Blue Skies, Birds Laughing, Babies Singing...

i'm in a magical tra-la unicorn land. i've had a great work week.

on wednesday, i scrubbed with a really intense surgeon who is known for his temper tantrums and for kicking people out of the OR if he doesn't like them and never allowing them back. some PA's haven't seen his cases in years, because they are on 'the list.' but i'd also heard that he was a really good surgeon and outside of the OR, a really nice guy. so i was pretty nervous doing my first cases with him. especially because he does vascular surgery, which is really precise and difficult and life or deathy. we were doing endarterectomies. (big word- means cleaning plaque out of arteries) on carotid and femoral arteries....huge, important vessels that sort of mean life or death to brain and limbs. (to be fair, they have a little help from other vessels).

so just to see these cases was wildly cool. to be able to HELP on them, was amazing. you're definitely the second surgeon on these. they really require you instead of just use you cuz you're there (the way it feels on some other types of cases). it's pretty neat. and i'm aware the whole time of how incredible it is that we have clamped the freakin' carotid artery so that we could spend an hour needling around in there. wild. AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF...they keep the patient awake for these cases! (say what?) they gave her an epidural shot for pain control to the neck and some light sedation to keep her calm, but they actually require the patient to hold a squeaky ball (like a dog toy) in her hand and instruct her to squeeze it once in a while to make sure she hasn't stroked out or anything.

¡increíble!

so, it was really cool. and although i didn't know what i was doing, i did ok. and my medical knowledge that he pimped me on was only mildly sub par. and i made him laugh. and we shared a taste in movies. so it was pretty fun.

and then the next day, miracles of miracles, a fellow PA told me that he had said good things about me. like that i would be "excellent" some day. WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!

so i've been floating around since then.

and today i spent much of the day in the emergency room (no, not to get my fat head drained)...admitting new surgical patients and practicing some actual medicine. which is another thing that i recently was bitching about...(to my poor family, much to their chagrin). i was worried that i'd lose all the medicine i learned over the last few years, choosing surgery. but today i got a chance to see what the rest of my life will be like once i've gotten competent in the OR. oy vey, so much to learn! and, i got to love up on a patient w/o the ability to speak. give her some answers and hope she wasn't getting from anyone else. and God, that's good.

but tomorrow is another day...and i'm once again working with the MDITW. so we'll see how awesome and sunshiny i'm feeling tomorrow.

but then it's the weekend! so whatever. :)