Well, I'm happily studying away for my upcoming exams. I started yesterday and have started thinking to myself that it might have been good to start a bit sooner! There's a lot to cover. Oh well, thankfully I'm not up to anything else these days. Gives me something to do. This is my last chance to be tested on and learn general medicine. It's all fair game: pediatrics, dermatology, psychiatry, family medicine, internal medicine, Ob/Gyn, ER, the lot. And obviously surgery, but that's the least of my worries. After these 2 exams (assuming I pass) it's all surgery. So I guess it's good to review all this once more before it lands in the "what I once knew" pile.
I saw my surgeon today. She was happy with how my right hand is doing. And after a long-ish discussion we've decided to go ahead and do the surgery on the left hand. Without the surgery, and/or without Divine intervention, I'm likely to have trouble with this off-and-on, possibly forever. With the surgery I go through some temporary pain but hopefully with permanent relief. So I figured it was worth it. We've booked it for Nov 27. That gives my right hand time to heal up well before it is forced to do everything for awhile. And it means that I can start work Oct 1 as planned and do almost a full 2 months of my 3-month intensive care rotation. And it means that I will be off in December, which, if you have to take time off, isn't a bad time to do it. And it means that I add another month (on top of the 2 I've already taken) to the end of my residency. But in the grand scheme of things, what does it matter if I finish my residency in June or September of 2011??? So that's that. I feel good about the decision, and am also happy for God to intervene beforehand if He so chooses. But at least there is a defined plan and endpoint now.
Better get back to studying. But I'll leave you all with an inspiring tidbit of information...
Poikiloderma: a variegated hyperpigmentation and telangiectasia of the skin, followed by atrophy.
Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
