"Every patient, every symptom, every operation...is a test. A chance for us to demonstrate how much we know. And how much more we have to learn."

This blog entry brings with it the end of OB/GYN. I've decided to write down a few of the highlights for later in the year when I'm trying to decide "deliver babies or take care of babies?"

Pros: Delivering babies, duh. Watching babies on the monitor. Helping mommies have healthy pregnancies. Turning not so healthy pregnancies into good deliveries. Turning not so good deliveries into the best situations possible. The residents (ah-mazing). The experiences (saw lots of things I'm sure I'll never see again). Surgery....?

Cons: GynOnc (onc is just so depressing...). The HOURS (and it's 10000x worse for the interns than the students... wasn't unusual for them to get there at 4 and leave at 8 that night). It's a tough, tough residency. I always knew it was hardcore, but I wasn't quite aware of HOW hardcore.

The Board: Meh. Not as bad as I expected.
CSA: Terrifying. But they'll get better as the year goes along I hear.

In other minute news, that fourletterword came back. And I'm pleased to report that I'm officially officially an M3 now :)

baby-catching

M3 year is a completely new, fascinating world. I'm glad I started on OB/GYN... I truly love it. Not that I'm surprised, I always figured it'd be my second choice behind peds. However, I'm putting a lot more thought into that than I ever imagined. I have one more week on the OB side, then I'll be on GYN... after that, I'll be able to make a rational decision as to my overall experience. But so far:
*GREAT small group (C, S, and S are fantastic partners and we work really well together)
*awesome interns
*surgery isn't as bad as I expected... never passed out, and I'm getting more used to the OR. Granted so far I've been on C-sections (but a couple of them were quite complicated).
*enough autonomy to make you feel like you're doing something, enough supervision to make you feel like you're not going to screw up
*baby-catching is AMAZING. Shocker, right?
*there's this emergency feel to L&D.. it's either super slow or crazy busy.

I don't think I'd do so well in small, "happy" (normal) practice... but I LOVE the critical care aspect of our population. OB/GYN with a Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship is certainly not out of the question.

Tonight we switch to night schedule, which should be an interesting chain of events. I'm not sure how my body will handle the adjustment, but hopefully there'll be just enough activity to keep us awake. Plus side to nights: no lectures!!

"One of the hardest lessons as a doctor is learning to prioritize"

Meredith [voiceover] One of the hardest lessons as a doctor is learning to prioritize. We're trained to do all we can to save life and limb, but, if cutting off a limb, means saving a life, we learn to do it without hesitation. It's not an easy lesson to learn, and it always comes down to one question, "what are the stakes?" What do we stand to gain or lose? At the end of the day, we're just gamblers trying not to bet the farm.

Somehow it's been a month since I've updated on the exciting goings on of my life (insert rolled eyes here). Honestly, the excitement is pretty dim these days. I'm going to skip all the day-by-day mumbo jumbo and hit on a couple highlights, just to let y'all know I'm still alive.

-Final Witnessed H&P - This is a complete history and physical exam done on a real patient, by me, and watched by a real doctor (my preceptor) that happened last week. It went better than I could've hoped, and I seriously cannot wait to be an M3 and doing these kind of things every day.

Suture Lab - Yup, I sewed a pig's foot back together. It was pretty cool. A challenge to begin with, but I got the hang of it. I'm hoping to get some good practice on OB/GYN so that I won't look like a complete idiot by the time surgery rolls around.

Other than these two "exciting" things, life is all about finishing the next 7 days of the classroom and 9 following tests... then that big one.

But on the other side..... Hellllllo Mickey Mouse! :)