The Whipple Song

Today I sat through my fourth (yes 4th!!) Whipple procedure (Pancreaticoduodenectomy) in 2 weeks. I don't know if I am spoiled or just lucky. Some other gensurg residents might call it lucky. Apparently at some school it is hard to assist or to even be present during a Whipple Procedure until well into your residencies. I can hear Dr. Turk yelling "What's a brother gotta do to get a Whipple around here?!" (Scrubs, Episode 23, Season 1). I guess it is a good thing to be at MUN.

Now some might think that I am bragging about this. Think the opposite. What is it like to be present during a Whipple procedure. A procedure that takes up to 6 hours to complete. Especially when the person (me) is not really interested in doing general surgery for the rest of their lives. Well I wrote a little song to help you to understand. Believe me, as the least trained individual in the room, I had plenty of time for my mind to wander during the procedure. A Kelly is a clamp (Curved hemostat), Mets (Metzenbaums) are tissue scissors and ties are...well ties.

enjoy
Aaron

The Whipple Song
Sing to the tune of “Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy” by Ren & Stimpy


Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie
Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie

Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie
Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie

Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie
Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie

Kelly, Kelly, Mets, Tie, Tie


PS - I am not complaining and I would like to thank my team for letting me be part of all the crazy surgeries that they do (Whipple's, APR's, Right Hemicolectomies etc etc etc.) I do enjoy surgery, I am just not going to be a general surgeon. However, I did enjoy cutting the giant sebaceous cyst out of that dudes back last week. I used steel to heal baby.

The Train Rolls On

As I finish week 3 of GenSurg I am starting to get nervous. My exams are only a week away and I really am not comfortable in most topics covered in surgery. Also, third year is starting to get on in age and I now have to start thinking about what I am going to specialize in as CaRMS deadlines are appearing on the horizon. I have a few ideas in mind of what i plan on doing, but nothing concrete. Why we have to decide before we have really seen or practiced any real medicine I will never know. plus if I decide on doing anything competitive, I pretty much have to know now and start working my ass off for it. Again, a bunch of wasted time if i change my mind next fall.

You should have to make your decision in internship. everyone should have to do a rotating internship, then make your decision as to what you want to do for the rest of your life. at least this way you will have a good idea of what medicine is and what you want to give and receive from medicine.

hmmm, wait, doesn't this sound familiar. yes, this is the way it was for years until some committee of geniuses in all their wisdom decided to change it for everyone. now we are rushed into choosing. Its not like i am ordering dinner, this is my life and the life of my family that is at stake here and if i choose wrong, ohhhh the misery.

I guess med school wasn't stressful enough before.

In addition to my stress, there is also a sense of sadness. Why Aaron? I thought you didn't like Gen Surg? Well, i might of exaggerated that point. Leaking, oozing (why does everything ooze), draining bowel wounds are not how I roll. However, I do enjoy the cutting and the stitching. Heal with Steel right. I can operate on almost anything except the bowel. blah! But as my GenSurg rolls to a halt, I am starting to realize that I will not be cutting anyone for a very long time (not that a clerk actually gets to cut much, but you know what I mean). I am about to enter a long phase of peds/family/medicine rotations that will round out the rest of my third year. I had my clerkship front loaded with surgery rotations (which is why I am mostly considering surgery residencies but that is for another post). I am going to miss the mix that is surgery. Clinic one day, OR the next. back and forth. I hear that I am in for constant rounding in the medicine side of things. Cant wait!

I don't really like to round in surgery, so rounding for entire days is going to suck. Round on your own, then round with the resident, then round with the attending, then God forbid that you are on a specialty team, because you will be rounding with them at the end. Now this doesn't sound bad, and it isn't for everyone except the med student. The med student has to wait in between these rounds for the next set of rounds to begin. Wait wait wait as only a med student can. That is my usual motto on the floor. Hey Aaron, what are you up to today? Why Nurse Ratched, I am waiting of course.

Aaron