Yesterday was a big day. I took (and passed!) my last anatomy exam. So, I have completed my first medical school class, with a P! Woohoo! Doesn't quite have the same ring as an A, does it? (Or a B+ in a class I was really struggling with...) I think the pass/fail system for medical school is a tricky thing. It messes with my motivations. I thought coming from 17 years of being graded, it would be a relief not to care - but oh wait - I still do. Except I'm also lazy. Ok so anyway, big day yesterday.
In the afternoon, I got to go to an OB/GYN residents' laproscopic surgery training session. I phrase it like that first for all my friends who are animal lovers - yes, we did operate on live pigs under anesthesia. But the instruments were so amazing - they use vibration and heat and other amazing technologies to cut tissue in the least invasive way possible. The residents got to practice tying sutures inside of a body and doing a hysterectomy (I got to hold the camera!). It is also amazing how bloodless the surgery was - you basically only cut through completely avascular tissue to remove the uterus. While standing there observing for three hours, it struck me how different my life will be when I'm an actual doctor. Sometimes I get worried when I am so sick of all the studying and feel like I can't do this anymore - I am so glad I have opportunities to participate in amazing things like this surgery to keep my drive going. I won't be able to make it through if I allow myself to forget the end goal. Or if I simply forget how awesome the end goal is. I won't spend the rest of my life sitting in lecture and reading textbooks. Thank goodness.
