Hello, world! This is my first attempt in mass communicating my thoughts and experiences without Mae actually doing it for me :) My entries will be much shorter and probably not as entertaining--I lost all ability to communicate in complete sentences once I started writing hospital progress notes in medical school.
So, we find ourselves in Charlotte while I complete my one year fellowship in advanced laparoscopic bariatric (weight loss) surgery. This is surgery done through small incisions using long instruments we control from outside the body while watching a tv picture from a camera inside the body.
Even though I have completed 4 years of medical school, 5 years of general surgery training, and could be a practicing general surgeon at a community hospital near you, I find myself a rookie once again. The biggest challenge is learning a surgery I've never seen using a skill set
I haven't yet mastered. We did some basic laparoscopic surgery at Loyola, but nothing as regular or as advanced as the program here in Charlotte. I imagine it's like learning to ride a racing motorcycle when all you know is how to ride is a unicycle. It's been tough to finish residency feeling like I could do any surgery, only to come here and feel like an intern in the OR again, still trying to master concepts such as up, down, left, right.
Today we performed a routine, classic surgical procedure using normal surgical techniques involving a normal incision, taking out colon cancer like 80% of surgeons do it today and have been doing it for over 60 years--no advanced laparoscopy. That went very well, just like riding a unicycle again; I joked with the main surgeon I work with, "Finally, a surgery I've seen and know how to do!"
I'm making progress, painfully slow and steady progress. The learning curve for these surgeries is steep; I can't wait to be riding that motorcycle soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment