Sleep is a joke

I've been bombarded over the past 2 months from people who complain that i don't update my blog. (Apparently people find it interesting... I'd like to take this moment to thank what i believe are sarcastic remarks)

Before I get into what i've been up to since my last post I would like to point out that it is 3:45 am. Usually it would be quite normal for me to be up at this time but i've been really keeping on myself to get in bed before 2. Thats not the case tonight though. i went to bed at 10:30 after a full day of studying and finishing another chapter on the book i started last week called 'The Intern'. I wish i was sleeping.

So, last time I wrote I spoke about my first experiences in the OR. Sadly, I have not made it back in yet but in the next few weeks I will be shadowing a general surgeon who I have gotten to know relatively well in the past few months. I have to say it really isn't easy to find someone to shadow, living in a very med school driven university environment most doctors are probably bombarded with these sort of requests. The only way is really to get lucky, hope for them to give you a task to complete and then they MIGHT be nice enough to give you something to do.

That will be later on this month and also have a meeting with a local plastic surgeon who I was referred to by one of the residents in the emerge.

I started volunteering at the beginning of june in the ER and it's definitely been one of the more exciting parts of my non-academic life lately (sad, huh?). In all seriousness I love it there and have earned the nickname 'guy who stays really really really late in order to see all the cool stuff that happens and eat all the tasty snacks nurses bring in". I've been known to stay a few hours past my shift even as late as 2am. Somehow talking to a woman in congestive heart failure makes an hour and a half disappear. I was never one for peoples life stories however there is something about people in the ER that makes them interesting.

One of the PROs of staying late is the fact that at night it is practically run by residents who are much closer to me in age and allow me to follow them around a little, seeing interesting cases or procedures. Watching a guy get his arm sutured excites me oddly. I wonder how it will be when I actually get to do it.

Some of the more interesting parts of all of that in the past month or so have been drug addicts, form 1 people talking to walls, drunks needing staples in their head, woman with a stingray sting and most recently a case that i doubt i will ever see again... cyanide overdose.
I randomly decided to go in one monday not on my usual shift only to find a firetruck blocking the emerge entrance and it was definitely a sight to see. Working with cyanide is dangerous and so anyone coming in contact with the PT had to wear a full protective suit. Pretend the dog has a full head mask.



Other then that it's been school school and more school. With the horrid McMaster first year chemistry program haunting me as it once did every other science student.

I'll try to keep this more updated, theres a few more things coming up this summer to write about so i will get to that when it does happen.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I've done some pretty extensive research on applying in different countries so i might be able to help.

Oh... and i really want to learn how to suture :(

Day 1.5 - Laproscopic Colicys... Cholycistec.. damn gall bladder.

It was my first day ever to step into an OR without being poked or prodded for it.

Lots of you are asking how i arranged this, it definitely was not easy. Most hospitals do not allow anyone under the level of med student to look at an OR and that was the case for Hamilton hospitals. However through determination, some very insightful emails and talking to a lot of people i caught a break. All i can say to anyone trying to get experience is be truthful and people will be sincere to your requests. Also, please don't call the hospital asking about this trying to get in as i'll probably lose the spot and rip our your cholecyst and feed you bile (Thank you Dr. X for the in OR physiology lesson). Theres a million other ways to get in an OR, this was probably the hardest.

This was probably one of the most interesting days to date in my life and i want to have an account for it somewhere.

I showed up at 10am at the hospital and spent a good half an hour reading a surgical handbook while waiting for things to get started. Most ORs already were inbetween their first and second day surgery so i was just waiting.
I was taken down to the OR suite, put on my scrubs and cap for the second time (they feel like pyjamas..mmm) and headed to the OR-1 which is mainly general surgery. I came in about midway through a laproscopic hernia re-repair. Basically they used a mesh to hold up the hernia but had to reinforce it with another surgery. Was a very tedious process to clear up everything inside and it was like a video game pretty much. Everything was done through a laproscopic camera and other such tool. Somewhat looks like this.

It was all really interesting, barely any incisions, minimal bleeding and it was all very casual. Surgical procedure, casual?! They were listening to the sultans of swing, i wanted to get on the OR table and groove.
That took about a good hour and a half i believe and went off for a quick lunch. The very nice scrub nurse invited me back after a quick break.

