Ob/Gyn Residency – An Update (At the End)
Well hey there, can’t believe anyone is still making it over this way. Residency is kind of time-consuming, who’da thunk it?
I started this post 1.5 years ago and never finished. Awesome.
Considering we’re coming up on the half-way point end of my residency experience, I figured now would be a good time for an update. Last I checked in was a year ago basically forever ago and I was learning to do LEEPs on summer sausages and perineal laceration repairs on cow tongue. Since then I’ve graduated on to being allowed to work with actual patients who are much easier to talk to and far more enjoyable to be around.
Current Going Ons
So, what am I doing these days? Well, this month I’m on Elective. As a chief electives are really awesome, because I basically get to do whatever I want. For me at this point that means I am doing book-keeping things (getting my Texas medical license, which is about 2,000 steps, updating my certifications for BLS and ACLS, etc.) and stalking all the clinic books to see more vulvar pathology and infertility things. I’m also helping out in L&D some, taking q4 traditional call (from home, because my program is awesome to the chiefs), and operating a bit with the group I’ll be joining next year.
Obstetrics
In the past 3.5 years I have delivered more babies than I can count. Some of them stand out as memorable, others fade into a pool of joyous but not unusual. I’ve delivered extraordinarily tiny babies who were very premature, very sick babies, stillborn babies, babies who died soon after delivery, babies who belong to my personal patients and friends and co-workers, babies who made their way via stat c-sections, “birthday babies” (in what other field is it AWESOME to work on your birthday?), surprise babies, twins, and everything in between. Most of the birthdays have been incredibly happy, many heart-wrenchingly sad, a handful were awkward, many were scary, some were downright strange, but most were just lovely experiences that didn’t leave long-lasting impressions due to pure volume. Despite the variety, I can confidently say every single delivery has been absolutely an honor for me. I am still truly in awe every time I attend a delivery that I get to this as my job. It’s unreal.
Gynecology
A mix of clinic patients, procedures, and surgeries – I’ve come to enjoy this sector of my field so much more than I anticipated. It turns out that surgery as a doctor is about a billion times more enjoyable than surgery as a medical student. I’ve done countless “minor procedures” like D&Cs, LEEPs, hysteroscopies, tubal ligations, and diagnostic laparoscopies. In my second year I got more experience with open and laparoscopic abdominal procedures – myomectomies, giant ovarian cystectomies, salpingectomies, ruptured ectopic pregnancies, bleeding ovarian cysts, etc. Open myomectomies are a “second year case” but still one of my favorite surgeries, I have no idea why – I just find them very fun. Third year I operated with the oncologists a lot. The past two years I’ve done more hysterectomies than I ever anticipated. I’ve gotten to do a good amount of Urogyn (pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence) surgeries. I have seen a huge range of very interesting cancer cases and I absolutely loved my Oncology rotations. I loved them so much that I very strongly considered a fellowship in Onc (which was absolutely never on my radar until last year). More on that non-decision later. Outside of Oncology I’ve operated on a handful of very sick patients, but for the most part non-oncology patients tend to be relatively young and healthy. This was actually one of the reasons I was drawn to this field in the first place.
Life
Oh, life. The twins are 4 years old now and absolutely the coolest kids I’ve ever met. We added a new addition to the family in June, he’s a cute little ball of chubbiness and is learning to crawl and pull-up now. We unexpectedly and tragically lost two of our sweet dogs earlier this year. As most of you know they were an integral part of our family dynamic and we will always have a void where they belong. I’ve accepted a job in College Station starting in August – so if you’re in need of an Ob/Gyn in the Texas A&M area, come see me! 🙂 We never planned on going back, but a great opportunity presented itself and we are absolutely ecstatic to make it back to Aggieland!