Clinical Week 3

5/26/2026

Started at my regular time, 7:30am.

Began by helping out the cytologist process some more samples, this time auricular fluid, BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage), and peritoneal fluid. I am getting used to the ThinPrep processor. It's super easy after a few runs. I also got to stain manually again. No coverslipping; I am still quite slow, and the cyto samples can't air dry at any point or else those cornflake artifacts will form.

The supervisor wasn't in, so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to cut. That's why I continued to work with the cytologist--I wasn't sure what I could/could not do. I didn't want to get anyone in trouble--and I didn't want to get myself in trouble, either.

Afterwards, I observed the other histotechs. One was cutting, the other was labeling the IHC stains. The IHC machine reminds me of those Gravitron rides in carnivals. Kind of.

After lunch, I was informed that I could cut! Since there were two other licensed histotechs present, I was allowed to continue practicing!

So I cut five blocks again today. Trimmed and cut. Then off to the oven.

5/27/2026

Today I cut 15 more blocks. I chose my blocks from this huge bin of old cases that were ready for disposal. Most of them were gastric. Also lots of skin. I rifled around and found a mix of different tissues.

It took me about 2 hours to cut those 15 blocks 😬. I think that is considered progress for me, considering it used to take me 3-4 hours to cut just 10 blocks in class. I am also getting used to troubleshooting my own microtomy problems.

Also, there was a volunteer histotech today. She graduated a while back from the same program I'm in right now. She showed me how to guide the sections in the water bath onto the slide. You're supposed to use your forceps to gently lead the tissue to the slide. It took me some practice, and I still destroy the sections with my forceps sometimes, but I think I am getting the hang of it!

The volunteer also showed me a technique for coverslipping that minimizes air bubbles:

• dab on the glue to the slide

• quickly dip the slide with glue into xylene - this removes any air bubbles in the glue itself

• hold the slide up in one hand, and use the other to line up the coverslip along one edge of the slide; they have to line up edge-to-edge perfectly

• gently (very gently) lower the coverslip down - this pushes any air bubbles out the other side

You may still get air bubbles, but they are dramatically reduced and much easier to remove. I found this technique super useful and look forward to trying it out on actual slides with tissue (we had just been practicing on blank slides).

In addition to cutting and practice-coverslipping, I got to wind down the automatic stainer and coverslipper. At the end of the day, the nozzle that squirts out glue gets put in xylene overnight to prevent the glue from drying out. Then I re-lidded all of the solutions in the stainer, and moved the arm to its resting position.

And what internship wouldn't be complete without filing? I helped the volunteer file and archive stacks and stacks of slides and blocks. They keep those for 25 years, in case the patient or their family decides to take legal action down the road. There is a whole room just for the storage of these hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of slides and blocks.

The supervisor mentioned that I would eventually get to stain the sections I've been cutting. I'll pick the best ones, stain them, and observe under the microscope for quality and troubleshooting.

So that is something to look forward to!