Hello, anyone out there? Mama...Papa?
Ah yes, thus it's time for another monthly installment of "What happened to mytommyroshek.com's blog". Things are quite hectic as one might imagine by the frequency of my updates to this here blog. However, I will try and update you as to occurrences in 2006.
I'm finding the the life of an intern is really busy. The program here in Western Mass. is quite good, and the residents, faculty, and hospital treat me quite well. However, there is always tons of work to do, and much of the problem lies in the fact that I am still learning how to do all of this. Of course you realize that this problem is precisely what residency is designed to teach me in a controlled environment. So as I get older (and hopefully wiser), I will be able to handle a lot of this stuff better.
I am currently on one of the general surgery services here in the hospital. It's probably the best service in the program, especially for someone who wants to do bread and butter general surgery someday. I think this is eventually the route I will take, as the glory days of cardiothoracic surgery are probably over and I am leaning less and less towards that particular specialty. General surgery is actually quite interesting and diverse. I will have an extensive background in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) when I'm done, and this will be key when I get out into the "real world". MIS is where surgeons use small incisions and do the operation with a camera and instruments which are controlled outside the body. It's quite fascinating. They can take out a gallbladder, appendix, colon, thymus, do a gastric bypass or band, and tons of other things with this technique. I would hope to do this type of surgery as a career, as this has now become the standard for many operations.
Previously I was on the vascular service for two months. I've been working with the same chief resident from Kansas as well as 3rd year resident from Puerto Rico for the last three months. These two individuals have made my life as low stress as possible (which still is pretty high stress). I've noticed the services have run extraordinarily smoothly with these individuals which is nice. It's good to learn from these people as it will only help me do things correctly when I'm in charge someday.
Next Saturday I have the annual ABSITE (american board of surgery in-training examination). This test is of course impossible. I hope my studying has paid off, but I have a feeling this exam is going to kick my ass. It's good to set goals for improvement right?
I am eagerly looking forward to my vacation in April. I will be visiting Key Largo, Florida as is tradition my entire life. As fortune may have it, another resident also happens to be visiting southern Florida around that time, so hopefully we will be able to shoot a round of golf or something together. I think it would be the first time I've ever had a friend visit me in Florida, so I'm pleased this individual and his wife will hopefully find time to join Kayla and me on the trip. There's nothing like fishing, golfing, doing nothing at the beach, and eating wicked good food with friends. Residency has certainly taught me to savor my days off, something I tried to do in medical school but not nearly on this scale. Surgical residents (on average) get 4 work-free days off a month plus work overnight every fourth night. Now, this definitely is not whining, I signed up for this and generally enjoy most of it. But it does wear on me and only reinforces the need to savor the time off. So my week in Florida next April will probably be one of the best I've ever had.
So that's what's up. I am happy to say that I've finished most of my thank-you notes from graduation (May '05). I still have a handful to write which hopefully will go out on Monday. I can't believe I haven't written Nathan Beach (nathanbeach.com) or Omar Koury for their lovely gifts. I'm sure they both know how fondly I think of them, but it's nice to be polite and send the written word.
To do list (in no particular order):
1. pick up clothes in room
2. study for ABSITE/read about surgery cases this week
3. see when electrician is coming to fix some house things
4. install microwave
5. finish thank-you notes
6. take clothes to cleaners and tailor
7. work on blog and include pictures
8. call Sprint and tell them how much I hate them
9. call shredder company to get a new shredder
10. exercise and/or purchase exercise machine
11. read for pleasure (if I can find time)
12. eat
13. sleep
14. be nice to Kayla and tell her I love her and buy her nice things
15. buy shaving cream
16. buy an Xbox 360 at Best Buy
17. pull up carpet in guest bedroom, then re-finish hardwood floor
18. breathe
Ah yes, thus it's time for another monthly installment of "What happened to mytommyroshek.com's blog". Things are quite hectic as one might imagine by the frequency of my updates to this here blog. However, I will try and update you as to occurrences in 2006.
I'm finding the the life of an intern is really busy. The program here in Western Mass. is quite good, and the residents, faculty, and hospital treat me quite well. However, there is always tons of work to do, and much of the problem lies in the fact that I am still learning how to do all of this. Of course you realize that this problem is precisely what residency is designed to teach me in a controlled environment. So as I get older (and hopefully wiser), I will be able to handle a lot of this stuff better.
I am currently on one of the general surgery services here in the hospital. It's probably the best service in the program, especially for someone who wants to do bread and butter general surgery someday. I think this is eventually the route I will take, as the glory days of cardiothoracic surgery are probably over and I am leaning less and less towards that particular specialty. General surgery is actually quite interesting and diverse. I will have an extensive background in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) when I'm done, and this will be key when I get out into the "real world". MIS is where surgeons use small incisions and do the operation with a camera and instruments which are controlled outside the body. It's quite fascinating. They can take out a gallbladder, appendix, colon, thymus, do a gastric bypass or band, and tons of other things with this technique. I would hope to do this type of surgery as a career, as this has now become the standard for many operations.
Previously I was on the vascular service for two months. I've been working with the same chief resident from Kansas as well as 3rd year resident from Puerto Rico for the last three months. These two individuals have made my life as low stress as possible (which still is pretty high stress). I've noticed the services have run extraordinarily smoothly with these individuals which is nice. It's good to learn from these people as it will only help me do things correctly when I'm in charge someday.
Next Saturday I have the annual ABSITE (american board of surgery in-training examination). This test is of course impossible. I hope my studying has paid off, but I have a feeling this exam is going to kick my ass. It's good to set goals for improvement right?
I am eagerly looking forward to my vacation in April. I will be visiting Key Largo, Florida as is tradition my entire life. As fortune may have it, another resident also happens to be visiting southern Florida around that time, so hopefully we will be able to shoot a round of golf or something together. I think it would be the first time I've ever had a friend visit me in Florida, so I'm pleased this individual and his wife will hopefully find time to join Kayla and me on the trip. There's nothing like fishing, golfing, doing nothing at the beach, and eating wicked good food with friends. Residency has certainly taught me to savor my days off, something I tried to do in medical school but not nearly on this scale. Surgical residents (on average) get 4 work-free days off a month plus work overnight every fourth night. Now, this definitely is not whining, I signed up for this and generally enjoy most of it. But it does wear on me and only reinforces the need to savor the time off. So my week in Florida next April will probably be one of the best I've ever had.
So that's what's up. I am happy to say that I've finished most of my thank-you notes from graduation (May '05). I still have a handful to write which hopefully will go out on Monday. I can't believe I haven't written Nathan Beach (nathanbeach.com) or Omar Koury for their lovely gifts. I'm sure they both know how fondly I think of them, but it's nice to be polite and send the written word.
To do list (in no particular order):
1. pick up clothes in room
2. study for ABSITE/read about surgery cases this week
3. see when electrician is coming to fix some house things
4. install microwave
5. finish thank-you notes
6. take clothes to cleaners and tailor
7. work on blog and include pictures
8. call Sprint and tell them how much I hate them
9. call shredder company to get a new shredder
10. exercise and/or purchase exercise machine
11. read for pleasure (if I can find time)
12. eat
13. sleep
14. be nice to Kayla and tell her I love her and buy her nice things
15. buy shaving cream
16. buy an Xbox 360 at Best Buy
17. pull up carpet in guest bedroom, then re-finish hardwood floor
18. breathe
