after my own heart

These next few posts are outdated, but I did want to write about them at the time. Things just got CRAZY.

So about a week and a half ago I was in Surgery with my Attending, who coincidentally reminds me of my Grandpa. This guy is a gruff old-school surgeon who inadvertently steals your heart, even though he calls you things like a "friggin dwarf." He has a characteristic swagger and love love LOVES to talk. So anyway, I was in surgery with my attending, holding a retractor as he was piecing through the intestines of a guy who needed a right hemicolectomy. He says to me, "Us surgeons are weirdos. I mean you have to be crazy to do what we do. We're weirdos and perverts. But without us, people would die." Well, at least some people would die. Surgery is really cool in that you have the potential to CURE a disease by taking the diseased portion of your body out. Like this guy's colon--and appendix, and Meckel's diverticulum, AND we fixed his inguinal and an umbilical hernia. Like my attending would say, "Bam! Boom! Yeah!"

So when he asked me last week, "What did you learn this month?" I said "That surgeons are perverts and weirdos." And he said "True." I also learned that taking two seconds to say "You did a really great job!" (be a patient cheerleader) or "I'm sorry we had to put you through that, but you'll be better now" is so appreciated that it should be standard. I also learned that you need to have all of your materials with you BEFORE you start changing a dressing, especially the special pink tape before the supply place closes.

And I learned that working on a team is just so rewarding that I can't wait to do it more!