Discovering my inner surgeon...

On Friday I finished my first general surgery rotation. This last rotation was 4 weeks long and it was just about the most amazing thing I've ever had the opportunity to do. Despite getting up at 4am for a month straight, having severa 30+ hour days and practically living at the hospital, I loved this rotation. I was a little nervous starting out on this rotation, but once I figured out my role and what I needed to do to learn and do well on this rotation I really started to enjoy myself.

I got to see some amazing procedures and learn from some fantastic surgeons. My favorite surgeries were exploratory laparotomies. These surgeries are usually emergent and done to basically explore the abdomen and figure out what's wrong with the patient and then fix it. I know this may sound gross to some of you, but the patient is opened up basically from the bottom of their ribcage to their pubic bone and then you just take a look around! (It's a lot more complicated than the description I gave but you get the idea.) It was amazing to see the human anatomy in this living, breathing person; it was also pretty cool to see what could go wrong and then watch the surgeons correct it.

This rotation was over all to quickly and left me wanting to see more. On the last day of my surgery rotation, my surgeon told me that #1--I should consider becoming a surgeon and #2--any time I had some free time on another service to definitely come and scrub in on cases with them. I'm really hoping I'll be able to take her up on that offer so I can see if surgery really is for me! I am still surprised by how much I loved this rotation and even more surprised that I'm considering spending the rest of my life doing this! Hopefully I'll be able to figure some things out in the coming months.

This month I'm on Pediatric ER which is basically a vacation month compared to surgery. I have 12 eight hour shifts spread over four weeks, 2 ambulance ride-alongs, and a scattering of Grand Rounds and random lectures that make up my month. I was running some errands this afternoon since I wasn't scheduled to work and I felt like I was playing hooky or something from work! It's weird being free in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday! I'm enjoying getting caught up on some sleep and some other things this month though.

Mostly I'm very excited that in just 2 1/2 weeks I get to go HOME!! I haven't been home since early August and I'm ready to see my family and spend some quality time with them.

I hope you all are having a great Christmas season and each get to spend some time with your family and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Ch..ch..changes...

OK...I'm just really bad at updating on here. I'm sure only about 4 people read this anyway, but for the few of you that are interested, I'm really going to try to update this at least every once in a while. Since I haven't had much time to myself lately, this may just be the best way to catch up with the most people.

A lot of things have changed since the last time I wrote on here. Today was my last day of family medicine. After eight weeks in clinic I feel like I have learned a lot, but more importantly I have gained a lot of practice and confidence in interviewing, examining, and talking with patients. The patient interaction is one of the most important things to master and I really feel like I'm on my way to developing my own style which is great.

I am pretty glad that family med is over though; I really enjoyed the doctor and staff that I was working with and they were all great teachers. However, family medicine is not really my "thing" and I'm ready to move on. I am starting surgery on Monday morning (EARLY; about 4:30am I think) and I'm a little intimidated by I'm also excited to start something new. I've met my attending and my resident and they both seem great so I'm excited for the next month. I'm also looking forward to being back in the hospital. The clinic is great, but I love being at the hospital.

I have so much to learn on this rotation and a lot that I'm sure I'll need to relearn, but I'm excited to start.

After 1 month of general surgery I start peds ER in December which I'm really excited about. If you've known me for more than 5 minutes, you know that I absolutely love the ER life, and so I'm excited that I get to do this for my peds rotation. I'm also excited that in less than 2 months I get to go home and see my family! I love it out here in Toledo and I'm learning so much but it's hard to be away from your family for so long. I'm excited for Christmas because it's one of my favorite times with family and it should be a great break for me.

Well, I'd write more but I really should be studying up for Monday morning. I'll try to keep updated on here with any fun stories!

MSF Refugee Camp

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know of a really interesting opportunity coming up. Doctors Without Borders is touring throughout the U.S. during September and October and setting up mock refugee camps in selected cities. This week they are in Chicago (Wednesday 9/19--Sunday 9/23) and are setting up camp in Grant Park. It's a free exhibit and I've posted some of the information from the website below.

Even if you're not in medicine or not interested in international medicine, this is a great opportunity to get out of your bubble and see what conditions millions of people are forced to live in each day. If you are anywhere near the Chicago area in the next week and can make it to this exhibit I think it will be a great experience.

Information from the website:

In September and October 2007, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will be taking its outdoor educational exhibit A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City to Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, and Dallas.
Guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in, for example, Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan.

The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center.
It addresses questions such as:

Will I be safe?

What will I eat?

How do I find water?

Can I get medical care?

Where will I live?

