Back on Top of the Knife

another 24-hr shift yesterday. i'm in GYN now and was w/ one particular surgeon all day/night long. he's considered one of "the best." that usually, and certainly in this particular case, means very skilled and genius but also rather hard to get along with. he was friendly enough to me, because i was quiet and stayed mostly out of the way, but he was not as pleasant to the residents. it made for a long day. especially since we started at 7:30am and didn't finish the last case until 1:15am. not kidding. 18 hrs in the OR on my feet w/ only 10-20 min breaks between cases. never really ate a meal. it was nuts. but i got to see some fairly interesting cases and learned all the many ways that "that damned cancer" can mess a person up. he had an interesting communication style and was very passionate when it came to 2 subjects: people eating right and not getting "way too fat, too big bellies" and "that damned cancer." some of the tumors he removed were shocking to look at, but as i've grown used to, many times the most grotesque things the body grows are actually benign and have no real malignant potential...but we remove them because they may be causing symptoms just by being there. so anyway....

i was scheduled to be there all night and was to report to labor and delivery after i got done in the OR. i showed up there about 1:30 and was told to go sleep until 3. so i did....but kept right on sleeping through my alarm until 5:45. i felt like such an idiot. no one was mad, but i thought for sure i'd be fired (can they fire you if they're not paying you?). fortunately, as i came sprinting through the hospital back to the birthing department w/ one shoe on, one contact in, my hair all flying crazy all over the place and stethescope dragging behind me, i found that there was enough going on that i could pitch in and be useful for the last little while before i went home, but not SO much going on that they missed my presence. i still feel like an idiot. curse these basic human needs! they have no place for a student of medicine!