her team for helping us understand and visualize the brain and the treatments used for its diseases.

-Sarah Amer