friday.

I can't believe it. Winterim is over. It went by so fast. I had an incredible last day. Everyone loved the cookies I made! Today was a long day. We had  3 cases (almost 4, but the facelift canceled!!). I started the day off with watching a breast lift and then a breast lift/aug and a tummy tuck. You would think I'd get bored watching the same procedures, but I don't. I get trapped in this trance. It's so cool watch Dr. G alter someone's body and make them look great. I think we really clicked. It was fun hanging out with her and watching the everyday problems she is faced with as a doctor. This has been better than any tv show I will ever watch and more educational than any class I'll take in school. I  really appreciate this opportunity and I'm glad to have been able to work with Dr. G. Later that day, I saw a colonoscopy. It's a procedure where they stick this long flexible pole with a camera at the end up your bottom and push it up all the way to your colon. It was...interesting. On the tv, all I could see was a long tunnel with fleshy walls and green/yellow goo dripping from them. The doctor suggested that there should be a colonoscopy video game where you try to navigate your way around someones large intestine and destroy any unusual growths :) I wasn't really hungry for lunch after that, but I knew that was the only time I could eat. The last case was a breast lift/aug and lipo. One of the nurses showed me what all the doctors have to do to scrub in. It's really meticulous, but I guess you would have to be. Dr. G and I talked about my future  and how my music would play into all of it. It was great being able to talk to someone who has been through it all before. I now know what colleges are great for what I'm looking for and now have a better idea of what this profession requires of me. I hope to stay in contact with her as I embark on this journey of higher education. Thanks for this opportunity.

thursday.

Today was my last day in the office :( I wish winterim was a bit longer. I did it. I wore heels!! and they didn't even hurt. These Tahari thigh-high suede boots are like walking on a cloud. Anyway, it was amazing to see some of the patients I had met the 1st day. For some people, I was able to see their pre-op check in, surgery, and post-op check in. Everyone in the office has been so kind and I hope they all enjoy the cookies I'm currently baking for them!! Today,  I saw a lot of post-ops and consultations. I never knew how colorful bruises were (mine just tend to be darker brown). Since everyone is different, people react differently to surgery. One patient came in with really neat bruises on her legs from a recent surgery. They will go away soon, but it was kind of awesome to see something like that before I go. I also just learned that Dr. G is one of the doctors who take in residents from Vanderbilt, That is why Rubble is always in surgery with her. I hope that one day I'll be able to work along side her as a resident as well :) Dr. G and I sat down and talked for a while. She gave me amazing advice about being in medical school. When she was a student, she was a minority. Only a small percentage of her colleagues were women.  She told me that as a minority, every battle isn't worth fighting. You just have to leave ignorant people alone. If someone doesn't like you for who you are, that is their problem. Work hard and don't let silly things phase you. Soon enough you will come out just as good or even better than your classmates (the guys, in her case). I also learned about medical school and residency. She told me to keep my options open and not declare a particular medical field just yet. I really appreciate the fact that she let me follow her around for a month. This has been an amazing experience and has strengthened my love for medicine. Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day in the OR. We have two big cases and one is a facelift...a full one with incisions around the eyes O_o What a great way to end a great experience.

gerbil love.

more pictures ^_^

the menace checking the fat level

Dr. G and Rubble in the middle of a liposuction case

The menace and me :)

"melted" and liposuctioned fat !!!

I (along with a bunch of random people) am spotted wearing "gerbil love" sticker that one of the nurses suck on me this morning

wednesday.

So, everyone in the OR room read my blog while I was out doing stuff. Now they all want nicknames. Ok, We have Dr. G, Rubble, The Menace, Clyde, Ghost and Jimmy (that's already his nickname). I started the day with a breast lift/reduction and a tummy tuck. Here's one thing you should remember, when dealing with bodies, you can always take more off, but you can't always add more on. With that said, the procedure went wonderfully. I sat in on one of Dr. T's knee scopes. He minimized the pocket of a loose knee cap! Jimmy was his NA and showed me everything he does during a case. He showed me the various tubes, what the machine readings meant, and all the narcotics and pain killers they use (he let me hold everything). I was afraid I was going to drop the Propofol (or whatever it's called) so I put them back. Today, Dr. G had very limited time to do two cases and had to do one right after the other. So, I picked up lunch for everyone in the room. I had to walk to Jason's Deli (since I don't have a car), but it was great exercise. I met a really nice hobo on the way there. We talked for a while about random stuff.  He was selling those newspapers (lol, the nurses told me to say hi to him on my way there).  I ended up bringing the lunch back earlier than expected (yay) and was proud that I didn't get lost, hypothermia, or kidnapped :) The second case was liposuction in various areas of the body. So I didn't get bored, Dr. G let me watch Dr. M (a fellow plastic surgeon) perform a nipple reconstruction. Remember when I saw those breast cancer patients postop? I was able to see the type of surgery they had undergone. It's really incredible to see something made for absolutely nothing. Dr. G finished up the lipo and took be back to the office where I chilled until it was time for me to leave. Btw: I  remembered to take photos today!!!

the anesthetist and her monitoring station 

Dr. G working on a patient (not shown for obvious reasons)

tuesday.

This morning I was in the office. I spotted another male patient. That gives me a grand total of...four :) Anyway, this guy came in to correct a condition called gynecomastia. Ok, what is that, you may ask? Well, "gyne" or "gyneko" means woman or female. "Mastia" means breasts. So, basically they are man boobs (like an underdeveloped woman).