I sat in the surgeons lounge for a bit picking up on some conversations about scrotum sweat, the 'gay' scale and variable mortgages. Interesting i must say. Honestly was way too nervous to start a decent conversation with any of them, most were way too busy with their own thing or couldnt care less. One vascular surgeon lady was extremely bitchy and chomped down a popsicle while rambling about how the clerks mislabled her patient.

After lunch i got back into the OR for an open hernia which was actually quite boring considering i didn't really get to see much. Unless youre scrubbed you can't really get up there for the most part so the nurse moved me to another OR with Dr. X who was doing a lap choli (gall bladder removal).

As soon as i stepped in i was greeted by everyone, it was so odd. There was an attending, surgical resident, med student and two scrub nurses. Had some small talk about what i was doing there and who i was and it just went into a physiological lesson from there. I got step by step action of gall bladder removal and how to poke a liver with a camera in order to make your resident not able to see what he is doing. Fun stuff. I dont know how much of this i am allowed to write actually. I just won't use any names. So for our sake i was at sacred heart memorial hospital in Wichita. Watched them clamp off the gall bladder and remove it through one of the lap holes.The gall bladder is really really tiny and red and squishy! Never seen a human organ before, WWHD. (What would hannibal do).

After that i high tailed it around with Dr. X for abit. All i can say is that if you plan on being a surgeon, learn to walk fast. I had to run just to keep up with him at all times, it was like zoom zoom zoom.

Finished off the day with another lap choli and a talk with the scrub nurse about the steriotype of mean scrub nurses, she kindly explained to me that med students and residents are cocky don't pay attention which is why they might sometimes get yelled at. I agree.

Really all i can say is i loved every minute of it, i wish i didnt have to leave the OR today at all.
Conclusion: Headed in the right direction.

All in all, im exhausted. I passed pretty soon after i got home and off to my bio lab exam tomorrow. For the sake of awesome pictures at the end of every blog entry...

Just for kicks.

Can't bring myself to study yet.

Tip of the day:
For anyone that needs it.
http://www.malesurvivor.org/

Day 1 - Pre-Pre Med and an operating room

I've never written a blog before. Partly because I did horrible in english class in grade 12 due to my poor writing skills and partly because there was nothing to write about. However, that is quite different now (the interesting stuff to write about part... not the writing skills).

For the past month i have been doing research about med schools (domestic and overseas), residencies, specialties, lives doctors live and much much more, all with regards to... surgery! I decided after much thought and consideration that this is a viable direction for me to take my life. The main questions that came up were: HOW do i do it. CAN i do it. DO I want to do it. and lastly WHICH position do i want to do it in? (EDIT: sorry, wrong blog).

There are a million websites and forums out there with so much information about all these things and i'm doing a pretty good job getting through what I can, so this will be my "creative" outlet for that.

In addition to research i have also been trying to find a job shadow/mentor to learn from and see if this is really for me and to find out what it takes. I've done pretty well so far in that, it isnt easy. I'm definitely not the only one as i'm competing with every other med school keener in hamilton.

This blog will hopefully give people who are in the same boat as me with ideas and information on how to get their foot in the door and ahead of the game. We all know the canadian med school system is half-impossible to crack. Its scary. Im scared.

So far i've set up a few things:
1) OR orientation and the ability to watch surgeries at a hospital in various times (will speak about this later!)
2) A meeting with a general /trauma surgeon to discuss possible job shadowing (in may!)
3) HHSC has approved my application for an internist (internal medicine MD) to mentor me (waiting for them to find one.. shouldnt be long now!)
4) A meeting with the head of residency for mcmaster (dont ask me HOW i got this one, im not even sure)
5) Been approved for summer volunteering at st josephs with work on post-op care and later on ill be moved to the ER.

How did i get these done? Persistence and lots of research/emailing people. For every 15 people i emailed, i maybe got 2 replys. Awesome eh? Its expected, surgeons are busy.

Anyway, that is why i'm here. I'm going to make another post soon with a few things that i need to add. Look forward to:
-First day in the OR
-Summary of info on off short med schools
-Good links for research
-And much much more

Whats my real goal?
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Oh baby.