Surgery

Well, I guess my pediatrics month went by without much blogging activity. It was a great month. I LOVED pediatrics. That doesn't mean I don't love my adult peds is just fun, even with a lot of sick kids. We had a bunch of rotavirus infections (diarrhea and vomiting) as well as asthma exacerbations and respiratory infections. I was on call Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving Day was actually fairly quiet. The hospital served turkey and stuffing (not all that tastly, really), and then two of my fellow residents brought me a plate of amazing home-cooked Thanksgiving treats and hung out with me for a while in the call room. So I had a little bit of Thanksgiving. I even got 5 hours of sleep. Then I was on call on the Saturday after Thanksgiving - I don't think I sat down more than 5 minutes all day! But that's over now...

Now I'm on surgery. I didn't know if I would like it that much, but it's actually pretty fun. I get to scrub in on surgeries, cut people open and sew people up. And I get to round at 5:30 or 6 AM. Oh yeah! Seriously, though. I've seen some pretty cool surgeries. I think I could do a cholecystectomy in my sleep (take out a gallbladder, that is). I've also gotten to attempt doing colonoscopies and endoscopies. Those are not as easy. The surgeon I work for told me to go home and practice video games. Sure - in my free time. I don't know if I'll ever be any good at working the scope with its buttons and knobs. Big knob counterclockwise to look down, clockwise up - or is it the other way around? Who cares? I can never really figure out which way I want to go anyway. It's like trying to write the alphabet upside down in a mirror or something.

The long residency hours are definitely wearing on me. After the long Thanksgiving weekend, I was really ready for a break. I basically worked about 3 weeks in a row with no days off. There's no time for life - cleaning house, cooking, laundry, answering emails, blogging, catching up on other people's blogs... I thought surgery might be a little better. But Friday was the first day we had in the OR on this rotation. I got to the hospital at 5:30 AM and left at 11:30 PM. We had an emergency appendectomy at 10 PM on a gal who was 21 weeks pregnant. I was really glad I could be there and make sure all the OB details were looked after. We got the OB nurse to check for fetal heart tones before and after surgery and hooked her up to a monitor afterwards to check for contractions. She did really well and so did the baby. I got to sleep in the next day, so everyone came out okay I guess. And I had a glorious two whole days off this past weekend!

I think the hardest part about residency right now is that there is so much to learn and so few hours in the day. I know I'm learning all the time, but sometimes I want to sit down and read about my patients' diagnoses. And sometimes I want to sit down with my patients and get a really good history, find out about what makes them tick, really discuss the options and what they think would be best for them. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury often. It seems I'm always rushing from one patient to the next, from clinic to hospital, from noon conference to surgery...I found myself getting angry the other day at just how rushed and stressed I felt. God is always kind to show me the error of my thinking, though. On Thursday night - probably the lowest point of residency so far - I went to the ladies' prayer meeting (the women residents meet weekly for prayer) at my advisor's house. Several of the residents and faculty shared stories of how God was working through them to reach out to patients spiritually and share the hope and love of Jesus Christ. I was reminded that it's not about me or my schedule or how much time I have with a patient. It's about pointing others to the one true source of life and peace and healing. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. And apart from Him, there is nothing worth doing anyway!

Two more weeks until I get to go home for Christmas! I can't wait. I actually decorated my apartment and balcony for Christmas and have been listening to Christmas music. It makes the long hours much more bearable. Meditating on the God who sent his own son into the world as a humble, helpless baby, and later sent him to the cross to suffer in my place, makes all my suffering seem petty. I pray I can share some light this month!

Merry Christmas to all!