Awesome

Well, I'm in a big rush to get to studying today, but I had to stop in and write about my awesome day in the OR. Today has been a really good day.

It started out well, oddly enough, thanks to psych. Weird, I know. While I have no interest in psychiatry, outside of a purely intellectual desire to learn about psychotic disorders, I find it really interesting to hear from my facilitator and his stories about actually being in psychiatric practice. I also find the questions he asks the patients very insightful and they always get to the root of the problem before any of us students know there's a problem to begin with. Today was no exception. We interviewed a schizophrenic patient and it was a pretty interesting experience.

Then I hauled my cookies over to the hospital where my preceptor practices for the tubal ligation he asked me in on. He met me there and showed me to the changing room where I got in some scrubs, then we were off to the OR. Some of you might remember the last time I went into the OR with him; you know, the time when the scrub tech didn't let me touch any intruments whatsoever because I left my ring on under my gloves (my wedding ring, not the engagement band). Well, this experience was just as great as that one was bad. After Dr. B made the incision, I was able to "poke the hole" in the abdominal wall to get to the guts. Then he let me work the camera (one of the tools in a laparoscopy) for the whole procedure. After he was done clamping the tubes, he let me work both tools, the camera and the blunt probe, to look around INSIDE THE ABDOMEN! I feel like such a rock star. He was just like, "so, why don't you go find me an ovary..." and handed over the tools. It was like playing a video game, and I have to say, I loved it. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm really able to let the whole surgery thing go so easily. We'll see.

Anyway, it was a really cool day. The evening will undoubtedly not be as cool, I have a lot of studying to catch up on. Yesterday when I got home I was feeling very unmotivated and altogether blah, so I watched some tv, went for a seven mile run, and watched some more... Not really productive, but I felt better after it was all said and done. Now I have to make up for it a bit.

The rest of the week is mostly going to be a blur. A friend of mine is getting married on Saturday, so tomorrow I'm going out to dinner for her bachelorette party. I can't go out with them all since I really do need to do at least quasi-well on the exam on Monday. Then Friday, J and I are going downtown to Oktoberfest (yes, in September) and Saturday is my friend's wedding. Which reminds me, at some point I have to go get her a gift...