1st week of surgery done!!!

Well, my first week of surgery at Coney Island Hospital is done. That also included my first call night which was Friday. So far, it is going well. There is alot to know and learn and I am trying to keep up with all of it. We are asked questions constantly and if the answer is not known, then we here the following "Go home and read about it". It seems everything ends with those words. Unfortunately for me, I can read it a hundred times and it doesn't stick, but if I do it then I'm fine. So I try to keep my ears open and volunteer for everything I can just so I can learn better.

Here is a quick re-cap of my week: In SICU (surgery intensive care unit), we saw some patients get better and others that did not. We have 2 patients on the medical floors with diabetes that need amputations. One is scheduled for next week, the other is still waiting on insurance to cover the procedure. I had clinic this week; vascular and ulcer, surgery I, plastics. All went okay. I am still trying to learn the computer system which has been a little frustrating at times but I'm hoping I figure it out by the end of the rotation. I was assigned one patient who came in for small bowel obstruction. She was in SICU. Fortunately, she has not needed surgery. When I left yesterday morning she was feeling much better and they were thinking of discharging her. Also, we were scheduled clinics (suture, respiratory, scrub training) and we had 2 lectures...one on aneurysms and the other on acute appendicitis (which was very beneficial to me considering my first case on call was just that).

Call was okay. The night started off slow and there wasn't much to do. Our resident sent us to the call room around midnight. I slept a little, then I got up at 3:30am just in time for the action. A young 27 year old came to the hospital with pain in his abdomen. After talking with him, and after a CT scan he was told he had appendicitis and his appendix needed to be removed that morning in surgery. Because it was our case, we got to go into surgery and watch. They did the procedure laparascopic. Before the surgery though, we did have one trauma. A 29 year old male who was drinking went swimming with his girlfriend and drowned. Everything was tried to no avail. He died 45 minutes after arriving to the ER.

In terms of procedures, well only one was learning this past week. Before doing the surgery in the ER a foley catheter had to be inserted. I got to do it....actually I volunteered to do it. So now, I can put one in anytime!!!

The only downside to surgery is the tiredness. I was fine pretty much all week. I was going to bed early and eating healthy. Even call was not bad. It has been the 2 days after call that has been kicking my ass. I got home yesterday morning at 10am and slept until 5pm, then had dinner and watched a movie, then slept from 9pm until 7am this morning and for some strange reason.....I'm still tired. And I absolutely hate that feeling. So, that is the only bad part to this rotation. Hopefully I adjust as the weeks move on.

Okay, I have to go and do laundry. I hope everyone has a great day!!! Stay tuned for week #2!