This Last month I have been on my OB-GYN rotation at St. Anne's hospital in Columbus. I know what you are thinking: "So how did THAT go?"
Actually I liked it quite a bit. I got to participate in a lot of neat surgery, procedures, and deliveries.
My first night on call I met a couple in Labor and Delivery getting ready to push out the latest addition to their family. I introduced myself as a 3rd year medical student and they asked me if I had caught any babies yet. I replied I hadn't and much to my surprise they asked me if I wanted to catch theirs. "You gotta start somewhere." they said. I was honored to start with their baby. (I didn't drop her either.) Mom and baby did great.
Catching babies is warm, wet, slippery, cheesy, bloody and awesome. Cesarean sections are essentially the same but with more sharp things. It is probably one of the bloodiest surgeries I have seen so far. I now have mad skills when it comes to bladder retraction, cutting suture strands, suctioning smoke from the cautery device and amniotic fluid, and stapling abdomens back together. (The few things they actually let a med student do. Sigh)I did get to be the first assistant in a few cases which was great.
Gyn surgery is very interesting also. I saw abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomies, cyst and fibroid removals, tubal ligations, D&C's (nope its not just a book of scripture) and hysteroscopy. One of the more interesting surgeries that I saw was a laparoscopic fibroid removal. Fibroids are basically benign tumors consisting of smooth muscle cells and fibrous connective tissue. They tend to be found in the uterine wall. They are the most common reason for hysterectomy but in some situations a woman may opt for a myomectomy, removal of the fibroid from the uterine wall, rather than a full on hysterectomy. This is possible because fibroids are well encapsualted and can usually be pulled out in one big round chunky yellow mass. It is extremely satisfying when they yank one out -kind of like the feeling you get after you pop a nice ripe zit. Gross I know, but that's the only way I can describe it.
There is a lot about this specialty I really like: a good percentage of the patients are young and healthy, there is a good mix of surgery and clinic, you have to be well rounded as an OB-GYN can sometimes be the only doc that some of these patients see. This is the only specialty where people come to the hospital for a happy reason and its only av4 year residency program. I also felt like I got along well with the residents and attending physicians. I was much more comfortable around them than some of the other surgeons I have shadowed. Another interesting thing is that 80% of the applicants to OB-GYN are now female and males are in high demand. A male applicant with good grades and board scores can potentially go wherever he wants.
The subject material of OB-GYN can be very sensitive most if not all of the time but I found that I really enjoyed talking to and interacting with patients in this setting. As long as one can be empathetic and understanding, I have heard that most women don't care if they have a male or a female for their OB-GYN.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Fish!
There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." -Dave Barry
I thought I would post a few picks of my latest (and only) hobby. It's is a small 28 gallon fish tank with 6 glo-fish, 1 powder blue dwarf gourami, 2 bronze corydoras catfish, 1 Corydoras sterbai catfish, a clown plecostomus (I think he is still in there somewhere) and a small colony of red cherry shrimp (If I can't eat em' anymore, I'll raise them.)
The glofish are green (yellow under normal lights), orange and red. They are actually zebra danios that have bee genetically modified with flourescent proteins isolated from jellyfish. The gene is now a part of their DNA so they can actually pass it on to their offspring. I believe they are the first genetically modified pet.
I built some moon lights for the tank out of some blue LED's. They make the glofish really, well... glow. It makes for a cool camera effect.
The gourami is kind of the bully of the tank. I have to turn out the lights comletely at night so the catfish can eat their sinking wafers without getting harrased by him. And man can this fish can poop!
The bronze catfish are kind of ugly but fun to watch. Along with the Sterba cory they help keep the bottom clean. They actually kind of look like mice.
The spotted one is the Corydoras Sterbai catfish. He swims pretty well with the others but I think I would like to get him/her/it a companion or two. My tank is pretty maxed out and I'll either have to get rid of the plecostomus or build a sump, which expands the water volume of a tank.
I'm not sure how many shrimp I have and I am about to have some more. I have at least seven that I have been able to count at any given time. I noticed one of them was carrying eggs the other day. They are prolific breeders. I am going to put them in a smaller tank and start breeding them. I might be able to make enough money off them to pay for the rest of my hobby. The picture below is a juvenile female. As they mature, the females turn a deep cherry red color. You can see a light colored "saddle" on this one which is actually the developing ovaries.
The clown plecostomus is a recluse. He only comes out at night. But he is pretty cool/ugly looking. He reminds me of the monk fish from Pike's Market in Seattle -the one they use to scare the customers with. I don't have a pic but you can see one here.
I thought I would post a few picks of my latest (and only) hobby. It's is a small 28 gallon fish tank with 6 glo-fish, 1 powder blue dwarf gourami, 2 bronze corydoras catfish, 1 Corydoras sterbai catfish, a clown plecostomus (I think he is still in there somewhere) and a small colony of red cherry shrimp (If I can't eat em' anymore, I'll raise them.)
The glofish are green (yellow under normal lights), orange and red. They are actually zebra danios that have bee genetically modified with flourescent proteins isolated from jellyfish. The gene is now a part of their DNA so they can actually pass it on to their offspring. I believe they are the first genetically modified pet.
I built some moon lights for the tank out of some blue LED's. They make the glofish really, well... glow. It makes for a cool camera effect.
The gourami is kind of the bully of the tank. I have to turn out the lights comletely at night so the catfish can eat their sinking wafers without getting harrased by him. And man can this fish can poop!
The bronze catfish are kind of ugly but fun to watch. Along with the Sterba cory they help keep the bottom clean. They actually kind of look like mice.
The spotted one is the Corydoras Sterbai catfish. He swims pretty well with the others but I think I would like to get him/her/it a companion or two. My tank is pretty maxed out and I'll either have to get rid of the plecostomus or build a sump, which expands the water volume of a tank.
I'm not sure how many shrimp I have and I am about to have some more. I have at least seven that I have been able to count at any given time. I noticed one of them was carrying eggs the other day. They are prolific breeders. I am going to put them in a smaller tank and start breeding them. I might be able to make enough money off them to pay for the rest of my hobby. The picture below is a juvenile female. As they mature, the females turn a deep cherry red color. You can see a light colored "saddle" on this one which is actually the developing ovaries.
The clown plecostomus is a recluse. He only comes out at night. But he is pretty cool/ugly looking. He reminds me of the monk fish from Pike's Market in Seattle -the one they use to scare the customers with. I don't have a pic but you can see one here.
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