Friday, November 19, 2004
Finished with General Surgery
Finally!! The torture of q4 is over! And I managed to get through surgery without excessive OR time. I chose my cases carefully to prevent repetition and boredom.
This rotation has only further increased my interest in Emergency Medicine. How? you may ask. Well, I'll explain: When on call, you are the trauma surgery team. That means every major trauma that comes into the ED, you get called on and participate in the emergency resuscitation of said patient. It was really cool!! I've already written about the ED thoracotomy I witnessed, and that was by far the most dramatic event of the month, but there were many other patients we saw. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), someone in our group was a complete sh!t-magnet, so our call nights were always very busy with trauma and also other consults. The only bad thing about the whole situation is I am a student, and therefore get last dibs at every procedure. As a result, mostly all I did in trauma situations was a rectal exam (oooh fun!! But important all the same) and maybe insert the foley catheter. I did get to put in a central line, however, which was cool - especially since the intern had already missed on a previous attempt.
As a result of this surgery rotation, I have more experience in the ED resuscitation of trauma patients, and I love it as much as I always did.
So, today was my last day on general surgery. Since it's such a big rotation, my GF and I decided to celebrate by going to the Cirque du Soleil this evening. It was a really good show - I'd highly recommend it if you've never been. I'd also highly recommend it if you have been to see Cirque before. This show, "Varekai" is very well done. The best thing about Cirque du Soleil is that everything is done live on the spot - no nets, no pre-recorded music, no-holds-barred. The band is on the right, the singer is always in view (even though you can't understand what they say, since it's all either in French or a made-up language). The acrobatics are amazing, rope-work is stunning, and then there's always the super-psycho-flexible chica that can bend herself over backwards and put her head next to her butt... I always have problems with that - I wonder how can the human body be that flexible? The thoracic spine is not supposed to bend in that direction... It's really quite distressing if you think about it. Almost like when you see the video of an ACL going out and the knee just bends in an un-natural direction... eewww!
Ok. I'm finished babbling now. The next 4 weeks are specialty surgery: 2 weeks of thoracic/vascular surgery and 2 weeks of orthopedic surgery. Then CHRISTMAS BREAK!! and a much needed rest. I think we get 2 weeks!! I won't know what to do with myself. Any suggestions besides a nice 4 day ski vacation in Maine? ¶ 7:32 AM
This rotation has only further increased my interest in Emergency Medicine. How? you may ask. Well, I'll explain: When on call, you are the trauma surgery team. That means every major trauma that comes into the ED, you get called on and participate in the emergency resuscitation of said patient. It was really cool!! I've already written about the ED thoracotomy I witnessed, and that was by far the most dramatic event of the month, but there were many other patients we saw. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), someone in our group was a complete sh!t-magnet, so our call nights were always very busy with trauma and also other consults. The only bad thing about the whole situation is I am a student, and therefore get last dibs at every procedure. As a result, mostly all I did in trauma situations was a rectal exam (oooh fun!! But important all the same) and maybe insert the foley catheter. I did get to put in a central line, however, which was cool - especially since the intern had already missed on a previous attempt.
As a result of this surgery rotation, I have more experience in the ED resuscitation of trauma patients, and I love it as much as I always did.
So, today was my last day on general surgery. Since it's such a big rotation, my GF and I decided to celebrate by going to the Cirque du Soleil this evening. It was a really good show - I'd highly recommend it if you've never been. I'd also highly recommend it if you have been to see Cirque before. This show, "Varekai" is very well done. The best thing about Cirque du Soleil is that everything is done live on the spot - no nets, no pre-recorded music, no-holds-barred. The band is on the right, the singer is always in view (even though you can't understand what they say, since it's all either in French or a made-up language). The acrobatics are amazing, rope-work is stunning, and then there's always the super-psycho-flexible chica that can bend herself over backwards and put her head next to her butt... I always have problems with that - I wonder how can the human body be that flexible? The thoracic spine is not supposed to bend in that direction... It's really quite distressing if you think about it. Almost like when you see the video of an ACL going out and the knee just bends in an un-natural direction... eewww!
Ok. I'm finished babbling now. The next 4 weeks are specialty surgery: 2 weeks of thoracic/vascular surgery and 2 weeks of orthopedic surgery. Then CHRISTMAS BREAK!! and a much needed rest. I think we get 2 weeks!! I won't know what to do with myself. Any suggestions besides a nice 4 day ski vacation in Maine? ¶ 7:32 AM
