Hi everyone,
I'm on my surgery rotation this block and it is pretty grueling.
The best part of the rotation is that I get to 'follow the specimen' to the frozen/cutting room once the operation is almost over. The worst part is the hours (sleep deprivation much?). And the residents are really snappy. This is gen surg btw. [For anyone interested: the hours are the following: Wake up at 4 am, get to hospital by 5, round at 6, get to ORs by 0730, observe operations, eat between surgeries, evening handoff at variable time from 4-6pm. Leave hospital, maybe read, eat, sleep. It's kind of crazy hours compared to most 'regular' jobs.]
Nonetheless, I am learning some cool anatomy via pimping. I kind of gradually forgot most of the spaces/recesses and artery/vein connections from way back when I was a M1, so it's a good review. It is interesting how the surgeon almost never pimps the resident. I guess we are there to help the resident learn as well (?) as it could be potentially embarrassing if they were asked something and they didn't know causing them to lose track of a vital part of the operation (because it distracted them somehow). This rotation is definitely giving me a newfound appreciation for the 'larges' (large specimens) that we receive from surgery. The other thing it made me appreciate as well is that surgery really is a team sport. Besides 'us' (pathology) surgeons also highly depend on radiologists, anesthesiologists, other OR staff and other healthcare providers to ensure that surgery goes safely. It definitely gives me a sense of the bigger picture when it comes to patient care, which is the ultimate goal of anyone in the medical field.
On a different note, I was prowling the interwebs and I found two editions of the same book, an autopsy handbook. I suggest it for anyone wanting to know more about anything autopsy. The 3rd and 4th version can be found here and here. I recommend checking out both. Although they are different versions of the same book, they actually have pretty different info/chapters.
I guess suture and knot tying is giving me some weird sort of confidence that by the end of the 3rd year of medical school, I would be able to meet the basic medical needs of a human settlement on an uninhabited land/island away from civilization if I was the only medically-trained person there.
One thing that is helping me get through this rough rotation is my 'light at the end of the tunnel' ... I'm going to Japan in 88 days with my SO, so that is definitely a factor that makes each day a little bit better than the next as it is 'another day' before I get to go back to Japan. Counting down...
