So begins surgery...

Well, good news? I will never have to do my first week of surgery ever again. Surgery began on January 5th with our orientation. It was so funny because with all my other rotations it was very welcoming. Surgery? Not so much. It was pretty much like, "This is your schedule, get used to it and just deal with it.". Interesting to say the very least. After talking with the last group that went though who the good attendings were and had the best of the worst hours. I've been told the two people I have are the worst hours but it seems like we all kind of have the same situation.

Anyway, my first day I was on call. I went in at 6am Tuesday (since it was my first day I didn't start rounding until the day after so I got to come in later), had office and hospital hours until 5pm, went on call at 5pm and stayed until 2pm the following day. 32 hours... Sigh. Luckily call was uneventful as there were barely any pages for trauma, so I got to sleep for about 4 or 5 hours. Call is technically over at noon but being my first day in, I was timid in any way asking for a break or to go home. So I stayed for 5 surgeries in the morning and went home at 2pm. The rest of the week comprised of me coming in to pre-round (on the floor at 5am) before rounds and staying to about 5-6pm at night. I am still pretty slow at seeing people and can see am trying to improve my efficiency. In FM or OB/GYN, notes were short and sweet. TICU/NICU (trauma/neuro ICU) notes are longer and full of detail. Right now I am seeing 3-4 patients before I see any resident or attending. By the end who knows how many I will see.

This rotation is full of the unknown. To me, this is my first seemingly medical rotation in terms of fully comprehending basic physiology to formulate treatment plans. I guess maybe its the ICU and not really surgery that makes me think this way. Even yesterday, the attending, resident, PA and myself sat to talk about hemodynamic profiles with a Swan catheter. I think I have never felt more unprepared for a talk. I have not even looked at that in months and months and here I am getting 90% of the questions wrong. I was getting so embarrassed. Truly on this rotation, I am sure I will learn a great deal but really in no way am I expecting an A. Of course, I will try for it but, really I do not hear alot of students getting that on this rotation.

So, the rest of the week basically was rounding and procedures. As far as my first week goes I have already gotten to help close up patients in surgery, pull a chest tube and place a PEG (or G-tube). I really enjoy the hands on aspect of it and really have no time to be nervous because once they say "glove up" you are pretty much commited to do the procedure. Overall the trauma team is very nice and I hope they don't think I am the worst student to ever work with them. After asking the resident what I can do for next week better, he told me to just work on suturing but as far as my availability and notes to just keep doing what I am doing. Hmm, not too sure what to make of that but ok. My resident is a real sweet guy though and pretty fun to spend the day with. So with all of us together it is a total of 6 people - attending, resident, ER resident, PA, med and PA student. Truly the days as of yet do not drag on because they are so jammed with work to be done. One thing I think is that time will go fast in this rotation. Days went by fast this week and I can only hope my energy stays how it is and time continues to roll how it has. Now that I am thinking about it more, it is probably better that I am doing this rotation in the wintertime. I thought it would make me more depressed but really, if I was doing this in the spring or summer and missing out, I would be alot worse. At least the rest of Michigan is semi-kinda where I am right now. I just am trying to keep things in perspective. I won't have to miss the opening of the cabin up north this May to go for great weekend trips, I will be home forever June 5th, I will get to have summer at home, etc. Overall, I am glad at the timing of this rotation now. All I have to do is get through it...

Tomorrow I am back on call but then I will be done by around noon on Monday. Since I have to go in early tomorrow I wasn't able to see any family or friends this weekend from home but next weekend is supposed to be my "full weekend off". We will see how that goes later in the week. Anyhoo, I suppose it is time to close this entry and start relaxing a bit and getting some reading done.