Surgery Gore and Weekend Fun....

Hello! Sorry I have been less frequent in updating my blog! Things are busy with surgery, as you can imagine. I do not know who really wants to know about it. My friend Emily can say to me, "okay, nat, that is enough medical stuff." I still enjoy talking about it. I do want to say, I completely respect my patients', their privacy, and their illnesses. However, as a student, getting to learn from each patient is part of the learning process. Thus, what I am trying to say is, by getting excited to learn knew procedures and getting to suture and such, I am not celebrating or flaunting my patients' struggles but rather trying to show my learning. Anyways, this week I have gotten to see multiple laproscopic procedures such as gall bladder removal, appendectomies, and hernia repairs. I was able to see a partial colectomy, which was quite sad in that we were removing cancer. I am able to round alone on patients, writing daily notes and some orders, even if it does mean getting up at 520 am. I have done the dirty work and the interesting surgeries. Tomorrow, I have office hours in the morning after seeing the patients in the hospital followed by two or three outpatient procedures in the afternoon.

What is exciting is that tomorrow our things are going to be delivered....ie...our bed, furniture, clothing (the rest of it), books and so on!!! Thank Goodness! We will finally have our bed, which is the best and I have missed dearly. I am hoping it comes early in the day because I am leaving in the evening to see Gretch. I am going to stay with her Thursday night, hopefully, to help with a paper and from there head to Chattanooga. My friend Paige is doing a Pediatric Intensive Care rotation at UT Chattanooga and has the weekend off......so, we are going to hang out and have some fun!

Well I hope everyone is having a good week!
~nat