Learn more about the issues refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) face with this interactive guide.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. If you are planning to come with a group of 15 or more please schedule a group visit for your city: Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, or Dallas.
Individuals are welcome without reservations.

For more specific information on the Chicago site, go to their website at:http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/chicago/

So It's been a while...

I have been MIA from this site for about 2 months now and I figured it was time for an update. I just haven't found much time in the past few months to update this thing! I'll give a quick summary of what my life has been the last few months....

July: Finished up with summer classes and then headed to my favorite lake in the world for a week of skiing, tubing, jet skiing, and just generally bumming it in the sun with my family. It was great to unwind finally after boards/summer classes and everything else that had been going on. Also, as we all get older and busier, the times that I get to spend with my family are shorter and farther between.

August: Got back to KC, packed up the last two years of my life (which were some of the most emotional days I've had in a long time), loaded up my car, said goodbye to my brother and Bentley and headed to St. Louis for some time with my parents. I was in St. Louis for about 4 days and then headed from there to good old Toledo. I was by myself in Toledo for about a week with no furniture until my parents brought up the rest of my things that next weekend. I lived here for about a week and then spent a week and a half traveling to Detroit, Chicago, and South Bend to visit friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was a great time but exhausting!

September: Got back into Toledo on Labor day, had orientation at the hospital for 3 days, headed BACK to South Bend on the 3rd day for Jen and Andy's wedding, spent a long weekend in South Bend, went to the Baptism, headed back to Toledo, and started rotations on Monday.
So far rotations have been going OK; I feel completely incompetent and have no idea how to treat anyone's conditions (but I can do a mean H&P!--history and physical).

I don't really have a lot of interest in family medicine but it's an interesting representation of the population I think. I'm slowly realizing that most people are dealing with a lot more than they ever let on. Whether it's a physical or mental disease, so many people are struggling daily--some have accepted what they're going through and are trying their best to fix the situation as best as they can. Others deny that there even is a problem and continue living their lives the only way they know how as their minds and bodies deteriorate further. I think the hardest ones to understand though are those who realize that there is something going on in their bodies that is destroying them, but still refuse to be compliant to the instructions of their doctor, the person in their life who has their best interest at heart and only wants them to live a long and healthy life. They know there's a problem, but they just don't seem to care.

As I was thinking about this this week, God did a little nudging on me. Which category do I fall into when it comes to the things in my life that are hurting me spiritually? Sadly, I don't think I'm too often the first one--the one who realizes there is a problem and complies quickly with what needs to be done to fix it. Usually I find myself in one of the last two categories. Either I have gotten so used to my sub-standard state of "health" that I don't even realize there's a problem or worse, I'm in the last category--I realize there's a problem in my life, but I'm too lazy to care. The problem is, just like any disease, the problem doesn't go away if you just pretend it's not there. While I'm pretending I'm OK and ignoring all the warning signs, it is silently destroying parts of me that God wants to heal if I'll just let Him.

OK, so I wasn't planning on having all that come out. Hopefully it made sense. There's been a lot of things running through my head lately and this is just one of them. I'm really starting to enjoy and learn so much from this new chapter in my life. I'll try to keep you all as updated as time allows on anything interesting I stumble across! :)

Adding to my excitement...

I found out today that I passed the USMLE (and I actually did better than I had hoped too!!!). This was great news to top off a great day. Today was the last day of summer classes and I am now, FINALLY officially a third year medical student. It's weird that in less than two years I'll be done with med school!

Today was a little bittersweet, because with all of us moving, I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends that at this point I won't see until graduation. It's sad moving away, but I know we're all headed for great things in the next few years.

Well, that's really all I had to share so I'll go now...I'm moving in 3ish weeks and I haven't even started packing so maybe I should get on with that! :)

Loving life

This is how carefree and happy I've been feeling lately.... :) I love life after boards!

Just thought I'd let you share in my ridiculous happiness!

Hilarious

Today in class we had a seven hour (yeah...that was fun) lecture on "Medical Jurisprudence." This exciting, thrill-a-minute lecture had lots of things on torts, contract negotiation, medical malpractice, documentation, sham peer review, and all sorts of other thrilling things. However, at one point, the lawyer/doctor (now that's a lot of school!) who was lecturing to us shared this story which is below. It's an actual letter to a lawyer requiring further explanation of this patient's claim of Worker's compensation. Just read it...I was laughing hysterically...although I did get little sleep the night before!

Dear Sir:
I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put "Worker's Compensation" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.
I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs.
Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3 of the accident reporting form.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight.
As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body.
Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.