Til my birthday! Whoop
All of a sudden I have been getting a ton of spam comments on my blog. Whatever. I just reject them.
Surgery is going well. I am on the vascular service at CUMC. While I haven't been able to see/scrub on as many cases as I did at Bergan, I do feel that I am learning quite a bit. Last week we repaired an abdominal aortic aneurysm. We didn't have to open the guy up; rather we did it through the arteries near the groin. For this type of procedure, we shoot dye up in there and have to take a lot of images. For this reason, we have to wear lead aprons. Let me tell you. Not fun. I wasn't even scrubbed in, and it was super annoying. It is like wearing one of those 10lb extra wait workout vests. Annoying. What surgery has really made me realize is that a lot of being a med student is about knowing when it is actually beneficial to open your mouth. For example. On the 2nd day, I wrote the labs for the patient. The resident tells me I wrote the wrong ones and pulls up the "right" ones. As I look at the numbers I wrote, they were the exact same ones. Other people, including some of my classmates, may have argued with him. He wasn't holding it against me, so no good would have come from pointing out his mistake. Enough said. Surgery has also made me realize how bad or good your experience is really depends on what your expectations are. Coming into this rotation. I imagined working 12+ hr days. And some days I do. Many days I do not though. And it is great when I don't. Coming in with that idea, however, has made my long days seem less long. I think many people who are now on the minors approached them thinking they were going to be ice cream and cookies and naps all the time. Yes, you have those days, but that isn't every single day. It is still hard work. Those who went in with that expectation though are now sorely dissappointed and finding those rotations more difficult. Sorry for the ranting.
One thing I am sort of grateful for is how this has helped me with my fear of the phone. For those who know me, I HATE talking on the phone. Well, not to family and really close (ie high school) friends, but I hate pretty much all the rest. I never ordered pizza over the phone until I was about 22. I still don't like to do it. I hate calling to make appointments. I don't even like talking on the phone to figure out the plans for the night. But when your resident says, "Call the lab." You better go call the lab. Now. No deep breathing. No texting. Gotta call. I have gotten much better though, which is good. Because I am almost an adult.
Okay, gotta make a super bowl food thingy or something. Then off to one of Matt's coworker's house's whoop. Go commercials!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
