Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
A little spontaneity
Sunday morning, Sief asks me "Hey you want to go see the Coldplay concert tonight?" I being the planner that I am, look at him as if he is crazy. You can't just decide to go to a concert the day of. This is something that needs to be planned out at least a week or two in advance. Coldplay was in Hershey playing at the Hersheypark Stadium last night. Me, "Are you serious?"
Apparently he was, later that afternoon I found myself at the Hersheypark Stadium box office shelling out $40 for a concert ticket. We attempted to study the rest of the day. We head to the concert early to avoid traffic and grabbed some fast food to eat in the car beforehand. Of course as we are getting ready to walk into the concert, it starts to sprinkle and the beautiful clear sky has blackened with gloomy clouds.
You can see the wind blowing my bangs. We had to document our being at the concert, we decided to leave cell phones, camera, etc in the car in case of torrential downpour and complete soakage of our clothes.
Once inside the stadium the rain really started to pour. A San Antonionan type of rain where it rains so hard, even if you had an umbrella it wouldn't make a difference because the wind would throw the rain at you & still completely soak you under your umbrella. Hersheypark was nice enough to sell cheap ugly blue plastic ponchos for $5 a piece. Of course they only take cash, no ATM in site and guess how much cash we had between the 2 of us --> $4. Sief convinced a vendor to give him a poncho for his girlfriend for $4. So 2 people, 1 poncho and the hope that the rain will pass as predicted.
thankfully, 30 minutes later the rain stopped and the concert continued. Pete Yorn opened and then Coldplay! It was a great show. They did a fantastic job. At the end the band came over to our side of the stadium and stood on something near the crowd. They were probably 200-300 feet away from us. They sang a few songs there and then made everyone do "The Wave." The cool thing about this wave was that since it was dark people did it with their cell phones. They choreographed it so people would raise their cell phones all around the stadium in a specific order. It was pretty amazing. Can you imagine how they feel to have 12,000+ people there just to hear your music. I can only imagine the adrenaline rush. And the fact that they can get that many people to work together on "The Wave" while high school teachers fight their students just to get them to sit down and be quite for an hour. It's incredible.
Apparently he was, later that afternoon I found myself at the Hersheypark Stadium box office shelling out $40 for a concert ticket. We attempted to study the rest of the day. We head to the concert early to avoid traffic and grabbed some fast food to eat in the car beforehand. Of course as we are getting ready to walk into the concert, it starts to sprinkle and the beautiful clear sky has blackened with gloomy clouds.
You can see the wind blowing my bangs. We had to document our being at the concert, we decided to leave cell phones, camera, etc in the car in case of torrential downpour and complete soakage of our clothes.
Once inside the stadium the rain really started to pour. A San Antonionan type of rain where it rains so hard, even if you had an umbrella it wouldn't make a difference because the wind would throw the rain at you & still completely soak you under your umbrella. Hersheypark was nice enough to sell cheap ugly blue plastic ponchos for $5 a piece. Of course they only take cash, no ATM in site and guess how much cash we had between the 2 of us --> $4. Sief convinced a vendor to give him a poncho for his girlfriend for $4. So 2 people, 1 poncho and the hope that the rain will pass as predicted.
thankfully, 30 minutes later the rain stopped and the concert continued. Pete Yorn opened and then Coldplay! It was a great show. They did a fantastic job. At the end the band came over to our side of the stadium and stood on something near the crowd. They were probably 200-300 feet away from us. They sang a few songs there and then made everyone do "The Wave." The cool thing about this wave was that since it was dark people did it with their cell phones. They choreographed it so people would raise their cell phones all around the stadium in a specific order. It was pretty amazing. Can you imagine how they feel to have 12,000+ people there just to hear your music. I can only imagine the adrenaline rush. And the fact that they can get that many people to work together on "The Wave" while high school teachers fight their students just to get them to sit down and be quite for an hour. It's incredible.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Week 2 of surgery
Me pretending to be awake and happy after my day. Even though I am exhausted beyond belief, have 12 hours of work under my belt, and a headache from not drinking enough water! yeah surgery!
I just completed day 1 of my 2nd week of surgery. Only 7 more weeks to go, counting this one. (And an update on graduation countdown - 362 days)
I really enjoyed plastic surgery last week. Plastic surgeons can do truly amazing things. There scope of practice is extremely broad. They treat babies to the elderly. Within their surgeries they do vascular, orthopedics, neuro, wound care, and a lot of soft tissue things. They are likely the broadest range surgeons out there. I have yet to see them work with major organs, but aside from that they - do amazing things. The reconstructions they do are phenomenal. It truly is an art.
