A Surprising Turn

I just finished my rotations in Surgery and Orthopedics. I would say these were the best days of my clerkship year. It started out bumpy but it was fun in the end. I have learned a lot and felt more like a doctor compared to my other rotations. Yes, I've gained weight given the crazy and overwhelming supply of food. Surgeons, really, are the well fed species in the medical arena.

For the past 2 months, I have done my first 2 minor operations - excision of a sebaceous cyst and a tendon sheath cyst. It was hard doing the suturing and cutting but I felt proud of myself after - and more confident. In order to survive surgery, all it takes is confidence and courage. Confidence in yourself, that you can do the procedure powered up with courage knowing that you have done your part in studying it before doing it.

Surgeons are not mere butchers who would carelessly cut through tissue just to get the job done. Surgery is an art where in each slice, you open yourself to awe and wonder of the human body. Surprisingly, after my rotation, I placed surgery as part of my choices for residency.

Thank you to the great surgery residents that I've been with. You may have pushed me to my limits, but I have realized an undiscovered part of myself. But I am afraid there is a need to tame that stronger side of me given the environment and types of people that I will be working with.