The air is buzzing with excitement, as all the keen-eyed Monash medical students begin the Big Swop. The change of rotations.
Or maybe, it is just my air. My enthusiasm in Haematology and Oncology had died down toward the end of the 4th week, only to be reignited by an ICU consultant who taught me constantly, ONLY to be diminished yet again when I was down with the flu. So now, I've just started on my General Surgery rotation, and it looks promising, which in my dictionary reads exciting and interesting. I've always loved working with my hands, or for this matter watching others work with theirs. It's amazing what they can do, how delicate and swift their manouvers. Every surgery, down to the last suture, is a work of fine art.
I watched a replacement laparoscopic banding today, and a staging laparotomy. Apparently the lap banding inserted a few years ago on this morbidly obese lady had worked really well, and she'd lost 100% of her excess weight. That's a huge success! The usual weight loss for such a procedure is usually 60-70%. However, complications arose. The patient developed a haitus hernia which they fixed concurrently, while replacing the band. So much for risks, and a good prognosis. It's still never good to be at any end of that weighing scale spectrum.
My point is very much supported by this:
That aside, I've to put in work to get the most out of this rotation. 7am ward rounds, and 630am Thursdays so that we can clerk the latest updates on the patients before presenting it to the consultants when they arrive at 7. So glad the break's coming up, and nicely splicing my rotation into two.
Nonetheless, it will be worth all the while! Afterall, I'm watching a Whipple's tomorrow :)) What more can a 3rd year med student ask for?!