a trip down memory lane: surgery

The moving continues. Three car trips later, my old apartment still looks very full.

I'll continue my trip down memory lane with my surgery clerkship. Surgery and I just didn't agree. First, it's inhumane to regularly wake up before 5 am. Second, there's something about the culture that I couldn't cope with. This is all better explained by the following note I wrote during my surgery rotation:

As a plea for your sympathy, I'm including excerpts from "The Perfect Surgery Student" from the intro of my surgery book so you know what I'm trying to deal with. You can't make this stuff up:

The Perfect Surgery Student

* Never whines

* Never complains

* Is never hungry, thirsty, or tired

* Loves to do scut work and can never get enough

* Never wants to leave the hospital

* Never asks questions he can look up for himself

* Is the first one to arrive at clinic and the last one to leave

* RUNS for materials, lab values, test results, etc, during rounds before any house officer

* Has a steel bladder, a cast-iron stomach, and a heart of gold

* In the OR, always asks permission to ask a question

* Is a high-speed, low-drag, hardcore HAMMERHEAD (defined in next paragraph as: individual who places his head to the ground and hammers through any and all obstacles to get a job done and then asks for more work.)

Man, I'm tired just reading this list. Somehow how I'm thinking that surgery is not for me.

Just rereading that note reaffirms why I didn't choose surgery as a field. Picking a specialty involves being interested in the work and finding a culture or lifestyle that works for you. I'm glad that some of my fellow classmates chose general surgery as a field. I certainly couldn't do it, but we need surgeons in this world. I'm sure if I asked one of my surgery-oriented classmates how he/she feels about spending clinics discussing preventative care and adjusting medications they would start groaning.