Farmer’s markets and hikes in the woods.
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We got into Bard after midnight on Friday night because we left DC at 6:30pm. Why did we leave so late? Because I had clinical all day on Friday. It was a fabulous day at the hospital. I scrubbed into the operating room for two c-sections. Not only interesting because I’ve never scrubbed into an OR before, but also because a c-section is the only surgery I’ve had myself. So now I can count myself: twice on the table, twice at the table’s end.
All I can say is that I needed to sit down for a few minutes after the first one. Not because I was on the verge of fainting, but because it was amazing, crazy, interesting, bloody, and then after all that – you miraculously had another person in the room! I did not know how much tugging, pulling and yanking happens in a surgical suite. I did not know how much fluid just flew around the operating table. I did not know the surgeon stuck his/her whole hand/wrist inside a person’s insides. The surgery staff was very nice to me, I got to put in Foleys for both surgeries (my first sterile procedure), and I got to see a bunch of anatomy – appendix, large intestine, small intestine, ovary, fallopian tube. Yipes! It’s all there, just like in the book.
Today I had a classmate tell me she wanted to be a surgeon. I was momentarily confused because how do you become a surgeon from a nurse? But it makes sense, because this is a BS degree, this is the bachelor’s degree she’d use to get into medical school. So useful to have a nursing degree and 2 years hospital experience and then head to med school! I told her that I had to live vicariously through her – I think now I’m too old to be a surgeon. She laughed and said that that wasn’t true. But it’s true. I’m too old. Just like I’m too old to become a gymnast or really learn another language. It will have to wait for another lifetime. After watching the c-sections, I think perhaps surgeons should start training when they are 4 years old, like a truly exceptional violin player, the hand skills are probably best imprinted in a person’s muscles/tendons and brain/reflexes even before they can spell episiostomy.