Post-surgery & half-doctor: Yes, she still writes!

Surgery has come and gone, and look, I haven't even written to you! For shame. In short, surgery was a wonderful experience overall... hard work, no doubt, but also awesome. I had the best mentor surgeon of all time. She was not a 'typical surgeon' -lovely bedside manner, attentive, patient and caring, gentle, loved by her patients even when they had complications... and really, just a beautiful person. And she was the chief of general surgery at the hospital where I was placed.

Cool points of the rotation: I got to scrub in on a couple of surgeries -an open indirect inguinal hernia repair and a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal), the latter in which I almost fainted while retracting (luckily I had the sense to mention that I was "feeling a little faint", so that the scrub nurse could quickly take over and make me sit on the floor before I totally blacked out!). I also watched 2 cataract surgeries and a corneal transplant (awesome to watch, but I never want to be an opthalmologist. I also never want to be a radiologist. Something about spending all your days in a dark room, I think...). The OR is kind of amazing though -thrilling (and hardcore, I'm not going to lie)!.

You know what else is thrilling and hardcore? The season finale of Grey's Anatomy (which of course I only finally had the chance to watch yesterday after my surgery exam and before the end of ICM BBQ at Beaver Lake). Stunning episode, amazing acting, and so intense. Not only did I tear up, I was actually sobbing -best outlet of life, I say!

And now I am half a doctor (well, you can't really be half a doctor... just like how you can't really be half pregnant, but it sounds cool doesn't it?). Start up again end of July and no holiday for the next 2 years (for real. like I have to choose whether I want to take Christmas Day or New Year's Day off). So my exciting summer plans include writing the USMLE Step 1, having my extended family come visit from out-west (first time in over 10 years for most of them, so that will be wonderful!), and then retreating up north for a few days to recharge before Clerkship officially begins.

However, before I get back to studying for this next exam, I am taking this weekend off. Le battery is dead, the tank is on empty, le brain is nearly dead, exhaustedly, I have nothing left to offer the world at this very moment. So today there was some self-pampering with an aromatherapy massage, a nice vegetarian lunch... also I have taken to drinking homemade matcha green tea-almond milk frappes... so delicious and energizing! I played the piano a bit (for the first time in a long time), I watched the end of a devastating FIFA World Cup match for Cameroon.

The best thing in life these days though is reading Three Cups of Tea and worshipping Greg Mortenson (hopefully I will finally finish this amazing book by the end of tomorrow!) Another best thing in life was going to my first wedding of an undergrad roommate. It's official. I will be going to weddings for the next 10 years, right? Then it will be time for, as Franc, in Father of the Bride II, would say, "the behbeh showa". Life is too crazy.

But overall, I think it's good. Just important to recharge those batteries. And to always take the time to write. Note to self: do as I say, not as I do!