Today I worse a space suit

Boards are coming up and i have not been studying nearly as much as I should be. I have been working more hours than imagined and thought this 'easy' rotation would give me lots of time to hit the books. not so. Though i love it, am learning a lot, and love the OR, i also spend a lot of down town with Dr. G which i should be using at home to study.

Today started out with me being very stressed and ended up helping remind me why i am where i am. because i love it.

We started the first case and I attempted to intubate but this guys tongue was ridiculous and i couldn't see shit, so like usual, Dr. G stepped in and helped me pass the tube. The orthopedic surgeon walked in shortly after and Dr. G introduced me to him and he gave his usual speech that he gives to all the docs he introduces me to "this is D, she will be here for 4 weeks on an anesthesia rotation, she is a 4th year med student, if you would be willing to teach her anything or talk about what you are doing it would be greatly appreciated." Most docs hear this and are like "yeah sure, nice to meet you [moving on]" this surgeon was like "yeah of course, wanna scrub in?"

In my mind im like "HELL YEAH I wanna scrub in" but on the outside i politely said yes while asking Dr. G if thats OK. He was all for it so I got to scrub in and assist on an orthopedic knee surgery replacement. Pretty freaking rad.

 We wear these helmets that have a shield over them [cause bone and crap spray everywhere....think saws and home depot tools]. The helmet has a fan on the inside to keep the screen from fogging up. so basically, we look like we are wearing space suits during the operation. Here is an example [this is from the internet, unfortunately i didnt get my phone out fast enough to get someone to snap a pic of me]:

The surgeon was hilarious and chatted with me the whole time we were working. When I told him I picked emergency medicine as my specialty and had been debating between EM and Ob/GYN he looked up, stopped working and said "Well, I have one question for you. Are you a raging bitch? Because if so, you should go into Ob/GYN. Those people are not happy." I laughed and reassured him I decided against it and was heading into emergency med.

Best part was this doc, who just met me, let me help him close with suturing, taking the time to teach me how to close each layer and then gave me half the incision while he did the other half. this does NOT happen often. AWESOME. he was rewarding me for holding retractors for an hour. it was an arm workout for sure. I tried my best to remain calm and not let me hands shake. I think i held it together pretty well though i was sweating through my scrubs :)