OB-Gyn: Day 15 & 16

The last two days have been hectic to say the least. On Wednesday, we were in surgery all day. We had a case where we did a TAH + BSO + Lymph node dissection + Panniculectomy. TAH means Total Abdominal Hysterectomy - it is the removal of the uterus. BSO - Bilateral Salpingo-oophorectomy - removal of the Fallopian Tubes and Ovaries from both sides. Lymph node dissection for an endometrial carcinoma includes removal of para-aortic lymph nodes, pelvic lymph nodes, omental nodes, and maybe more (if any feel palpably enlarged). Panniculectomy is a tummy tuck - a removal of a portion of abdominal skin and its corresponding abdominal adipose tissue (fat). This patient was morbidly obese, and removing a portion of the skin/subcutaneous fat will improve the quality of her life by removing the yeast infections that proliferate beneath the skin fold. It weighed about 20 pounds, and I got to remove the final piece of it and transport it to the scale to be weighed. It was cool. And I definitely don't want to eat McDonald's or fast food or greasy crap junk food for a long time. Yuck!

The attending gave us some advice in determining what we want to do with our lives. First, you need to decide how much you want to work with your hands - A lot (such as a surgeon or Ob-Gyn does), Sometimes (such as an anesthesiologist), or Not At All (such as an internist). After you decide how much you want to work with your hands, you need to determine what you love to read most. What excites you. What you can't help but read about and learn everything about. And for me, that answer is easy - I love oncology. I seriously cannot learn enough about it, it excites me and motivates me. I absolutely love it (and by love I mean have a strong desire to help cure those with cancer). So I think I have decided at least a field that I know I want to go into - Oncology. I have always known it would be oncology, but now I am so confident about it. In clinical practice it excites me as much as it did in didactic education and research. I am so relieved to have at least determined what field I want to go in to. Seriously, I was starting to doubt whether or not I would ever just know where I wanted to end up. They say you figure it out in 3rd year, you just know, things just click and -BAM- you know what you will do with your life. And I do. Now I just need to decide if I want to do a surgical oncology (I really do love gyn-onc) or medical oncology (I do love hematology as well). Guess I'll figure that out in my next rotation in Internal Medicine!

It's a rough life, eh Marley!