Hey Everyone! Happy New (School) Year! Today marks the last first day of school for my undergraduate career, and it pains me to say that. The past three years have been amazing in so many ways, and I am excited to make my Senior year the best one yet! Moving back in has been crazy busy and things are only getting crazier. But before I start getting in to what’s going on this year, I’ll tell you a bit about the end of my summer.

After flying cross country back home to Phoenix, the race was on the make sure everything was set for moving in to my house in LA. A couple shopping trips and family visits later, my dad and I made the 6 hour trek from Phoenix to Los Angeles and moved in to my new house on Menlo and 29th St. I am currently living with 11 other guys who I have known for the past few years, so it’s safe to say this year will be an interesting one.

The coolest thing I got to do while I was back in Phoenix was going to Barrow Neurological Center at St Joseph’s Medical Center to see some live surgeries performed by my good family friend Dr. Randall Porter! I’ve had the privilege to see him perform surgeries before, but it was even cooler after spending the summer working for a spine company and seeing/participating in several cadaver labs. I was able to see an acoustic neuroma (benign brain tumor) removal, and two spinal procedures: a spinal cord detethering and an XLIF spinal fusion surgery. The XLIF procedure was especially cool because there were a lot of instruments and implants used that were similar to the ones I worked with over the summer. It was a long day, but totally worth it to spend the day in the OR.

As senior year kicks off you could probably guess that I am most excited for gameday. Next week I’ll be heading out to Dallas for the USC vs Alabama game, and I just entered the ticket lotteries for the Stanford, U of A, and UCLA away games. It’ll be an interesting season, but I am so pumped for tailgates and road trips.

Make sure to keep up with my blogs and social media throughout the year! Until next time, Fight On!

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alexb-2017

alexb-2017

Biomedical Engineering, Class of 2017, Learn more on his profile here!