At the end of last week, I was contemplating the idea of being a plastic surgeon. Not in complete seriousness, but it truly did cross my mind. I think that I am lucky that I didn't find out about how cool plastic surgery was until now, because maybe then I would have somehow found the drive to commit myself to a life of slavery in the OR.
After a full week and one day, and not even having to take call - I have figured out why I truly could never be a surgeon.
1) I like sleep a little too much (even though in residency no one really gets sleep)
2) I like to drink a lot of water in a day. Currently, I restrict my water intake, in fear of needing to scrub out of a case to go pee. Not something that I have ever seen done. (nurses have people to relieve them - docs, residents, and med students - sorry we're on our own)
3) I like to eat about every 3 hours. As a surgeon you stuff your face with food when you get the opportunity. If you're not hungry you still better eat that granola bar before you walk into the OR. Or more often you are so hungry your stomach feels as if it is eating itself and even though you know you are starving you are afraid to eat because you also have the feeling that it might make you sick. (don't worry I still eat regardless of that feeling) (and I learned today that you need a cereal with lots of fiber, Honey Bunches of Oats did not cut it today)
4) My feet like to rest. Even though I have super comfy shoes (dansko) - it hurts to stand all day, your back and feet no longer become your friends. And I now look forward to lecture because it means I get to sit down. Sitting never felt so good.
5) I would someday like a family & be able to spend time with them. I realize as a doctor I will have less time for my family than some, but a little bit of time would be nice.
So there you have my top 5 reasons for not being a surgeon. I could do it if it wasn't for those minor details. The knowledge, the challenge, the information is all very interesting. Plastics is truly amazing (i think you probably get my love for plastic surgery by now). Don't think all that crap of breast implants, face lifts, chin implants, butt lifts, nose jobs, etc are what all plastic surgeons do. I'm not a fan of purely cosmetic surgery for no good reason, but the things I see in the OR everyday never cease to amaze me.
Last week in clinic I saw a woman who had her breasts reconstructed post breast cancer - and later went back to have nipples made out of the skin. I saw her nipples on Friday - they looked good. She said it truly made a difference and made her feel so much better to have nipples. I guess I can understand that. She has to go get them tattooed later so they are the color nipples are supposed to be.
Highlight of my day today - was doing a vertical mattress suture on a leg incision!
Highlight of the weekend - shopping with Melanie! Below are my new dansko non-clog shoes. pretty teal color. I planned my outfit around the shoes today!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
synopsis of last few days
I'm enjoying surgery. Plastic surgeons can do ABSOLUTELY AMAZING things and I am not talking about breast implants, nose jobs, etc. They also see all ages of patient's which I love - kids to adults. It makes it more fun!
For the last few days here's what I have been up to:
- did my first deep dermal suture in a man's buttocks, as we removed a pressure ulcer
- this man lying prone on the table (belly down) at the end of surgery "broke wind" as my resident stated this fact, the smell smacked us all in the face
- watched a jaw be wired shut
- a man who had multiple heart surgeries had a cavity/ defect in his chest wall that was not healing, so the plastic surgeon did a VRAM, this is a procedure where they take one rectus abdominus (half of your abs) and make it into a muscle flap, which then got flipped and placed into this chest wall defect - fill the defect and bringing with it a blood supply that will hopefully allow healing to take place (they also can take your rectus abdominus and make a breast post-mastectomy)
there is an figure of this at this website if you want to check it out --> click here
- held open a baby's little toe and the one next to it as the docs separated the 2 toes (syndactyl) and sewed a foreskin skin graft to the places where the toes had been connected before. His skin for the graft came from his penis - he was circumcised for this reason (not the typical place to get skin from, but it has been done before)
- helped removed a pressure ulcer and close it with a myocutanous fat
- changed multiple dresses on some large wounds
- smelled the sweet grapey smell of pseudomonas (a bacterial infection) for the first time, and saw the blue/green color it leaves behind on gauze
- broke the suture because the resident told me to make sure my knot was really really tight
stuck my hand in a little girl's body to pack a wound
been extremely tired, because it's hard standing all day, and it's stressful being in the OR worried about what you can and can't touch and trying not to contaminate the sterile field (which knock on wood I have not done yet, I have contaminated myself, but not the field)
there you have it - 1 week almost down
plastic surgery is awesome & I can totally see the draw into why someone would want to be a plastic surgeon, but....it's not worth not getting lunch at a decent hour and having my feet hurt from standing for too long and the long long hours
For the last few days here's what I have been up to:
- did my first deep dermal suture in a man's buttocks, as we removed a pressure ulcer
- this man lying prone on the table (belly down) at the end of surgery "broke wind" as my resident stated this fact, the smell smacked us all in the face
