1.) It's solution-orientated. There's something wrong and then you fix it. Inflammed appendix? We'll cut it out. Burn? Skin graft. Melanoma? Excise the cancerous tissue. Bowel obstruction? We'll un-obstruct it for you. And if we can't fix it, we refer you... to a physician. LoL. Either way, the patient is gone before you know it -- back home, or to a cardiologist/neurologist/geriatrician/gastroenterologist/oncologist/etc... Either way, our part is 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
2.) Most surgical patients are "Otherwise fit and healthy." Either it's an urgent, life-threatening condition (i.e. trauma; aortic dissection; etc) OR they're hunky dory except for [insert surgical condition here]. Hence a patient history and examination is, for the most part, pretty darn straightforward. Bottom line, they're not 89years old with a kazillion co-morbidities!
3.) It's fast-paced. There's always something to be doing; you eat when you can, drink when you can, sit down when you can... and every minute constantly varies cos you're always on the GO. I LOVE it. (Cos, really, who needs an hour for lunch everyday?? Maybe it's the American in me...)
4.) Surgeons are DIRECT. Some may think abrupt? Maybe abrasive? But I don't think that's the case at all. They say what needs to be said, nothing more, nothing less. They get straight to the point and then move forward. Man, it's refreshing; it just feels right. I'm home!
5.) Surgeons are good-looking (and, even better, mostly male). Even if they're not good-looking, they're still pretty darn good-looking if you know what I mean. Eye candy never hurts, is all I'm saying.
6.) Scrubs. Need I say more? Is there any other profession in which you can wear cute looking blue (what are basically) pyjamas all day while looking extra-respectable??? And those surgical caps? They are the shizzle.
7.) Scrubbing up. Getting yourself sterile for surgery is extraordinarily F-U-N. Standing over the sink, surgical mask and cap on, scrubbing your arms and hands, then holding them up in the boxing position to shake off all the excess water before slipping oh-so-smoothly into your sterile gown. THEN, to top it off, putting on sterile gloves without ever touching them??? Scrubbing up is an adventure in itself. I LOVE IT. I imagine it’s similar to how it'd feel to be a backup dancer for Chris Brown… or is that just me?
8.) Surgery itself is almost... transcendent. You forget everything around you and for however long you're in theatre your adrenaline's pumping, you're focused, and everything else around you... dissipates. It must be one of life's ultimate natural highs.
9.) I love being a student. And there is no other specialty that takes longer to train for than surgery. It'll take AT LEAST ten years... YUSS!
10.) It. Is. Challenging. It. Is. Rigorous. More than just performing the surgery itself, you have to know your stuff. And unlike a lot of other specialities in medicine, you can't BS. Because there are definitive right and wrong answers for most, if not all, things in surgery, the pressures on for you to have the former; you have to know it back to front. More than being in theatre or scrubbing up, the reason why I could see myself heading down this career path is, on the fourth day of the run one of the consultant surgeons (=attendings) were drilling -- and I mean, DRILLING HARD-CORE -- one of the surgical registras (=residents) who is currently preparing for his final exams. And they were doing it in front of us students to emulate in as far as possible the real thing -- an oral exam with an audience of surgeon examiners. And as I sat watching this registra sweating under the pressure, I suddenly had this overwhelming desire to BE him. Or rather, to be in his position. Unbelievable, I know, but for whatever reason, that's where I want to be in ten, fifteen years. I love being pushed. And surgery's where it all happens. I may not being jumping from helicopters onto snow mountains or cycling down a rugged cliff, but in my own way I think I too am a thrill seeker.
1 comment:
It's it EVERYTHING I was trying to tell you about? :D
MUAHAHAHAHAHA I LUUURVE that you've come to the dark, no, the cool side.
I especially love the no nonsense straightforwardness of it.
Although smart physicians who are extremely on to it are very impressive too. It's just that I'm not sure if I have the potential to be that :p
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