As always, joining Jen.
1. These are my new surgery goggles, lovely right? I finally purchased them after a harrowing experiencing of my disposable face shield fogging completely while I was trying to manipulate the camera during a laparoscopic surgery (I couldn't see anything). Also, these ones have mint on the sides (and mint is the color for spring, so maybe they are somewhat stylish? Ha.)
2. It's so hard figuring out shoes to wear to work with all the snow we have here (I can't wait for spring and the return of my ballet flats) and a lot of times I default to these Keen 'snow shoes' and then try to change when I get to the hospital. One day this week I was running a few minutes late (thanks to the mound of snow on my car when I got up that morning) and forgot to change them. I was hoping that my attending wouldn't notice, but halfway through rounds he definitely gave my feet a long hard look...it was very Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada (when she sees Ann Hathaway's clogs).
3. My attending physician started asking me all about the history of the Franciscans this week. It started because he asked me where I went to undergrad, which was Franciscan University of Steubenville. and his wife is Catholic (he is agnostic). I told him the story of God asking St. Francis to rebuild his Church, and St. Francis taking it literally and restoring a little chapel in Assisi (which I got to see years ago when I went to Italy) before he formed his order to actually rebuild the Church. It's neat how little opportunities to share our faith come up in our daily lives.
4. One of Stephen's favorite dinners is breaded perch, and a while ago he had bought some perch that we had sitting in the freezer. I decided to surprise him one day this week and cook it on a day that I got out of surgery early. I had never made breaded fish, and so I called his mom who said I just needed to beat an egg and then coat the fish with the egg and some breadcrumbs/flour. When Stephen walked in the door, I was trying to stick the egg/breadcrumb mixture, which had turned into a bowl of mush, onto the fish. Stephen informed me that you have to dip the fish in the egg first, and then coat it with breadcrumbs. He ended up frying the perch himself.
5. I've never been a fan of Dancing with the Stars, but when I heard that Sean of Bachelor fame would be participating, I had to turn it on while I was studying surgery that night. I only watched Dorothy Hamil (I used to figure skate and was obsessed with all things figure skating) and Sean, but he actually held his own I thought. Stephen thinks the whole concept is weird, and was like "Don't you think Catherine takes offense that he's dancing with his partner like that?"
6. Besides the Bachelor, my other guilty pleasure is the Rachel Zoe Project. I've found that since I started medical school, I've gone from enjoying medical shows like House and Untold Stories of the ER to enjoying mindless TV like the Bachelor and Rachel Zoe. My sisters came over last weekend and I convinced them to watch the latest episode Rachel Zoe with me. 9 minutes later, we had to turn it off because they insisted that they were feeling dumber by the minute and Rachel had said 'Maj' (translation: 'Major') for like the tenth time. What can I say, I need something to balance out those hours of studying.
7. No surgery call this weekend, and Stephen and I are hoping to snowshoe to these amazing ice caves about an hour drive away. We last went a few years ago and it was beautiful:
Happy weekend!
Joining Jen for Friday Quick Takes and Alissa for Coffee Date.
Since I have little else going on in my life this week, this Friday's Quick Takes are recaps of my surgery rotation so far. And since I feel like I need a picture, I'm sharing this one from my work in Haiti to remind myself why I am doing this and why it's worth it even though I'm dang tired today (and on call all weekend).
1. My semi-enjoyment of this rotation went rapidly downhill this week, precipitated by the time change making my 5 a.m. patient rounds seem like 4 a.m. and exacerbated by my night of call this week which involved midnight surgery and the couple hours of sleep afterward consumed by me dreaming either about resecting bowels or my pager going off. And 5 a.m. rounds the next morning hurt. Really hurt.
2. We have now done two laparoscopic Nissen fundoplications, where basically you suture the top of the stomach around the esophagus to increase the pressure around the lower esophageal sphincter (and therefore improve severe acid reflux disease and hiatal hernias where the stomach creeps up through the diaphragm). Anyways, my job during the surgery is to hold the liver up with one hand using this laparoscopic probe thingy and manipulate the camera with my other hand. And it's so hard to hold that dang slippery/heavy liver up for two hours: I dropped it three times the first surgery and once the second.
3. Although my liver-holding skills are sub-par, I am now proficient with stapling wound incisions. Ok, there's not much to it. But I also am getting better at a running subcuticular stitch, which closes the skin internally and puts the skin together almost perfectly (at least when my attending physician does it). I'm pretty excited about this because if I do go into OB-GYN, I really want to close my C-sections up like this since it limits scarring. Anyways, I am now in charge of stitching up the laparoscopic sites after surgeries. Yes, they are tiny, but it's a start.
4. My attending informed me that I should have played more video games growing up. Apparently it would have helped me with my camera-manipulating skills during our colonoscopies (which are in need of some serious work).
5. The nurses realized that since my attending gets like a bazillion pages and can't possibly answer all of them that they will page me instead. I admit it, I felt a little 'special' when I first got my pager. That feeling has way, way worn off. I also am the official writer of all of my attending's patient notes (admit notes, progress notes, discharge notes). I have probably done over 100 notes in the last week, which is exhausting but will probably pay off when I start residency.
6. Every day of this rotation has involved rapid fire questions from my attending at some point. It's hit or miss; one day I answered every question right during our breast cancer surgery (it was a short-lived but proud moment) but the next day I could not remember anything about cholangitis/choledocholithiasis/hyperbilirubinemia. Seriously though, when the question came of "What is the thickness of the upper part of gallbladder wall in millimeters?" I kind of gave up.
7. I have met some patients that have really touched me this last week. There was the older couple so in love dealing with a remission of the husband's lymphoma. Then a young couple facing a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer with a lot of courage. And an older woman who's entire family was ecstatic after my attending was able to remove her entire breast cancer during surgery so that she wouldn't have to go through radiation. Finally, an Afghan war vet in his 20s who was shot 4 times while on active duty and has multiple medical/surgical problems as a result...he proudly professed his love for our country to me.
So yes, this is all worth it.
