Fifth Rotation: Ob/GYN - Tacoma

These are Drs. Boutry, Cammarano, Kovanda, and Lenihan (from left to right). Their offices were right across the street from Tacoma General, which is where we did surgeries (including the Da Vinci robotic surgeries, which were cool.

I got another honors grade in the clinical portions of this rotation. Yippie!!! :) Dr. Lenihan offered to write a letter of recommendation for residency as well, so overall this rotation went really well.
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Holy COW! I've been attacked by a Pimp Monster! I'm serious. I am the only student and I'm taking direct hits about every two seconds! In all seriousness, it's great. I'm getting pimped on tons of general medicine, ortho, and other stuff. Half the time I have no clue what the answer is, but I'm living in total fear of looking like a clod, so I'm working my butt off. AND IT'S ONLY THE FIRST DAY! :)

So I am loving the rotation on day one. I got to assist on a robotic hysterectomy case. The DaVinci system is AMAZING. It has to be the coolest thing I've seen in surgery. I was blown away. I will get to see tons of it on this rotation (at least 12 such surgeries). Then I was off to clinic, where I got off to a quick start doing bimanual exams. Then it was back to the OR with another doc for a quick excision of a large labial cyst. Then back to clinic for more experience in the female exam (in addition to pimping on things like metabolic syndrome, what are the six classifications of obesity, and on and on). The cool thing was that I got to watch my first vaginal delivery ON MY FIRST DAY. I get to do the next one. I'm getting the feeling like I'm a magnet for the good stuff and it is going to keep rolling my way. I'm on call tomorrow night, so I'm sure I'll get more then, but I have one under my belt already. Then I went back to clinic for more pimping and prodding.

I have to say that the birth of a little being was a profound experience. My emotions almost overtook me. No one saw it, but I was overcome with emotion, excitement, joy, wonderment, and happiness. It's impossible to describe, really. I wanted to burst out in tears, but I was able to keep it under wraps and I don't think anyone saw. I cannot wait to do more. I will not likely get to do many (if any) of these in the ED, so I want to soak up as many of these experiences as I can get! I loved it. :)

This rotation ended up being very good. Although I only had 7 deliveries, I scrubbed on more than 30 surgeries. And of those, I was first assist on all and closed on all. I also frequently intubated the patients prior to surgery. I did D&Cs, endometrial biopsies, and tons of pelvic exams. I placed trochars, drove the camera, acted as a second surgeon with graspers, and the like, and was generally allowed to do anything I asked to do. I was quite fortunate that there were no other students or residents on this rotation. I felt like I got a ton of good experience. I feel like I can intubate and suture very well, and I also feel like I can evaluate an Obstetrical or Gyn problem that comes into the ER. :)