my day

the alarm clock rang at 3:45 AM. i stayed in bed until 4 AM. i took a shower, ran to the hospital, and got there by 4:45 AM. as the lowly med students on our team, our main job is to start a note and record the vital signs for the patients in our service. by 6:00 AM, we start rounding with our residents and fellow. by 7:30 AM, we are in the operating room. this morning, i got to see ureter/kidney stones removed and kidney stents placed. we also have this robot that helps with the removal of the prostate and other minimally invasive surgery. i got to maneuver the robot today. i thought that was super-cool!

then off to lunch. i usually have lunch in the cafeteria and i often bump into classmates who are in other rotations. we chat about the specialties we are considering and our schedules for our 4th year. in the afternoon, i got to participate in removing part of a kidney. the patient has kidney cancer so we took out the affected part. my job was mostly to retract tissue and cut sutures (and also pretend that i know my anatomy ;)). on other days, i also suction, zap tissue, and close the skin either by suturing or placing staples. i can't say that i love the OR but it has definitely grown on me.

we got done with the last surgery by 5:00 p.m. i had dinner plans at 6:00 PM so i ran home, while calling friends to confirm that we are still pushing through. i took a shower and waited for a friend to pick me up. we also picked up a friend and met another at the restaurant. we had dinner and talked about interesting stories from our rotations. again we talked about specialty choices and our schedules for the 4th year. we try to keep up with our ritual of regular get-togethers. it gets harder as we get busier doing different things. but it always feels great to catch up and stay connected.

i'm home now, getting ready for bed and will be sleeping soon.
i have to be at the hospital by 4:45 again tomorrow. so that's a glimpse of my day. good night!