7/26/2008

Family & Friends-

I’m amazed that July is almost behind us and August is so quickly approaching! This has been quite a month with its fair share of peaks and valleys. Here in Milwaukee I’m approaching the end of my first clinical rotation. I’ve really enjoyed my month in Urology and I’ve been able to see a lot of fascinating cases (more on this later). I hope I am able to enjoy all my rotations as much as I’ve enjoyed this one, despite the long hours I’ve had to pull. The first two weeks of the month I spent at the VA hospital, the last two weeks I’ve been at the school’s major teaching hospital and next week I’ll be at a children’s hospital. Switching between hospitals like this has its challenges. Each hospital has a different culture, a different way it runs, a new system to learn. The residents and attendings at each hospital also require some adaptation on the student’s part. I eventually learned (though I wish I’d figured it out quicker) that what worked well at the VA in terms of getting along with the residents isn’t necessarily the approach that I have needed to use at my current hospital – a good lesson to know, but kind of tough in the learning.
One of the more interesting cases I’ve been able to participate in was an all day surgery for a guy with muscle invasive bladder cancer. We first removed his bladder, prostate and some of his lymph nodes. Then we removed a section of small intestines, rejoined the ends of the remaining intestines, and then spent several hours cleaning and reshaping the piece of intestine we removed so that it became a sphere. We then attached the ureters and urethra to this spherical structure so that in essence we made a new bladder for this guy out of his intestines. It was a neat case to be in on and the guy (though in a bit of pain) is doing well.
On Wednesday and Thursday I got to spend the days with one of the urologists who specializes in male fertility. I went into this a little skeptical about how interested I would be but was pleasantly surprised to find myself fascinated by everything. On Wednesday we spent the day in clinic meeting with couples who want to have children but need some help. Thursday was spent in the operating room doing several vasectomy reversal surgeries. This is a cool procedure to watch because it has to be done under a microscope with needles so small they look like eyelashes to the naked eye. Things seemed to go smoothly though and there is a good chance these guys will be able to have kids again.
The other night I caught a few minutes of the TV show “Hopkins” while I brushed my teeth. I can’t vouch for the entire series because I’ve only seen a few minutes, but the part I saw was a very accurate portrayal of what things are like day-to-day for medical students. My roommate (also a medical student) made the comment that “it’s my life…on TV!” and I would have to agree. If I can find the time I would like to get on abc.com and watch the whole series, but for anyone curious about what life in medical school is like (Mima, I know you are always asking me), it looks like this show might give a pretty accurate portrayal.
Well, I have a lot to get done today and not a lot of other news, so I’ll quit now. Love you all and wish you the best!
-Eric