- watched a jaw be wired shut
- a man who had multiple heart surgeries had a cavity/ defect in his chest wall that was not healing, so the plastic surgeon did a VRAM, this is a procedure where they take one rectus abdominus (half of your abs) and make it into a muscle flap, which then got flipped and placed into this chest wall defect - fill the defect and bringing with it a blood supply that will hopefully allow healing to take place (they also can take your rectus abdominus and make a breast post-mastectomy)
there is an figure of this at this website if you want to check it out --> click here
- held open a baby's little toe and the one next to it as the docs separated the 2 toes (syndactyl) and sewed a foreskin skin graft to the places where the toes had been connected before. His skin for the graft came from his penis - he was circumcised for this reason (not the typical place to get skin from, but it has been done before)
- helped removed a pressure ulcer and close it with a myocutanous fat
- changed multiple dresses on some large wounds
- smelled the sweet grapey smell of pseudomonas (a bacterial infection) for the first time, and saw the blue/green color it leaves behind on gauze
- broke the suture because the resident told me to make sure my knot was really really tight
stuck my hand in a little girl's body to pack a wound
been extremely tired, because it's hard standing all day, and it's stressful being in the OR worried about what you can and can't touch and trying not to contaminate the sterile field (which knock on wood I have not done yet, I have contaminated myself, but not the field)
there you have it - 1 week almost down
plastic surgery is awesome & I can totally see the draw into why someone would want to be a plastic surgeon, but....it's not worth not getting lunch at a decent hour and having my feet hurt from standing for too long and the long long hours
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Surgery day 1
I survived day 1! Quick post before bed.
Woke up 5am, got ready, arrived at the hospital at 6am. Met my residents and attending.
Rounded briefly in the morning on some of the patients and then headed down to the OR with the plastics fellow on for the day.
1st case was a man with a facial tumor that needed some reconstruction. This case wasn't too bloody or gross in any way. It lasted about 3 hours, which wasn't too bad. I still got tired of standing there for that long. I think part of what makes it hard is that I have to be always conscious of where my hands are and what my body is doing, so not to contaminate the sterile field or get in anybody's way.
The odd part of today's surgery was that feeling like maybe I will have to step out of the room for a while. Usually, I can handle watching surgeries with no problems. The first time I saw a surgery in high school, the smell of burning flesh bothered me for a little bit, but I'm been over that for a while now. (there's burning flesh smell because they cut and cauterize with this little tool thing.) And blood doesn't really bother me after OB/Gyn when I watched a woman bleed like a fire hose out of her vagina into a bucket I was holding.
So I'm not really sure what part of this morning's surgery got to me, but something did. I was standing there in my mask with a shield, gown, double gloved, and scrubs. And I was HOT, ridiculously hot. My entire body was sweating - my head, armpits, arms, legs, hands - everything. And everytime I would breathe in - it would cool my sweating face just a little, but then you have to breathe out with makes your face hot again, because it's all that warm air in a mask right on your face. I'm thinking I need to sit down just for a minute, because I am so hot. I didn't feel nauseous or anything, just ridiculously hot. Anyway...I survived without having to step away.
The next case was the debridement of a little girl's wound. She was riding a bike and hit a car. She had a road rash all over her hands, abdomen, and leg. Then there was a large chunk of skin taken out of one of her calves and one of her hips/things. You could literally see the muscles under the skin. It was amazing and sad at the same time. And looking at this - didn't even phase me for a second.
We'll see what tomorrow holds. I'm also worried about having to go to the bathroom during the middle of a case. I have cut down the amount of fluids I take in, because if you know me - you know that I have a bladder about the size of a pea. (thanks dad)
Ok bedtime - i'm exhausted
Woke up 5am, got ready, arrived at the hospital at 6am. Met my residents and attending.
Rounded briefly in the morning on some of the patients and then headed down to the OR with the plastics fellow on for the day.
1st case was a man with a facial tumor that needed some reconstruction. This case wasn't too bloody or gross in any way. It lasted about 3 hours, which wasn't too bad. I still got tired of standing there for that long. I think part of what makes it hard is that I have to be always conscious of where my hands are and what my body is doing, so not to contaminate the sterile field or get in anybody's way.
The odd part of today's surgery was that feeling like maybe I will have to step out of the room for a while. Usually, I can handle watching surgeries with no problems. The first time I saw a surgery in high school, the smell of burning flesh bothered me for a little bit, but I'm been over that for a while now. (there's burning flesh smell because they cut and cauterize with this little tool thing.) And blood doesn't really bother me after OB/Gyn when I watched a woman bleed like a fire hose out of her vagina into a bucket I was holding.
