My Surgery Story: Choose Your Own Adventure

I'd like to tell you all a little more about my month so far, but I realize that the details will be too gruesome for many.  So, I had an idea, based on some books I enjoyed as a kid...

Choose Your Own Adventure!

(Did anyone else ever read any of these books as a kid?)

Anyhow, get ready for your first (and last!) choice of this adventure.


Do you...

A) have a very weak stomach and cringe at the mere mention of blood and guts?
B) handle gory details pretty well and want to hear more?
C) want to see what I've been up to?

For those of you who fall into category A, just read the black print and don't (I repeat: DON'T!) click on any links.

For those of you who fall into category B, highlight the text in the big white space under the #1.  Some of what I wrote is currently in white font, only visible if highlighted. 

For those of you who fall into category C, highlight the text AND click on the links for some visible representation of my month.


This month I am on my surgery rotation.  I was assigned to work with our hospital's plastic surgeon.  I've learned that a couple of the beliefs that many people have about plastic surgery are utterly false, namely that...

1)  Plastic surgery is "glamorous."  

My attending physician, for instance, does a lot of debridement of wounds, which is anything but glamorous.

Some of you may be wondering what I mean by "wounds."  Well, we see patients with wounds of several origins.  Some are diabetic wounds.  The patients lose sensation in their feet (or elsewhere) and easily injure their feet.  The also don't heal as well due to high blood sugar and poor circulation, prolonging the healing time.  

We also have patients who are bedridden or wheelchair ridden, often due to paralysis, and they get pressure ulcers from tissue breakdown occurring at their pressure points.  

We have patients with ulcers from poor arterial circulation or from venous stasis.  

All of these wounds are at risk for getting infected, so that complicates the healing further.  

We scrape out infection and dead cells, and create a healthier environment for the wound to heal.  We place a lot of drains and wound vacs to help keep wounds drier to heal more expediently.

We also do skin grafts to cover the wounds if the open area is non-healing and too big to close on its own.

Wounds are interesting.  I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to handle them, because the sights and smells do make me a bit squeamish.  However, I've overcome my trepidation, and have spent a lot of time, both during surgery and during wound clinic, debriding wounds.  

I have a TON of respect for my attending and for all doctors/nurses/techs who work on wounds.  It's not a "glamorous" job, but it is such important work.  Wounds can really decrease the quality of life for people who have them, and I think the people who work so hard for so long to heal patients' wounds  really are a wonderful example of sacrificial love within healthcare.

Gives a whole new meaning to the thought of God "binding up wounds," doesn't it?  What an awesome God we serve! 

"Come, let us return to the LORD, For it is he who has torn, but he will heal us; he has struck down, but he will bind our wounds." - Hosea 6:1

"For he wounds, but he binds up; he strikes, but his hands give healing." - Job 5:18

"Hallelujah!  How good to sing praise to our God; how pleasant to give fitting praise.  The LORD and gathers the dispersed of Israel, Healing the brokenhearted, and binding up their wounds." - Psalm 147:1-3

2) Plastic surgery is "frivolous."

I have yet to see my attending do a frivolous surgery.  Besides wounds, she does a lot of breast surgeries - mostly reconstructions for patients who have had mastectomies due to breast cancer.

Other plastic surgeons do surgery on burn victims or trauma patients or children with cleft lips or other birth defects.

Meaningful work, for sure. While there are purely cosmetic procedures out there, much of plastic surgery is anything but frivolous.


I had a misconception of my own about surgery going into the month, thinking that I'd be saying this in my head all month:


2)  "I hate surgery."


I really didn't think I'd like it.

I thought I'd get too tired of standing still for hours.  It is tiring, but the time passes quickly when scrubbed in and doing something.

I thought getting and keeping sterile would be a major hassle and feared that I'd mess up and contaminate the patient and ruin the whole surgery.  It's actually not half as intimidating as I'd feared it would be, and I haven't done any major damage yet (knock on wood!).  I have managed to contaminate myself twice.  Once, I had to put a sleeve over my sleeve because my arm had accidentally hit the mask of one of the residents.  Today, my glove hit my mask, so I changed gloves.  No big deal at all either time, though.

Surgery has actually been a fun month so far because 1) it's really different from my other months, 2) we DO and SEE a lot instead of writing a lot of notes, which is a nice change of pace.

So, all in all, I actually like my surgery month.  Wow.  There, I said it.  I did luck out with a super nice and approachable attending AND resident, which has also made a huge difference in the way I feel about my month.  But, still.  A good surprise that #3 was false.


The End.