Be a surgeon!

Hey guys, I'm exhausted! I am pretty busy working at the hospital with several surgeons. My typical day consists of doing surgeries all day, assessing patients in the ER, talking to patients before and after the operations, and having to read up on surgical techniques and anatomy. I am studying hard, but very much enjoying myself. A surgeon is the El Capitan of the ship! An operating theatre functions as a well-oiled machine. The parts of this machine consist of an anesthesiologist, a scrub tech, an OR nurse, pre-op and post-op care team, and of course the surgeon and the asistant. The anesthesiologist give the magic cocktail that gives the patient a deep sweet dream; the scrub tech hands the surgeon all the instruments and keeps count on everything that is used; the OR nurse takes care of all the processes of the operation and gets necessary materials during the surgery and also record the timing of all the process; the surgeon and the assistant do the operation. When you enter the operating theatre, the surgeon is the 'chief.' It is quite a rush to be treated as one. A tyical operation for a general surgeon include taking out gall bladders and appendix, fixing all sorts of different hernias, taking out cancer from the breast/thyroid/bowel/skin, doing endoscopies .....

So, the surgical operative procedure has evolved to having to master the 'sterile technique.' Everything from 'scrub' (a special way of scrubing and washing hands from finger nail to 2 inches above the elbow), to putting on gown and gloves, and keeping the operative fields sterile. We owe much of the low rates of post-op infections to this obsessive/compulsive technique.

The surgical patient often is acutely ill. To be able to think and act on your toes makes a well trained surgeon stand out from the other medical specialists. What is unique about being a surgeon is that, when a ill person presents with a surgical problem, a surgeon is often the only one to offer a curative solution.

I have found myself to be extremely fascinated by this field, even though my eyes are constantly red from keeping them open all the time (don't want to miss anything), and my legs are stiff from having to stand hours on end. It is amazing that when we are so focused on something, we can actually ignore our regular bodily functions. I often have to remind myself to move my legs and blink my eyes... I'm glad God made us 'automatic' in many ways, otherwise, I wouldn't be talking with you right now. Ok, it's bed time for me. Talk to you soon.