So I'm not really sure what part of this morning's surgery got to me, but something did. I was standing there in my mask with a shield, gown, double gloved, and scrubs. And I was HOT, ridiculously hot. My entire body was sweating - my head, armpits, arms, legs, hands - everything. And everytime I would breathe in - it would cool my sweating face just a little, but then you have to breathe out with makes your face hot again, because it's all that warm air in a mask right on your face. I'm thinking I need to sit down just for a minute, because I am so hot. I didn't feel nauseous or anything, just ridiculously hot. Anyway...I survived without having to step away.
The next case was the debridement of a little girl's wound. She was riding a bike and hit a car. She had a road rash all over her hands, abdomen, and leg. Then there was a large chunk of skin taken out of one of her calves and one of her hips/things. You could literally see the muscles under the skin. It was amazing and sad at the same time. And looking at this - didn't even phase me for a second.
We'll see what tomorrow holds. I'm also worried about having to go to the bathroom during the middle of a case. I have cut down the amount of fluids I take in, because if you know me - you know that I have a bladder about the size of a pea. (thanks dad)
Ok bedtime - i'm exhausted
Monday, May 11, 2009
Surgery begins
I apologize for not blogging more recently. I had planned to and even had taken some pictures that I will post later.
My surgery rotation has officially started. Orientation was from 7am-5pm today. Tomorrow I have to be at the hospital at 6:05am. We'll see if it gets earlier than that. I have no idea when my day will end. I am on the plastic surgery service! It's supposed to be good - in that the people are nice and that they let you do a lot. I can fill you in on the types of surgeries later, but I have heard it's skin grafts, breast reconstruction, etc.
More to come later.
I will make this my excuse for the next 8 weeks if I slack even more in my blogging. I will try not to, but let me tell you sleeping is more important than blgoging.
More to come - I'll try to post on Sunday (the one day a week I'm guaranteed off! :)
My surgery rotation has officially started. Orientation was from 7am-5pm today. Tomorrow I have to be at the hospital at 6:05am. We'll see if it gets earlier than that. I have no idea when my day will end. I am on the plastic surgery service! It's supposed to be good - in that the people are nice and that they let you do a lot. I can fill you in on the types of surgeries later, but I have heard it's skin grafts, breast reconstruction, etc.
More to come later.
I will make this my excuse for the next 8 weeks if I slack even more in my blogging. I will try not to, but let me tell you sleeping is more important than blgoging.
More to come - I'll try to post on Sunday (the one day a week I'm guaranteed off! :)
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Happy Birthday Auntie Ed!
Here's a post dedicated to my Auntie Ed, was the lucky aunt who got stuck with me when my parents went on vacation most of the time. Aunt Ed's house was always so much fun, I don't even remember missing my parents. According to my mom, when they took their first big trip without me, they put a book together with a map and things that would show me where they were each day. They were in Singapore. Apparently, my Aunt Ed showed me the book once and that was it... I didn't need to see it again.
Life lessons from Aunt Ed:
- that ketchup on mac & cheese is pretty good
- bad words (unintentionally i'm sure)
- eat scrambled eggs when you have a hangover, it's easier if they come back up
- be quiet when fishing, or else you'll scare the fish away (j/k - she tried to pass on this piece of advice, only problem was I didn't listen, kept talking, and was the only one to catch a fish)
- how to squat and not pee on my pants
- how to play cribbage
- and many more!
memories of times together:
- throwing popcorn at a snake in the middle of the road
- slamming my thumb in a locked car door, and her not believing me until I started to cry
- putting wienie dog puppies into socks
- losing Scattergories to Gene every single game!
- riding the tea cups at Disneyland
- good times camping and girls weekends!
- Yummy homemade marshmallows
- watching goonies a thousand times
- just learned today - examining a dead gopher on a shovel after Cal shot it (because I wanted to see it, apparently)
- and so many more...just a few of the good ol' times with Auntie Ed.
Love you!
Life lessons from Aunt Ed:
- that ketchup on mac & cheese is pretty good
- bad words (unintentionally i'm sure)
- eat scrambled eggs when you have a hangover, it's easier if they come back up
- be quiet when fishing, or else you'll scare the fish away (j/k - she tried to pass on this piece of advice, only problem was I didn't listen, kept talking, and was the only one to catch a fish)
- how to squat and not pee on my pants
- how to play cribbage
- and many more!
memories of times together:
- throwing popcorn at a snake in the middle of the road
- slamming my thumb in a locked car door, and her not believing me until I started to cry
- putting wienie dog puppies into socks
- losing Scattergories to Gene every single game!
- riding the tea cups at Disneyland
- good times camping and girls weekends!
- Yummy homemade marshmallows
- watching goonies a thousand times
- just learned today - examining a dead gopher on a shovel after Cal shot it (because I wanted to see it, apparently)
- and so many more...just a few of the good ol' times with Auntie Ed.
Love you!
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