  

Obviously, this can be very embarrassing for a man, so Dr. G does some lipo around the area. It was a pretty light day in the office. In the OR we had a breast lift and tummy tuck. During the procedure, we got into this huge discussion about tv and how crazy it's getting. The resident that usually works with Dr. G and I were talking about skins and the American remake. He seems to keep up with pop culture more than the others. I'm gonna call him Rubble (tehehe) because that it what his name reminds me of :) He is in his last year of residency and has been really fun to work with.  The snacks in the break room never seem to stop. You can always find something to munch on. Also, being able to access coffee whenever you feel like it has been a lot different than school. The coffee in the break room (which has a slight floral aroma) has kept me from totally passing out from tiredness. It's really incredible to see the great lengths doctors go through to keep everything sterile. I used to think is was tricky navigating through the sterile fields (I've totally gotten the hang of it now!), but I think it's even harder to move around the room and not get contaminated. We went through about 3 pairs of gloves, 2 of those light handle covers, a ton of those towels, and 2 suction tubes (?). Dr. G has been pretty lax about this (because she knows I can handle it); but, when I visit other OR rooms, I sometimes have to stay in one spot for the whole procedure (thank God for coffee) so I don't accidentally contaminate stuff. I'm sad this will be the last week I get to work with her. I'm having a great time.

friday.

I love Fridays. The whole atmosphere in the OR was pretty chill today. Dr. G started up the day with a perfect breast augmentation. It's kinda funny how much I learned about bras and breast sizes by just listening to the nurses answer all of the patient's questions.
1. Victoria's Secret runs really small (no, you are not a D cup)
2. Their bra sizes are actually the size of what your 'assets' will look like in a shirt (that means they are padded)
3. A 36c is equivalent to a 34d  (so I guess you are a D)
4. Older women tend to want smaller breasts (I've noticed they get more reductions)
5. There is such a thing as getting your implants too small (they look painfully obvious because they are completely visible)
This morning I was a bit upset because I had forgotten to pack my lunch (and I have no sense of direction to locate the hospital cafeteria); so, I ran into the grocery store and bought something as fast as I could only to realize another doctor had paid for Jim & Nick's BBQ for the break room. After my rather delicious lunch, the next case included UAL (ultrasonic assisted liposuction). UAL is different from regular liposuction because the probe vibrates extremely fast sending ultrasonic sound waves that 'melt' the fat before sucking it up. This results in a less aggressive, bloody, and tiring procedure. After that case Dr. G let me sit in on some other surgeries. Remember that doctor I was talking about in the last post (the one with the son)? Yeah, I spent the rest of the day watching him to a shoulder scope, knee scope, and bicep surgery. We're going to call him Dr. E. His room was a completely different atmosphere.  Dr. G's room is very chill with alt-acoustic music humming through the speakers and a crew mainly comprised of girls. When I walked into Dr.E's room, it was dark (so we could see the scope tv), hard rock (and the occasional hip-hop) was blasting through the speakers, and I (along with a spunky, older female nurse) was the only girl in the room. It was definitely fun to experience the change in scenery and profession  (Dr. E is an orthopedic surgeon), but I prefer the mellow, estrogen pumped, plastic surgery of  Dr. G. Don't get me wrong. I thoroughly loved hanging with the guys and hope to see them next week.

P.S.  I completely forgot to mention I was able to view a laparoscopic cholecystectomy which is the removal of a gallbladder. It was so cool. Dr. L pulled it out and cut it open for me to see all of the Gallstones. (it's smelled really bad but it was still awesome to see!!)

thursday.

Sorry about the lack of OOTDs. My camera has been m.i.a. I think it's somewhere around the house.

Today was pretty great day. It was a full office day and I met a lot of really sweet people. I've spotted another male patient and a couple of minorities. It was interesting to see how darker skin reacts to scaring as apposed to lighter skin. So far, the men don't really come in for life altering, body changing surgeries like the women tend to do -- just a little here and there. I also saw my first breast cancer patient. Since I was unaware of everything a breast cancer patient has to go through, Dr. G filled me in on what chemotherapy had to do: remove the breast and insert a port. It's amazing how Dr. G can restore a breast from nothing. What she has to do is take muscle and skin from either the back or abdominals and place it over the remaining breast tissue. This will help the breast tissue expand. She then inserts a tissue expander which is like a hard refillable implant. This stretches the skin out to the size of the other breast and makes it big enough for an implant. Once the implant is in, the patient has the choice of getting a nipple reconstructed or not. The only negative side I can see to having a nipple reconstructed (from skin on darker parts of the body) is that the muscle controlling the nipple is gone. That makes the nipple always "pointy". This experience has really made me think about WHY I wanted to go into this field. I had always been interested in medicine. It's in my blood; but, why plastic surgery? I think Dr. G's nurse said it the best. (paraphrasing)" In all other medical professions, your patients are there because they NEED to be. In plastic surgery, your patients WANT to be there." I would get to make people feel better about themselves while getting to use my creativity and science skills. The giggles, tears of joy, and exclamations of astonishment as a patient removes the surgical garments are moving. My favorite types of  office visits are of patients who are about 6 mo to a year out of surgery. I get to see the before pictures and the completely healed results. It's so cool to see them side by side. Even if the person doesn't have the 'perfect' body, the drastic change from the before picture is enough to make anyone squeal with joy. Next up: full surgery day ^_^