Stick to it. Be innovative when learning the language. When studying the lungs, I posted the terminology on my kitchen cupboards (they kind of looked like lungs). Gastroenterology words were posted on my frig., etc. I was also studying martial arts and applied (literally) my new knowledge of bones, nerves and pressure points. There is always a "teachable" moment. Let it find you!

It was a curious thing, I was the only student! My goal was to learn the medical language (which covers Latin, French, and German) to name a few. My teacher was dedicated and together we went through the course as planned. Prefixes, suffixes, subjective and objective. Where do muscles originate and then, where do they end? How many bones in the body? Dermatohistopathology was my first job and it is one word...break it down: Derma/skin, to- is a connective word, histo-, the cells; path- study of disease; -ology, branch of study. All together? Study of skin, cells and disease in the branch of dermatology.

I enjoyed the six month course and was able to graduate while working a full time job with the State of Ca., Dept. of Corporations. In 1972, through active work experience, I obtained a non-transferable Associates of Arts degree. I was also an active member of the American Association for Medical Transcription. My first two jobs were dermatohistopathology with Dr. Paul Hirsch and Orthopaedics with Dr. Franklin. Least favorite? Just staying on top of course work and working!