Something wicked this way comes...

I am finally ALMOST finished with my surgery rotation AND third year of medical school!!! The only thing left is my NBME (nationally standardized test) on Friday morning. And then, Jordan and I are off to Memphis to see WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am SOOO pumped! I have wanted to see this since my sophomore year of college! As soon as we heard it was playing in Memphis, my mom got tickets for Jordan and me. Will definitely post more about this exciting trip!

I thought I'd share of the highs and lows of my surgery rotation, just for fun.

Coolest surgery: plastic surgeon reconstructed half of a man's face using the muscle from his belly

Second coolest surgery: aortic thrombectomy...We cut into this woman's aorta and pulled out huge blood clots from inside, and also pulled several up from her legs. It was insane...the clots came out exactly in the shape of the blood vessels (you could even see smaller vessels branching off!)

Longest surgery (that I actually stayed for the whole time): 8 hour liver resection (a man had colon cancer that spread to his liver so it had to be taken out)

Longest surgery (that I thankfully did not have to stay for the whole time): 12 hour aortic aneurysm repair...this guy had an incision from his back underneath his shoulder blade, curved around his body, down his abdomen to his groin. Crazy!

Best day: my private practice day during plastic surgery when I got to see a breast augmentation and tummy tuck--it is different than on TV!

Favorite surgery service: surgical oncology. This was my 4 week service and I really liked the team.

Least favorite service: vascular surgery. I thought is was pretty boring, but that's mostly because they didn't let us do much.

Coolest thing I got to do: I would have to say intubating a patient (putting a tube down their throat so they can breath while they are under anesthesia). It's harder than you'd think it is, and you have to do it really fast!!!

One thing I realized during surgery was that I really do like being in clinic. You get to interact with the patients so much more. I didn't do much clinic time in the last 8 weeks, but I got to go to clinic this Monday and was so excited to really get to be with the patients, as opposed to just seeing them in the OR and in the hospital. I also realized I can't wait to get back to ACH and see some kids!!!