Day in the Life: OB/GYN

My preceptor is a total foodie. He may actually love food more than I do(?!). (This is how I knew we’d get along from the start.)

Life is, in short, wonderful, which is especially welcomed because I don’t know if you could glean from my last post, but…childbirth is not my thing. I want nothing to do with it, so I was a little terrified of this rotation. If not for my terrible experience in psych, this specialty would be at the top of my do-not-want list.

You’ll probably be happy to know that I haven’t had a chance to catch or drop any babies yet. I don’t get to do as much on this rotation because there are a bunch of residents at this hospital, but he lets me jump in whenever possible, which I appreciate. (He actually turned down two residents last week so that I could assist on a c-section! :O )

Day in the Life: OB/GYN

A Typical Day

8 – 12/1-p.m. We generally have 2-4 cases in the morning before lunch. I’ve gotten to see scheduled c-sections, normal vaginal deliveries, endometrial ablations, tubal ligations…

This particular day I’m talking about just had two surgeries. One was the removal of a dermoid cyst (teratoma). If you’ve never heard of one and don’t get grossed out too easily, feel free to go through Google images. I got to cut it open before we went to the next case, and it was pretty disgusting–copious amounts of sebum, clumps of hair…I stopped when I found the teeth, because I really didn’t want to find any eyes in there.

The second case was supposed to be a fairly uncomplicated hysterectomy, but the gas decided not to cooperate with us, so we ended up having to extract the uterus from the vagina, which wouldn’t have been so difficult if there hadn’t still been about a millimeter left to cut. I almost got hit in the face with said uterus, but everything is a-okay, and the patient recovered like a champ.

If my preceptor doesn’t have time to get lunch with me, he gives me his credit card and sends me to pick food up for the both of us. Orrrr he gets his friend (who does call on Wednesdays) to take me out for lunch! :O (Said friend texted my preceptor later to tell him that he was really impressed by my ability to eat, and was glad that he finally had a med student who loved food as much as he did. :] )

1-5 p.m. We’re at his clinic across the street from the hospital! His clinic is ultra-busy, and he sees tons of patients, but somehow, he and his staff make it work! (I think this has a lot to do with how well he treats his staff; he is seriously a wonderful human being.)

This is my best friend at the clinic.

I’ve pretty much mastered how to make a patient feel comfortable/at ease whilst listening for fetal heart sounds. Every so often, I’ll come across a patient who’s earlier on in their first trimester (~12-ish weeks), which makes it a little harder to locate, but for the most part, I’ve got it down! :]

We see an average of 40 patients in 4-ish hours, and visits cover OB follow-ups, urinary tract infections, IUD insertions, counseling on miscarriages, loop electrosurgical excision procedures (LEEP), ultrasounds, abnormal bleeding…pretty much anything baby/pregnant/lady-parts-related!

Meals

When you spend your each and every day surrounded by lady parts and a mess of hormones, you really have to learn to roll with the punches. Sooo…my preceptor is super laid back and jokes around all the time (twas reminiscent of my surgery rotation!); it’s a ton of fun working with him, and I never-ever go hungry!

Our conversation before lunch on the first day:

Dr. B: Since I get paid $250 to take you as a student, I’ll cover up to $250 of your food expenses this month. After that, you’re on your own!
J: He’s kidding. He never ever keeps track. Eat whatever you want!
F: …:O You are a wonderful human being.

Seriously, that’s unheard of. :o

(This cake was made by one of the nurses for a bachelorette party.)

Parking

Parking at the hospital is absolutely terrible. :'( But thankfully, my preceptor’s clinic is across the street from the hospital, so I just park on the far side of that lot and head on over! :]

Housing

My actual rotation site is 30-65 minutes away (depending on the day) from my base site, so I’ve been commuting for the first time all year (unless you count the 6 days I spent in Radiology). Podcasts and music have been keeping me company on the way to and from the hospital.

Every Tuesday, my preceptor and I carpool to his rural clinic! Conversation topics revolve mostly around food–what we like to eat, good places to eat, great deals on awesome meals, etc. (I can totally see why my neighbor gained 10 lbs on this rotation, but life is wonderful.)

That being said, today was actually my last day, and weird as it may sound (considering my lack of desire to do anything childbirth-related), I’m actually going to miss this rotation, mostly because my preceptor’s really awesome. (+ there were so many more food adventures to be had! :O )